Dan walked over to the grave and laid a bouquet of flowers by the tombstone. As Tom moved to stand behind him, he looked down at the ground. In a soft voice, he said, "Hello, Pat. It has been a year since I visited your grave. I'm sorry that it has been so long. It is hard to believe that you've been gone for two years now. It feels like it was yesterday when we met.
"I've been watching over Betty like you asked me to do. It was real rough on her for the first year, but she's doing better now. She's still on the anti-depressants. I wouldn't say that she is happy, but she is functional again. She moved out your old apartment right after you died and lived with us for a while. She moved out of our place and lived with Sue for a bit.
"The real surprise to me was Sue. She came through like a champ. That woman has an iron core of strength like you wouldn't believe. I don't know how many nights she spent holding Betty and comforting her. I guess she had a lot of empathy for Betty's situation. I think they swapped Pat stories as a way of dealing with their grief.
"Betty moved out of Sue's place a little while ago and into a townhouse. It's a nice little place. I think you would have liked it. I remember you telling me that you wanted to move into a townhouse so that you wouldn't have to do yard work.
"Betty finally sold the bar to Jennifer and Cathy after they ran it for more than a year. She just couldn't face going in there every night without you. I'm sure you understand. I was kind of surprised that she kept it as long as she did. I stop by occasionally to see how things are going for Jennifer and Cathy, but it just isn't the same without you there.
"Betty is working in a store at a mall selling leather coats. She's a sales clerk. I've offered to make her a manager of one of my pizzerias several times, but she keeps refusing. I think she feels like I'm giving her charity. I'm not. She knows how to run a business. Maybe she just doesn't want the responsibility anymore.
"It has been a busy year for me. I don't even know where to begin. The last time I visited your grave I had three pizzerias in one city. Now, I've got twelve pizzerias in seven cities. Kevin, Sandra, Cory, and Ernie all manage their own stores. People are after me to open more, but I don't know what to do. I'm thinking of selling out.
"I've got my corporate headquarters in an office above one of my pizzerias here in this city. I use that store to train new managers. I can watch them at work and keep from making any big mistakes. We had one guy who kept trying to cop a feel from all of the waitresses. I had to fire his ass.
"Running that many places is one headache after another. At least I get to go downstairs and mop the floor on occasion. People laugh at me, but I don't care. Sometimes it is nice just to do something repetitive and get your thoughts in order.
"Terry flies in for one week a month to go over the accounts and help with business planning. She's already moved to Atlanta to set up a home for her, Tom, and Amanda. It would be nice if she was closer but she loves Amanda and I wouldn't ever get in the way of that.
"Tom and Amanda are visiting here before they head off to school down there to work on their doctorates. Tom is lucky that I pay Terry so well. She can afford to pay for a housekeeper. From what I understand, neither woman can cook or clean. Tom is hopeless at that."
From behind Dan, Tom said, "Hey."
Grinning, Dan continued, "Amanda graduated college and hopes to become a mother soon. We're practicing to get her pregnant, but I don't think it will require too much practice before we're ready. I don't think she is going to go to work as a teacher. She only wanted to do that so that she could help support her family and raise the children. Supposedly, I'm a wealthy man now and she doesn't need to work. I expect that with time, she'll change her mind about not wanting to work.
"Ann has achieved a certain national status as a painter of murals. She gets jobs around the country now and disappears for a week or two at a time. She's really happy with the work although she wishes that she could stay here with us more. I have to admit, she's making better money than me. Well, not quite. I make a ton of money.
"Sally has gone back to school to become a nurse practitioner. From what I understand that makes her half nurse and half doctor. She's happy about it, so I support her as much as I can. She's gone during the school year, but returns to the house during her breaks. It is really nice when all three women are there. The coming and going of women does tend to make for a rather dynamic relationship.
"You won't believe what happened to Diana. There was this guy we called the coder who ordered a pizza every night. Well, one night it was Diana's turn to deliver the pizza. It was usually a thirty minute delivery. After an hour had passed without her returning, we started to get worried about her. I went down there to find out what happened and there she was sitting on his lap creating a web page for Parker's Perfect Pizza. It seems that it was love at first sight. I don't know which of them was happiest about the seating arrangements. Now she spends all of her free time with him.
"We use the web pages that she created with Coder. His real name is Thurman, but he actually prefers to go by the nickname Coder. He's a lumpy kind of guy whose clothes are always wrinkled, but he's smart and treats Diana real nice.
"Eric is an odd bird. About the time you've got him figured out, he does something that lets you know that you don't understand him at all. Right after you died, he started a national campaign to end Breast Cancer. His ads are ridiculous, but they work. He raises tens of millions of dollars every year. He's funding efforts that have some demonstration of success. I don't know if he'll succeed in wiping out breast cancer, but I've heard that they've had some great advances. I'm sorry that it is too late for you.
