Harold Derkins was the first guest to arrive. In fact, he arrived an hour before the party was supposed to begin. Unnerved at the idea that people would arrive before he was ready for them, Dan opened the doors and let him in. He didn't bother to relock the doors.
Harold stepped in and looked around the room smiling. He took in the odd assortment of tables, the mural, the pizza station, and the thousands of other little details. It was a very different kind of place from his first restaurant, but he liked it. Nodding his head, he said, "It looks great."
"Thanks," Dan said.
"How are you feeling?"
Dan answered, "Terrified."
Harold laughed and said, "I know exactly what you mean. I was in your position thirty-six years ago. I remember it just like it was yesterday."
"I don't know why I'm so nervous about today. The grand opening is tomorrow," Dan said.
Understanding exactly what Dan was feeling, Harold nodded his head and said, "I had a pre-opening party at my first place. I wanted to show all of my friends and family what I was doing. I was so proud of that little place and so afraid that people would laugh at me. Who was I to dare to dream?
"On the day of the party, I came in early and paced around the restaurant like a mad man. I was busy checking everything three times. It seemed to me like everything that could go wrong was going to go wrong. I nearly drove the staff to quit and I hadn't even opened the doors yet. Do you know what happened?"
"What?" Dan asked.
"Everyone came and we had a good time," Harold answered in a matter of fact voice.
Dan gave a nervous laugh and said, "That's a rather anti-climatic ending to the story."
"That's my point," Harold said with a chuckle. He put a hand on Dan's shoulder and steered him to a table. Looking over at one of the waitresses, he said, "Two root beers, please."
As Sandra scurried off to get the two root beers, Harold led Dan to one of the dining room tables. After the pair had taken seats, Harold said, "Now tell me everything that you've done to get to this point and I'll let you know if you've forgotten anything."
Dan started telling about everything he had been doing that day. As he voiced his fears, Harold reassured him that they were little fears rather than monsters under the bed. Ann and Sally arrived and sat down at the table with them. They listened as Dan and Harold talked about the restaurant business. It seemed to them that they hadn't seen Dan so relaxed in days.
About ten minutes before the party was scheduled to begin, Harold said, "Sitting here talking about food has made me hungry. How's this supposed to work?"
Dan led Harold over to the pizza station and explained the process. Harold picked out the toppings for a personal sized pizza while Dan prepared his order. He handed the pizza paddle off to Kevin to cook. He turned back to find that Ann and Sally were in line as well. He fixed their orders and looked up to see that Ellen had shown up. She came over and said, "This looks great."
"Thanks," Dan said.
"I see that Daddy is here," Ellen said. She knew that he had come an hour before opening to help settle Dan's nerves.
Appreciating what her father had done for him, Dan said, "He's quite a man. I owe him a lot."
"I'm rather fond of him," Ellen said with a smile. She looked around observing that more people had started to arrive. She said, "You should get out from behind the counter and greet your friends as they arrive."
"That's not a bad idea," Dan said. He turned to find Sandra beside him.
Sandra said, "I'll work the pizza station."
"Thanks, I'll send someone over later to relieve you," Dan said.
Smiling, Sandra said, "Take your time. I've been looking forward to this for weeks."
Dan stepped out from behind the counter and looked around at the small crowd. There were already more than twenty people there and the place still looked empty. His parents and Diana had already arrived. They were walking around the room examining the mural and laughing at the individual little scenes shown in it.
His dad spotted him before he got there. He grabbed his son in a hug and patted him on the back. With obvious pride in his voice, he said, "I'm so proud of you son."
"Thanks, Dad," Dan said. He thought back to the night he heard his father expressing his fears about Dan's future. He wasn't the same person as he had been that night.
His mother hugged him and, with tears of joy in her eyes, she said, "This place is so cute. I love it."
"Thanks, Mom," Dan said.
Diana smiled over at him and asked, "Can I have a job?"
Dan laughed and said, "I still need an Igor. Every mad scientist and businessman since Frankenstein has needed a hunchbacked assistant."
"I'll take the job," Diana said. When he laughed, she said, "I'm serious."
