Chapter 35

It was the middle of February and the construction phase of the build out for the restaurant was completed. Dan and Mr. Foreman walked up to the door of the pizzeria. Dan was so nervous that he could barely talk. He had the last check for the construction job in his pocket. Handing it over was going to put a considerable dent in his business accounts.

Opening the door, Dan walked into his pizzeria. Amazed, he looked around at it. It was exactly how he imagined it. He walked over to the pizza station and got behind the counter. He mentally went through the steps of creating a large pizza finding that the setup was perfect. He walked over to the secondary kitchen and entered it. It was exactly how he had wanted it.

Coming out of the second kitchen, he checked the two bathrooms. The men’s room had a toilet and a urinal. The women’s room had two toilets. Pleased, he went back into the main room and turned around looking at it.

He said, “I love it.”

James said, “We’ll go through the final checklist and make sure that everything works to your satisfaction.”

Mr. Foreman said, “It looks good.”

“Thank you,” James said. He looked around and said, “This is my favorite time in a project. I stand here looking at it and remember what it looked like when we started. Do you know what I feel?”

Smiling at the question, Mr. Foreman answered, “You feel the same thing I do at moments like this. You feel pride.”

“That’s right. Pride,” James said. Looking over at Dan, he said, “Let’s get to that checklist.”

The three men went through every inch of the pizzeria. The toilets were flushed. The faucets opened up and allowed to run. Every light was turned on and off. Every piece of kitchen equipment was turned on and off. Every door was opened and closed.

No detail was overlooked.

The inspection took almost three hours. By the time it was done, Dan was convinced that his money had been well spent, and Peter Foreman was convinced that he had found an assistant.

Dan said, “I’m ready to sign off on it.”

Dan and James went to the pizza station and signed the documents. One of the documents was an agreement to serve as a reference to future customers. Dan had smiled when he learned about that.

Dan handed James the check and said, “This was money well spent.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you like it,” James said. He said, “I just wish that I could see it with the tables, chairs, and decorations.”

“I know what you mean,” Mr. Foreman said looking around the room.

Smiling, Dan said, “I am scheduled to open on the first of March. That happens to be a Saturday. However, I’m throwing a little pizza party for my friends Friday night. I’ll open the doors at five and close them at ten. You are both invited to attend. Bring your families and be prepared to have some fun.”

James said, “I’ll be there.”

“Same here,” Mr. Foreman said.

“That’s great,” Dan said.

Shaking Dan’s hand, James said, “Now that our business is done, I’m going to head out.”

Before James had a chance to leave, Mr. Foreman put an arm on his shoulder and said, “I hope you don’t mind, but you and I have some business to discuss.”

“We do?” James asked.

He was hoping to go home and take his parents out to dinner with the money from the job. He did that after every job. They had helped him get into the business and it was his way of thanking them.

“Yes, we do,” Peter said while leading James towards the door.

Dan waved to the pair and said, “Have fun.”

The day after the inspection, the ‘dining’ tables were delivered. Dan and Eric wrestled them into place. There were two tall bar tables, four picnic tables, three dining room tables, a long conference table, and six patio tables. The little tables for the Twister area didn’t take much effort to put into place. The job didn’t go as fast as Dan expected. Eric kept stopping and saying, “This place is outstanding.”

Dan didn’t mind the interruptions that much. He had needed the extra help for the conference table and one of the dining room tables. When everything was in place, he stepped back and examined the room. It was an odd collection of tables that let you know that you weren’t in a standard restaurant.

He said, “I like it.”

“How come you have the picnic tables pushed up against the wall?” Eric asked. He had meant to ask earlier but his attention had been distracted by the basketball markings on the floor.

“So that people can sit on them,” Dan answered.

“They’re going to be staring at the wall,” Eric said with a frown.

Dan went over to one of the picnic tables and sat on it with his feet on the bench. He said, “Not if they’re sitting like this.”

“You can’t do that. This is a restaurant,” Eric said sputtering.

“It’s my restaurant, and you can sit like this if you want to,” Dan said. He said, “In this place, the rules are slightly bent.”

“That is so cool,” Eric said nodding his head. He sat down on the picnic table top and said, “I used to sit like this at the park all of the time.”

“That’s where I got the idea,” Dan said.

“You are so smart. So I guess it’s almost ready to open now,” Eric said looking over at Dan like he was some kind of genius.

“Ann has to paint the walls. She said that it would take her a week,” Dan said. He also had to get the supplies in and finish hiring a crew.

“They are painted,” Eric said looking over at the white walls.

“She’s going to paint murals on each of the walls,” Dan said. She was so insistent about painting murals that there was no way he could stop her.

“What kind of murals?” Eric asked.

Shrugging his shoulders, Dan answered, “I have no idea. I’m assuming they’ll be scenes of Italy or something like that. She won’t tell me.”

“So what’s next?” Eric asked.

“I’m going to hang the Nerf Basketball hoops and the Twister spinner,” Dan answered.