"Eric has found a young lady with whom he is quite enamored. She's a breast cancer survivor. I don't like her very much and do my best to avoid her. She's always touching him and calling him by pet names. It is rather sickening. It all seems fake to me and I worry that she's playing him for his money.
"Granny Parker isn't doing too well health wise. She's taken it upon herself to work with other retirement communities to find volunteers willing to pass down a little wisdom to their grandchildren's generation. Every Parker's Perfect Pizza has a Granny taking care of the teenagers. It is something to watch as the kids and the Grannies bond over time. The past two Christmases, the teenagers went up to the retirement communities and sang Christmas Carols. I didn't even know they were doing it until I read a huge article in the newspaper last Christmas Eve."
Dan looked down at his watch and said, "I've got a dinner meeting coming up with Ellen Derkins-Vic. It seems to me that Derkins wants to grow by buying into my company as an affiliate. I don't know how I feel about that. In fact, I'm not even sure what that means.
"Life is real funny sometimes. You try to get people to understand what is motivating you to do things and they just never get it. You and Betty didn't open your bar to become a national chain. It was something personal for you and Betty to do together. I sometimes wonder how you would handle a bunch of folks trying to get you to turn that bar into something it wasn't. You probably would have picked them up by the seat of their pants and thrown them out the door. I'm not that strong.
Dan was silent trying to remember if he had forgotten anything to say to her. He glanced down at his list of things to talk about and shook his head at how he had rambled towards the end. Tom stepped over to Dan and asked, "Are you done?"
"I think I've covered it all except for the goodbyes," Dan answered.
"Okay," Tom said taking a respectful step back.
"Well, I guess I have to go now. Rest well and watch over us. Keep us from doing dumb things," Dan said. Feeling his throat get tight, he said, "I love you and miss you a whole lot."
Dan stepped back from the graveside and wiped his eyes before he looked over at his friend. Tom held out a root beer and said, "That was a nice visit."
"Thanks," Dan said taking the bottle of root beer. He opened the bottle and took a long drink from it. He said, "I needed that."
"Let's head over to the meeting," Tom said guiding his friend through the cemetery by the arm.
"Thanks for bringing me here. I wasn't able to drive home the last time I visited her," Dan said.
"No problem," Tom said. He took a drink from his root beer and said, "It was the least that I could do."
"Do you want to see Ellen?" Dan asked.
"There's probably going to be a bunch of big shots from her company there. It would be rather uncomfortable having to explain me to them. I'll call her later tonight," Tom said.
"Okay," Dan said.
Tom walked along for a moment and then asked, "Do you want me to talk to Terry about easing off on the talk about expansion?"
"No, she's just doing her job. In fact, she's doing her job very well. Her arguments are pretty persuasive," Dan said. He took a sip of the root beer thinking that the whole problem was that her arguments were persuasive. It was pretty hard to tell someone that you didn't want to do the right thing for the company because you just wanted to enjoy your life.
Ellen was seated in the corner booth of the Derkins restaurant in which Dan had once worked. Entering the place brought back fond memories. Holding a menu in his hand, Dan slid into the seat across from Ellen and said, "Hello."
"Hi, Dan," Ellen said with a smile.
"Interesting choice of restaurant for a business meeting," Dan said. The waitress put a cup of hot coffee in front of him and then disappeared.
"This is a friendly business meeting where two old friends get to talk about their plans for their businesses. I want to see what we kinds of goals we might have in common," Ellen answered.
"Ah," Dan said with a smile.
"I noticed that Tom dropped you off," Ellen said.
Dan nodded his head and answered, "He picked me up from here earlier so that he could take me by the cemetery to see Pat."
"I forgot," Ellen said not realizing the significance of this day for Dan. She remembered the big biker woman who scared her. She hadn't heard about her death until after the funeral. She had heard from a number of sources that Dan had not taken her death very well.
"That's okay," Dan said.
"Tom could have come in and said hello," Ellen said with a weak smile.
Dan looked over at her and said, "He was afraid that there would be other people here and thought it would be a little awkward."
"I can understand that. How's he doing?" she asked. They didn't talk often enough. James Vic wasn't a jealous man, but there was no need to wave past relationships in his face.
"He's doing well. He's going to graduate school in Atlanta along with his girlfriend," Dan answered. He took a sip of coffee and asked, "Did you change the coffee?"
"Yes, Jimmy likes this brand better," Ellen said looking over at Dan with a curious expression.
"He's right," Dan said with a grin. Seeing the expression on her face, he said, "This is what I serve in the morning at the pizzeria."
"Ah," Ellen said wondering which of the two of them discovered the coffee first and told the other one about it.
"So what is this I hear about Derkins wanting to find an affiliate restaurant?" Dan asked. He opened the menu and glanced down the items. He knew the menu except for two items labeled new.
