Chapter 23

The bar at the Hilton was nearly deserted when Dan and Ellen arrived a few minutes after eleven. Dan led Ellen over to a table near the corner where they could talk without being overheard. The waiter came over and took their orders. Dan went with a coffee while Ellen ordered a gin and tonic.

Once they were alone, Dan said, “I was rather surprised to see you at the restaurant. Are you here on business?”

“Not really. I thought I would come by and see how you were doing,” Ellen answered. She was still reeling from the impact of the painting she had seen.

“You’re kidding,” Dan said.

“Not at all. I really enjoyed our conversations in Las Vegas,” she replied. Now that the moment had come to tell him what she wanted, she suddenly felt very unsure of herself.

“I enjoyed them as well,” Dan said. After a moment of silence, he said, “You remind me of my friend, Tom. He’s one of the smartest people that I know. He and I used to talk about all kinds of subjects. You’re smart like him.”

Smiling at the compliment, she asked, “What kinds of things did you talk about?”

“Mostly, we talked about life. You know, what we wanted to accomplish with our lives. He was the one who gave me the idea about opening a pizzeria,” Dan answered.

“Tell me why you are so focused on opening a pizzeria,” Ellen asked.

“When I graduated high school, my future looked pretty bleak. There was no way for me to go to college, and you don’t have much of a chance of succeeding in this world without a college degree. I was pretty sure that I would end up in construction or something else like that. I wasn’t very happy with the choices that I believed I had,” Dan said.

The waiter came over with the drinks interrupting the conversation. It took a minute for the man to set the drinks on the table. Dan paid for the drinks somewhat amazed at how much it cost.

While Dan was dealing with the waiter, Ellen was wondering why Dan felt that there was no way for him to go to college. He definitely seemed smart enough. Even if his parents were poor, he worked hard enough to pay his own way through the state college system.

Once the waiter left, Ellen said, “So you weren’t happy with the choices you had.”

“That’s right. Right after I got out of high school, Tom gave me three articles to read. I read them even though I have difficulty reading. Those articles changed my life. They helped me understand the world around me. They helped me define what I wanted out of life. They identified how I could take control of my life. All of a sudden I realized that I had more choices than I had ever thought possible.”

Ellen interrupted and said, “I have two questions. Why do you have difficulty reading, and what were those articles that they had such an effect on you?”

“I have dyslexia,” Dan said feeling embarrassed.

“Ah, I know all about dyslexia. Let me guess. They didn’t diagnose it early enough,” Ellen said.

“Right,” Dan answered feeling relieved that she didn’t require an explanation about it.

“I had a classmate with a mild form of dyslexia in college. He told me that he had to memorize words rather than sound them out phonetically,” Ellen said.

“Oh,” Dan said. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “They didn’t catch it early enough. For years they tried to teach me to read phonetically and now I fall into that habit when I don’t recognize words.”

“I swear our school systems are a disgrace,” Ellen said with more than a little anger in her voice. She took a sip of her drink and then said, “Tell me about the articles.”

“There were three of them. The first was titled, ‘The Facts of Life.’ I know what you are thinking. Everyone thinks that it’s about sex. It wasn’t about sex. It presented ten facts about living that are true no matter who you are or what you do. I mean, they are the real facts of life,” Dan said.

“Give me an example,” Ellen said.

“Life is not fair,” Dan said.

Laughing, Ellen said, “Everyone knows that.”

“I know, but not everyone believes it. There are a lot of people who live their lives thinking that life should be fair. They complain that it isn’t fair rather than accepting it as a fact of life. They never let go of it,” Dan said.

Frowning, Ellen said, “I hadn’t thought about it that way. Give me another example.”

“No one is exempt from death,” Dan said.

That was a little too depressing to think about. Ellen said, “That’s true. Give me one that would really surprise me.”

“You are responsible for your own happiness,” Dan said.

“Now that one is a little more surprising. I’m sure that you could write an entire book on that one,” Ellen said.

Dan smiled at her comment and said, “That was the second article, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness.’ It made the argument that if you are responsible for your own happiness then you have to know what happiness means for you.”

“I can see where that would follow,” Ellen said nodding her head thoughtfully. She had come there to have a little fun in bed, but the conversation was getting too interesting.

“I read the article very carefully. I sat down afterwards, and wrote out a personal definition of happiness. I’ve been working on achieving that ever since,” Dan said.