"We'll talk about it tomorrow," Dan said not believing she would actually show up to work.
"Great," Diana said. She was going to help her brother succeed even if she had to show up looking like a hunchback.
There was a huge commotion at the front door. Dan didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. He grinned and said, "Tom's parents have arrived. I think the party is about to begin."
As his family laughed, Dan went over to greet Tom's parents. Much to his surprise, Tom was there grinning from ear to ear. Tom rushed over and hugged his friend. He said, "I just couldn't miss this."
"It's great to see you," Dan said amazed to see Tom standing there.
"You did it," Tom said looking around. He said, "You really did it. I'm so proud of you. I knew you would do it. This is so great."
"Thanks, Tom. It was your idea," Dan said remembering the day when Tom had brought up the idea of the pizzeria at the video store. Back then it was just an idea to sell pizzas.
There was a huge belly laugh from the men's bathroom that carried through the whole room. Tom said, "That's weird."
"Wait until you go in there. You'll piss on your shoes," Dan said with a wink.
Harold came out of the bathroom laughing so hard he could barely walk. He staggered over to Ellen wiping the tears from his eyes. After years of dealing with graffiti in restaurant bathrooms, he had never seen anything that funny. Pointing towards the door, he said, "Ellen, you've got to see what's written over the urinal."
His behavior was odd enough that a couple of people had to check it out. Soon the sound of laughter from the bathrooms could be heard. Curiosity aroused, Tom said, "I've got to see that."
Dan watched Tom head towards the bathroom. He went over to Ann and said, "Your mural is a big hit. I think Harold really liked your flush twice sign."
"Thanks. I loved every minute of doing it," Ann said. She had watched as people walked around the room making comments about the little scenes in it. Every smile was applause. Every laugh was a standing ovation. Every time someone called out for someone to check something out it was an outstanding review.
"Thank you for doing it. It really does complete the pizzeria," Dan said giving her a hug.
Impressed by what he had seen, James Vic came over and said, "This really looks great."
"Thanks," Dan said. "I heard that you recently joined Foreman General Contracting."
"You heard right," James said shaking his head. He still couldn't believe that he was now the number two man in the largest general contracting outfit in the area. He said, "I can't believe that you gave me the job so that Peter Foreman could watch me work."
"I think you'll like working with him. You two are a lot alike," Dan said.
"I have to agree with you. After leaving here, we had a long talk about the business. It was amazing. We see eye to eye on everything," James said. The two men had talked the entire afternoon and evening. Both men had walked away from that meeting agreeing that they owed Dan a debt of gratitude.
"I thought you were a good match," Dan said.
Gesturing to the elderly couple with him, James said, "Let me introduce you to my parents. They helped me get into the business."
After the introductions were over, James led his parents over to the pizza station. Before long the three of them were eating at one of the patio tables.
Dan glanced over at the picnic tables. Eric and a couple of people from the CERT team were sitting there sharing a large pizza. From the way that Eric was gesturing, it was obvious to Dan that he was telling the story about the tornado. Rolling his eyes, he headed over there to tell his version of the events.
Dan never made it over to the picnic table. Pat reached him first. She greeted him with a great big hug that lifted him off the ground. Betty was smiling at the shocked expression on his face. When Pat let him down, she said, "Welcome to the exciting world of small business. You're going to love it and you're going to hate it, but you'll go to bed every night knowing that you've built something of which you can be proud."
"Thanks, Pat," Dan said.
Betty said, "You'll worry about it like it was your baby, but when all is said and done you'll love every minute of it."
"Thanks, Betty," Dan said.
"Now, get your hands off my girl before I have to get rough," Betty said. Dan laughed and went over to her. As he gave her a hug, she said, "That's better."
Pat asked, "Where's your mother?"
Dan looked around and spotted his parents over by the mural. They were in front of the scene where the people were swinging from the trees being observed by a bunch of monkeys with cameras. He pointed to them and said, "Over there. Why?"
"I owe her a favor," Pat said with a wink. She headed over there leaving Betty behind.