Ellen took a deep breath and said, "We've grown about as large as we can. Dad is retiring and I want to grow the company some more. There is really only one way to do that. We have to introduce a different kind of restaurant that occupies a different market niche and grow that. If we were to introduce a different Derkins type restaurant it will just end up competing against the original Derkins restaurants. The new restaurant has to be completely different."
"So what are your options?" Dan asked.
"We either start something from scratch and hope that it grows or we buy something small that is already demonstrating good growth," Ellen answered.
Nodding his head, Dan said, "I do believe that I see where I fit into this picture."
"Yes. You aren't the only one that fits the criteria I've put on the candidates we're examining," Ellen said. She was looking at offering several companies the same deal. One small company growing wouldn't be enough.
Dan asked, "Are you asking me to jump under the Derkins umbrella?"
"No. I'm just feeling out your interest in doing so," Ellen answered.
"Okay," Dan replied closing his menu.
Seeing that Dan was finished with the menu, she gestured to the waitress that they were ready to order. Considering that this was the only table the waitress was serving, she arrived very quickly. Ellen said, "We're ready to order now."
The waitress asked, "What will you have?"
"I'll take a regular burger cooked medium," Ellen answered.
Dan smiled at the waitress and said, "I'll take the Mexican Sampler Dinner, ma'am."
"Yes, sir," the waitress said.
"Jimmy is a little proud of that one," Ellen said looking over at Dan.
Shrugging his shoulders, Dan said, "He told me about it a time or two. I have to admit that I am a little curious about it."
The waitress was well aware of the identity of the woman, but she had no idea who Dan was. It was obvious to her that he was someone pretty important. The manager had shut down an entire section of the restaurant so that they could have a private meal. Based on what they were saying, it was obvious that they both knew the same people in the corporate part of the company. Putting on her best smile, she asked, "Is there anything else?"
Dan asked, "Who's cooking today?"
"Shorty and Murray," she answered rather surprised by the question.
"Let them know that Dan Parker is out here and that if they burn my food I'm going to send Jimmy over here to teach them how to cook," Dan said with a smile.
"Okay," the waitress said with a frown. She looked over at Ellen who was smiling. When Ellen nodded her head, she went back towards the kitchen.
Ellen burst out laughing and said, "You're so bad."
"I used to clean up after those two. They loved to hide surprises on us," Dan said with a grin.
The waitress, looking rather dubious about what she was doing, returned to the table with a plate on which there was a head of lettuce. She put it down in front of Dan and said, "The cooks said to explain to you that this is a head of lettuce."
Ellen burst out laughing. She recognized her father's training speech to Jimmy. She said, "Let me guess, Jimmy trained them."
"That's right," Dan said with a grin. He picked up the plate and handed it back to the waitress. He said, "Explain to them that you don't cut lettuce with a knife, you shred it with your hands."
The waitress had the feeling that she was going to be shuttling back and forth all night long. Much to her surprise, she turned to find the two cooks standing behind her. Shorty said, "I see the sidekick is here. Where is that senile old goat?"
Dan laughed and held out a hand. He said, "It's good to see you Shorty."
"Dan, how are you doing?" Shorty said shaking his hand.
"I'm doing fine. How are you?" Dan asked.
"I'm still cooking with Murray. Need I say more?" Shorty said gesturing to the guy standing next to him.
Murray stepped up and shook Dan's hand as he said, "Hey Dan. Your pizza chain is doing real good. I take the kids there sometimes and they always have a blast."
"Thanks, Murray," Dan said. He got comments like that quite frequently.
Both men turned to Ellen and said, "It is a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Derkins."
Ellen knew both of the men having cooked there for a while. She held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers. She said, "It is now Mrs. Derkins-Vic."
"Congratulations," Murray said.
Pointing to Ellen with his thumb, Shorty said, "We better get back in the kitchen before the big boss notices that we have left our posts."
Ellen winked at Shorty and said, "I was about look back there."
The pair of cooks headed back towards the kitchen. As they left, Murray asked, "Did you remember to loosen the top on their salt shaker?"
"Don't remember," Shorty answered nudging the other man in the side with his elbow.
The waitress stood there for a minute trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with the plate which held the head of lettuce. She headed back to the kitchen hoping to find out a little more about her guests. She had never thought of Shorty and Murray as knowing any VIPs and figured there was a pretty good story here.
Dan watched them go before he turned to Ellen and asked, "So what is the big deal about this whole affiliation thing? I mean, why do it?"
Ellen said, "We've grown as large as we can within our market. We can maybe change a few percentage points here or there within the market, but that doesn't get you the kind of growth that stockholders want. For all intents and purposes, our growth is tied to the growth of the population."
"I'll accept that," Dan said with a nod of his head.
