Chapter 32

With a very confused expression on his face, Dan walked out of the bank shaking his head. He turned to Richard Harrison and said, “That went easy.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Richard said.

They had barely sat down in the chairs when the bank manager was handing Dan a loan agreement. It was like it had already been prepared for them.

Pausing at the curb, Dan hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. He got out his cell phone and called Ellen.

When she answered, he said, “I just got finished at the bank. Tell your father ‘thank you.’”

Ellen laughed and said, “That didn’t take you long to figure out.”

“Tell him I really appreciate it,” Dan said.

“Every small business needs a good mentor. Dad’s the best,” Ellen said.

She was pleased that Dan had called so soon after leaving the bank. She had known he was going in at ten and it was only forty minutes after ten.

“Yes, he is,” Dan said with a smile.

“I’ll see you tonight for the celebration. Go take care of business,” Ellen said, “I’ll call Daddy and let him know what you said.”

“Thanks,” Dan said. She hung up after exchanging farewells.

Richard had listened to the exchange and asked, “Who put in the word for you at the bank?”

“Harold Derkins,” Dan answered.

“That would do it,” Richard said shaking his head. He wondered how a kid like Dan knew someone like Harold Derkins. He said, “I expected to be at the bank for a couple of hours. Twenty minutes is a record.”

“You expected to be at the bank for hours? I expected to have to visit a dozen banks,” Dan said.

He wasn’t kidding. He had been afraid that he was going to have to borrow the money from a guy with a bent nose who did business from the back table of a bar.

Richard laughed and said, “I know you were worried, but you shouldn’t have been.”

“I really want to thank you for coming down here with me,” Dan said. He knew that having Richard along helped his chances of getting a loan significantly.

“It’s a pleasure working with you,” Richard said.

“Can I still call upon you for business advice?” Dan asked.

“Of course, you can. I expect that we’ll be talking even more now that your business is started. We’ll be handling your expansion before too long,” Richard said with a grin. He enjoyed the expression that passed across Dan’s face.

Shaking his head, Dan said, “When I think small business, I think of a pizzeria. Why is it that when you think small business, you’re thinking of a national chain?”

“Because that is our goal at the Small Business Administration. We want to see small businesses be successful. Sometimes that means getting a national footprint,” Richard answered.

“I hope that your faith in me is well placed,” Dan said. He thought about all of the other people who believed that he would succeed. It was quite a long list, and thinking about it was a little overwhelming at times.

“I’m sure it is,” Richard said.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity. For more than a year he had been planning for this, and now was the time to start executing those plans. The first major step was to sign the lease for the pizzeria. His lawyer was happy for the business. The landlord was overjoyed to have a new tenant that he was sure would bring in a lot of traffic.

With the lease in hand, and the keys in his pocket, Dan met with an architect to layout the interior of the restaurant. As the architect walked around the store, Dan described his concept for the pizzeria. The architect nodded his head as he tried to develop a picture of what Dan wanted to do. The architect was reminded of an ice cream parlor where people lined up to point out the flavor of ice cream they wanted.

After leaving the meeting with the architect, Dan went to the health department to initiate getting all of the proper permits for the restaurant. The first thing they did was send him down the hall to get the proper permits for running a business. Despite the fact that he was dealing with bureaucracies, it was a remarkably painless process. He soon walked out with the permits he needed. The health department would issue the last permit once the build out was completed, and the certificate of occupancy was granted.

Dan spent the next couple of days at home at his desk. He was busy ordering the furnishings for the restaurant. The build out was going to be the biggest task facing him for the next two months. He talked to George at Chef Master about the equipment for the restaurant and scheduled delivery for the end of January.

Although he was busy, Dan made sure to spend time with his friends. While most of the time with them was spent relaxing and having fun, some of that time was spent on business. Ann helped design the sign for the front of the pizzeria. Sally gave him massages to help relax after his long days of work. Ellen went over his action item list helping to fill in gaps that he had missed. His sister had filled in after school, making calls on his behalf.

Dan’s cell phone rang and he answered it, “Parker’s Perfect Pizza.”

“Hello. Are you Dan Parker?”

“Yes,” Dan answered not recognizing the voice.

“This is Eric Williams. We met during that tornado.”

Remembering who the man was, Dan said, “Sure. I remember. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing fine. I called because I found out that they were starting another CERT team, and I thought you might be interested in joining it,” Eric said.

