DJ dumped his bag full of parenting books on Raymundo’s floor. He pointed to them, pointed to himself, and then made a whine in the back of his throat.
“How do I read all of these before Penny gives birth!” He whined again.
“Uh,” Ray started pushing the books around, arranging them by size. “Not sure. Considering I question your ability to rea-” DJ picked up a thin paperback and whacked the back of Ray’s head.
“Dude, now is not the time for jokes.”
Ray looked up, watching the color continue to drain from DJ’s face. “Sorry.” He rubbed the back of his face. “Are you even sure you need to read them all?”
“I don’t know how to be a father.” He squeaked.
“You’re a medical professional, seriously can’t be much more difficult than the MCATs and residency and…”
“Exactly!” With the book still in hand, DJ started pacing. His socks slid across the carpet and he started breathing rapidly. “You know I’ll have even less time at home, and I’ll get called in on my days off at times, and that’s going to affect my child, so I need all the help I can get Ray, so I need to read all these books!”
“Come on.” Ray pulled the book from DJ’s hands. “The baby language: what each urp, snort, laugh, and yes, cry really means.” He shook the book, the pages rustling and the cover snapped back and forth. “Impossible for them to know, it sounds like a scam fishing on poor worried to-be parents.”
“I need more parent friends.” DJ sunk to the floor, crouching in front of the pile of books. “They wouldn’t poke fun at my book choices.”
“I’m not poking fun.” Ray sighed. “I’m trying to help you choose the best books to focus on.”
“How else am I going to know what to do when my baby starts making noises!”
“Uh…” Ray glanced at all the other books, and shrugged. “Intuition? Isn’t that what you do when you come to a difficult medical question?”
“Yes…?”
“Take a deep breath.” DJ let his eyes close and he took a deep breath. “Good. You’ll be a great dad DJ. Really. With or without the advice of the possible experts.”
“Right. So, yeah, help me figure out what books will actually be helpful.”
“Of course.”
Picking through the books lead to some more funny conversations about the titles and the audacity of some people to claim they knew what was best for a baby on the topics of music, baby talk, and separation anxiety, kids and parents.
In the end, DJ put sticky notes on a few pages of the books, of things to discuss with Penny, the only other person who really deserved to give an opinion on raising their child.
Word count: 467
P.S. Halfway there!
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