Dan walked into the room and took a seat in one of the chairs. Shocked at seeing him, Pat asked, "How did you find me?"
"Sally saw you yesterday," Dan answered. Sally had been walking down the hall to treat one of her patients and spotted Pat in the hospital room. Rather than confront Pat, she had asked one of the nurses about her. The story that came back was not good.
Upset, Pat looked away and said, "Go away."
"No," Dan replied calmly. He looked at the big woman lying in the hospital bed. She looked like a fragile little doll about to break into a thousand pieces. He could see that she'd already had the surgery to remove a breast.
With tears in her eyes, she said, "Please go away! I don't want anyone to see me like this."
"Sorry, but you're stuck with me," Dan said with a smile. Seeing that she was on the verge of breaking down into tears, Dan said, "My friends will not go through tough times without me being there for them. I consider you to be one of my very dear friends."
As Pat broke down into tears, Dan went over to her bed. He grabbed a tissue and handed it to her. He said, "There is no reason for you to go through this alone."
Pat sobbed. She hated crying in front of other people. Big tough lesbians didn't cry like little girls afraid of a storm. She blew her nose and tried to fight back the tears. She looked up at Dan and saw that there were tears in his eyes. Chin quivering, she asked, "Why are you crying?"
"It hurts to see you in such pain," Dan said taking her hand. She needed a human touch more than drugs or treatments. She didn't try to pull her hand away from him.
"The drugs are keeping the pain away," Pat said not looking at him. She knew that wasn't what he meant.
Shaking his head, Dan said, "That's not the pain that I'm talking about."
"I know," Pat said swallowing heavily. Her entire self image had taken a major battering over the past week. She knew that she'd be able to drive anyone else away with harsh words, but not Dan. He'd stand there looking down at her with puppy dog eyes until she stopped. Then he'd hug her and tell her that he loved her. She didn't know if she'd survive that.
Still holding her hand, Dan said, "Tell me about it."
"They found it too late," Pat said. She looked over at him waiting for him to say that she was wrong. She didn't want to hear platitudes.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Dan said.
Pat gave him a weak smile and asked, "Aren't you going to try and convince me that it isn't so bad?"
Frowning, Dan said, "You know your condition better than I do."
One of the things that Pat had come to appreciate about Dan was his recognition that trying to deny the reality of the situation did no good. Unless you accepted things as they really were, you couldn't plan effective actions. She said, "Yes, I guess I do."
Dan let go of her hand and pulled a chair over to the side of the bed. Taking a seat, he took her hand in his and said, "Tell me about it."
For the next hour, Pat and Dan talked about her health. For the most part, she talked and he listened. Pat vented months of worry and anxiety. She had known for a long time that there was something wrong with her. She didn't follow up when she started losing weight. It wasn't until her back started hurting that she finally went to the doctor. When it was hard for her to talk, he squeezed her hand to let her know that he was there for her.
A nurse came to check on her condition, but left without interrupting them. This was the first visitor that her patient had since checking into the hospital. She felt that her patient was better served by having a close friend visit her. It was obvious that she looked better now than at any time previous.
Tom raised his plastic bottle of root beer and said, "Here's to a long summer days at the lake."
"Here's to long lazy summer days at the lake," Dan said emphasizing the word lazy. He tapped bottles with Tom. The sound produced wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as tapping mugs together.
"Terry is really excited about the project that you gave her," Tom said. He had come home from work one day and found Terry buried in books looking up information on making the transition from one size of business to the next. It seemed that in the course of one discussion, she had become convinced that Dan was a business genius.
"I'm glad to hear that," Dan said. He had been rather surprised at the energy with which Terry had put into coming up with a plan for growing the pizzeria. There were a lot of little details that had to be addressed before the summer ended.
"I understand she's been spending a lot of time with Mr. Harrison," Tom said. It seemed to him that Terry talked about that guy as much as she talked about Amanda. In a way, it was rather scary.