Betty laughed and said, "I think your father is in for one hell of a shock."
"Why?" Dan asked.
"He has dreams of a threesome, but I don't think Pat is exactly the third he's dreaming of," Betty said. She laughed and said, "I've got to see this."
Dan shook his head thinking about how his father was going to react. He looked around and spotted Sue checking out the mural. Chewing on her knuckles, Ann was watching Sue from halfway across the room. While the reaction of the public was one thing, the reaction of another artist to her work was an entirely different matter.
He wanted to go over and support Ann, but Captain Dawson who was in charge of the CERT training stopped him. In a gruff voice, he said, "I heard you were having a party without a permit."
Surprised, Dan asked, "Do I need a permit?"
"Not when you invite the Police Department to join the party," Captain Dawson said with a wink.
Dan laughed upon realizing that the Captain was joking. He shook his head and said, "Remind me to drop the stretcher when we're practicing that part."
Captain Dawson laughed and said, "I've got a feeling the detectives will be ordering a lot of your pizzas when they are on stakeout. I've eaten two of those personal pizzas and wish I had room for one more."
"I'm glad you like it," Dan said.
Getting a little more serious, Captain Dawson asked, "Are you going to be able to finish the CERT training?"
"I'm going to try. I'll miss next week while we're working out the details, but hopefully I'll be able to make the next one," Dan answered. There were only three more training sessions.
"Too bad you don't have a private meeting room. We could move the training over here," Captain Dawson said. He really hoped that Dan would finish the program. He had talked to Dan about his version of the events during the tornado. Dan's version spoke of the frustration that he felt at not being able to help. It was an honesty that he admired.
"I really will try to make it," Dan said.
"I've got to head back to the station. You have a good time," Captain Dawson said.
"Thanks," Dan said.
It seemed that as soon as Captain Dawson had left, Mr. Foreman came over and said, "Hello, Dan. It looks like everything is going well."
"Yes, there are a lot of people here and they look like they are having fun," Dan said. There were now well over fifty people milling around the restaurant. It looked full and people were still arriving.
"When you told me that day that you were going to open a pizzeria I had my doubts. Lots of men on the work crews talk about big dreams. After having watched you work for a while, I became convinced that you'd go all the way. I'm glad to see that I was right," Mr. Foreman said.
"There were times when I wondered about it myself," Dan said.
"That's normal. I'd be worried if you didn't have a few doubts along the way. I remember bidding my first few jobs. I was concerned that I'd lose money on every job. Those were the days," Mr. Foreman said.
"James Vic is here," Dan said.
"I saw him, but he was having a heart to heart with some young woman and I didn't want to interrupt," he replied.
"Really?" Dan asked. He looked around and spotted James Vic having a very animated conversation with Ellen. She was just as involved in the conversation. Nodding his head at the match, he said, "It would be really easy to do worse than her, but almost impossible to do better."
"I take it she's a friend of yours," Mr. Foreman said with a smile.
"That's right," Dan said.
"It seems to me like you have a lot of friends."
Looking around the room at all of the people gathered there, Dan nodded his head and said, "Yes, I think I do."
"Well, I'll let you mingle for a bit," Mr. Foreman said.
Rather than mingle, Dan went over to the pizza station. Kevin had been cooking the entire time and it was time for his break. Vicki came over carrying a crock pot filled with spaghetti sauce. As she set it down, she said, "The spaghetti is going fast."
"Really?" Dan asked turning away from the oven.
"This is the third time I've refilled it," Vicki said.
"Wow, that's good news," Dan said. The spaghetti was one of the highest profit margin items on the menu. The only higher profit item was the salad. He asked, "How about the salad?"
"That's moving quickly, too," Vicki answered. She said, "A lot of people are getting a personal pizza, a small salad, and a soft drink."
Dan smiled at the news and said, "I'm glad to hear that."
Debbie, one of the other waitresses, was assembling pizzas. She tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Pizzas to cook."
"Oh, right," Dan said turning back to the serious business of cooking pizzas. He put two personal pizzas into the oven. There was an order of pizza dippers to cook as well.
