Tom watched as two very unhappy woman followed Alison to the edge of the lake. Alison was wearing her typical bathing suit. Ann and Sally were much more conservatively dressed for the occasion. They didn't seem to like her choice in bathing suit. He commented, "It looks like storm clouds are building on the horizon."
Dan looked around at the sky. It was clear blue without a hint of a cloud anywhere. Puzzled, he asked, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that Ann and Sally aren't all that happy with Alison," Tom said.
"This was their idea," Dan said watching the three women enter the water. A very unsubtle hint from Alison had let him know that he and Tom should stay at the picnic table for a while. Being honest with himself, he suspected that Tom was right.
"I wish Ellen was here," Tom said thinking that she would know how to deal with the problem. She was off in Las Vegas doing some work for the restaurant. She didn't discuss her job with him, but it had to be a pretty unusual job. She could afford a house of her own and only had to work a couple of days over the summer.
"She's got to attend the Las Vegas trade show," Dan said.
"What does she do for a living anyway?"
"She's in charge of the kitchen equipment for the Derkins restaurant chain," Dan answered. Ellen had told him that he wasn't to tell Tom about her work or her family beyond what she had already shared with Tom. He was going to respect that.
"It seems to me like she has an awful lot of free time for such an important job," Tom said.
"Maybe," Dan said.
"So what is up with Alison? She hasn't seemed to be herself lately," Tom said gesturing over to where the three women were swimming.
"Ellen gave her the three articles," Dan answered.
"Do you mean you hadn't given them to her before now?" Tom asked rather surprised.
"I didn't think of it. She's always appeared to me to know exactly what she wants and knows how to go after it," Dan answered. In hind sight, he should have known better. He remembered thinking she could have used the articles the first time they had really talked.
"I guess. Have you given copies of it to Ann and Sally?" Tom asked.
"Should I?" Dan asked surprised by the suggestion.
Tom shook his head and said, "Everyone should understand the facts of life. You know that. Every time I meet someone who seems interested in improving themselves I give them a copy of it."
"You're kidding!"
"No, I'm not. There are a lot of people out there who have perfectly miserable lives because no one has ever explained the facts of life to them. No one ever talks about how to live a happy life. We all assume that we know what it means to be happy. That's bullshit. When I see someone who could be helped by knowing more, I give them the articles," Tom said.
Dan thought about it for a moment. Diana had asked him to give copies of the articles to Kim, but he had never done it. He had figured that she would be insulted by it. As he thought about the number of people in his life that could benefit from them, he said, "I guess I'll visit the photocopy center tomorrow."
"Do it," Tom said. He watched the women in the water thinking that a storm was brewing.
Alison had waited until Ann and Sally were in water deep enough that it came up to their waists before turning around to face them. She wanted them in a position where they couldn't storm off before hearing what she had to say. The expression on her face was not happy. Pointing a finger at them, she said, "You two had better shape up or you're going to lose Dan. I'd hate for that to happen."
It felt to Ann like someone had hit her with a baseball bat. She staggered back and asked, "What do you mean?"
"You are acting like jealous bitches. Grow up or Dan will leave you in a minute flat. Everyone is responsible for their own happiness. Dan will recognize when he starts getting unhappy about something and he'll act to change it. You are responsible for your own happiness. If having Dan in your life is part of it then you had better take steps to keep him in it," Alison said looking at Ann the entire time she was talking.
Sally was too stunned to say anything. Ann turned to look at her lover for guidance. Alison crossed her arms. Looking from one woman to the other, she said, "Now I don't expect us to become intimate friends, but we had better become good friends."
"You're serious," Ann said while trying to process what Alison had said to them.
Sally had recognized what Alison had said about everyone being responsible for their own happiness. It was the kind of thing that Dan often said to them. Sally said, "She's right."
"What do we do now?" Ann asked.
Alison grinned and looked down at the water that surrounded them. She lowered herself so that she was in the water to her neck. Cupping a hand, she said, "We have a water fight."
Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she splashed Sally with water. Sally stared at Alison as the wave of water splashed her. Ann was a little quicker on the uptake and splashed Alison back. An all out water fight ensued. It was several minutes before the fight was joined with laughter.
At the picnic table, Dan handed Tom a cold can of root beer and said, "It looks like they are having fun. Do you think we should join them?"
"No," Tom answered. He was rather surprised by the turn of events.
Opening a can of root beer, Dan said, "I think you're right. I better start handing out those articles."
Dan walked into the restaurant feeling rested and ready to work. He went over to get an apron and his cook's hat. Rob intercepted him and said, "Dan, I need to talk to you."
"Sure," Dan said.
Rob licked his lips and said, "We just hired two new cooks. They're going to be working nights until Jimmy is convinced that they can handle the job."
"Okay. So you want me to go back to being a busboy," Dan said starting to remove his apron.
Shaking his head, Rob said, "No. I want you to fill in as cook two nights a week."
"Okay. I don't see a problem with that," Dan said wondering why Rob was acting so strange. It seemed to him that all Rob had to do was tell him what job he wanted done and he'd go do it.
"I want to cut your hours back to Friday and Sunday."
Dan frowned as he considered the loss in income that would represent. Wondering if he had done something to anger someone, he asked, "Why? Did I do something wrong?"
"No. I talked to Mr. Foreman. He wants you to work some additional hours this summer. He told me about how you found some people cheating him. He wants to go through all of his books concerning his subcontractors and find out if there are any others stealing from him," Rob said.
"Oh," Dan said trying to decide if that was a good thing or not.
Rob said, "Look, the only job that you haven't done here is management. Mr. Foreman is offering to give you some experience that we can't give you here without enrolling you in the manager trainee program. That's not going to happen when everyone knows that you are going to leave in December to start your pizzeria. This is your best chance to learn about managing a business."
Dan smiled at the argument and said, "That does sound a little better when put that way."
"You would have come to that conclusion sooner or later," Rob said. He had been around Dan long enough to know how his mind worked. He'd sit there thinking about it until he could see a way of directing his efforts towards his goal of opening a pizzeria.
"Tonight is Sunday," Dan said.
"That's right. Get ready to cook. You're going to be handling orders while Jimmy is teaching the new guy how to do the prep work," Rob said.
Dan got into the kitchen in time to hear Jimmy say, "Now this is a head of lettuce. You don't cut lettuce with a knife..."
Remember his first night learning preparation, Dan smiled and winked at Jimmy. Jimmy winked back at him and continued his little introduction to short order cooking. Moving over to the grill, Dan pulled an order off the counter and read it. With easy confident moves, he started to assemble the meal.
When his break time came, Dan headed out of the kitchen and to the dining room floor. Kim was straightening up the service area. He went over to her and said, "Kim. Would you mind going outside to my car with me? I have something that I'd like to give you."
Frowning, Kim asked, "What is it?"
"I'll explain it outside," Dan said.
Trusting Dan, Kim said, "Okay."
She followed him out to the parking lot realizing that it was pretty dark out there. Kim wasn't normally a fearful woman, but she felt that Dan was acting a little strange and that bothered her. Dan opened the door of his car and leaned in. He straightened up and held up some papers. She stared at the papers and then at him.
Holding them out to her, Dan said, "I have three articles here that I'd like you to read."
Frowning at the stack of papers, Kim asked, "Are you trying to get me to join some sort of cult or something?"
Laughing, Dan answered, "No. It is nothing like that. I'd just appreciate it if you'd read these three articles."
"What are they?"
"There are a lot of things that no one tells us about with regard to how to live happy fulfilling lives. These three articles are about that," Dan answered. Seeing the raised eyebrow, he said, "Don't worry. It isn't about religion. It is about how the world works and how we fit into it. I promise you that if you read those articles, it will change your life."
"I have to work," Kim said looking over the restaurant.
"Those copies are for you to keep. Take them home and read them there," Dan said.
Looking down at the stack of papers, Kim wondered what she had to lose. There wasn't anything at home to occupy her time. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "Okay. I'll read them tomorrow and tell you what I think of them."
