Chapter 52

Dan arrived at the pizzeria to find Ernie waiting for him at the front door. The young man was wearing new blue jeans, his Parker’s Perfect Pizza tee-shirt, and a new pair of shoes.

Surprised at the change in the young man, Dan said, “Hello, Ernie.”

“Hello, Mr. Parker. I’m ready to work,” Ernie said straightening up.

Dan was about to tell Ernie to call him Dan when he thought about it. The past two weeks had been about letting Ernie understand a little about life. A little time spent showing people that he respected them would be a good thing.

Nodding his head, he said, “Okay.”

“Great,” Ernie said meaning it.

He had been afraid that Dan would send him off to another miserable job for a week. The kinds of jobs that he had imagined were pretty bad. He could see himself emptying the porta-potties that were at all of the construction sites. That had to be a horrible job.

Dan unlocked the doors and said, “You’ll need to pull the chairs down off of the tables while I start the muffins.”

“Yes, Sir,” Ernie said turning to the task immediately. This was the first time he had ever gotten there early enough to actually help open the store.

Dan watched him work for a minute and then headed towards the kitchen. There were muffins to make and the sooner they were in the oven the sooner they would be ready for sale. He had prepared enough batter for five dozen muffins. His little morning snack had taken on a life of its own. He was going to start offering chocolate chip, blueberry, and peach muffins. They all used the same batter, and that simplified things significantly.

He had just finished folding the blueberries into the batter when Ernie poked his head in the kitchen and asked, “What do you want me to do now?”

“Make some coffee,” Dan answered.

“Already started it,” Ernie said.

Surprised to learn that Ernie was actually showing some initiative, Dan said, “I guess you can put out the pizza toppings into the pizza station.”

“Yes, Sir,” Ernie said. He went over to the refrigerator and started removing the ingredients.

Dan glanced over at the young black man and said, “Don’t try to carry too many things in a single trip. You’ll drop them.”

“Yes, Sir,” Ernie said putting back one of the tubs. He decided it would be better to be safe than sorry. The last thing he wanted to do was screw up this chance. Glancing over at Dan, he knew that this was his last chance to succeed.

Cathy entered the pizzeria and saw Ernie at the pizza station. Disgusted, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m working,” Ernie said placing the tubs in the holes.

“I thought we had gotten rid of you,” Cathy said wondering if quitting was an option. She didn’t want to work with Ernie. The guy was a complete jerk and the comments he had made about her were way over the line of decency.

“Mr. Parker is giving me another chance,” Ernie said looking over at her.

“Oh,” Cathy said. She noticed that he was filling the pizza station and said, “That’s my job.”

“Mr. Parker told me to fill it,” Ernie said. He gestured to the back room and said, “We’ll ask him what he wants me to do now that you’re here.”

“Okay,” Cathy said.

Dan came out of the kitchen and headed over to the pizza station. He turned on the pizza oven so that it would be at the proper temperature when it was time to start cooking pizzas. Turning it on too early was just a waste of electricity. Noticing Cathy was there, he said, “Cathy, would you show Ernie what needs to be done in order to get the store ready to open?”

She glanced over at Ernie thinking that he was just going to watch her work and said, “I guess so.”

“Let him do the work,” Dan said. He poured himself a cup of coffee before returning to the kitchen.

Cathy went over to the pizza station and rummaged through the shelf under the cash register. She found what she was looking for and said, “Here’s the procedure we’re to follow in the morning.”

“Okay,” Ernie said looking at the sheet of paper in her hand.

Looking down at the list, she said, “The chairs are down, the coffee is made, the pizza station is filled, and Dan is working in the kitchen. We need to put the clean mugs in the freezer so they’ll be frosty cold by lunch. After that, we need to restock the to-go boxes, the pizza pans, the refrigerator, and the condiment stations. After that, we’ll inspect the bathroom and the floors.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Ernie said heading back to the kitchen to get the mugs from the kitchen.

Cathy waited in the dining area for him to return. She expected to hear the crash of mugs getting dropped. She was almost disappointed when he came out with a tray of mugs without having dropped it.

While putting the mugs into the freezer, Ernie said, “I want to apologize to you. I was not very nice to you when I worked here before.”

Cathy was shocked by his apology. She didn’t know what to say to him. She shrugged her shoulders and said, “You weren’t very nice.”

“I agree,” he said. Knowing that he’d have to be satisfied with that lukewarm acceptance of his apology, Ernie returned to putting mugs in the freezer. It was almost full. He asked, “What do I do with any mugs that won’t fit in the freezer?”

“Take them back to the kitchen. Now, Dan likes to keep at least twenty boxes for each size pizza out here. See how many of them you need before returning to the kitchen,” Cathy said.

“Right,” Ernie said turning to where Dan kept the boxes.

It was during that quiet time after lunch when Eric entered the pizzeria. He had chosen that time of day to visit, knowing that Dan wouldn’t be busy. It always amazed him that someone younger than he was, owned such a magnificent business. Each time he visited this place, his respect for Dan went up another notch.

Dan waved to him when he entered. Eric made a gesture like he was drinking from a mug and stopped by the pizza station to get a root beer. After Ernie had handed it over, he went over to where Dan was working on his books. He always felt like he was interrupting something when he came over.

He said, “Hello, Dan.”

Dan looked up at him and said, “Hello, Eric. How are things going?”

Eric smiled at Dan and, in a very calm voice, said, “Something rather amazing happened last night, and I wanted to share it with someone. I figured you would be the best person to tell.”

“What happened?” Dan asked thinking that Eric was rather subdued this afternoon. Normally the guy talked fast and expressively about whatever was going on in his life. Eric wasn’t waving his hands around in the air like usual.

“I saved someone’s life last night,” Eric said in a soft voice that wasn’t suggestive of bragging. It was the most amazing experience of his life, and he didn’t want to demean it by boasting.

Dan said, “Wow. What happened?”

“A man was having a heart attack and his heart stopped beating by the time we arrived on scene. For all intents and purposes, he was dead. I put the paddles on him and brought him back to life,” Eric said.

It was one thing to go through the training to learn how to do something like that, but another to actually do it.

Dan said, “I’m impressed.”

“It really made me think,” Eric said.

He had gotten into the EMS squad in order to help people. Last night had been the first time that he had done something significant. Up until that time, it had been mostly dealing with people who had injured themselves in an accident or were feeling sick. Most of them could have driven themselves to the hospital. This had been different. This had been a matter of life and death.

“I imagine,” Dan said.

He watched the mix of emotions flash across Eric’s face. It was pretty obvious to him that Eric had experienced something significant.

Eric said, “I guess it’s time that I grew up.”

“What do you mean?” Dan asked.

“I’ve been drifting. It’s funny, but the EMS work was the first thing that I’ve ever done that actually meant something. I liked the feeling.”

Dan nodded his head in understanding. He said, “I can see where you would feel good about it.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Eric said, “I’ve been watching you build this pizzeria. I’m really impressed by what you’ve done.”

“Thank you,” Dan said feeling pleased by the compliment. Although he didn’t brag about it, he was proud of the pizzeria.

“Last night as we were working to save that guy’s life, his family was standing around us looking terrified that they were going to lose him. I realized that if I were to drop dead today, that there’d be no one who would really miss me,” Eric said. It had been rather touching how the teenaged children were watching events unfold with wide terrified eyes.

Concerned that Eric was being a little too hard on himself, Dan said, “There are a lot of people who would miss you.”

“Well, I only have a few friends,” Eric said softly. When he wanted to talk about the previous night with someone, he realized that there were only three people who he felt would understand: his parents and Dan.

“Don’t underestimate how many people care about you,” Dan said. He’d never seen Eric this introspective. Up until now, he had believed that Eric had two moods — he was either carefree or excited about something.

“I’ve decided that it’s about time that I move into a real house and start getting serious about my life. I saw last night just how fragile life really is,” Eric said.

If they had arrived on the scene just a few minutes later, the man would have died. It was a very sobering thought.

“‘No one is exempt from death,’” Dan said.

“That’s a Fact of Life,” Eric said nodding his head in agreement.

“Are you going to stay with the EMS squad?” Dan asked. It wasn’t clear what the young man intended to do from the way that he was talking.

It was a good question. Eric had joined the EMS squad to be a hero. He had wanted to save peoples lives thinking that it would result in some scene out of a comic book, with him standing heroically over the villain. The reality of it was very different. It felt good to save someone. There was that sense that he had done something very important, but somehow he had imagined that there would be more to it. He wasn’t disappointed, but it had made him re-evaluate what was motivating him.

He said, “Yes. In fact, I’m going to help buy some more equipment for them.”

“That’s good,” Dan said.