“So the pizzeria is what will make you happy?” Ellen asked with a frown.

“No. My definition of happiness describes the physical, social, emotional, and spiritual environments in which I can be happy. It defines a kind of lifestyle that will be satisfying to me. The pizzeria will provide some of the physical, social, and emotional environments that I want. It isn’t that the pizzeria is my goal, but it’s a means of achieving my goal,” Dan answered. He didn’t mention the sexual environment.

The conversation reminded Ellen of her days in college. She used sit around with her classmates talking about her goal in life. It was strange to think that once she had started pursuing it, that she had forgotten why she was pursuing it. She took another sip of her drink and said, “You know, it has been years since I thought about why I’m working as hard as I do.”

Nodding his head, Dan said, “That was the point of the third article, “Taking Control of Your Life.’”

“What did it say?” Ellen asked. It was hard to believe that Dan was so young. It seemed to her that he understood things that old men still pondered.

“It was about setting ten personal goals that would give you a direction in life, and allow you to balance your life. It described what constituted good goals, how to identify them, and how to use them. The basic idea is that if you know where you are going, then it’s a whole lot easier to make the decisions that will get you there,” Dan answered.

“What are your goals?”

“I have to admit that I’m still working on defining some of those goals. I’ve got three finished so far and drafts of four more,” Dan answered.

“What’s taking you so long?”

Dan gave a weak smile and said, “I’m making decisions about the rest of my life. I think that I should take my time in making those decisions.”

“You are a very wise man,” Ellen said getting more impressed by the minute. He really reminded her of her father. Too bad there was such a large age difference between them.

Dan said, “I feel embarrassed. All we’ve done is talk about me. What about you? What do you want out of life?”

Ellen thought about his questions and how to answer them. Her answers were tied very much to her father and the company.

She said, “You don’t know who my father is, do you?”

“I like your father, but I know very little about him. In fact, I don’t even know his name,” Dan said.

Ellen laughed and said, “That was intentional. My family name is Derkins.”

“Oh, like the restaurant,” Dan said nodding his head thinking that would be easy enough to remember.

She smiled and said, “My father is Harold Derkins, founder of Derkins.”

“Oh, so it’s really like the restaurant,” Dan said feeling a little stupid that he hadn’t realized that immediately.

“When I was a kid, I used to work in the restaurant with my Dad, my Mom, and my two brothers. I loved it. I was just a little girl when I started busing tables. When I got a little older, I waited on tables and cooked in the kitchen. I liked having my whole family around me,” she said.

“You want to continue in the family business,” Dan said.

“That’s right,” Ellen replied nodding her head.

“You want to help it grow and become something even greater,” Dan said thinking that they weren’t all that different.

“My brothers aren’t all that interested in the business. I want to be able to take it over one day when Daddy retires so that it doesn’t become one of those corporate chains without a soul,” Ellen said.

“That’s a remarkable goal,” Dan said. He took a sip of his coffee and then asked, “So what are your other nine goals?”

Surprised by the question, she answered, “I don’t have any others.”

Frowning, Dan said, “You should. Having a single goal will leave your life unbalanced.”

“Why? It was good enough for my Daddy,” Ellen asked feeling offended by his comment.

Seeing that she was upset, Dan said, “I think your father had more in mind than just starting and running a restaurant. I’m sure that one of his goals was to have a business of his own. You don’t start a business just to earn a living. I’m sure that one of his goals was to provide for his family and to give you a standard of living that was better than average. You don’t grow it into a chain without wanting that.

“I think that he had a goal to keep his family actively involved in his life. Actually, I’m sure of that. He included you and your brothers in the business. From the way you talk about it, it was a loving environment that he created for you right there in the middle of a business. That isn’t easy to do, and I’m sure that he had to work at it. It was clearly one of his goals.

“I think your father wants to help people. He spent time looking over my business plan. An important man like him didn’t need to do that. He took the time to give me advice. I think you don’t do that without wanting to leave the world a little better than you found it.”

Seeing the shocked look on her face, Dan smiled at her across the table and said, “One of your father’s goals is to help you be happy. I’m sure that he could have been in all kinds of business meetings that night in Las Vegas. For that matter, he could have gone down to the casino. Instead, he comes to the restaurant to have dinner with you and some busboy who works in one of his restaurants. You are very important to him.”

Ellen stared at Dan realizing that he understood her father better than she did. He understood her better than she understood herself.