On entering the back room, Dan grinned over at Jimmy. The black man was dressed better then usual. He asked, "So how was the fishing trip? Did you bring me back any fish?"
Jimmy frowned and said, "I didn't catch anything. Hell, I didn't even go fishing. I started reading those papers you gave me and couldn't put them down. Once I finished them, I couldn't stop thinking about them."
"Oh."
"Where in the hell were you when I was a younger man?" Jimmy asked looking over at Dan. There was a trace of anger in his voice.
"I don't understand," Dan said rather surprised by Jimmy's reaction to the papers.
Jimmy sat down at the break table and shook his head. He said, "I've done a lot of stupid things in my life. I've ranted about how unfair it was that I was born a black man in a white world. I've bitched about being poor. I've blamed everyone and everything around me for my misery. I had dreams when I was a kid of being a rich man. I'm not a rich man.
"I'm fifty years old and a short order cook who works the graveyard shift in a chain restaurant. But you want to know something; the only place that I'm happy is in that kitchen. When I'm in there, I'm the master. The rest of my life is a disaster, but I'm happy when I'm here."
Jimmy was quiet for a moment and then asked, "Do you know how I ended up being a short order cook?"
"No," Dan answered.
Jimmy sighed and said, "I was a young asshole and thought I'd get rich real quick. I walked into a restaurant one night with a gun and robbed them. It was a family place. The whole family worked there. The little girl busing tables wasn't even ten years old. So there I am robbing the place. I was waving my gun around like a crazy man and talking bullshit. They were terrified. I got the money and ran out. I was caught and went to prison for armed robbery.
"Prison is a horrible place. You're stripped of every human dignity. It is filled with folks who think that the world owes them something so they are justified in taking what they want. There are lots of angry people in prison. I know; I was one of the angriest. It is a horrible place, but it makes you think about what you did to get there.
"Do you know what I did when I got out of prison?"
"No," Dan answered.
"I went to the man I had robbed and apologized," Jimmy said. Eyes getting moist, he asked, "Do you know what he did?"
"No."
"He asked me if I wanted a job. Hell, I was an ex-con and would have scraped shit out of a shithouse for a job. Of course I said yes. He took me in the kitchen and held up a head of lettuce. I'll never forget his words. 'This is a head of lettuce. You don't cut lettuce with a knife. You shred it with your hands.' I give everyone the same little speech," Jimmy said. Shaking his head, he said, "That man was Harold Derkins. I've been cooking for him ever since then."
"He's a very nice man," Dan said.
"Reading that damned article opened my eyes. I learned the hard way that I am responsible for my own happiness. There wasn't a fact in that article that I didn't learn through blood, sweat, and tears. I paid for that knowledge with my soul. It's too late to help me. I know everything in it."
"I'm sorry," Dan said.
Jimmy shook his head and said, "Don't be sorry. I called Mr. Derkins last night. He's sending out someone to take my shifts for me. I'm taking all of the kids in my family to someplace private and they're all going to read those articles. There's no sense for them to have to learn those lessons the hard way."
"I'm sure they're going to appreciate what you are doing for them," Dan said. He had wished that he had those articles when he was still in high school.
"They better," Jimmy said with a hard edge to his voice. He looked at Dan and said, "You're going to be working with someone new tonight. I'm sure they know their way around a kitchen, but watch them."
Dan turned around and saw who had just entered the back room. Smiling, he said, "Hello, Mr. Derkins."
"Hello, Dan. I hear that we're going to be working in the kitchen together," Harold Derkins said with a grin. He turned to Jimmy and said, "Hello, James. I hope that you and your family have a good time this week."
Harold pulled an order off the counter and looked at it. Shaking his head, he handed it over to Dan and asked, "What does this say?"
"Pork chops with green beans, waffles with strawberries, and a cheeseburger medium well with onion rings," Dan said. Shaking his head, he said, "Cathy's really going to have to learn how to write better."
Harold laughed and said, "I told my wife that everyday for the first five years we were in business. I was the only one in the kitchen who could read her orders."
Dan laughed and said, "I was expecting to see Ellen walking through that door earlier. When Jimmy said that he called you and that you were sending a cook down here, I was positive that it was going to be her."
