David smiled as he held Max close to him, but the child was certainly giving him a run for his money. "Max, I'll only let you down if you promise to be beside me the whole time AND hold my hand!" Max groaned, quite loudly, but sighed.
"Fine!" David smiled and let the boy walk on hi own as they held hands and began to walk through the store.
David had found the little four-year-old sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of the night, crying his eyes out. David quickly went over and asked what was wrong. Apparently the boy's parents left him there, claiming to come back for him. They told him that earlier that morning… It was clear they weren't coming back. David couldn't leave the child alone, and he knew that the kid hadn't eaten all day.
David had a plan set out. Take the child to his place, then call CPS. However, that didn't happen. The hour that he had spent with Max, taking him home and feeding him, it caused his heart to soar. David lived alone and currently had money sent from his grandmother that was for food and anything else he could have wanted.
So David had decided he would keep Max. After all, he knew the pain of having parents who didn't care…. He wouldn't take the chance for that to happen again to Max.
So today they went necessity shopping!
"So Max, what clothes do you want?" David asked as Max hesitated.
"I..I dunno…." He asked as David smiled.
"No worries. You can have the clothes you like, we'll need quite a bit." Good thing he had a lot saved from that money that was sent to him. After a bit of picking, choosing, and trying on, Max had two week's worth of clothes. Which would definitely be more in the amount later on. David next grabbed Max three pairs of shoes, a tooth brush, shampoo and conditioner, dinosaur soap, toothpaste, a few toys, some hoodies, a winter coat, a comb, a brush, etc. Their cart was filled to the brim. Though David didn't regret any of it. In fact, he was more excited about shopping then Max was.
"Why are you doing this?" David froze in his tracks.
"Pardon?"
"Why are you buying me all of this stuff?" David smiled gently.
"This is stuff you're going to need if you're going to be living with me. Didn't you have any of this stuff before?" Max glared at the ground.
"No…." David patted Max's head gently.
"You do now." David said as they went to pay for it all. The total was depressing, with Max commenting about how big the number was and how he could only count to twenty! That… that wasn't good at all… But David would make sure that Max was in daycare and learning by next week.
He didn't regret a single moment of it.