"That's true. The two of them are planning on taking my pizzeria nationwide," Dan said. He felt like he was an anchor trying to hold the pair of them back from their grandiose plans.
"How do you feel about that?" Tom asked looking over at his friend.
Dan laughed and said, "I don't have the heart to tell them that I'm not interested in being a nationwide business. I just want to be little old Dan Parker who lives surrounded by friends and family."
"What are you going to do?" Tom asked thinking that he was going to have to spend a little time working on managing Terry's expectations. He'd seen the hunger in her to accomplish something significant. She looked at the chance to grow Dan's business the same way that a fat woman looked at a Chocolate Cake.
"I don't know," Dan answered with a shrug of his shoulders. He was thinking that once he grew the company large enough that he'd sell it to someone interested in growing it even further. He'd keep a nice little share in it, but he'd step out of the day to day running of it.
"Somehow that surprises me," Tom said with a grin. Dan never let anything develop too long without making plans on how to deal with it. He leaned over and whispered, "You're thinking of selling out when it gets too big, aren't you?"
"Maybe," Dan said fully aware that Tom knew him better than anyone.
"I don't blame you," Tom said. He looked over at Terry and said, "She's going to be disappointed."
"No she won't," Dan said. By the time he sold out, Terry would have come up with her own definition of happiness. She'd see selling the business as one more step along the way.
"You might be right. She might view it as a sign of her success."
Wanting to change the subject away from his business, Dan looked over at where the women were talking. He asked, "How's it going with Amanda and Terry?"
Tom smiled and said, "Great. Amanda has been spending three nights a week over at my house. Terry and I are getting along better than ever. We are actually talking about our relationship."
"That is good," Dan said with a nod of his head.
"Amanda's mother and father have eased off on her significantly," Tom said. He thought that Amanda's talk with her father had been one of the main factors.
"That's real good," Dan said.
"How are things going for you?" Tom asked.
"I've been real busy. I hope that next week is a little better," Dan answered. Betty had been devastated to learn that Pat was seriously ill. There had been almost an entire day of drama where Betty had raged against the unfairness of Pat's illness and her lover's attempt to spare her the heartache of watching her get ill. As far as Dan was concerned, listening as Betty expressed her anger and heartache had been worth it. At least he had gotten them back together again.
"Rough week?" Tom asked.
"The roughest week I've had since I graduated high school," Dan said.
"You should have called me," Tom said. It seemed to him that with everyone working that there just wasn't much time for friends.
Shrugging his shoulders, Dan said, "It wasn't so tough for me, but for everyone around me."
Tom grinned and said, "I might not have been able to help much, but I could have brought over a root beer for you to drink."
Dan laughed and slapped his friend on the back. He said, "I'll remember that."
"You better," Tom said.
Looking over at the women in their lives, Dan said, "I think we should pay a little attention to the women."
"You're right. I've got a feeling that if we don't get over there soon they'll be throwing us in the lake," Tom said.
"The downside of that is?" Dan asked with a grin.
"Hmm, that's a good question," Tom answered. The pair burst out in laughter and headed over to their girlfriends.
Dan's cell phone went off in the middle of the afternoon. He pulled it out and looked at the caller id. Frowning, he answered the call, "This is Dan Parker."
"This is the emergency management notification system. There is a large business building on fire in the downtown area. We're activating the CERT teams. All CERT team members are to meet downtown at the staging area at Main and Elm," the recording said.
Dan closed his phone and shouted over to Ernie, "Ernie, I've got to run. You're in charge until Sandy gets here."
"Yes, Mr. Parker," Ernie said staring at Dan in shock. He didn't know if he could handle the pizzeria by himself.
Dan rushed out and headed to the corner of Main and Elm. The traffic wasn't too bad until he got near the center of town. Cars were backed up for miles. He watched as a fire truck from a nearby town drove down the shoulder of the highway. Having gone through the CERT training, he knew that it wasn't a good sign when they started calling in resources from nearby towns.
