“Good morning sweetheart.” I said softly. Lea was looking at me with a confused expression, which I guess must’ve derived from me suddenly having her in my arms. I placed her back on her two feet which made her notice and then proceeded to poke the squishy front of her diaper. Not a moment later, it started to leak on Lea’s pajama pants. I jolted and placed the little girl right on top of the changing table while I acquired the necessities to getting her out of her wet clothes.
“Jeez, she must’ve wet like crazy last night!” I thought to myself as I placed Lea on her back.
She calmly fiddled with her hair as I commenced the changing process. It wasn’t long until I had taped up the new diaper securely to Lea bottom and we both headed back downstairs for breakfast.
As much as I enjoyed eating out, I did in fact have a generous amount of food saved up in my kitchen. For those rare occasions that it may be needed to actually cook something here, I stocked up. We both made our way to the fridge and then my supply closet that held just about any snack or canned food one could think of. Lea stood agape as she stared at all the food before her.
“So, what do you feel like eating Lea?” I asked cheerfully.
Not sure whether she heard me or not, I repeated her name to get her attention.
One long pause later, she began to point and hop aggressively at a Captain Crunch cereal box on the far corner of my closet. I happily filled a decent portion of it in a small bowl, accompanied by milk. Little Lea examined the food closely before finally taking the first spoonful to her mouth. I sat nearby for any possible spills that may occur from the child’s shaky hand. Lea’s eyes went wide as she joyfully ate through the bowl. A giggle would arise from every spoonful or two that she ate, causing some small crumbs to spew out from her mouth. I chuckled along with her as her body language gave clear indication that she truly enjoyed the cereal.
With my little girl’s stomach now content, we ran back upstairs to brush our teeth and prepare for the flight. Amber was sluggishly walking out of her room when we ran into her.
“Good morning Miss Amber.” I chirped.
One of her hands was guarding me from her long yawn, while the other was rubbing her eyes awake.
“Oh, mornin’.” She replied sleepily.
Amber led herself down my steps as I carried Lea into the nearby bathroom.
The sink towered almost a foot above her tiny stature, so I decided to lift her onto the counter for a better view. Once there, I handed the child a small pink toothbrush and motioned how to properly execute the brushing.
With fresh and bright teeth, we exited the bathroom and returned to Lea’s room. I examined my watch which surprised me at how quick the morning was passing. The few remaining possessions of my little girl were loosely boxed up in a corner. For the plane ride to New York it was obvious that the diaper bag was going to be needed, but I questioned just what extra clothes, if any, should be brought as well. I decided on just bringing another change of clothes in case a faulty diaper were to leak, but since it would only take a couple of hours to arrive there, that was unlikely. I wanted to actually use the remainder of the day to go clothes shopping, so the rest of her old wardrobe from the orphanage was going to be unnecessary either way.
After tucking in the extra shirt and shorts into her bag, I looked and smiled down at Lea.
“You ready to go on the plane, little one?” I asked softly.
She smiled widely and nodded.
I led her by the hand down the steps and was soon met with Amber who clearly was having trouble with the coffee maker.
“Hey Marshall, how the heck do you work this thing?” Amber asked quizzically.
I closely examined the machine. After pressing a short sequence of buttons and adding in two hard hits to its top, it began to run once more.
“Sorry about that, it always messes up on me.” I chuckled.
Amber replied with a smile as she brewed her fresh cup of coffee.
The three of us unloaded what were mainly Amber’s things into the trunk. Lea’s diaper bag was placed in the back as well. My condo in Manhattan supplied more than enough clothes for me to wear, so I hardly brought anything along. I checked my watch to see that we were right on schedule, yet something still felt off. After I began to close all the doors in the house, the answer stumbled on me.
“Whoa, watch yourself bro.” Toby slurred sleepily. I apologized for running into him, and almost immediately he awoke in a loud yawn. About halfway through, he suddenly stopped and remembered what today was.
“Oh dude,” He slowly noted. “Are you guys flyin’ to New York today?”
“Yeah…” I replied with my hands in my pockets.
The meathead jock’s face took a disappointed expression.
“Oh okay… Don’t do anything too crazy, alright?” He said sadly.
I sighed heavily and wondered if there was a way to solve this small dilemma.
