Terry looked across the table at Dan and said, "You got yourself a huge tax write-off yesterday. You also managed to get some very good advertising for Parker's Perfect Pizza."
"That's not why I did it," Dan said with a frown.
Realizing that she should have known that he'd react that way, Terry said, "I know."
"So why did you mention all of that other stuff?" Dan asked.
She answered, "The point is that the tax laws lesson the impact that your generosity cost you. Take advantage of it so that you can give more in the future."
"Okay," Dan said feeling a little better about it.
"I've been working with Mr. Harrison on revising your original business plan. That man is very smart. You did a very wise thing taking his advice," Terry said. She had learned more the past few weeks than she had in three years of college. This wasn't book learning, this was real life experience.
"He's very happy to make me more ambitious than I am," Dan said with a grin.
Not believing Dan for a minute, Terry laughed at his comment. He was always saying things like that. She said, "I wouldn't say that. He's just doing the best that he can to help you grow your business to its full potential."
Nodding his head, Dan knew that it was pointless to argue the issue with her. She and Mr. Harrison saw business in the same way. Their idea was to grow as much as possible. They viewed success in terms of revenue, growth, and market share. He measured it in terms of delivering a pizza to a kid on their birthday and seeing their eyes light up at finding a candle stuck in the middle. He said, "Let me see what you've got so far."
Terry whipped out a tastefully bound report and handed it over to him. Proud of her work, she said, "If you'll read this, you'll see the entire plan in full."
Dan frowned at the idea of having to read the full report. He said, "Tell me what it says."
Surprised that he didn't want to read it, Terry said, "Well, it is all rather complicated."
"I'm sure it is. We'll just go through it one step at a time," Dan said with a smile.
"Okay," Terry said. She picked up her copy of the document and looked at it. There was a lot of material to cover. She glanced over at the clock thinking that they'd be there the whole afternoon. She asked, "Are you sure that you wouldn't rather read it?"
"Positive," Dan answered. When she delivered the final draft, he'd ask her to e-mail it to him so that he could use the text-to-speech program to listen to it.
For the next four hours, Terry was grilled about every aspect of the modified business plan. She ended up rewording parts of the document, scratching out entire sections of the document, and making tons of notes in the margins about things that hadn't been covered. The kinds of questions that Dan asked had her head spinning. He had concerns about every declarative sentence that she made. It was unreal.
They had just finished the section of the document dealing with the activities that were necessary to take the pizzeria to the next level. Dan had torn that section to shreds pointing out hole after hole in her strategy. He had been nice about each question and little suggestion, but to her it was like he was pounding nails through her brain. She said, "There are some options here on how to finance the growth."
Dan held up a hand and said, "We'll cover that the next time we meet. I'd like you to revisit those areas where I had some questions. Talking about funding things when we're not really sure what we are funding doesn't make sense to me."
"You're right," Terry said. She was so tired that she didn't think she'd be able to drive back to Tom's house. Final exams at college only lasted two hours and covered the material of a single course. This discussion had lasted four hours and had covered material from every class that she had ever taken in business as well as some classes that she hadn't yet taken.
"We are off to a great start. I figure that we'll have most of it done by the end of the summer," Dan said looking down at the Terry's marked up plan with pleasure. It had taken him a lot longer than that to put together his original plans.
Terry had thought that the plans had been perfect. She suspected that she would have gotten an A on it in her class. She looked down at the mess that had once been her perfect report. She wanted to cry. Mr. Harrison had warned her that Dan would question everything, but she hadn't quite believed him and was confident that she'd be able to handle every question he asked. She hadn't been able to deal with a single question. It was frightening and disheartening. Weakly, she echoed, "End of the summer."
"Hey, it took me more than a year to put together my first business plan. Seven weeks is nothing," Dan said with a smile.
"Seven weeks is nothing," Terry said. She thought about the fact that he had one course in accounting and one in business. Those courses had been taken in a community college, no less. Looking down at her paper, she knew that his comments were absolutely correct. He had asked all the right questions and the answers hadn't been in the plan.
