Dan and Tom were seated on the back porch drinking cans of root beer. It was getting close to dark and the sky was filled with the colors of sunset. It gave the entire area a soft appearance. They were comfortable despite the heat of summer. Dan turned to Tom and said, "I've just about got everything together for Parker's Perfect Pizza. All I need to do is find a location and start the build out."
"That's good," Tom said.
Dan said, "It is hard waiting. I set up a schedule and I'm going to follow it."
"It must be hard to wait," Tom said looking over at his friend. He thought about the article on taking control of your life. It had talked about there being a proper time to act. He said, "The surest way to miss a goal is to attempt to rush it."
"I know. I've been meeting potential suppliers and a lot of them are pushing me to get started now," Dan said.
"Which brand of root beer are you going to stock?" Tom asked.
"I'm talking about starting a business and all you want to know about is root beer?" Dan asked with a smile.
"You bet. You may have your priorities all screwed up, but I know what is important," Tom said with a crooked smile.
Dan laughed knowing that Tom was joking about having his priorities all screwed up. He leaned back and crossed his legs. The sudden change in his work schedule had freed a whole lot of his time and he was enjoying it. He said, "This is the life. When I get the pizzeria going, I'm going to make sure that I get a couple of evenings every week to spend with friends."
Tom patted his stomach and said, "As good as your pizza was tonight, I think that a lot of your friends will be coming up to where you work."
"You liked it?" Dan asked. He had set up the kitchen to make individual sized pizzas to find out how long it took to make them. Everyone had gone up to the kitchen counter and requested their personal blend of toppings. It hadn't taken long to prepare their pizzas, cook them, and serve them. Tom and his father had both eaten two of them.
"I liked it a lot. Are you going to do that in your pizzeria?"
"Do what?"
"Prepare their pizza in front of the customer like that," Tom asked.
"I've been thinking about it," Dan answered. It had been fun having his family point out the toppings and then putting them on the pizza. It had reminded him of how people picked the flavor of ice cream they wanted when visiting an ice cream parlor.
"You sure are confident in the kitchen," Tom said. He was quiet for a minute and then said, "One of the professors at school was making an analogy between cooking and chemistry. I had never thought about it before, but watching as you worked in the kitchen it really struck me that he was right."
"Interesting," Dan said.
Tom said, "You're really good at that. I noticed that you were really careful in how much cheese you put on the pizza. You made sure that each topping covered the pizza evenly. I was really impressed."
"Thanks," Dan said as a bird flew past. It was a scissor-tailed flycatcher. It looked like it shouldn't be able to fly with those long feathers sticking out behind it. Dan pointed at the bird and said, "Hey. I haven't seen one of those in years."
"That has always been my favorite bird," Tom said watching it land on the power line. In a few minutes it would be too dark to see it.
The hot sun beat down on the world below. Feeling a little out of shape, Dan groaned as he picked up another bundle of roofing shingles. His back was hurting, but he carried it up the ladder to the roof. The man in charge said, "Don't bring up any more until I ask for them."
"No problem," Dan answered. He climbed down the ladder and went over to his car. The sweat was pouring off of him. He reached in the open window of his car and picked up the bottle of water. After taking a long drink from it, he put it back on the seat. He opened the little book and wrote the number of bundles he had carried up to the roof.
He went back to stand by the truck to wait for the request for more bundles. As he expected, there weren't anymore requests. He looked in the back of the truck and saw that there were six bundles left. Yesterday there had been seven and the day before that there had been five. These were the expensive commercial shingles.
Mr. Foreman drove up and parked his truck next to where Dan was standing. Getting out, he stretched and looked around. This particular site was the furthest from his office and the drive over had been a killer. Shaking his head, he walked over to where Dan was standing. He had been looking for Dan all week. Every time he had asked Donna where he was she had answered that he was on a secret mission. That announcement was always accompanied by a wink. Her behavior had confused him. He asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm doing what you asked me to do," Dan answered leaning against the truck with the shingles.
One of the men on the roof shouted down, "Start cleaning up this mess. Mr. Foreman isn't paying you to stand around."
"Yes, sir," Dan shouted back. He looked over at his boss and said, "I better get to work. It appears that my talking to you is costing you money."
Mr. Foreman laughed and looked up at the crew at work on the roof. As he headed off to inspect the interior work, Dan hustled over to where the roofers had dropped the scraps and paper over the side of the apartment building. It took Dan thirty minutes to clean up the area.