"I won't be back to work until Friday," Dan said.
"What?"
Smiling at the expression on her face, Dan said, "I'm cutting back on the hours I work here. I'll only be in Friday and Sunday nights."
"Are you okay with that? I mean, won't that hurt your dream to open that pizzeria?"
"I'm fine with it. Mr. Rendell helped me with a chance to get a little management experience that I desperately need," Dan answered touched by her concern.
"That's better," Kim said. She was amazed that after all of this time, Dan still called their boss Mr. Rendell rather than Rob like everyone else.
"We better get back inside before people start telling stories about us," Dan said with a wink.
The idea that she ever did anything that would be worth telling stories about struck an odd chord with Kim. She frowned for a second and then smiled. She said, "If we stay out here another fifteen minutes, the stories would be even better."
"I'm sure they would be better," Dan said with a laugh. He closed the door of his car and said, "Let's go inside."
"Let me put these in my car," Kim said holding up the stack of papers. As she dropped them in the front seat, she glanced at the title on the page that was on the top of the stack. She wondered why Dan would give her something about the facts of life. Surely he didn't believe that she would read something like that. Shaking her head, she decided that for Dan she would read it. He'd always been nice to her.
Mr. Foreman leaned back in his chair looking across the desk at Dan. It was one o'clock in the afternoon and time for the crews to get back to work. He only had about five minutes to give instructions to Dan before he went out to make sure that things were going well. He said, "Dan, here's what I want you to do. I want you to look over my books and see if anything odd jumps out at you. We'll talk this evening when I get back from checking out all of the job sites."
"Sure, Mr. Foreman. Is there anything specific that I should look for?" Dan asked.
Mr. Foreman laughed and said, "If I knew what to look for, I'd look for it. It is my hope that you don't find anything, but I want you to look."
Dan nodded his head and said, "Okay. It's going to take me a little time to figure out all of your software."
"Don't worry about it," Mr. Foreman said. Rising from his seat, he said, "Donna will help you if you have any questions."
Dan glanced over at the Hispanic woman seated at the front desk. His first impression was that she wasn't happy that he was working there. After working on payroll for a couple of months, she had slowly thawed. However, his sudden arrival in the middle of the day had turned the thermostat way down to where it could produce ice. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Okay."
As soon as Mr. Foreman had walked out of the trailer, Donna turned in her chair and said, "I don't want or need your help."
"Good," Dan said looking at her with a large smile. It hadn't taken him long to realize that she viewed him as a threat to her job. It was time to dispel that concern.
"Don't be smart with me!"
Holding up his hands in protest, Dan said, "I'm not being smart with you. The fact is that I'm going to need your help a whole lot more than you'll need my help. Hell, I don't think I know enough to be any help to you."
"Huh?"
Realizing that he needed some way to get her on his side, he walked over to her desk and looked around as if he wanted to make sure that no one was watching. He leaned over to her and, in a soft voice, said, "Mr. Foreman hired me to work on a special project. It's all very hush hush for now, but I think I can trust you."
Intrigued, Donna sat up and asked, "What is it?"
"There may be some bad men trying to steal from him. He wants me to help catch them," Dan answered. It was close enough to the truth that the theatrics weren't too much of a lie.
"Are you police?" she asked.
Dan shook his head and said, "No. I'm just someone that Mr. Foreman trusts to look out for his interests. I'm sure that he would have asked you to do it, but he's afraid that you might get hurt."
"Oh," Donna said nodding her head. She said, "Mr. Foreman is a tough man, but he's a good man."
"I know," Dan said. He looked around for a minute and asked, "Can I count on your help?"
"Sure," she said nodding her head.
"Great. Don't tell anyone what I'm doing here," Dan said.
Donna nodded her head and said, "I won't."
She didn't look like she was going to keep quiet about it. Dan said, "We already caught some folks who stole more than twenty-five thousand dollars from him."
"Oh my," Donna said holding a hand up to the side of her face. Her eyes were the size of silver dollars. That was more money than she made in a year. She could imagine how upset Mr. Foreman would be to have that kind of money stolen from him. She said, "People would kill for that kind of money."
