Chapter 42

It was five minutes to opening time and Dan had just finished making a batch of pizza dough. The store was ready to open and he had just taken a seat at the table to organize the papers for the accountant. He had a checklist of what he needed to provide the man who did his taxes, and wanted to check it before they got busy.

Dan looked up when the bell over the door rang. He was surprised to see Kevin limp into the pizzeria. The place wasn’t even open yet and he wasn’t scheduled to work until the afternoon. He hoped there wasn’t a problem with Kevin’s health.

Concerned, he said, “Hello, Kevin. What are you doing here so early?”

“I came to talk to you before you got busy,” Kevin answered pulling a chair out to sit upon.

“I hope that it’s nothing serious,” Dan said giving Kevin his full attention.

Kevin sat down at the table and said, “I’ve been shot at by men who were serious about killing me! I had a leg blown to hell! I’ve been through some shit that you wouldn’t believe. I’d say that I’ve got a bit of experience with working under pressure.”

“I’d have to agree with you,” Dan said nodding his head. He couldn’t imagine going through experiences like that.

“I think I can handle the pizzeria a night or two without you being here,” Kevin said looking Dan in the eye. He had driven home the previous night thinking about how much he enjoyed his job. Although he had been worried about dealing with customers, the reality had turned out to be quite different than his fears. He found that it had really helped him get over some of the issues in his life. Dan was the perfect boss. It amazed him how Dan was always looking out for his — Kevin’s — health. It wasn’t until he had pulled up to the driveway of his parent’s house that it dawned on him that no one was looking out for Dan’s health.

Dan nodded his head and said, “I’m sure you can.”

Kevin shook his head thinking that Dan might say that, but he wouldn’t act on it. He said, “You need to take a night off before you drop dead.”

“I’m fine,” Dan said dismissively. He figured that in a month or two, everything would be routine and he’d be able to take an occasional break from work.

Kevin sat up and stared Dan in the eye. He said, “No. You are not fine. You’re exhausted. I’m throwing you out of here at four this afternoon even if I have to call over the high school football team to do it.”

“But...”

“I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” Kevin said rising from the chair to leave.

Dan stared at Kevin as he limped out of the pizzeria. It seemed to him that Kevin’s limp was getting less pronounced. For a long time he had thought the limp was because of the prosthetic limb. He had been surprised to learn that it was the other leg that caused the limp. It had been damaged in the explosion. After the door closed behind Kevin, Dan murmured, “It’s not that I don’t trust him, it’s just that I feel that I can’t leave here.”

It was after the lunch rush and there were still a few customers in the pizzeria. Working at the rear of the room, Dan was busy mopping the floor. The floor was decorated with a hodge-podge of colored tiles that prompted some of the guests to jump from tile to tile like a game. He rather enjoyed the act of mopping the floor. It was the kind of task that allowed him to think while accomplishing something. He mopped the floor three times a day; once after lunch, one before the evening rush, and once after closing.

Although none of the tables were visibly dirty, Vicki was busy cleaning the tables. Dan insisted that they clean the tables by spraying them with a heavy duty cleanser after lunch and at closing. The powerful smell of the cleanser would hang in the air for an hour. She would be leaving soon, but knew that the pizzeria would be sparkling clean before she left. There were times when she wished that she could keep her house that clean. With two young kids at home, keeping a house clean was basically impossible.

Susan worked three days a week during the lunch rush and a full day on the weekends. At the moment, she was refilling the shakers with parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and peppers. After that was done, she’d get to work cleaning the pizza station. It was a bit of work, but she liked the clean atmosphere of the place. This was actually her favorite time of the day.

Everyone turned to look at the telephone when it rang. The telephone never rang during this at time. Dan recovered first and went over to answer it.

He picked up the receiver and said, “Parker’s Perfect Pizza.”

“Hello, Dan,” his dad said.

“Oh, hi, Dad,” Dan said. Hearing that he wasn’t taking an order, the two women went back to work cleaning.

“I just wanted you to know that I was going to stop by the pizzeria tonight. I thought you could use a night off,” his father said. He had been worried when Ann had called him at work and mentioned how tired Dan was looking.

“You don’t need to do that,” Dan said.

“I know I don’t need to do it. I want to do this. You go home and have a nice time with your two ladies,” his father said.

There was a time when he would have killed to have two women, like Dan, but that offer by Pat to be the second woman had forever ruined that fantasy!

“Kevin said that he’d close up the store tonight if I decide to take the evening off,” Dan said despite the fact that he had decided that he wasn’t going to take Kevin up on his offer.

“Good. Take the evening off. Let him close up the store,” his father said.