"Are you okay?" Dan asked looking at her with concern.
"Sure. I'm just a little tired," Terry answered. She wasn't going to admit that her ego had just taken a brutal beating.
"We'll talk next week?" Dan asked.
Looking down at the notes she had made, she numbly nodded her head while thinking about all of the work ahead of her. It was a slim hope that one week would be enough time to fix all the problems that he had identified. She answered, "Sure next week will be fine."
"Good," Dan said sitting back to relax. He had enjoyed the session. Terry had really impressed him. Smiling, he asked, "Would you like a pizza?"
"Not today," Terry answered. All she wanted to do was to get out of there and have a nice long cry.
"Okay," Dan said rising from the table. He handed her a slip of paper.
Looking down at the paper, she asked, "What is this?"
"Your paycheck," Dan answered, "I've got to get to work. This has really been fun."
Terry stared at Dan as he headed up to the cash register. She was dead tired and he was ready to work another six hours. It was unreal.
Captain Dawson bent over the paperwork trying to establish how much the fire had cost the department. There was overtime that had to be paid, materials had been used, and equipment damaged. The bills were mounting and he was trying to get a good estimate to deliver to the Chief later that week. The accountants would go over the bills and generate a detailed report. He just had to get the receipts organized for them.
The fire had been a major mess. The building was old and had survived based on grandfather clauses in the building codes. The stairwells had lights, but they had failed shortly after the fire had started. There hadn't been an automated sprinkling system that might have slowed the spread of the fire. There had been hoses located throughout the building but they were half rotten and leaked.
The only bright spot in the entire mess had been the CERT teams. They had really come through and justified all of the expense in training and equipping them. Captain Dawson couldn't believe how much money Eric had spent making sure that everyone had water. Dan Parker had provided a bright spot for men hot and tired from fighting the fire. The Salvation Army had shown up with bologna sandwiches, but the men had lined up for pizza.
He had already written a memo to the Chief suggesting that the two men be rewarded for their effort and dedication. They had gone well beyond the call of duty. As far as he knew, the Chief had forwarded the memo to the mayor. He figured that would be the end of it.
"Captain Dawson?"
Captain Dawson looked up at Ernie surprised to see him there. Half afraid of the answer, he asked, "Ernie, what are you doing here?"
"Dan said you were in charge of CERT," Ernie answered.
"That's right," Captain Dawson said.
"I'd like to join up," Ernie said. Nothing had impressed him more than the stories that he had heard about Dan at the great fire. Diana had talked how he was doing a thousand things there. It was incredible to him to hear about how hard he had worked with no expectation of getting anything in return. There was something noble about it. He liked the idea of that. He wanted to do something noble.
"Oh," Captain Dawson said at a loss for words. He felt like the world had just suddenly stopped spinning on its axis. He stared at Ernie thinking that he had never expected that kind of change in the young man. He wondered what Dan had done to Ernie.
"So what do I have to do to join up?" Ernie asked. He bit his lower lip waiting for an answer. He hoped that his criminal record wouldn't prevent him from joining.
Captain Dawson answered, "I'll call you when we are ready to put another team together. You'll have to go through the training program."
"I'm taking First Aid courses from the Red Cross," Ernie said.
"That's good, Ernie," Captain Dawson said, "The CERT training covers additional material. You'll have to wait for us to put together another team."
"When will that be?" Ernie asked.
"I don't know."
"Call me when you do know," Ernie said.
"Right."
Ernie left the station hoping that Captain Dawson had taken his offer seriously. It felt a little strange leaving the station without being in trouble. He headed home to enjoy the rest of his day off. It was time to work on his goals. He had one now — to do something noble.
Lieutenant McGregor stuck his head in Captain Dawson's office and asked, "What did Ernie do now?"
Laughing, Captain Dawson answered, "He volunteered to join our next CERT team."