Recalling the people with the green hardhats, Dan said, “I remember them. They were the people who were doing first aid and helping out.”

“That’s right,” Eric said.

Dan looked at the pile of work on his desk and thought about it. He wanted to make a contribution to the community and this seemed like a perfect chance. The problem was that he was going to be very busy starting the pizzeria.

He asked, “What’s the commitment?”

“They are having training classes every Wednesday evening for three months, starting in January,” Eric answered.

Dan decided that he would try it out. If it interfered with starting his business, he would drop out. He asked, “Who do I talk to about joining up?”

Eric gave him a name and a number to call. Dan repeated it, to make sure that he had gotten it right. After the exchange, Eric said, “I’ll see you after the New Years.”

“Sure,” Dan said, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake.

When Tom and Alison returned home for the Christmas holidays, Dan took them to the store. Entering it, he gestured around the empty space and said, “Here’s the future home of Parker’s Perfect Pizza.”

“Wow, this is huge,” Tom said. It was a whole lot bigger than he had imagined. When he had first raised the idea, his concept had been a little place with two or three tables. This was going to be a real restaurant. He asked, “So where is the root beer tap going to be?”

Dan laughed at the question, concerning root beer and pointed to one wall as he said, “The one for customers is going to be over here. The one for you is out back in the alley.”

“You better put that one in first,” Tom said with a grin.

Alison laughed at the exchange. She asked, “What’s it going to look like once you turn it into a real pizzeria?”

Dan moved over to one side and said, “That back room over there is going to be expanded and turned into a kitchen with a storage room. The dishwasheing machine, refrigerators, dough machines and stoves will be there. Where I am standing is going to be the pizza cooking station. People will be able to pick out the ingredients that they want and watch as I prepare their pizza for them. There will be tables along the walls, but the center of the room is going to be mostly empty. I’m not going to have everyone crowded together.”

“Are you going with picnic tables?” Alison asked. She had remembered him talking about having picnic tables for people to sit on, rather than sit at.

“I’m going to have a couple of picnic tables. I thought I would also include some patio tables and some kitchen tables. Different kinds of parties require different kinds of tables,” Dan answered.

“That’s interesting,” Tom said. He tried to imagine what it would look like, but was having a difficult time piecing it together.

Dan pointed to the far corner and said, “I’m dedicating the corners to games. That corner over there will be dedicated to Twister. There are going to be spots on the floor and a big spinner mounted on the wall. It will have beanbag chairs and little tables for people to set their plates on.”

“I love Twister,” Alison said with a grin. Looking over at Dan, she asked, “Did you ever play nude Twister?”

Unable to avoiding overhearing the exchange, Tom groaned and said, “Don’t say things like that. I’ll never get that image out of my head.”

“The whole idea is that Dan is supposed to never be able to get that image out of his mind,” Alison said with a laugh.

“You’re his girlfriend, and he’s already got that image in his head. I’m trying to keep images like that out of mine,” Tom said shaking his head.

“Oh, you’re allowed to have that image in your mind, you’re just not allowed to act on it. On the other hand, I expect Dan to act on it,” Alison replied.

Holding his head in his hands, Tom said, “You’re a cruel woman.”

Dan laughed at the exchange and said, “I’ll have a Nerf basketball court over there. I’m putting in an air hockey table over there. I still haven’t figured out what to do with the last corner.”

“How about video games?” Tom asked.

“No. Video games tend to be individual activities. I want group games that you don’t have to pay for,” Dan said.

“How about water pistols?” Alison asked.

“I thought about that and then realized that it could get out of hand. I don’t want to end up having unofficial wet t-shirt parties and chasing away the families,” Dan answered.

“I didn’t think about that. You could always put in a dance floor,” Alison said.

“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll think about it,” Dan said.

“Just leave it empty and let people come up with their own entertainment. Put a box with different kinds of toys in it and let them decide what to do. People are a lot more creative than we give them credit for,” Tom said.

“That’s a pretty good idea,” Alison said nodding her head. There were times when she definitely felt like she was the dumb one in the group.

“Actually, now that you mention it, that does sound like a good idea. None of the corner areas are really going to be all that big. In the worst case, people could sit on the floor cross-legged talking to each other,” Dan said.

“What about the decorations?” Alison asked.

“Ann is going to paint the walls. She won’t tell me what she’s planning, but I’m sure that it’s going to be amazing,” Dan answered.