“This place is so cool,” Eric said.

Dan went to the refrigerator and took out two soft plastic bottles of root beer. He took them over to the picnic table and handed one to Eric. As he opened his, he asked, “How are you doing on the articles?”

“I’m working through my personal definition of happiness. I tell you, I’m not used to thinking of life like that. I mean, I’ve been drifting along accomplishing nothing. I wasn’t heading anywhere,” Eric said.

“Reading them made me realize the same thing,” Dan said nodding his head in understanding.

Eric looked over at Dan and said, “You know when I’m really happy?”

“No,” Dan answered.

“I love that CERT training. That’s what I’d like to do,” Eric answered. The first aid section had blown him away. He said, “I’m volunteering for a First Aid Squad.”

“Interesting,” Dan said. Despite his wild ramblings when introducing himself on the first night, Eric had surprised everyone at the CERT course. He was extremely attentive and interested. He studied the material with a passion. His gung-ho attitude was contagious. Eric was emerging as the team captain.

“I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do to make a little spending money, but I don’t need much,” Eric said.

“You don’t need much?” Dan asked. He took another sip of his root beer and then replaced the plastic cap.

“No. My biggest problem has been filling my days with something to do. That’s why I’ve been working at the music store,” Eric answered. He took a sip of his root beer.

Wondering how Eric expected to support a family on the kind of money earned at a record store, Dan said, “I’m sure that you have bills.”

“Sure, but my lottery money takes care of that,” Eric said shrugging his shoulders. He had hit a lottery while vacationing in Florida. The first thing he had done was to buy a car. He would never have to work another day in his life if he didn’t want to do it.

“How much did you win?” Dan asked. He knew that Eric lived in a little studio apartment and drove a used Kia Optima. Eric loved that little car.

“I took the cash option for forty three million and some change,” Eric answered.

Dan laughed in surprise. There was no way that Eric acted like a millionaire. Shaking his head in wonder, he said, “Sometimes I have no idea what to make of you.”

“My parents say the same thing,” Eric said shaking his head. He looked around at the cardboard from the packing that had protected some of the tables. There was a large pile of it stacked in the empty corner. He said, “Let’s take the trash out to the trashcan.”

It seemed to Dan that there were a thousand things to do before he would be able to open the pizzeria. His checklist appeared to be a thousand items long.

He was reviewing the things remaining to be done when Ann walked into the pizzeria carrying a box of paints.

She put it down on the floor and asked, “Dan, can you carry in the rest of the painting supplies?”

“Sure,” Dan said putting down his checklist and heading out the door. He expected another box of paints. What he found was a huge stack of boxes. He came back to the door and asked, “Which of this stuff am I supposed to bring in?”

“All of it,” Ann answered walking around the room looking at the walls with a smile that went from ear to ear. There were a lot of blank walls that demanded her attention.

Dan made a dozen trips carrying in boxes of paints, drop clothes, brushes of every size imaginable, and a couple of sealed boxes that contained only God knows what. On his last trip, he sat down on the picnic table and said, “That’s the last of it.”

“Good, after you pull the picnic tables away from the wall you can go,” Ann said. She went to one of the boxes and grabbed a roll of masking tape.

“Go where?” Dan asked.

“I don’t know. Just go,” Ann said without looking at him. She went over to one of the other boxes and pulled out a package of plastic drop clothes.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re painting?” Dan asked.

“Nope. It’s a surprise. That’s why you have to go,” Ann answered. She knelt by the wall and started unfolding the drop cloth.

“I do have to do some work in here,” Dan said. There was no way that he was not going to work over the next week. The soda company was delivering the drink fountains in two days.

“You can come tomorrow morning. I’ll have everything drawn in and covered,” Ann said while taping down the plastic drop cloth.

Dan watched her work for a minute and then went to pull the tables from the wall. He asked, “When will you leave tonight?”

“I won’t leave until I’m done,” Ann answered. A shiver of excitement went through her body. She said, “I’ll be here all week.”

“What about...”

Ann looked over at him and said, “I’ve got everything I need in those boxes.”

“Oh,” Dan said.

“Now pull those tables away from the wall and go,” Ann said turning back to her work.

Dan pulled the tables away from the walls. When he had finished, he turned to watch Ann at work. She had laid the drop cloths the entire length of one wall and was working on the next one. He said, “I’ll leave a key for you on the pizza station.”

“Great. Lock up when you go,” Ann said without looking at him.

Dan went over and asked, “Can I give you a kiss goodbye?”

Ann turned and kissed him. It was a very passionate kiss to let him know that she wasn’t upset or mad at him. She said, “Go take care of Sally for the next few nights. She wants to talk to you about moving day. I just hope that we don’t have to rearrange the whole apartment.”

“Okay,” Dan said wondering why they would want to rearrange the apartment. Of course, his mother rearranged the living room on occasion for no apparent reason. His dad referred to his mother’s forays into home decorating as feathering her nest. He guessed it was a woman thing that he’d never understand.