"You're kidding!"
"Not at all," Captain Dawson replied.
"What are you going to do?"
Shrugging his shoulders, he answered, "I'll invite him to join the next team we start."
"You're kidding!"
"Not at all," Captain Dawson replied. He thought it would be good for Ernie to take a little pride in his community.
With each sunrise, the calendar progressed from one day to the next. July turned into August. The weather got hotter. Although it was hard to notice, the days were getting shorter. For Dan, running the business had fallen into a consistent pattern of activity. He was able to take much more time off from cooking to deal with other business related issues.
Kevin was slowly getting used to the responsibilities of being an assistant manager. Sandra was planning on going to school in the evenings to get a business degree hoping that it would get Dan to think about promoting her. Ernie was settling into his job as cook and looking around for more to do.
Dan's work at the computer was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He pulled it out and glanced down at the caller id. He opened the phone and said, "Hello, Betty."
"Hello, Dan," Betty replied.
"What's up?" Dan asked trying to sound upbeat.
There was a long silence before Betty answered, "Pat wants to talk to you tomorrow."
"I'll be there. What time?" Dan said without question. He made it over to Pat and Betty's apartment twice a week. Each visit, Pat had looked worse than the visit before. If Pat wanted him to visit he would be there.
"At two o'clock," Betty answered.
"Okay. How's she doing?" Dan asked.
"She's not doing well," Betty said fighting back the tears.
"How bad is it?" Dan asked. He knew it couldn't be good if Pat was asking him to visit rather than waiting for him to drop by.
"Pretty bad," Betty answered.
"I can come over now," Dan said.
Betty said, "She wants to see you tomorrow at two."
"All right," Dan said. He'd make arrangements for Kevin to take care of the store. He said, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"No, she wants to talk to you alone. Just let your self in the apartment. I'll leave the door unlocked for you," Betty said.
Dan didn't know what that meant, but he'd honor Pat's wishes in the matter. It was obvious from Betty's voice that she thought it was significant. Trying to sound positive, he said, "I'm sure that she just wants to try to seduce me one more time."
Despite herself, Betty laughed and said, "Right."
"I'll see you tomorrow," Dan said.
"No," Betty said.
"Please, wait for me. I'd really like to talk to you," Dan said. He knew that most people would be more concerned with Pat than Betty, but the two of them were going through this together. Betty needed a shoulder to cry on just as much as Pat.
"Okay, I'll wait around for you to come out," Betty said. She didn't know what she would have done without Dan's calming presence in her life.
Dan looked over at the parking lot. Betty was in her car crying. He was tempted to go over to her, but it was two o'clock and he had a more pressing appointment. He knocked on the door and then entered the apartment. After closing the door, he shouted, "Pat! I'm here."
"Come in the bedroom," Pat answered. Her voice was very weak and he wouldn't have heard her if he hadn't been listening carefully.
He stepped into the bedroom and looked around. Pat, a mere shell of the woman she had once been, was lying on the bed. All of the extra weight that she had once carried was now gone; eaten away to provide fuel for the cancer. He could see the fine structure of the bones of her face. It looked like her thin skin was almost transparent. In a weak voice, she said, "Come on over here."
"Hello, Pat," Dan said going over to the bed. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"Not so good," Pat answered. There was sweat on her forehead. She took a deep breath and said, "The morphine isn't helping much any more. Betty has to give me a dose large enough that I'm only awake about an hour a day now."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Dan said.
She had asked Betty not to administer the morphine until after Dan had left. The pain was tremendous. Pat said, "I'm dying."
"I know," Dan said. He tried to keep from crying, but the tears came none the less.
Pat licked her lips nervously. She said, "I figure that I have a week, maybe two left."
"Okay," Dan said. He wasn't going to argue with her. This was her death and he was willing to treat it with all of the dignity he could muster.
"There's an envelope over there on the bed stand. It's got the instructions for my funeral in it. Betty isn't going to be in shape to take care of the details. I know that you'll handle it," Pat said.
