Page 26 of Deciding for Little Dallas
He giggled. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want you to. We don’t lie to each other, silly goose!”??
Dallas giggled too. She was glad Daddy had made her come to the nursery.
CHAPTER 11
Pike peeked through the door of the Caterpillar Room and smiled as his Little girl sat on the floor playing with a babydoll. There were three other Little girls playing with her. Pike recognized one of them as Hadley from the day before. The other two girls were new faces to him. One had long dark hair, and one had short blonde hair.
“Ewwwww, I think Teefs tooted,” one said, making Pike chuckle.
“Teefs has such bad manners. Say ‘cuse me, Teefs!” Dallas scolded.
“She said it,” the other Little girl said through a tablet.
Pike still thought it was very cool that Hadley had a communication device.
“Yeah, I heard her too,” Natalie agreed.
“Good zombie baby.” Dallas patted Teefs’ bald, green head.
“Do you have more spooky babies at home?” the Little girl with dark hair asked.
“No. I really wish I had a Living Dead Baby. They’re reborn babies made to look like zombies, monsters, and aliens,” Dallas answered.
“Why don’t you have one? Didja ask your Daddy?” the dark-haired Little asked.
“No, Eloise. They’re lotsa money and Daddy buys me so many things already. I’d been saving my money to buy one, but then I gave it away, so I had to start over.”
Pike was instantly on alert, not only had he not known his Little one wanted a Living Dead Baby, he had no idea she’d given money away.
“Why did you give it away?” the blonde one asked.
Pike watched as Dallas swallowed. “Two of our friends lived in a homeless shelter for a while. One because she aged out of foster care and one because her ex was abusing her. They both have Daddies now and don’t live in the shelter anymore, but their Daddies helped throw a fundraiser for the shelter because it was struggling financially and lots more people needed help. I gave all of my money to the shelter because it just seemed so important. Daddy and I volunteer there too, twice a month. It’s really makes me feel good to help them, Natalie.”
Tucking their names away for later, Pike blinked back the tears filling his eyes. He stepped away from the door. He knew Dallas had been touched by the women in their circle of friends but hadn’t known she’d given everything she’d saved to the shelter. She was such a big-hearted Little girl.
“That’s really nice of you, Dallas,” the blonde one said. “Maybe Santa will bring you your spooky baby since you was so good.”
“I think Santa maybe doesn’t bring spooky babies. Maybe you need to ask a jack-o’-lantern or something,” Tommy said as he pushed a truck by the girls.
Dallas laughed, loud and carefree. “Yeah, maybe I’ll whisper my wishes to a ghostie.”
“What did the baby look like?” the blonde Little asked.
“She was the cutest spooky baby ever! She had blonde hair and blonde eyes and her zombie skin looked so realistic. She even had purple veins and stuff!”
“Yeah.. I think maybe you needa ask Freddy or Jason for that, not Santa. She sounds so amazing though!” Eloise said.
Dallas giggled. “Maybe I should ask Chucky since he’s already a doll.”
Grinning, Pike turned around and left the nursery. He had an idea.
“Good morning,” a woman said, greeting him when he walked into the Ranch Store. “I’m Jackie, can I help you find something?”
“Good morning, Jackie,” Pike said. “I was wondering if you had any Halloween board books and a few spooky trinkets?”
“Yes, Sir. Follow me,” she said. She led him toward the back of the store where there were children’s toys laid out. “We don’t have a large selection, but we do have a Littles’ Library.”
Pike studied the three Halloween books in front of him. “I will take a copy of all three and visit the library too. My Little girl loves to read and I’m sure we will put them to good use.”
