Chapter Thirteen

Diagnosed with Love:

Chapter 13

We made our way over to the enormous Dora display, and Patience quickly changed her attitude. “Dora! Huge!” she shouted, and I started to laugh. “Me want!”

“You can’t have the display Dora, they won’t sell it- but we can get you a bunch of small ones.”

“Awwh mann… Otay.” I helped her out of the cart and placed her on the ground, and she started to roam. I wondered to myself how many parents, grandparents, older siblings, and guardians had been sucked into this store by the display of Dora on one side of the window and SpongeBob on the other. This toy store must have made a deal with Nickelodeon. Anyways, the center of the store and major areas, such as checkouts, consisted of nothing but Dora the explorer and SpongeBob Squarepants.

 

I watched as Patience quickly filled the cart. I blinked as the toys went tumbling to the ground. She picked them up, trying to make them fit into the cart. “Alright, time to go before you get the idea to grab another cart.” I pushed the cart to one of the check-out lanes, where she grabbed a gummy Dora sucker and threw it in the cart. “Enough already, Patty- sheesh, just because I decide to spoil you doesn’t mean you take it overboard.

 

She only smiled innocently at me. “Tank you Sar.”

 

“You’re welcome.” I laughed and started unloading the cart onto the conveyor belt. Patience helped as much as her little arms could reach. The cashier rang the last item and handed it to her bag boy as she totaled the order. “What’s my damage?” I asked the cashier as I pulled out my wallet.

 

“Three hundred and twelve dollars and seventeen cents,” she said as the bag boy reloaded the cart.

 

My mouth sorta hung open a bit when I heard the surprising total. “Did you say three hundred?”

 

She looked a little amused but still nodded with a smile. “Three hundred and twelve dollars and seventeen cents,” she repeated.

 

“God, Patience, what did you get?” I took out my checkbook and started to fill out the appropriate blanks. After signing the check, I handed it to her along with my ID. On the side, the bag boy was talking to Patience.

 

“Is that your pretty sister?” asked the boy, and Patience nodded. “She loves you a lot, she’s spoiling you to death.”

“Me knows, me woves Sar too.” The boy and I started to laugh. I looked over at him and smiled when I saw that he was looking at me too. A little harmless flirting never hurt anyone.

 

“You know, she’s one of the good kids that came through here.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah. A lot of kids cry, scream, throw temper tantrums, and sometimes even threaten their parents to get what they want. You give her what she wants without her doing all that.”

I laughed- after all, it was true. “I love spoiling her, She’s never acted out, so why not?” I took the receipt and stuffed it into one of Patience’s many bags.

 

He laughed too. “Need help putting it in your car?”

I looked at the mountain of Dora. “I think I’ll be alright, but thanks for the offer. Come on pumpkin.” Patience held onto the cart and I headed outside, stopping near the front door. “Aw, s**t!” I said out loud, forgetting that we had walked here. I thought about borrowing the cart and pushing it all the way home as a solution. How awkward would that be to have people staring at you as you push a cart full of toys down the street?

 

“Ooo, bad word!” shouted Patience, and I quickly clamped my mouth shut and took my phone out my back pocket, calling my mom.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey, umm… I sorta have a teeny problem…”

“Yeah? What’s the problem?” she asked.

“I kinda took Patience to the toy store… and it just so happens that we walked here.”

 

Mom laughed. “Patience did that to me at the grocery. I had to have Terr pick me up.”

I laughed. ”She’s just so spoiled. Umm…” I stared at the Dora mountain. “Bring the expedition. You’ll need it, unless you want a repeat of the teddy bear incident.”

There was a complete silence before she answered again. I’m assuming her mouth dropped open. “…I’m on my way.”