"An order of Spaghetti," Debbie said a few minutes later.
Dan grabbed the noodle canister and dumped out a single serving into the noodle boiler. He moved around the cooking area with confidence knowing that he was in his element. After a few minutes he lifted the strainer with the spaghetti noodles and dumped them on a plate. Ladling one spoon of spaghetti sauce on the noodles and another order was done.
After thirty minutes, Kevin returned to the cooking station and said, "Get out of here. This is my kitchen tonight."
Dan laughed and said, "Yes, sir."
The party was in full swing and Dan moved around the room watching people have a good time. Some of the kids were in the corner playing Twister; three teenage boys were playing Nerf Basketball; and a crowd of adults were gathered around the air hockey table. Over in the open area, a couple of people were sitting around cross legged talking and telling jokes.
Dan ran into a family looking around like they were lost. The man was carrying a medium pizza. Dan went over to them and asked, "Can I help you?"
"Where do I pay?" the man asked.
Dan laughed at the question and said, "This is a private party. Have a seat and enjoy yourselves."
"Oh, sorry," the man said feeling stupid at having crashed the party.
"Don't worry about it," Dan said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He looked around and said, "There's a patio table that's available over there. Enjoy yourself."
"Thanks," the man said thinking that this was a pretty friendly place. He would definitely bring the family back here.
Watching the family go over to the table, Dan muttered, "I hope that is a good sign."
Tom went over to Dan and said, "I counted a hundred and fifty people here. Someone, I guess it was the landlord, shut down part of the parking lot and people are eating pizzas out there."
"Really?" Dan asked.
"Yes. You sure have some interesting friends. I met this guy by the name of Eric and he told me about how you walked on water one day," Tom said with a grin.
"He's telling everyone that story about the tornado," Dan said shaking his head.
"He's a character," Tom said. He paused and looked over at the one corner of the room. His smile faltered and then he pasted a new one on his face. Attempting to sound cheerful, he said, "It looks like Ellen found a man."
"You knew it was going to happen," Dan said. It was obvious that things were heating up based on the looks being exchanged between Ellen and James Vic. It looked like each one was ready to find a private place to take the other.
"Yes, but it is still hard," Tom said watching the couple.
Dan patted his friend on the back and said, "Let my buy you a root beer."
"Now that's the best offer I've heard all day," Tom said with a smile. The pair went over to the pizza stand to get mugs of root beer.
They sat down on a picnic table and watched the crowd. Dan hadn't been there five minutes when the whole night shift from the restaurant entered the place. Dan rose and said, "Let me say hello to the group that just came in."
Amazed at how many people were there, Tom said, "Go ahead."
Dan went over and greeted his former co-workers. Rob Rendell who had moved to another town to work in the manager trainee restaurant was there with the crew. Each of the waitresses greeted him with hugs and best wishes before heading off to get something to eat. They would leave the party and head to work.
Surprising Dan was the fact that Jimmy had come with them. After exchanging greetings and small talk with everyone, Dan found that he was alone with Jimmy. He said, "How are you doing? How's the new job?"
"I'm doing great. I love coming up with new menu items," Jimmy said smiling broadly. He noticed Harold Derkins over at one of the tables and said, "The only problem with the new job is that the big guy keeps showing up to taste what I'm cooking."
Dan laughed at wink Jimmy gave him and said, "Just give him the head of lettuce speech. I'm sure that'll chase him off."
Jimmy chuckled at the old joke and said, "You're right. Now I'm going to taste a bit of your kitchen and see if I can get any ideas that might impress the old man."
"You do that, Jimmy," Dan said chuckling. He watched the black man move through the crowd to the pizza station. It seemed to him that Jimmy was taller and moved with greater pride.
Dan decided to go outside to see if there were as many people out there as Tom had said. Much to Dan's surprise, he ran into Alison walking into the pizzeria. He hugged her and, after exchanging a passionate kiss with her, he asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?"
