A screaming child was the last thing Max needed to start her day. How was she to begin?
"Boo, are you tellin' me you've never even held a baby?" Original Cindy was slightly annoyed. She rocked Sofiya in her bassinette.
"Where was I suppost to experience the magic, Cindy? Between training and evaluation?" Max responded bitterly. "Damn it, why me? And I promised Logan I'd have dinner with him tonight."
Sofiya was obviously persistent to be taken care of—her screams didn't let up. Original Cindy took charge, pushing Max aside and carefully picking up Sofiya and cradling her in her arms carefully.
"Ain't nothin' to it, boo," Original Cindy smiled as Sofiya quieted. "Just gotta understand why they tryin' to say."
"I have cat DNA, Cindy, not soccer mom."
"Listen, I've baby-sat enough in my time to know how to take care of babies to an extent. Hold out your arms."
"Say what?"
"Did I stutter? Hold out your arms, Max."
Rolling her eyes, Max extended both her arms stiffly. Original Cindy shifted Sofiya to one arm and with her free limb adjusted Max's so she would be able to hold the child safely.
"Stay just like that. I'm gonna put her in your arms, 'kay?"
Max nodded and watched Cindy's moves, thinking the entire time, Okay, support the head, support the bottom, smile stupidly a lot and keep arms bent like this. Shit I'm so not ready to have kids.
Max found it easy to do something as simple as cradle a baby in her arms when she had never done it before.
"Sit down when you hold her most of the time so you don't drop her," Cindy advised. "'Specially since you ain't never held an infant."
Holding Sofiya as carefully as she could, Max took tiny steps towards the couch. Cindy followed, keeping a watchful eye as if Sofiya were her child.
"Now what?" Max asked once she sat.
"Well, she ain't crying now. Most of the time they just wanna be held."
"How do you know what she wants?" I can't believe I'm asking for child advice from Original Cindy.
"All a matter of process of elimination. If a bottle doesn't work, try her diaper. If nothing's wrong with the diaper, she might just wanna be held," Cindy took a glance at the clock. "How we gonna explain all this to Normal?"
"Just tell him I'll be late…hey, maybe Logan knows a little something about kids."
"I highly doubt it," Original Cindy raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Meanwhile, I still have a paycheck to collect."
"Wait—how am I gonna get to Logan's?" Max stopped her roomie from leaving. "I can't hold her and ride my cycle at the same time."
Original Cindy pursed his lips. "We'll have to make a backpack of some kind. What were those things called?…" She went into the kitchen and began pulling things out of shelves and underneath couches and an hour later, Cindy and Max had figured out how to fasten Sofiya to Max's back in kind of a papoose. Sofiya didn't complain but Max admitted she felt silly.
"I look like an old lady," she grimaced.
"Nah, you just look like you need help," Cindy joked. "We gotta get dressed and outta here—you to Logan's and me to Jam Pony."
*
Jam Pony, of course, was bedlam by the time Original Cindy and Max showed up. Max unhooked Sofiya from her back, removed her from the backpack and held her tightly as biker after biker whizzed by them.
"Bip, bip, bip! Come on you slackers! What the hell are you doing?" Normal barked orders like a common prison guard. "I'm not paying you to ride bikes all day. Oh, wait a minute—yes I am. Welly, welly, well, well," he had caught sight of them. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I have some family—" Max started but Normal cut her off.
"Family business to take care of. Now you listen good, missy-miss, I'm not going to have you going AWOL on me again."
"Give a sista a break, man," Original Cindy said.
"Yeah," protested Max. "I need a personal day. It's a sad story, really. My sister broke her leg and, well, what can I say?" She held Sofiya out to him. "So you see my dilemma here, don't ya Normal?"
"For the love of Mike, get this thing out of here," he pushed Sofiya (who had woken up and now peering around her surroundings) away with a look of disgust on his face as if he'd touched something dirty. Max took back the baby. "I see the family resemblance," Normal added, his words dripping in distain. "Just what I need around here—another Guevara. Take the personal day. Like I give a damn. I know you're just going to do it anyway."
"Thanks, Normal," Max threw him a sarcastic smile. "I knew you'd understand." Just as she turned to leave, grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. It was Alec.
"If it isn't the great Max," he said, "carrying a heavier load than the other night. Looks like you had a little too much fun, huh?"
"If you want to keep all your teeth, I suggest you let me go," Max ruthlessly tore her arm from Alec's grip. "And in case you can't count, a baby takes nine months to be born," she rolled her eyes. "She's not mine, I'm taking care of her as a favor to another X5."
"Okay, whatever," Alec shrugged, looking at Sofiya warily. There was something in the infant's face that was sort of familiar. "Just don't count on getting the mother of the year award."
"But of course you can always count on getting the idiot of the year award. I'll present you with the award myself with a boot up the ass."
"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Alec almost laughed. "There's definitely some fire in that furnace."
"Shut up," Max spat. After being dragged out of her sleep by Sofiya's arrival, she was too tired to think of any clever insults.
She left Jam Pony, carefully strapped the baby to her back and go on her bike. She rode to Logan's as quickly as she could, praying that he knew something about babies or as a minimum, an inkling. Max laughed to herself, Welcome to your world. Destroying cults by night, mother of the year by day. God, could I get around any more?
Clio better have a good story to go along with this. It's only been a few hours but it feels like days—weeks, maybe— since Sofiya arrived. Her letter was so weird. Maybe Logan can figure out what she means when she said she and her daughter were in danger. I'm glad I brought it with me.
Amazed at how well Sofiya stayed still on the bike ride to Foggle Towers, Max unhooked her from her back and carried her to the elevator and went up to the penthouse. With fire in her eyes she had noticed Asha's car outside, beside Logan's Aztec.
Bitch.