“That’s okay, I’ll probably work. I have to make the deposit and that would require me to drive in and then drive over to the bank,” Dan said trying to justify working that night.

“Diana can drop the money off at the bank.”

“No, I’d rather she didn’t,” Dan said. Earlier that week she had been rather ambivalent about working that evening. He wasn’t even sure if she was coming to work or not. Although he didn’t want to say it, he said, “She isn’t all that dependable.”

In a much sterner voice, Dan’s father said, “She will make the deposit.”

“Yes, Dad,” Dan said, knowing that Diana would make the deposit even if it required his father to take her there.

“Good, Son. Enjoy your night off,” his father said just before hanging up. He didn’t want to give Dan a chance to argue. He was going to call Ann back and tell her to keep Dan at home. He suspected that Dan might leave for a while, but he’d be back before the pizzeria closed. He knew that Dan hadn’t learned the very important lesson that a single person couldn’t do everything. He was also going to have a very long talk with Diana.

After hanging up the phone, Dan wondered how he was going to explain to his father that he wasn’t going to take the night off.

Dan had just finished making the dough for the evening and headed over to the pizza station to get a mug of root beer. He wished that he had coffee, but the demand for coffee wasn’t high enough at that time of day to justify making a pot. He yawned thinking it was only seven hours to closing time. He needed to wake up. The high school would be letting out soon and the kids would start showing up.

Granny Parker entered the pizzeria and headed towards the bathroom. She was carrying a sack of clothes with her. Spotting Dan, she went over to him.

“Hello, Dan. How is business?”

“Business is good,” Dan answered.

He was meeting the payroll, paying the bills, and had a little left over to pay himself. The truth was that he didn’t expect to be doing quite that well so early in the business. He wondered if Mr. Harrison had been right about needing to spend the time to plan for success.

“You’re putting in long hours,” Granny said studying his face. There were bags under his eyes and the normal twinkle was missing.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Dan said. He wasn’t going to argue that point.

Shaking her head, Granny said, “Ernie used to do the same thing. He’d work from sunrise to well over sunset. There’d be weeks when I didn’t see him around the house except for dinner. Sometimes he even missed dinner. He’d stagger home and fall in bed exhausted.”

Dan didn’t know what to say. He nodded his head and said, “Uh, huh.”

“Then he’d get sick and end up in bed for two or three days,” Granny said looking at Dan with a penetrating stare.

Frowning, Dan asked, “Are you trying to tell me something?”

“I’m not trying to tell you something, I am telling you something. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’re going to get sick!” Granny said jabbing a finger in his direction to make a point.

Last night it had been Ann and Sally telling that he had to take a day off of work. This morning Kevin had insisted that he should take the night off. Then his father had called. Now, Granny was telling him to take some time off.

He asked, “What’s the matter? Everyone has been telling me to take a night off.”

“Have you looked in the mirror, lately?” Granny asked.

“I shaved this morning,” Dan answered not realizing that it was a rhetorical question at first. He blushed and said, “Oh, I get it.”

“You need to take a night off,” Granny Parker said.

“I’ll think about it,” Dan said.

Shaking her head, Granny Parker said, “You need to do more than think about it.”

Sandra entered the pizzeria a little early that afternoon. She went into the back kitchen and watched as Dan made little balls of pizza dough for the evening. It dawned on her that Dan was making balls of different sizes corresponding to different size pizzas. She wondered how he knew how many of each he had to make.

“You’re early,” Dan said after looking over at her and then glancing down at his wristwatch to check the time. For a moment there he had been afraid that he was running behind of schedule.

Sandra nodded her head and said, “I was thinking that I should learn how to cook pizzas. It seems to me that you need another cook more than you need a waitress.”

“I could use another cook,” Dan said acknowledging the situation. He said, “I’ll start your training on your next shift.”

Sandra said, “I’m ready to start now.”

“I know, but I need you to help fix the pizzas, today,” Dan said. He looked down at the tray with the balls of pizza dough. It looked to him like it was more than enough to get through the evening. He put the rest of the dough in the refrigerator so that it would be available for use the next morning.

Sandra was quiet for a moment and then said, “You look tired.”

“You aren’t the first one who has told me that today,” Dan said with a sigh.

“You need to take some time off,” she said with a worried frown on her face. She’d hate to lose the job because the owner died.

“I’ll take a day off one of these days,” Dan said as he lifted the tray to carry it out to the pizza station. He looked at Sandra and said, “The after school crowd will be in here soon.”

“Okay,” Sandra said. She came here straight from the high school and was allowed to leave school early on, due to a work-study program. Looking over at him, she said, “I hope I didn’t offend you about needing some time off. It’s just that I’m worried about you.”