"So we need to diversify. We could buy a well established firm within an existing market. We would suddenly look a whole lot bigger on paper, but we'd have spent a lot of money to achieve nothing. That is particularly true if the firm we purchased isn't growing either," Ellen said.
"Isn't that what you are talking about with this affiliation deal?" Dan asked.
"Not really. We need to move into another market by establishing a new business within that market and then grow it to encompass a real share of the market. That's the only way we'll see growth," Ellen said.
"That makes sense to me. You have to start small so that you grow," Dan said nodding his head.
"Exactly. The problem is getting an idea that has a chance to succeed. We could start a thousand little places and all of them could die. It is hit or miss. It is hard to predict what idea will grab people's attention," Ellen said.
"Okay," Dan said.
"So what you do is you find a fledgling company that is on the verge of success and you invest in it at a corporate level. You let it grow thereby earning your corporation money on that investment. You own a part of it and the growth of the small company gets folded into the growth figures for your larger company," Ellen said.
Dan sat back and said, "I see one flaw in your plan."
"What?" Ellen asked with a smile.
Dan answered, "A small company can have significant growth, but it is just a little bump on the side of the larger company. All of its growth gets diluted by the size of the bigger company."
Ellen nodded her head in agreement and said, "You're exactly right. You see, we should have made this move fifteen or twenty years ago, but we didn't. We were so busy growing Derkins that we didn't realize that the growth couldn't continue forever. We made a big mistake and missed a couple of really good opportunities. We'd be growing today if we had jumped on one of the other businesses that was starting up fifteen years ago."
"Oh," Dan said. He thought about what Ellen had said. He said, "You're going to have to do this over and over to keep a constant stream of new companies expanding across the world."
"That's right and we're starting behind where we need to be," Ellen said smiling at Dan. She knew that he'd pick up the concept right away.
Dan took a sip of his coffee while thinking about what Ellen had said. He asked, "Why only buy part of the smaller company? Why not buy the whole thing outright?"
"Have you ever considered the management structure that a small company would have to suffer under if it were to become part of our company?" Ellen asked shaking her head.
"I guess it would kill it. It would have to pay too large of a corporate tax to expand," Dan said.
"That's right," Ellen said. She looked at Dan and said, "We purchase a percentage of the smaller company so that we can inject cash to support growth while allowing it to keep and grow a management structure commensurate with its size. The smaller company is able to experience faster growth because our money doesn't cost it as much as bank money."
"That's smart," Dan said. Unsaid was the fact that they'd buy out the rest of it once it reached a size where it could afford to pay the corporate tax of the larger company.
Ellen said, "Dad and I have watched you ever since we met you in Las Vegas. We think that Parker's Perfect Pizza is a very good opportunity for us to grow."
"I kind of figured that one out all by myself," Dan said with a smile.
"It is not the only business we've been watching," Ellen said.
Frowning, Dan asked, "What does Parker's Perfect Pizza get out of this?"
"It gets a huge bankroll to fund its growth. You'll be able to grow at a faster rate then is possible any other way," Ellen answered.
That didn't sound like such a great benefit to Dan. He was frantically trying to control the growth. Frowning, he said, "I'm going to have to think about this."
Ellen smiled and put a hand on his. She said, "Dan, I know you. We're not talking about doing anything anytime soon. Think about it and let me know what you're thinking. We can talk about this as much as you want without you committing to anything."
"Thanks," Dan said.
Dan returned home to find Alison, Ann, and Sally watching television. Sally looked over at him and asked, "So how was the meeting?"
"It looks like Derkins wants to buy part of my company," Dan said.
"How much are they willing to pay?" Ann asked.
"We never got around to talking about money," Dan answered. He wondered how Eric would react to the news.
"Then they aren't serious," Sally said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I think they are very serious," Dan said. Ellen had picked a place for them to eat where he'd be comfortable. It had been a very low pressure sales pitch, but it had been a sales pitch. She knew him well enough to touch upon all of the right points.
Alison watched Dan and said, "You don't really like the idea, do you?"
"I don't know. I've got more pizzerias than I know what to do with. I've got two managers running stores whose names I can't remember half of the time. Terry wants to double the number of pizzerias in the next eighteen months. She also wants to start franchising," Dan said shaking his head.
"You're not happy about any of this, are you?" Alison asked recognizing the look of frustration that flashed across his face.
"That's right," Dan answered.
Ann asked, "What are you going to do?"
Dan was silent for a minute trying to work through all of the business options. He knew he wasn't going to make any progress trying to address the problem from that perspective. At the heart of the matter, it wasn't a business decision. He answered, "I'm going to sit down and review my personal definition of happiness."
"That's a good idea," Alison said.
The three women looked at each other for a few seconds. There were raised eyebrows, twisted lips, furtive glances, and then nods of their heads. Finally, Sally asked, "Would you like a root beer?"
"That would be perfect," Dan said with a smile.
Lazlo Zalezac