"I'll do my best," Dan said choked up by the trust she put in him.
As tears ran down her cheeks, Pat said, "You know, no man has ever meant as much to me as you have. I just wanted you to know that."
"I know that. I've always known that," Dan said. He reached over and gently touched her hand. The cancer had spread to the bones by the time that Pat had been diagnosed. By now, it was too easy to break a finger by holding her hand. He ran a hand across her cheek and said, "I love you Pat. You're the big sister I always wanted and never had."
"Take care of Betty for me. She's going to be devastated when I go," Pat said. She looked over at the door and said, "I love her with all my heart."
"She knows that," Dan said.
Pat said, "Remind her of it when I'm gone. She's going to be angry at times."
"She'll be feeling a lot of things. Most of all, she'll miss you. I'll be there for her, but it isn't going to be enough. She'll toss and turn in bed wishing that you were there beside her. She'll watch over the bar wishing that she could turn to you and point out something funny. You're the one that she loves. I promise that I'll do all that I can for her," Dan said.
"That's all that I can ask of you," Pat said. She knew that once Dan had made a promise that he'd keep it.
"It is little enough. I wish I could do more," Dan said. He wished that he could make everything turn out all right, but he knew it was a fruitless wish. There wasn't anything he could do to make things turn out all right.
Taking a deep breath, Pat said, "I don't want you to come over any more."
"Why?" Dan asked feeling a little hurt by the request.
Pat looked away and then said, "I want to retain as much dignity as I can. I don't want you to remember me like I'll be in few days. I was a big woman a proud of it. Now, I'm nearly a skeleton. I'm losing control of my body. It is embarrassing."
"I'll respect your wishes, Pat," Dan said. He wiped his eyes and tried to fight back the tears.
"I'm tired now. You should go. I know Betty is waiting outside," Pat said.
Rising from the bed, Dan leaned over and kissed Pat on the forehead. In a soft voice, he said, "I love you, Pat."
"I love you, Dan," Pat said.
Dan picked up the envelope and looked over at his friend. Knowing that it would be the last time he saw her alive, he said, "Good bye, Pat."
"Good bye, Dan," Pat said. She relaxed in the bed remembering the first time she had met Dan. He had confused her. She'd never met anyone like him.
Outside, Betty waited for Dan to leave the apartment. When he stepped out she ran over to him and said, "Wait here. I've got to give her some morphine."
"Sure, Betty," Dan said thankful for the moment alone. He wanted to use the time to get control over the tears. He knew that no one was exempt from death, but knowing that didn't make it any easier to accept the death of a friend. He sat down on the step and waited.
It was about five minutes later when Betty came out and said, "She's asleep now. She didn't want me to give her any morphine until you left."
"I don't know what to say," Dan said. The idea that she had suffered so much pain just to talk to him hurt.
Betty looked at the envelope in his hand and said, "I see that she gave you her burial instructions."
"Yes," Dan said.
"She's probably right. I won't be in shape to deal with the funeral," Betty said. It hurt to admit it.
"Is there anything that you need?" Dan asked.
Shaking her head, Betty said, "No. I've got Cathy and Jennifer covering the bar. I just want to spend as much time as possible with her."
"If you need anything, you know who to call," Dan said.
"I know," Betty said. She knew that she'd be calling for moral support two or three times a day.
"Take care of your self," Dan said looking over at her with concern, "I don't want you to get sick."
"Don't worry. I'm eating and sleeping as much as I can. I'll probably fall apart after she dies, but I'm doing all right for now," Betty said.
"I'll send something over every day for lunch," Dan said. He was pretty sure that she didn't want to eat pizza every day. He'd ask Alison to cook something special for them.
"That would be nice," Betty said. After sighing, she said, "Pat will hardly eat, so don't send over anything for her. I'll share a little of mine with her."
"Okay," Dan said.
"I've got to go inside. I'll talk to you later," Betty said.