"She's going to work the rest of the week. I just thought it would be nice to see how Jimmy was doing. He was pretty upset when he called last night," Harold said throwing two pork chops on the grill. He threw the hamburger on the grill next to them. As he worked, he said, "This is the first time that Jimmy has ever asked for a whole week off of work."
"You don't need to tell me how you know that. I've got a pretty good idea," Dan said.
"What's your idea?" Harold asked.
"I think you're the type of person who watches out for his friends," Dan said as he laid a burger on the bun. With deft moves, he piled a little lettuce, onion, and tomato on the open side of bun. He dropped the garnish next to the burger. Just as he finished, the buzzer on the fryer went off and he grabbed the handle. Lifting it out of the oil he gave the fry basket a little shake to remove the oil. The fries went on the plate and the plate went on the counter. He rang the little bell.
"You're pretty good with your timing," Harold said. He glanced down at the chops and burger. They needed to cook a little more. He'd start the waffles when it was time to flip them to cook on the other side. He dropped a basket with onion rings into the fryer and flipped the button. He dumped the green beans in the boiler.
"It looks like you haven't lost your touch in the kitchen," Dan said.
"I always enjoyed working in the kitchen," Harold replied finding that he was really enjoying the night. It had been a long time since he had gotten a little hands-on experience in one of the restaurants. He wasn't sure if he enjoyed the work or the company more.
Dan glanced at the door as Rob passed by for the tenth time. He chuckled and said, "I think that Mr. Rendell would be a whole lot happier if he was in the kitchen and you were greeting guests."
"I imagine so," Harold said with a grin. He had noticed Rob passing by the kitchen with a worried expression on his face. Dan tapped the grill with his spatula and pointed at the burger before turning back to his order. Harold glanced at his order and said, "Thanks."
"So what is the real reason you're working the graveyard shift on a Friday night?" Dan asked looking over at Harold.
Harold laughed at the question and answered, "The first time we met, I thought that you were a rather perceptive young man. I wanted to see if my first impression of you was right. I'm glad to see that I was right. I'm beginning to wonder if I wasn't right enough."
"Don't be misled. I'm clueless most of the time," Dan said. He picked up an order and glanced at it. He tossed three pieces of bacon on the griddle. He picked up the pancake batter and poured three pancakes. Moving over to the eggs, he grabbed two of them.
"You really are good," Harold said watching Dan out of the corner of his eye.
"Jimmy has been training me," Dan said as he cracked the eggs over the griddle with one hand. The shells went into the trash.
"I can tell. You've got the same style in the kitchen," Harold said. He shook his head and said, "I've been trying to get him to become a corporate cook. Every time I've asked him to do it, he turns me down."
"I imagine that he'll take you up on the offer soon," Dan said earning a surprised look from Harold. Noticing it, Dan said, "I think he buried some demons last weekend. He's going to bury some more this week."
"I think you're right," Harold said shaking his head. Dan kept surprising him with his insights into people.
Dan shrugged his shoulders and wiped down the counter. He said, "He's a good man. I'm proud to consider him a friend."
"It seems to me that you have a lot of friends," Harold said. He had heard from Ellen about Dan's active social life. It was hard to believe that he had three girlfriends.
"I think the same could be said of you too," Dan said wondering how one was supposed to respond to that kind of statement.
"I want to thank you for what you've done for Ellen. She was headed towards being a lonely old woman until she met you," Harold said while lifting the green beans out of the boiler. He shook the strainer and dumped the beans on the plate. A spoonful of applesauce in a small bowl followed.
"She's a friend," Dan said shrugging his shoulders. He added, "We all need friends."
"Well, I appreciate all you've done for her," Harold said. He added the garnish to the three plates and put them on the counter. He rang the bell.
Dan smiled as he turned the pancakes and said, "You know she told me to build a cardboard version of my kitchen to test the layout. I did that this summer. That was an experience. I stood there in the middle of that pretend kitchen and could see how it would work. I had to rearrange things a little to get them to my liking."