"I couldn't miss your grand opening. I talked to my parents and begged them to help me get here in time for your party tonight. I just got off the plane," Alison answered. She looked very tired, but happy to be there. Her eyes spoke of a love that would have leveled any problems that stood in her way of standing beside him on this important day.
"I'm so glad you could come. Tom came here, too," Dan said.
There were two shouts of excitement behind Dan. He turned to see what the cause was. He discovered Ann and Sally headed in his direction. Alison slipped around him and hugged the pair of women. Ann said, "I'm glad to see you're here."
Alison said, "I couldn't miss this for anything. You've got to show me the mural you did."
The three women walked off leaving Dan standing there looking a little puzzled. He decided to continue his trip outside and let the women talk. As soon as he stepped through the door, Dan saw that Tom hadn't been lying. There were at least fifty people standing around eating and talking. Boxes with large pizzas had been placed on a few chairs scattered around the parking lot.
Most of the people outside were from the CERT team although he did run into some of his classmates from college. Ann and George were there as a couple. It appeared as though their friendship had progressed past the point of being classmates. Dan went over and chatted with them for a few minutes.
Dan had just stepped away from Ann and George, when he spotted Richard Harrison and his wife standing near the front window of the restaurant. The inside was a little too crowded for her to move about comfortably with Lucky. He headed over where they were talking and said, "Hello Professor Harrison. Hello Richard. I'm glad that you two could make it."
Pleased to have the chance to talk with Dan, Professor Harrison said, "Hello, Mr. Parker. We wouldn't have missed this for the world. It is not very often that I get to see one of my students open a business. Usually my students disappear off to other colleges and I never hear from them again."
"It looks like you have a winner," Richard said. He'd heard that a number of people had basically crashed the party not realizing that it was a private affair. Based on his observations, he figured that Dan would have done a great deal of business that night.
The crowd had slowly dissipated and the crew had gone home. Dan was seated on a picnic table bracketed by Ann and Sally with Alison seated on the bench between his legs. Standing next to the table, Tom was drinking a mug of root beer. Dan said, "I would say that the party has been a success."
Tom said, "I would definitely have to agree with you."
Alison said, "I'm so glad I could make it."
"We're glad you could make it, too," Ann said.
"Just think, less than two years ago we were in high school drifting through life with no real plans," Tom said.
"Those three articles are what got me to this point," Dan said. "I have to thank you for giving them to me."
Shaking his head, Tom said, "You got to this point through hard work. All those articles did was allow you to focus your energies on reaching this point."
Nodding her head in agreement, Sally said, "The hard work isn't over."
"We've all got to work hard the next few years if we're going to achieve our goals," Ann said.
Alison sniffled and said, "I really missed all three of you while I was away."
"Are you spending the night with us?" Ann asked.
"I would love to do that, but I don't want to get in the way," Alison said. She was feeling like a third wheel, although in this case it was more like a fourth wheel.
"Alison, we know that you love us. When are you going to admit it to yourself?" Sally asked.
"I know that. It's just that I'm not interested in the girl-girl stuff," Alison said.
The image of that caused Tom to turn bright red. He looked away as Ann said, "We know and accept that."
"Really?"
"Really," Sally answered. It was time for her and Ann to have a long talk with Alison. She knew that Dan and Tom would want to spend a few minutes reminiscing about their past. There was also another little matter that Tom had to tell Dan about. Winking at Tom, she said, "Let's go home and leave Dan to close up. We'll give him a proper greeting when he gets home."
After the three women left, Tom said, "I don't know how you managed to get three great women in your life like that."
"I wonder about that myself," Dan said. It seemed to him that he just kind of muddled through things.
"Let me help you straighten up," Tom said feeling that it was fitting that he and Dan were together at this beginning just like they had been at the first beginning.
The crew had done a good job of cleaning up before leaving. Looking around at the place, Dan said, "There's not much to straighten up."
Tom said, "There's a little matter of the collection jar that was passed around."
"What collection jar?" Dan asked staring at Tom.
"The one behind the pizza station," Tom answered with a grin. He had no idea how much money had been collected, but there were a lot of twenties and even a couple of hundred dollar bills in the jar.
Lazlo Zalezac