It took Dan almost forty minutes to reach the meeting point. There were only twenty people gathered there wearing the green helmets and vests that identified them as members of CERT. It was obvious to him that he wouldn't be the last one to show up. Dan went around to the rear of his station wagon and pulled out his CERT bag. He put on his vest and hardhat. He turned around to find Eric standing there. He said, "Hello, Eric. Sorry I'm late."
"Traffic was murder. I just got here myself and I wasn't even that far from here," Eric said. He thought it would have been a good idea if they'd been given lights or something to let them get around the traffic.
Dan asked, "What's happening?"
"One of the business buildings caught fire three blocks over. They're still evacuating people and trying to contain the fire. We've been asked to direct traffic away from the area," Eric answered.
"Okay," Dan said.
"Let's get the team together and head over there. I've got our assignments from Captain Dawson," Eric said.
Dan found himself in the middle of an intersection directing cars around the incident. Most of his time was spent explaining to angry drivers why they couldn't go where they wanted. After getting asked the same questions over and over, he was beginning to get bored. Although the work wasn't hard, it was hot and he was sweating up a storm.
He had been there for twenty minutes when Eric pulled up riding an ATV. One of the other CERT members, Daniel Goldberg, was riding on the back with him. The young man stumbled off the back shaking his head. Grinning over at Dan, Eric said, "Hello, Dan. Daniel is going to take your position for you. I need your help."
Daniel backed away from the ATV shaking his head and said, "Better you than me. He drives like a madman."
Dan laughed at the comment and said, "Okay."
"Come on, we've got to go," Eric said impatient at the delay.
As he got on the back of the rugged little vehicle, Dan asked, "Where did you get this?"
"I was walking around to the various locations where our people are stationed and saw a dealership. I bought it. I bought one for you, too," Eric said with a shrug of his shoulders. It was his job to go around to where all of the CERT members were located and make sure that there weren't any problems. With his people spread out over eight blocks, that had been tough.
"Why?" Dan asked as Eric opened the throttle on the ATV and it charged off in a roar. He had to grab Eric to keep from falling off the seat.
Over the noise of the engine, Eric shouted, "We've got a bunch of water to deliver to everyone. This was the fastest way I could think of to get the water to them."
Dan held on for dear life as Eric jumped a curb and headed through an alley dodging trash cans and other debris that was scattered through the alley. Dan looked back at where he had been thinking that Daniel had gotten the better deal. After taking a bounce that nearly threw him off the back, they came to a screeching halt in front of the dealership.
Gesturing over to a trailer, Eric said, "Help me get that trailer hooked up to this one. Your machine is over there with the trailer already attached."
"Okay," Dan said feeling lucky that he had survived the ride.
It didn't take them long to attach the trailer to the ATV. As they worked, Eric explained, "The city brought a truck filled with warm bottled water for the guys to drink. I'm not going to hand out warm water. There's a convenience store a block over that way. We'll head over there and then buy up all of the cold drinks they have. You'll head off one way delivering drinks to everyone you see while I go the other way."
"This is costing you a fortune," Dan said as he slipped a retaining pin in place.
"It is nothing," Eric said. He gestured down towards the fire and said, "There are firemen inside that burning building helping people get out. They're willing to pay the ultimate price. What's a few thousand dollars in comparison?"
"Not much," Dan admitted.
"Let's go," Eric said.
Dan followed Eric to the convenience store. He stood off to the side while Eric negotiated the purchase of every liquid in the store. Dan picked up his cell phone and dialed the pizzeria. When Ernie answered, he said, "Ernie, I want you to start cooking large pizzas. I need about forty of them. When you get ten of them done, have one of the delivery people bring them over to Main and Elm. Have them give me a call on my cell phone so that I can come by and pick it up."
"Yes, Mr. Parker," Ernie said wondering what was happening.
Dan and Eric loaded the beverages on the trailers of their ATVs. As they piled the beverages on, Eric said, "I bought everything. When you get low, come back here and load up. There's no sense letting the stuff sit here while others need it."