"She knows the business. Even I listen to any advice that she has to offer. I've had her work in every department of the company. I've never been disappointed in her as a businesswoman," Harold said. One of the things that he was proud of was that his kids hadn't grown up to be spoiled little rich kids. All of them were hard workers. His sons weren't all that interested in the business, but they all worked for a living.
"I can tell. I always listen to her advice," Dan said. He put the pancakes on the plate and then laid the bacon around them. He dropped the eggs on top of it. Pulling off a little sprig of parsley from the bunch in one of the bins, he added the garnish. Setting the plate up on the counter, he rang the bell.
"Smart."
"It must be a slow night or you're as good of a cook as Jimmy," Dan said when he saw that there weren't any orders waiting.
"I was going to say the same thing," Harold said. He grabbed a towel and started wiping down the cooking area. He glanced over and saw that Dan was doing the same thing.
A couple of orders appeared on the counter and as they worked, there was a flash of light from the door. Both men looked over and didn't see anyone. Neither man had to see the photographer to know who it was. Dan smiled and said, "Hello, Ellen."
"Come on in, Ellen," Harold said chuckling.
"I just had to get a picture of the two of you cooking together in the kitchen," Ellen said sticking her head inside the doorway. She said, "It is going to make a great picture for the company paper."
Dan listened to the computer. He was listening to a chapter of his Intro to Business textbook. He stopped and moved the cursor back a couple of paragraphs and started it again. This was the chapter on managing personal finances. A lot of the material was review for him since he had already learned it over the past year. It was nice to have it presented in a well organized manner rather than learned on an as-needed basis.
Diana knocked on his door and stuck her head through it. She said, "You're still at your desk. I thought that the day you graduated that I'd never see you sitting there again."
Dan turned to look at Diana and said, "One of the things you're going to discover when you graduate is just how ignorant you are."
"What?" Diana said offended at being called ignorant.
"The school hasn't taught you one damned thing that you really need to know," Dan said. He moved the mouse over to the menu bar and selected to print the document.
"I'm a straight A student," Diana said as the printer started working.
"I know. That doesn't mean that they are teaching you the important things," Dan said.
"What do you mean?"
Dan asked, "Where did you learn the facts of life?"
Diana faltered and said, "From the articles that Tom gave you."
"That's right. How many things have you learned in high school contradict the facts of life?"
"Lots," Diana said frowning. She kept hearing about fairness knowing that it didn't really exist.
"That's just the beginning of the travesty," Dan said.
"Really?" Diana asked.
Dan grabbed the first page of the chapter of his book. He handed it to her and said, "This is the first page of a chapter in my textbook on personal finance. I don't know why they had to include it in a book that covers business, but I haven't seen it anywhere else. Think about it. No one has taught us how to manage our personal finances."
"Is that really something we should learn in school?" Diana asked.
With a little more anger than he intended, Dan answered, "They are pushing a ton of information on us that we'll never use. I spent entire nights learning about explorers who basically wandered around North and South America. I memorized names, places, and dates. Guess what? I've never had a use for the fact that Magellan named the Pacific Ocean. Guess what I did need to know. I needed to reconcile my checkbook. Mom had to sit down and explain it to me.
"The schools are giving us a lot of detailed information about fields that most of us will never enter. I'm sorry to say this, but Mitochondria just haven't demanded much of my attention lately. My credit rating has demanded a lot of my attention. The guy at the Small Business Administration explained to me how to establish credit and how to optimize my score. Guess what? You need it to buy a car or a home. Everybody needs to know that.
"The schools don't tell us the things that everyone in that classroom needs to know on a daily basis. Yes, managing our personal finances should be something we learn in high school."
"You're angry," Diana said.
Nodding his head, Dan said, "You bet I'm angry. I spent a good percentage of the past year learning things that I should already know. A lot of kids my age haven't been doing that and it is going to end up costing them thousands of dollars."
Diana glanced down at the page that Dan had handed her. While she did that, Dan picked up the other pages that had printed. He handed those to her. She accepted them without taking her eyes off of what she was reading. In a way, Dan envied how easy it was for her to go through the material. Even with the text to speech program it took longer to get through the material than it required most people to read it.