"Right. So it is very important not to let anyone know what I'm doing," Dan said.
"My lips are sealed," Donna said. She made a motion as if zipping her lips shut and throwing away the key.
Dan winked at her before he returned to his chair at the computer. He reached down and pressed the little button that started up the machine. He smiled a little thinking that the theatrics wouldn't harm anyone, but it would definitely get her on his side. He glanced over in her direction and saw that she was watching him.
After the usual impossible wait for the computer to boot up, he brought up the bookkeeping software. Again there was a horribly long delay before the program started. He stared in horror at the thousands of entries that were shown. He looked over at Donna and said, "Donna. I need some help."
Donna came over and asked, "What can I do for you?"
"Tom? What happened to Dan?" Harold asked looking at his daughter seated across the table from him at the Top Level restaurant. She was tanned and looked like she had been working out in a gym.
She laughed and answered, "Nothing happened to Dan. He's a very dear friend of mine."
"So who is this Tom fellow?" Harold asked.
"He's a chemistry student at the University of Texas. He's at home for the summer and is keeping me company while I'm working through some things," Ellen answered. She reached in her bag and pulled out a manila folder. Handing it to her father, she said, "Here's the investigator's report on him."
"Hmm, I'm not sure what I think of you saving me the trouble of investigating one of these fellows you collect," Harold said. He opened the folder and looked over the contents. If he were hiring someone, the boy would definitely move up to the top of the list. Frowning, he said, "He's a little young."
Ellen smiled at him and said, "If you weren't so in love with Mom, you'd have a woman his age on your arm in a heartbeat."
Not expecting that comment, Harold burst out laughing and said, "You're probably right."
"I am right," Ellen said. She got serious and said, "I want to know if you're going to help Dan."
"I'm already helping him," Harold said.
"How?"
"I'm watching over him. I've talked to the folks at Chef Master about taking good care of him. George Pearson has been assigned as his account manager. When he's ready to go to a bank, I'll make some calls on his behalf," Harold answered.
Ellen sat up and said, "George only handles large corporate accounts like ours."
"I know," Harold said with a grin.
"I'm impressed," Ellen said looking over at her father. Dan had been right about him. He did want to help people. She had been ready to intervene on Dan's behalf.
"Daddy has impressed his little girl. That must be a first," Harold said with a grin.
Ellen looked like she was pondering the question and then said, "Yes."
She burst out laughing as her father pouted. He looked at her and said, "It is good to hear you laugh. You need to do that more often."
"I've laughed more the past three months than I have since I was ten," Ellen said. She looked across the room for a second and then back at her father. She said, "I'm making some very important decisions and I hope that you'll support me in them."
"What kinds of decisions?" Harold asked. He took a sip of his water.
"I'm thinking of getting married," Ellen said looking her father in the eye.
Harold barely kept from spewing water over the table. That was the last thing that he had ever expected to hear from his daughter. He asked, "What do you mean you're thinking of getting married? You? That Tom fellow?"
Ellen laughed at her father's flustered reaction. She said, "Yes, I'm thinking of getting married. I don't know who I'll marry, but I'm going to start looking around with an eye for a potential husband. I'm looking for a man who knows who he is, values family, works hard, and knows how to have a little fun on occasion. Tom is a kid. He's a lot of fun in and out of bed, but he's just a kid."
"What have you been doing down there?" Harold asked. He didn't recognize his daughter. He did like the new and improved version. She wasn't all business. She didn't discuss marriage as a merger this time like she normally did.
"I've been learning the facts of life. I've been learning about happiness. I'm even learning about taking control of my life. It is all very heady stuff, but I feel better than I've felt in years," Ellen said. She took a sip of her wine and then held up the glass. She said, "Did you know this is the first glass of wine I've had in four weeks?"
"What do you normally drink down there?" Harold asked hoping that it wasn't hard liquor.
"Root beer," Ellen answered with a smile.
"Root beer?"
Ellen nodded and said, "Frosty mugs of root beer that are so cold that you think you're drinking ice."
Lazlo Zalezac