Dan got back to the truck in time to watch it drive off. He counted the bundles and saw that there were six of them still in the back. After grabbing his bottle of water from his car, he went over to Mr. Foreman's truck to wait for him to return. The apartment complex was a huge job with over five hundred units represented in it. It wasn't the largest job that Mr. Foreman was contracting.
It was about thirty minutes later when Mr. Foreman returned to his truck. Seeing that the roofers had left, he asked, "What in the hell are you doing toting bundles of shingles up to the roof?"
"Well, I noticed something a little odd in the books and decided to check it out for myself," Dan answered.
"What did you find out?" Mr. Foreman asked.
"Gunter has been cheating you out of a couple bundles of shingles every day," Dan answered running his hand through his hair.
Mr. Foreman frowned at that and asked, "How many?"
"It was six today, seven yesterday, and five the day before that. It looks to me like he's doing the same with the felt. He left with an extra roll of felt yesterday," Dan answered.
Mr. Foreman rubbed his chin and said, "You're telling me he's walking off with six hundred dollars of materials every week."
"That's what it looks like to me," Dan said.
"How is he doing it?" Mr. Foreman asked.
"He picks up a bunch of bundles in the morning from the area where you store them. He then drives out here just like a normal day. They put up roof all day using the shingles off the back of the truck. Rather than return the unused shingles, he takes them home with him," Dan answered.
"I estimated how many bundles would be required," Mr. Foreman said. Frowning, he said, "I don't see how he's managing to do it without me knowing about it."
"You round up by a couple of squares depending on how large the job is. For these apartments, you add in some for wastage. He's walking off with the amount that you round up," Dan said.
"How did you spot it?" Mr. Foreman asked.
"You order more than enough materials for all of the jobs. At the end of the job, you return the excess and get some money back. I noticed that he never had any materials left over while the other contractors that you have working for you always have some," Dan answered.
Shaking his head, Mr. Foreman said, "How much do you think he stole?"
"Maybe two thousand dollars worth of materials on this job," Dan answered. It wasn't much compared to the overall cost of the job. He added, "I don't know what he's done on other jobs."
Mr. Foreman exhaled loudly as he considered it. He could probably follow another one of Gunter's crews and find them putting the shingles on a house somewhere. Frowning, he said, "Let's go up on the roof and check out the work."
Dan got the ladder and held it in place while Mr. Foreman climbed up on the roof. Dan followed him up there. Mr. Foreman knelt down and examined the work shaking his head. He said, "It is just barely up to code. I like a little more overlap on the shingles. There's nothing worse than having to replace a roof when it starts leaking before the warranty runs out. Not only do you have to replace the roof, but you have to fix the water damage."
"I didn't think about that," Dan said realizing that the crime could actually end up costing Mr. Foreman a significant amount of money.
"He's cutting corners to get more leftovers," Mr. Foreman said. He stood up and looked around at the job site. There was a reason why he tried to check every job site every day. He sighed and said, "I've let this company grow beyond my ability to watch over it."
"What are you going to do?" Dan asked.
He figured that there were contractors that were charging him hours for non-existent employees. That was an old trick and was very difficult to catch unless you counted the number of men showing up for a job and the number leaving every day. Mr. Foreman said, "I'm going to have to cut back on the number of jobs I take next year."
"Couldn't you hire an assistant?" Dan asked.
Mr. Foreman looked at Dan. He'd hire Dan in a New York minute, but Dan wasn't for hire. Even if he was, it would take a few years for him to learn the ropes. The one thing he knew was that he could trust him. Sighing, he answered, "I would if I could find one that I could trust."
"Yeah, I suppose you would," Dan said nodding his head. He didn't know who he would trust with a company this size.
Ann and Sally had been busy reading the material that Dan had brought over for them. They hadn't exchanged a word in almost two hours. Looking up from the page she was reading, Ann said, "That woman is really smart."
"You finally noticed," Sally said looking over at her lover. It seemed to her that Ann's use of 'that woman' had become a whole lot less derogatory since the time at the lake.
Ann sighed and said, "She definitely understands Dan."
"You know, reading this did make me think about our relationship with him. We do tend to think about our needs a whole lot more than we do his needs," Sally said. She was having a hard time figuring out what he got out of the relationship other than sex. On the other hand, all they had to do was even hint that they needed something and he would do it.
"I know," Ann said, "but the only thing he really worries about is that pizzeria of his. I have no idea what we could do to help him out with that."