"This is a little complicated," Diana said after getting through three pages.
"I know," Dan said. He held up a notebook and said, "This is a workbook for budgeting. It provides entries for how much you expect to spend, how much you actually spend, and to track the differences. It allows you to track your tax deductible expenditures."
"You don't need that," Diana said.
"Sure I do. I need to start it now so that when I get some money I can keep it," Dan said shaking his head. He said, "When I start earning money in my business, I have to be able to demonstrate that I'm keeping my business finances separate from my personal finances. I have similar books for my business."
Diana had been working in a part-time job for a year and a half. She cashed her paycheck and deposited half of it in her savings account. The rest she spent for personal items. If she went to buy something and there wasn't enough money in her purse, she didn't buy it. If she wanted to buy something special, she saved a little money from every paycheck until she had enough. To her, that was managing her money.
The book chapter she was reading presented an entirely different picture on how to manage her money. It talked about budgeting for expected and unexpected expenses. It described taking her check and allocating different percentages for specific uses. She realized there were weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual expenses.
Dan handed her a couple of more pages. She added them to the stack in her hand. Looking up at Dan, she said, "This is important."
"That's right," Dan said with a sigh.
Deciding that she would read the rest when she had time to concentrate on it, she asked, "What else don't I know?"
Thinking about what Alison had said about her first year at college, Dan smiled and said, "I tell you what. Why don't you take one of your essays up to the writing center at the community college and let them critique it?"
"Why would I do that?" Diana asked.
"To find out if it is really worth an A or a C," Dan answered.
"It got an A," Diana said indignant at the suggestion that she would get a C.
Laughing at her indignation, Dan said, "It got a high school A. The question is what college grade would it get?"
Diana frowned and said, "There shouldn't be a difference."
"I agree with you. A well written paper is a well written paper," Dan said. He thought about it for a minute and then said, "Go visit Alison. Talk to her about her experience in college."
"I'll do that," Diana said. She looked down at the stack of papers and asked, "Does it worry you that there is more that you don't know?"
"Every day," Dan answered. Having discovered how ignorant he was of many important facts, the chance of having missed something critical seemed very high. There were times when he felt that he was too ignorant to know what he didn't know.
Disturbed by the conversation, Diana stood up and said, "I'm going to go to my room now."
"Okay," Dan said. He looked over at the clock and said, "I need to leave for class in a few minutes."
"I'm sorry for interrupting your studies," Diana said.
"Don't worry about that. I was just reviewing the material before class," Dan said. Shaking his head, he said, "A lot of the material in the book wasn't all that relevant to a pizzeria. For example, I don't think I'll be competing in a global marketplace; at least, not any time soon. Still, I'm glad that I audited the course."
"You never know," Diana said.
Dan stood and gathered together his materials for class. He said, "I better go now."
Diana went to her room and sat down to read. It seemed to her that there was a lot more to managing her finances than she had ever imagined. After looking over the material for a few minutes, she said, "I'm going to talk to Mom. She pays the bills."
It was time for the father to meet the young man who was dating his daughter. As Harold accepted a frosty mug of root beer from Tom, he asked, "Do you know who I am?"
Tom answered, "You are the father of Ellen. You have asked me to call you Harold. Outside of those two pieces of information, I don't know who you are."
"Aren't you curious why I'm here?" Harold asked.
Rather than answer the question, Tom raised his mug of root beer and said, "Cheers."
Harold raised his glass and replied, "Cheers."
Tom took a long slow drink of his root beer and said, "There's nothing like a frosty mug of root beer."
Harold took a sip from his mug and said, "It is good."
Tom smiled at Harold and said, "I assume that you're here to give me the third degree. Ask away and I will answer."
"What are your intentions towards my daughter?" Harold asked.
"We are friends with certain benefits that we both find mutually satisfying. I am quite positive that the benefits will end when I return to college, but it my hope that we remain friends for the rest of our lives," Tom answered. Ellen had told him to be completely honest with her father.
"She told you to say that."
"No. She told me to be honest," Tom replied. He said, "Next question."
"Tell me about Dan," Harold said.
