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Vol. 14 : Baby gift

Hiroto: Jenny, you remember Bob? You met him at last year's Christmas party?

Jenny: Bob... Bob... Oh yeah, (1) I remember him, the one who had to wear the Santa outfit, right?

Hiroto: Yeah, that's him. (2) He had a baby... Well, his wife had a baby last week, and...

Jenny: Oh really? That's great news! Boy or girl?

Hiroto: A girl ... You should see him in the office. I mean, he's like going around showing everyone his baby photos over and over again. (3) I've had to do the "Oh-wow-she's sooo-cute" routine three times already...

Jenny: C'mon. Give the guy some slack. (4) I'm sure you'd be a doting father if your wife had a newborn baby.

Hiroto: Anyway, I'm thinking of getting a nice gift for them, and I thought you might have some ideas since you got a lot of presents when you had your kids.

Jenny: Hmm. I think you should just ask him what he wants.

Hiroto: Huh? It's a present. (5) You don't ask people what they want. They wouldn't be as happy if they knew what they were getting. You gotta choose stuff that they'll like.

Jenny: (6) Yeah, well, you know what? (7) Only a couple with a baby knows what the "right stuff" is. Based on my experience, (8) it's not cute or trendy things that will make them happy — it's what they really need. (9) Could even be diapers.

Hiroto: No way! (10) No one would give diapers as presents...

Jenny: No, seriously. When it comes to a newborn baby, (11) you can never have too much baby formula or too many diapers. (12) You think they need a picture frame? That's a classic bad choice...

Hiroto: WHAT! That was the first thing on my list.

Jenny: Yeah, well, when my first baby was born I had enough of those to open a store.

Hiroto: Hmm...

Jenny: Trust me. (13) Been there, done that. Now, wanna make a quick phone call to Bob and ask him what he'd like to have?

Hiroto: OK, (14) I guess you've got a point. But I'll e-mail him. That way I won't have to listen to him bragging...