Sally said, "You're an artist. Draw him a picture to hang in the pizzeria."
"Sue already did the artwork for his advertising. It's a thousand times better than anything that I can do," Ann said. Even though she did commercial art for a living, she didn't really enjoy it. She wanted to paint huge pictures that told stories.
"It's a pizzeria. You can paint a mural on the walls. He'll love it," Sally said grasping at the first idea that came to mind.
Ann was quiet for several minutes thinking about that. She looked down at the paper she was reading. She looked back up at Sally and said, "You are a genius."
"Thank you," Sally said looking over at Ann, "What did I do?"
Ann didn't answer. She was too busy getting her car keys and leaving to answer. Surprised, Sally watched Ann rush out of the apartment. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "I wonder what I said."
"What is that?" Sue asked.
"What is what?" Dan asked back. He turned his head so that his right side was facing her.
"That thing on your ear," Sue said pointing at the ear piece that hung off his right ear.
"Oh, that," Dan said. He touched a button on the earpiece and said, "Sue."
A few seconds later, Sue's telephone rang. She went over to answer it. Lifting the receiver to her ear, she said, "Hello."
"Hi Sue," Dan said with a grin.
She looked across the room at him and burst out laughing. She put down the handset on the phone. She said, "That is one wild earpiece. When did you get a cell phone?"
"I got it earlier this week," Dan answered. Although he had not wanted to get a cell phone, he had started talking to vendors and they all wanted his telephone number. Since he didn't have a place of business, he didn't have a business phone. His parents were getting tired of having the answering machine filled up with messages for him. The cell phone satisfied that problem. Then he discovered the Bluetooth headset allowed him to answer the phone, put a call on hold, and dial out. He realized that he could wear that at work and take care of phone calls even while doing other things. He still planned on getting a regular land line for the pizzeria. He said, "It is a business expense."
"Good," Sue said. Getting back into the art world, she had begun to collect receipts for her materials, monitoring her overhead costs, and keeping track of her time. Even as an artist, it was important to operate as a business. Everything that she could possibly charge to the business got charged. When she spent a thousand dollars on art supplies, that money came out of her before tax dollars. If she forgot a receipt, that same amount of art supplies would have required her to earn fourteen hundred dollars since four hundred would have gone to taxes. She said, "Keep every receipt you can. It all adds up quickly."
"Yes. It also adds to the personal investment that I've made to the company which will help me at the bank," Dan said.
Sue frowned and said, "I haven't needed to go to a bank for money."
"You will if you rent or buy a studio," Dan said. He gestured to her living room and said, "You can't keep painting in this apartment forever."
"You're right," Sue said looking at her apartment. There were a few patches of paint on the carpet that would end up costing her the deposit that she had put down on the apartment. Before long it wouldn't be a good place to live. Turning back to look at him, she asked, "Would you like some more coffee?"
"I'm about coffeed out," Dan said. He had already had three cups before making it over to Sue's apartment. It seemed to him that he was drinking more coffee every day.
Sue fidgeted for a second and then asked, "Would you like to come to another unveiling?"
"Am I in the painting?" Dan asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Sue answered with a laugh. Dan had not expected to play such a prominent role in the painting she had done for Ann. She was convinced that he'd never forgive her for that.
"Then I would love to come to the unveiling," Dan said with a smile.
"It is Saturday night at Pat's bar," Sue said. She whispered, "Don't let Cathy know. It is a surprise."
"Should I bring my sister and mother?" Dan asked. He knew there was something between them and the tall woman, but he had never gotten all of the details.
"That would be lovely," Sue said recalling that it had been Diana who had pointed out Cathy's desire for a painting to her.
Jimmy, Rob, and Dan were seated around the break table discussing the new cook, Edgar. The man was a little older than the typical cook trainee. He had spent the past few years working as a janitor with a cleaning service. When the company that leased the location where he worked had moved, he had been laid off.
Jimmy was pretty pleased with the progress that Edgar was making towards being a short order cook. It was about time for him to work a couple of nights with Dan. The timing was fortunate since Jimmy wanted to take a couple of days off of work to go fishing. Dan was going to have to cover his shift for one of those nights.
Kim walked into the break room with a huge smile on her face. She cleared her throat and said, "Rob. I need to take next Monday night off."
Rob looked up at Kim and said, "I'll have to look at the schedule and see who can cover you."
Waving a hand dismissively, Kim said, "Cathy said that she would cover for me."