Tom took a long sip of his root beer as he studied Harold. He said, "There are only three things I will tell you about Dan. First, he is a friend of mine. Second, he makes the best pizza in the world. Third, he's going to lead a happy and successful life."
"I want the dirt on him. I want to know every ugly little secret he has," Harold said hoping that Tom would do the right thing and tell him to get lost. If he would talk bad about his best friend, then he'd talk bad about Ellen.
Frowning at the idea that Harold wanted him to violate the trust that existed between him and Dan, Tom rose from his chair. With anger evident in his voice, he said, "I think our conversation is over."
Relieved at the indignant expression on Tom's face, Harold laughed and said, "You've answered all my questions. I'm convinced that you're a good guy and won't talk bad about your friends. Have a seat."
"Why should I?"
Harold answered, "My name is Harold Derkins. I'm the founder of Derkins Restaurants."
"And that is supposed to impress me?" Tom asked looking down at him. It was clear that he wasn't impressed.
Tom's question surprised Harold. It had been a long time since someone had asked him that. Chuckling, he said, "No, but it does impress a lot of people. In the past ten years only two people have not been impressed by my resume."
"Who?" Tom asked knowing that his curiosity had gotten the better of him.
"You and Dan," Harold answered with a chuckle. He added, "I find it interesting that my daughter is friends with both of you."
"She has good taste in friends," Tom said with a smile.
Harold was amused by that comment. It hadn't been true until she had met up with Dan. He asked, "How did you and Dan end up being friends?"
"It's a long story," Tom answered returning to his chair. It was a long and ugly story that he hadn't ever told anyone. The main reason for not wanting to talk about it was because he was ashamed that the friendship had begun with pity.
The roots of their friendship began when Tom visited the school library one day after school. He was waiting for Kim Parker to get out of some after school club and had decided to read a book to pass the time. The library was basically deserted except for the librarian and one other student. He recognized Dan, but didn't give the matter much thought other than to wonder what the school dummy was doing in the library.
After finding a junk novel, he had sat down at one of the tables. Tom was about open the book when he overheard Dan and the librarian talking. The librarian was telling Dan that he should memorize the words rather than sound them out. He was supposed to figure out the words he hadn't memorized from the context provided by the rest of the text. Tom had listened wondering why she would tell Dan something like that.
Tom hadn't known that the librarian had been working with Dan to help him overcome his Dyslexia and learn the material for class. Dan would struggle to read something and then they would discuss the matter. Rather than read his book, Tom listened to the discussion finding it more interesting that the book. As the conversation progressed, he noticed that the discussion was much more intelligent than he had suspected possible given Dan's reputation as the class dummy.
For the next few afternoons, Tom had gone to the library and listened to Dan work with the librarian. He could hear the frustration in Dan's voice as he struggled to read. He could hear the approval in the librarian's voice when Dan made some insightful comment about the material they were examining. Many of the insights left Tom speechless and he came to understand that Dan was much more intelligent than anyone had credited him with being. He also realized that Dan was working a thousand times harder at getting through school than him.
The insight into Dan's life didn't motivate Tom to try to know the guy better until several weeks had passed. One afternoon Tom had come out of class just in time to hear Kim Parker verbally destroying Dan. After having seen how hard Dan worked to learn, Tom was stunned by the horrible words coming out of Kim's mouth. He watched as Dan turned his back to Kim and didn't respond to the abuse thrown at him. He felt sorry for Dan and ashamed of Kim.
Later that afternoon Tom had tried to talk to Kim about how she had treated Dan. Kim was furious that he was taking Dan's side. The venom that came out of her mouth was overwhelming. Tom realized that Kim had no compassion within her. She hated Dan with a passion that was almost frightening. That was the afternoon that the great Tom and Kim feud began.
The next day, Tom went over to Dan and struck up a conversation. He didn't even remember the subject of the discussion. All he remembered was the look on Dan's face at having anyone take him seriously. He never regretted having chosen Dan as a friend over Kim as a lover.
Shaking his head as he tried to put the memories of those days behind him, Tom said, "It is a long story and one that is too personal to tell."
"I understand," Harold said knowing that some things shouldn't be discussed lightly.
Lazlo Zalezac