The Pride – page 13
“Did you remember to put that part of the crib that slides down back up after you changed him? I remember that one day you forgot and Xavier rolled out onto the floor. One minute I’m talking to you. The next minute we hear this thud.” Regina laughed as she recalled the sound of Xavier dropping to the big pillows Emmanuel had placed right next to the baby’s crib for just such an occurrence. Xavari didn’t laugh. She was remembering the chewing out that she had received from Emmanuel for being so careless.
“Regina. Even when Xavier’s 50 years old, that’s not going to be funny to me. My baby could have hurt himself badly.” Xavari was annoyed that Regina always recalled that incident with such amusement.
“Girl, please. Babies are more resilient than we give them credit for. Besides, Manny was well-prepared for it. Nothing happened to your baby, so get over it.”
“Whatever. I just don’t think it’s funny.”
“Whatever. If you weren’t so proud, you would have had a new crib for Xavier, instead of that ol’ raggedy thing you got at the thrift store, but you didn’t want Daddy to buy you anything for this hole in the wall. Um. I don’t know why you didn’t just stay at Daddy’s instead of moving into this roach motel of an apartment building,” Regina teased as she worked on a braid.
“I just needed my own space. I got tired of Daddy trying to tell me how to raise my child. It was like he thought since he was paying the bills, buying the food and putting clothes on our backs, he could just run me,” Xavari spoke loudly to be heard over the fan.
“Well, yeah, duh. He was footing the bill, so you have to deal with his rules. You know how Daddy is.” Regina was using the spiked end of the rat-tail comb to part Xavari’s hair so she could start another braid.
“Yeah, I know how Daddy is. That’s why I had to get out of there. He was driving me up the wall.” Xavari closed her eyes and tried to concentrate away the pain in her scalp.
“I can’t blame you for that. It’s why I couldn’t wait to get married, but now what are you going to do, Xavari?”
“Ow! Could you quit pulling so hard? My scalp is sensitive!” Xavari hunched down in the chair to try to move away from Regina’s hands. Regina kept a firm grip because she didn’t want the braid to get twisted.