Dan watched her go into the apartment with a heavy heart. There was so much pain in one place and he could do nothing to relieve it for even a minute. He wished there was morphine for the soul. After a second thought, he realized that there was there was something more powerful — love. Dan walked over to his car and pulled out his cell phone. After a minute, he said, "Tom, this is Dan."
"Hello, Dan," Tom said surprised to get a call from his friend in the middle of the day.
"I need a root beer," Dan said.
"Where are you?" Tom asked. He could tell from the tone of voice that Dan was pretty upset.
"Can I meet you out at the lake?" Dan asked knowing that Tom would know exactly where to go.
"I'm on my way," Tom said looking over at his boss. He wasn't sure how they'd react to him leaving in the middle of the day like that, but he didn't really care. Dan needed him and he'd be there for him.
"Great," Dan said. He got into his car and headed towards the lake. It wasn't a long drive, but it took him some time to reach it. He had to pull over to the side of the road to cry on one occasion.
Having arrived ten minutes earlier, Tom was seated on the picnic table watching the water of the lake. There wasn't much wind and the water looked glassy smooth until a gust would come along forming little dimples on the surface. He turned when he heard the sound of Dan's car pulling up. The moment Dan stepped out of the car; he knew that Dan was in sad shape. He reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of root beer.
Dan made his way over to Tom. Without saying a word, his friend tossed him a bottle. Dan caught it and opened it. He took a seat on the table beside Tom and said, "Rough day."
"It looks like it," Tom said. He took a sip of his root beer allowing Dan a moment to collect himself. He asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?"
"I talked to Pat today," Dan said.
It wasn't necessary for Dan to say another word. Tom asked, "How bad was it?"
"She's dying and knows it. She asked me to stop coming by to see her," Dan said.
"Ah," Tom said. He couldn't imagine what the conversation had been like, but he knew that it had to have been emotionally brutal. He said, "I'm sorry."
"I wish I knew what to do for them," Dan said.
"I'll ask Amanda and Terry to check in on... ," Tom said trying to remember the name of the other woman. After a slight pause, he said, "Betty."
"That won't be necessary. They don't know her and I'm sure that Betty wouldn't appreciate anyone getting in the way," Dan said.
"Okay. Drink some of that root beer. It'll help you feel better," Tom said.
Dan took a sip. It wasn't so much that drinking the root beer that made him feel better; it was sharing his problems with a friend who cared. He said, "Thank you for coming here."
"You needed my help. I couldn't stay away," Tom said with a lopsided grin. He had explained the problem to his boss and the man had told him to go. He had appreciated the man's attitude that life was more important than work.
"I really appreciate it," Dan said.
Tom shrugged his shoulders and said, "Friends stand by you in good times and bad. We share our pain and that lessens the load on all of us. It makes it possible to stand up to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, as the great poet once said."
"You're right," Dan said.
"I'm sure that she didn't ask you over to tell you to stay away. What did she want?" Tom asked.
"She wants me to take care of the funeral arrangements when she dies. She feels that Betty won't be up to dealing with it," Dan said.
"She's probably right," Tom said. He had no idea what he would do if something were to happen to Amanda or his parents. He asked, "Did she give you any instructions?"
"Yes, she gave me an envelope with her instructions in it," Dan said.
Smiling over at his friend, Tom said, "Go get the envelope. We'll go through the instructions and make a check list. We'll see if there's anything missing and make sure to find out what needs to be done."
"I didn't think of that," Dan said. He'd hate to blow it by not getting everything right.
"I've got a pad of paper in my car. I'll get it and we'll get to work on it," Tom said. He knew that Dan would be happier doing something rather than just sitting around thinking about Pat. This would allow his friend to keep his promise to her to her and keep his mind off his sorrow.
"Let's get to it," Dan said rising from the table.
Tom patted his friend on the back and said, "See, the whole world looks better with a little root beer in it."
"Right," Dan said with a small laugh.
Lazlo Zalezac