"Good," Dan said. He noticed that Eric had even put some chocolate milk on the trailer. It was wet and it was cold. Dan decided that it was probably better than the soft drinks. Shaking his head, he went back in the store for another load.
Dan drove off in one direction while Eric drove off in another. Dan would stop by each little group of responders and point to the rear of his ATV while shouting, "Get something to drink."
He had nearly given away all of the drinks when he got a call from the delivery person. Over the noise of the ATV he couldn't make out the voice. He raced over to Main and Elm finding that his sister was there with ten pizzas. Taking the pizzas from her, he said, "Thanks, Diana."
"I heard on the radio that there's a huge fire," Diana said. She'd seen the smoke on her way there and had realized that Dan was helping out at the scene of a major disaster.
Nodding his head, Dan said, "Yes. I don't know much more than that. It is a real mess over there."
"I won't keep you," Diana said.
"Thanks," Dan said. He waved a hand and drove off.
Filled with pride at what her brother was doing, Diana watched as Dan drove off. She shook her head and said, "What a guy."
Dan drove down to the scene of the fire. Police in the area saw his green hat and vest and cleared the way for him. Dan drove over to where Captain Dawson was standing with a bunch of other men. He shut off the engine and got off the ATV. Picking up the pizzas, he walked over and said, "I've got something for your folks to eat and some drinks on the trailer."
"Ten pizzas?" Captain Dawson said.
"I've got another thirty pizzas on the way here. I've got a feeling that you guys are going to be here for hours," Dan said looking over at the old building. It didn't look to him like they had made much progress in getting the fire under control. He figured that he'd call Ernie and ask him to make another forty pizzas.
"You're right. Why don't you put the pizzas over there? I'll send word out for folks to take breaks," Captain Dawson said. He turned to one of the suits and said, "Chief, Dan Parker has brought some food for the men."
The Fire Chief turned to look at Captain Dawson. His eyes fell on the stack of pizzas in Dan's hands and said, "I'll start having the men take twenty minute breaks. They'll appreciate having pizzas. It is hotter than hell out here. It'll take another forty minutes before the trucks get here from the other towns."
Dan said, "I've got more pizzas on the way."
"Great," the man said. He had just gotten off the phone asking that the Salvation Army bring the sandwich truck down. Three quarters of the firemen, half of the police, and most of the EMS folks in the area were on the scene. Keeping that many people healthy was a major job. He'd been pleased to learn that fluids had been distributed to the responders before any of them had collapsed.
Dan went over to where Captain Dawson had told him to put the pizzas. He dropped off the ten boxes and went over to get three cases of beverages. Looking over the pitiful amount of liquids remaining on the trailer, he knew it was time to head back to the convenience store and load up on some more.
As Dan drove off, the Chief said, "I wasn't sure that I really bought into that whole CERT concept. I'm convinced now."
"He's a good one," Captain Dawson said turning back to work. It was approaching rush hour and he had to get the traffic under control. Already, the area was swelling with cars as early commuters attempted to get home from work. This was the worst fire in the city's history.
It was nearly nine at night before the fire department had the fire under control. Dan hadn't taken a break once during the entire time. The convenience store was completely out of cold beverages. Eric had bought up every can and bottle of anything worth drinking. It didn't matter that the city had a truck full of bottled water waiting to be distributed. The water the city had provided was hot and Eric wanted to make sure that the responders had cold water. He didn't care what it cost.
Dan climbed out of bed and made his way to the kitchen after stopping in the bathroom. He was tired, but felt good about what he had done the previous night. As he poured a cup of coffee, Ann said, "You made the front page of the newspaper."
"Huh?" Dan said. He hadn't even been aware of the press other than as a mass of folks that given the CERT members headaches. They'd had to fight reporters to keep them out of the area so that the firemen could do their jobs.
"There's a huge article about community involvement. It says that Parker's Perfect Pizza delivered a hundred large pizzas to the first responders," Ann said. Reading the article it was obvious that someone had interviewed Diana. The article had painted an incredibly flattering picture of Dan.
