Chapter 33

James Vic showed up on time to sign the contract. As soon as the contract had been signed, and Dan had handed him the first check, he pulled out his cell phone. He paced around the room as he made a number of calls. Dan could hear him making the arrangements for different subcontractors to show up on the job site.

After the last call was completed, he said, “I’ll be by tomorrow afternoon to make sure that the dumpster has been delivered. My crew will start the day after tomorrow at eight sharp. I send the crew home at five. You’re welcome to come by while we’re here, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come in when we’re not here. A construction site isn’t a safe place. If you do come by, wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.”

“I’ll do that,” Dan said.

James rubbed his hands together and said, “I always enjoy this moment. I see what is here and imagine what it’s going to look like when it’s done. Of course, I enjoy the end of the job even more. I see what is there and remember what it looks like now.”

“I can see where that would be very rewarding,” Dan said.

Dan walked into the city recreation building and looked around. He had never been in the building before. There were signs to the gymnasium and he could hear the sounds of people playing basketball in the direction the signs pointed. There was a message board with announcements of classes covering a dozen different subjects including sewing, pottery, and aerobics. He wondered if he hadn’t had dyslexia if he would have spent any time in the building as a teenager. Afternoon activities had been denied him because of the time required to study the material from school.

He stepped back from the message board, and noticed a handwritten sign with an arrow on it. The arrow was pointing down the hall identifying where the CERT training was being held. He headed in the indicated direction. He looked through the window of a room along the way and saw a bunch of women learning self defense. Quite a number of them looked a little angry. A shiver went down his spine at the thought of being the only man in that room.

At the end of the hallway, there were four policemen standing around near a door. They were talking to each other. Each man had a cup of coffee in one hand and a cookie or four in the other. He headed towards them to find out where the meeting was taking place.

When he arrived, one of the policemen asked, “Are you here for the CERT kickoff meeting?”

“Yes,” Dan answered.

“Go on in this room. There’s coffee and cookies inside. Help yourself,” the officer said gesturing towards the door with his head.

“Thanks,” Dan said. He wondered what police were doing at this thing.

Eric spotted Dan when he entered the room and headed over to intercept him. As he walked up, he said, “Hey, Dan. It’s good to see you again.”

“How are you doing?” Dan asked.

There were about sixteen people seated in the rows of chairs facing the front of the room. There were a lot more chairs than people.

“I’m doing better. School is out and I’ve got a job again,” Eric said.

“You’re going to school?” Dan asked. He didn’t know much about Eric.

“Yes. I’m going to the community college while I try to figure out what I want to do with my life,” Eric said. He hadn’t declared a major yet and had no idea what he wanted to study. Tuition was cheap enough to take different courses until he found something that interested him.

“I’ve taken a couple of courses up there,” Dan said. He decided that he’d give Eric a copy of the articles.

“It’s a good school,” Eric said. He pointed to the table that had the coffee and cookies. He said, “Let’s load up on munchies and take a seat.”

As Dan poured a cup of coffee into one of the Styrofoam cups, he asked, “So you found a job?”

“Yes. That tornado tore up the video store where I used to work. I lost my job there. That was a shame because I kind of liked it,” Eric said. He would be the first to admit that he was drifting through life. He grabbed a couple of cookies and put them on a napkin. They were chocolate chip cookies and looked delicious. The chocolate chips were huge.

“So what are you doing now?” Dan asked while grabbing two cookies.

“I’m working at the music store in the mall selling CDs. It’s a job,” Eric said.

“Sounds interesting,” Dan said.

“Oh, you know the guy in the car that the sign fell on?” Eric asked looking over at Dan.

“Yes,” Dan answered.

He remembering the car. He had called the real estate company after the tornado and found that the realtor hadn’t been the guy in the car. He’d been running late and hadn’t even been in the area.

Juggling the napkin with cookies, Eric poured a cup of coffee. He said, “He was busted up pretty good, but he wasn’t killed.”

“I’m glad to hear that he wasn’t killed,” Dan said.

“Yeah. I’ve been looking forward to joining this CERT thing. I never felt so stupid in my whole life and I’ve done some pretty dumb things,” Eric said.

He had learned a lot about himself that afternoon. The lesson hadn’t been pretty. Until that day he had always imagined himself as able to handle any situation that might arise. That day, he had discovered that he was clueless when it came to an emergency.

“I felt pretty bad that day,” Dan said earning an odd look from Eric. He looked around and saw the policemen enter the room. He said, “It looks like they are about to start. Let’s get a seat.”

