Chapter 49

Friday night found Dan and Tom standing around the swimming pool. It was nearly eleven at night and Dan had just finished eating his dinner after returning home from work. Tom had waited around for him to finish eating so that he’d have a chance to talk with him alone. Tom asked, “What did you say to Amanda’s father?”

“I just explained the facts of life to him,” Dan answered wondering what had happened to make Tom ask.

“That’s all?” Tom asked.

“Yes,” Dan answered nodding his head.

Tom thought about Dan’s answer. It didn’t explain what he was experiencing with Sidney. He said, “Last night when I went over to pick up Amanda, he apologized to me for his actions last Sunday.”

“That’s good,” Dan said. He looked over at his friend and asked, “Did you accept his apology?”

“Yes, I did,” Tom answered. He had even explained that he understood the man’s feelings and had not taken offense. His assertion that any father who was in the same circumstance would react the same way had surprised Amanda’s father.

Dan asked, “What about Terry?”

“Terry wasn’t with me. She figured that it would be better if she kept a low profile. He did invite all of us over tomorrow evening for a cookout,” Tom said scratching his head.

He wasn’t sure that he trusted the man’s sudden friendliness. A person didn’t go from being that angry to being that contrite, without a bit of time passing. Amanda’s mother hadn’t been a factor in his change of heart. She was still upset and complained relentlessly that her daughter was a lesbian and would never have children. Amanda felt that nothing short of getting pregnant would convince her mother that she’d have kids one day.

“Did you accept his invitation?” Dan asked while moving over to sit down on one of the chairs by the pool. His feet hurt from standing all day and he wanted to sit down for a while.

“Yes, I did,” