Chapter 54

Dan stared at the books for his pizzeria. Over the past month, his sales had climbed to over seven hundred dollars a day. Opening time accounted for nearly a hundred dollars. Lunch added another two hundred. The kids in the afternoon brought in a hundred. The dinner rush accounted for two hundred, while the evening generated another hundred.

His working pace had eased considerably over that same time period. He now had three regular cooks with Sandra, Kevin, and Diana. Diana had been a total surprise. She had asked Kevin to teach her how to run the oven when Dan had taken off from work. Ernie was working hard to learn to cook and was coming along well. Dan made sure that either he or Kevin was working when Ernie was working. Alison came in early, and helped out every morning with the muffins.

The staff had grown to include a dozen teenagers who worked part-time. The most energetic of them all was Cory. It seemed to him that Cory was always at the pizzeria. When he wasn’t working he was there with the other teenagers. He was begging to learn how to cook. In fact, he had suggested that everyone learn to cook. Dan wasn’t too thrilled with that idea.

With the additional help around the pizzeria, he was also able to run business errands during the day. He met with his CPA to work out the taxes on his business. Since he had selected to have his end of year coincide with when he had started his business, his tax year was going to end soon. It amazed him that he was already showing a profit for his first year in business.

Dan was taking two nights, one morning, and all of Sunday off, every week. He was now working sixty hours a week rather than ninety-one. He felt a lot better than he had in a long time. Sundays were his favorite day of the week. He basically lounged around the pool, fooling around with little things around the house.

A noise that sounded like someone falling at in the dining front of the room attracted his attention. He looked up and saw Ernie dancing around like someone had dropped a piece of hot coal down his pants.

When Ernie finally found his voice, he screamed, “Someone has got to help her! She’s dying, here!”

Dan rushed to the front of the room and found Granny Parker lying on the floor. Kneeling down beside her, he checked to see if she was breathing. She wasn’t.

As he checked for a pulse, he shouted, “Call 911!”

Surrounded by noise and people trying to see what was happening, Dan started performing CPR on the elderly woman. He remembered that it was thirty and two; thirty chest presses to two breaths. He tilted her head back, closed her nose, and gave her two breaths checking to make sure that her chest rose. He then started the chest presses. Over and over he repeated the cycle of two breaths and thirty chest presses.

For Dan, the world collapsed into himself and Granny Parker. He didn’t stop until the paramedics arrived. They basically had to pull him off of her. Seeing the men working on Granny Parker, Dan rose to his feet staggering a little as his knees nearly gave out on him.

Ernie was standing beside him looking frantic. The guy was still hopping around like someone had dropped a hot piece of coal down his pants.

Almost incoherent, he said, “That was amazing.”

“Thanks,” Dan said in a soft voice.

He didn’t know if he had helped her any, but he felt incredibly tired.

Dan watched as the paramedic went about getting out the defibrillator. He knew that they were going to rip her shirt open and he wanted her to retain as much dignity as possible. She might not be worried about it at the moment, but he was.

Realizing what was going to happen, Dan shouted, “Hey! Everyone! Get back and give her a little privacy!”

He went around and pushed the crowd back from Granny Parker. Kevin and Ernie were right there beside him making sure that everyone stood well back from the action. There were a couple of policemen there who were keeping people back. Dan wondered when they had arrived. It took two shocks before her heart started again.

Without looking at his partner, one of the paramedics said, “Get the gurney.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Dan said, “She’s alive everyone. Let them get the stretcher in here. She’s got to get to the hospital.”

One of the policemen came over to Dan and asked, “How long was it before you got to her?”

“Ten or fifteen seconds. It might have been more,” Dan answered. He’d seen Ernie dancing around and had headed over as soon as Ernie had said something.

“You’re on the a CERT team, aren’t you?” the policeman asked realizing where he had met Dan.

“Yes,” Dan said thinking he was lucky to have finished that training.

“Good job,” the policeman said. He wasn’t a particularly big supporter of the program, but he appreciated that Dan had known what to do because of it.

Looking around at the chaos, Dan turned to Ernie and Kevin. He said, “You and Kevin take care of the pizzeria. I’ll follow the ambulance to the hospital when they take her out of here. Someone needs to stay there in case there is a problem.”

“Sure, Mr. Parker,” Ernie said stepping towards the pizza station.

Grinning at Dan, Kevin said, “You were so focused on saving her that I couldn’t get in to relieve you.”

“Sorry,” Dan said. He hadn’t been aware that Kevin had even been around.

Irritated at himself, Kevin knew that he had been slow to reach Granny Parker. Dan had raced past him and reached her first. He knew that it would have taken him some time to get down on his knees.

Shaking his head, he said, “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You did it just like they trained me in the Army.”

It took a lot longer than Dan thought it would to get her loaded on a gurney and into the ambulance. As they worked, he went back to the table where he had been working and shut down the computer. It took him half a minute to put it back in the storage room. As he made his way to the door, kids congratulated him for saving Granny Parker. Dan nodded his head and made his way through the crowded room.

Dan sat in the waiting area outside of the emergency room where they had taken Granny Parker. He sat there with his head in his hands hoping that she was going to be okay. There was some old western on the television in the corner of the room near where he was sitting. Even though he had seen the movie before, he wouldn’t have been able to identify the movie if his life depended on it.

Dan’s thoughts were on the events back at the pizzeria. All of the things that he might have done wrong kept coming to mind. Had he pressed too hard? Had he not pressed down hard enough? He had gone through the training and had thought it was fun. Suddenly it had stopped being fun.

A male voice intruded on his thoughts, “I understand that you were the one who saved her life.”

Dan opened his eyes and saw a pair of men’s shoes in front of him. He looked up and recognized Kim’s father. Nodding his head, he said, “I tried, Mr. Parker.”

“You know who I am?” he asked looking over at Dan surprised.

Feeling tired, Dan nodded his head and answered, “You’re Kim’s father.”

“Oh, you’re friends with Kim?” her father asked with a smile. He thought it was a small world.

That wasn’t exactly how Dan would describe his relationship with Kim. Shaking his head, he answered, “Not really. We went to school together.”

“Oh,” her father said feeling that the conversation had suddenly gotten a little awkward. He sat down on the chair next to Dan and said, “Mom was lucky that you were there.”

“They wouldn’t tell me anything. Is she going to be okay?” Dan asked looking over at the door to the emergency room.

“The doctors are looking at her. We’ll know more in a while,” Mr. Parker said. They hadn’t been able to give him any information other than the fact that the young man beside him had performed CPR on her until the paramedics had arrived.

“Oh. I kind of figured that,” Dan said. Seeing the puzzled look on the man’s face, he explained, “That’s what they always say in the movies.”

“You’re right,” Mr. Parker said thinking that there were some things that were accurately portrayed in movies.

“I hope your mother will be okay,” Dan said.

“My wife and Kim should be here any minute now,” Mr. Parker said. He didn’t know what he’d do if his mother died. He was still getting over the death of his father.

Dan started to rise out of his chair and said, “I probably ought to leave to let you explain things to them in private. This is a family matter.”

“Nonsense. You saved her life,” Mr. Parker said. There were hints of tears in his eyes as he added, “You’re family now.”

Sitting back in his chair, Dan wondered how Kim would react to that little piece of news. He didn’t want to be there when she heard that.

He said, “Thank you.”

Mrs. Parker followed by Kim entered the emergency room in a rush. Mr. Parker rose and hugged his wife. He stepped back and said, “Mom had a heart attack over at that pizza place. This young man saved her life.”

Turning to see who her father was pointing at, Kim stared at Dan speechless. The irony of the situation was not lost upon her. She slowly went over to a chair and sat down.

Her father asked, “Are you okay?”

“Is Granny going to be okay?” Kim asked slowly turning to look at her father.

Her father answered, “The doctors are with her now. We’ll know more in a little while.”

Uncomfortable with Kim being there, Dan stood up.

“I’ll let you be alone. Would you mind calling the pizzeria and letting us know how she’s doing?” he asked, handing the man a business card.

Her father knew how much his mother enjoyed her time at the pizzeria. It had given her a whole new energy and bounce that had been missing after his dad had died.

He nodded his head and said, “I’ll be sure to do that. I never did get your name.”

“I’m Dan Parker.”

Kim’s mother looked at Dan recognizing the name. She slowly looked over at Kim who was sitting in her chair staring at the floor.

She asked, “Do you have anything to say, Kim?”

“No, Mother,” Kim answered.

The last time she had said anything to Dan, Granny Parker had dragged her out of the pizzaria by the ear. She remembered that lesson!

Mr. Parker held out a hand and said, “Thank you, Dan. We owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“She’s an amazing woman. I did what I could. I just hope it was enough,” Dan answered shaking Mr. Parker’s hand.

As Dan left, Mr. Parker turned to his wife and daughter and said, “That’s a fine young man.”

As soon as Dan returned to the pizzeria, Ernie approached him and asked, “How is she?”

“The doctors were with her when I left the hospital. Her family came and I felt it best that I leave,” Dan answered.

Shaking his head, Ernie said, “I was over there and she dropped to the floor like a stone. I knew it was bad.”

“Well, you summoned help, and that may have saved her life,” Dan said. He thought about calling Eric and talking with him. Eric would understand how he was feeling.

“No. You were over there doing that DUR thing. I was just standing there,” Ernie said calling CPR by the wrong initials. Shaking his head, he said, “I hope she’s going to be okay.”

“I hope so, too.”

Ernie said, “She’s something else.”

“It sounds like you like her,” Dan said looking over at Ernie.

He knew that Granny Parker still didn’t trust the young black man.

By any standard, it was a strange relationship. The old woman was Ernie’s harshest critic. She told him in no uncertain terms exactly what he was doing wrong in his life. She pointed out every character flaw that he had. She wasn’t even gentle about it.

At first her constant reminders that he was lowlife scum had irritated him. The problem was that Jimmy has said exactly the same things to him and for exactly the same reasons. He realized that it was the voice of experience rather than prejudice speaking and he had come to value her opinion.