Dan sat down on the last row. Eric looked at him and then at the front row. He really wanted to sit on the front row, but he took a seat next to Dan. He was so excited that he could barely sit still. He nudged Dan and said, “It’s about to start.”

One of the policemen walked to the front of the room and said, “I’m Captain Dawson. I assume that everyone is here to learn about what it means to be a member of a Community Emergency Response Team or, as we call it, CERT.”

When everyone nodded their heads, he said, “I’d like to start off by having everyone introduce themselves and say why they are interested in joining.”

Dan listened to everyone introduce themselves and give their reasons for joining. Almost all of them had the same basic reason. They wanted to contribute to the community. When it was Dan’s turn, he stood and said, “I’m Dan Parker. Like everyone else here, I want to make a positive contribution to my community.”

Dan sat down and Eric popped out of his chair like he was a jack in the box. Speaking fast and waving his hands around excitedly, he said, “I’m Eric Williams. I was in that tornado back in November. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for this guy sitting next to me. I mean, he came into the store shouting that a tornado was coming. I was standing there like idiot and he’s taking charge of the situation. He’s dragging a woman and a kid into the cooler of the convenience store. I follow him in there just before the tornado hits.

“The store gets busted up real bad, but we’re safe because that cooler room is really built solid. Afterwards, we go out and the kid’s mother is hurt. I mean, she’s just lying there bleeding and all. Whoa ... it’s like really intense. Mother and kid reunited ... It just tugged at my heart to see them back together again.

“Anyway, Dan, he takes care of her. I’m standing there watching. We find the clerk and he’s got a busted arm. Dan takes care of him. After that, we go out and find a whole bunch of other people who are hurt. I have no idea what to do, so I’m just following him around.

“He’s going up to cars and finding people who are hurt. There are people with broken bones. There’s this guy with a broken neck sitting there. His head is sitting at this crazy angle. Another woman says she can’t feel legs and is trapped in car. Dan over here is a real hero,” Eric said getting very excited. He was pointing at Dan with both hands.

Calming down a little, he said, “I’ve never felt so stupid in my life. Here are all these injured people and I don’t know what to do. I’m seeing other people who know what to do. They’re wearing green vests and green hardhats. I say to myself that I should be the one taking care of the injured because I was there first. I couldn’t because I didn’t know what to do. So that’s why I’m here. I’m here to learn what to do in an emergency.”

Eric sat down and faced the front staring at Captain Dawson. Dan was blinking at the rapid fire delivery of the story. Everyone had turned around to stare at him. Captain Dawson said, “Okay. That’s a real good introduction to what CERT is all about. It’s about members of the community coming together during an emergency to help others.”

Listening to Captain Dawson explain the role of CERT, Dan felt that it was a good way to contribute something to the community. His interest only grew when they described the training he would get. The idea that he could learn about first aid, fire fighting, and search and rescue was exciting. This training looked like it could fill some significant gaps in his knowledge. It was going to be tough to balance his business with the training, but he wanted to pursue it.

When the meeting came to an end, Eric said, “This is so exciting.”

“It’s a good chance to learn some valuable skills,” Dan said.

“It’s more than that,” Eric said. He waved his hands trying to come up with the words to describe what he felt. Finally, he said, “It’s my chance to learn how to become a hero.”

“Okay,” Dan said.

“Look, we’re just regular guys. We’re not Superman, Batman, or Robin. We’re regular guys, but we had a chance to be heroes that day. You were, I wasn’t,” Eric said.

Dan said, “I wasn’t a hero that day.”

Eric frowned and said, “You saved that little boy and that woman. The boy could have been seriously hurt, but you protected him. That woman could have ended up with scars. She didn’t because you saved her. You did something and I just followed. I want more than that.”

Dan really remembered that day very differently. He said, “You were there with me the whole time. It wasn’t me alone.”

“You’re just being too kind,” Eric said.

Shaking his head, Dan said, “Come to my car with me. I have something to give to you.”

“What?” Eric asked.

“There is something that you really need to read,” Dan said.

“How was your meeting?” Sally asked Dan when he entered the apartment.

“It was interesting,” Dan said. He was still trying to make up his mind about Eric Williams. He couldn’t tell if the guy was just overly exuberant, or crazy.

She walked over to him and greeted him with a kiss. It was a long passionate kiss. Smiling at him, she asked, “Just how interesting was it?”

“Uh, not as interesting as that kiss,” Dan answered.

“Good,” Sally said.

Ann and Alison came out of the bedroom. Alison said, “That’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like that.”