"What about you? Did you make it in the paper?" Dan asked. Ann had been working in the building at the time the fire had broken out. He had found her when he had swung by the triage area to drop off some water. She had been sitting off to the side staring at the pavement. Dan had handed Ann the keys to his car so that she could get home since her car was stuck in a parking garage that was now blocked by emergency vehicles.
Ann had driven a bunch of people who had been in the fire home. She had made several trips to and from the area picking up people who had been stranded. Knowing how they had felt, she couldn't stand the idea of leaving them there to fend for their selves. Shaking her head, Ann answered, "No. I was just one of the fortunate people to get out of the building alive and unharmed."
"I'm sorry about your mural," Dan said. He took a sip of his coffee savoring the flavor. The first sip of coffee in the morning was his favorite of the day.
"To tell the truth, that was the last thing on my mind," Ann said with a sigh. It had been nearly completed and now no one would ever see it. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do about payment for her work.
"I know what you mean," Dan said. It wasn't until he was headed home that he had even given a thought as to what had happened at the pizzeria while he had been away. He figured that it would be a disaster area when he went to work.
"A hundred pizzas. That must have set you back a fortune," Ann said.
Shrugging his shoulders, Dan said, "I don't know. In terms of ingredients, it wasn't all that much."
"It was crazy down at the pizzeria. I've never seen people work so hard in my whole life," Alison said. She had been listening in on the conversation. Dan didn't know that she had gone down to the store to help out. Everyone who worked there had shown up.
"You were at the pizzeria?" Dan asked.
"You bet. So was everyone else," Alison answered.
"Oh," Dan said.
Alison smiled and said, "When you told Ernie to send over forty pizzas, he knew that he was in over his head. He called Kevin and told him what happened. Kevin and Sandy showed up and took over for him. They organized a real production line."
"That's good," Dan said. He hadn't been sure that Ernie had enough sense to make the call when he was in trouble. Calling Kevin had been the smartest thing he could have done. He knew that Kevin would be able to handle it.
Alison said, "Sandy was everywhere. She had all of the drivers organized. As soon as one would pull up, she'd fill the car with pizzas and they'd be off again. She cooked pizzas while Kevin made dough."
"Wow," Dan said. He hadn't realized that he'd built such an effective team.
"Terry, Dan, and Amanda came over and helped," Alison said.
Dan laughed and said, "I'm sure that Tom was complaining that it was a shame that there was no way to get root beer over to the firemen."
"You're right," Alison said. She said, "He even said that the root beer would help fight the fire. It was something about cooling off the firemen on the way in and putting out the fire on the way out."
Dan looked around and asked, "Where's Sally?"
"She's still at the hospital," Ann answered. She had found a note from Sally saying that she had been called into the hospital to treat people for smoke inhalation.
"Oh," Dan said.
Still wiping the sleep from his eyes, Eric stumbled into the room. He had given Dan a ride home. By the time they had arrived at the house, he was too tired to drive home and Dan had invited him to stay the night. He said, "Coffee. I need coffee."
Alison went over and poured him a cup. Handing it to him, she said, "Here you go."
"Thanks," Eric said. He took a long sip and then gave a satisfied sigh. He looked down at his legs and was relieved to see that he had remembered to put on his pants. He went over to the table and joined Dan there.
Once Eric had taken a seat, Ann said, "You made the newspaper."
"Huh?" Eric said trying to focus on Ann. It was hard to believe how tired he was. He could only imagine that the firemen were feeling even worse this morning.
"You were described as a dashing young hero who worked tirelessly on behalf of his community," Ann said.
Eric shook his head at the description of being a dashing young hero. He wished that he had been able to do more. There had been some very serious injuries in the fire. He would have been there in the role of an EMS, but the day crew had the ambulance and had been sent to serve as backup for other emergencies. There might be a great fire, but that didn't stop people from having heart attacks elsewhere. He said, "I'd say that we did a little better yesterday than the day of the tornado."
"I'd have to agree with you on that one," Dan said nodding his head.
Lazlo Zalezac