"She did?" Rob asked rather surprised by that announcement. Cathy seldom went out of her way to do anything nice for someone. In the entire time that she had worked there, Cathy had never covered anyone's shift for them. She talked friendly, but she wasn't.
Jimmy looked over at Dan and mouthed, 'What's going on?' Dan shrugged his shoulders.
Kim nodded her head and grinned from ear to ear. She said, "When she heard that I had a date with Edgar, she volunteered to watch my shift for me."
That particular announcement was met with total silence. Even Jimmy looked stunned at that little bombshell. Recovering first, Dan said, "Well, congratulations. I hope that you have a nice time."
"I'm sure we will," Kim said. She giggled and said, "I'm so excited I can hardly stand still."
The three men watched Kim scamper out of the back room. Jimmy went to the back door and looked out. He was hit with a blast of hot air. Turning to the others, he said, "I just looked at hell and it ain't frozen over."
Dan and Rob laughed at the comment. Rob said, "Kim has a date; Cathy is covering her shift; and Kim giggled. If that isn't one for the record books, I don't know what is."
Dan said, "I'm happy for her."
Rob turned to Dan and asked, "So you'll work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday?"
"I don't see a problem with that. If it had been tomorrow night then I wouldn't have been able to make it," Dan said.
"Great," Rob said standing up from the table. He said, "I better get out front and make sure that everything is going okay."
Jimmy waited until Rob was out of the room before he turned to Dan. He asked, "What did you do to Kim?"
"Me?" Dan asked.
"Yes, you," Jimmy answered. He looked at Dan and said, "I noticed that when you get interested in someone that good things start happening to them. First it was Sue. Now that was one sad little lady. After a little while around you, she's talking, laughing, and then goes back to being some kind of artist.
"You help out Kim a couple of months ago. Then a couple of weeks ago, you take her out to the parking lot and talk to her. A few days later, the impossible happens and she stops gossiping. Now she's starting to date and acts like a school girl."
Dan shrugged his shoulder and said, "I didn't really do much of anything."
"And I was invited to join the Ku Klux Klan," Jimmy said looking at Dan.
"You were?" Dan asked trying to sound like he was surprised.
Jimmy laughed and said, "You know better than that. Tell me what you did."
"After we get off of work in the morning, I'll give you a copy of what I gave Kim," Dan said. Thinking that Jimmy didn't need it, he said, "Just promise me that you won't laugh when you read it."
"I promise," Jimmy said. He had watched Dan deal with people and had become convinced that he had some secret power. It wasn't that he did anything special, but good things started happening around him. He had an old aunt who had been like that. She'd smile at someone and say that everything was going to be alright. Sure enough, things would turn out alright.
"Okay."
Jimmy stood up and said, "We've got to get in the kitchen before they get mad at us."
"Last time they got mad at us, they switched all of the food bins around," Dan said. He had dumped a whole bunch of peppers on a plate that was supposed to have cheese before he had noticed what they had done.
"They do that all of the time," Jimmy said.
As they walked into the kitchen, Dan winked at Jimmy and said, "I heard that those two jokers who work the evening shift haven't figured out the difference between lettuce and parsley."
Picking up a head of lettuce, Jimmy looked at the two cooks that were cleaning up the work area and said, "Now, boys. This is a head of lettuce. You don't cut lettuce with a..."
Before he had a chance to finish his little speech, Jimmy was pelted with two dirty towels. Laughing, Shorty said, "I put up with that speech my first night here."
"I think the old man is getting senile. He's forgotten that we've been through that comedy he calls training," the other cook said with a smile.
Turning to look at Dan, Jimmy said, "Senile! Can you believe that he's calling me senile?"
Dan shook his head and said, "That's real sad. Murray shouldn't be calling anyone senile. He is ninety years old judging by the looks of him."
"That's right," Jimmy said throwing the towels back at the other two cooks.
As Shorty and Murray were walking out, Shorty turned to Murray and said, "Those guys who work the graveyard shift should remember that we can leave little surprises for them to discover."
Saying it just loud enough for them to hear it, Murray asked, "Did you remember to put the top back on that salt shaker?"
Having completed the change of shift insults, Jimmy asked, "Do you want to start the prep work tonight?"
Grinning, Dan picked up a head of lettuce and said, "This is a head of lettuce."
"I'll take that as a yes," Jimmy said laughing as he went over to fry some bacon for the bacon bits.
Lazlo Zalezac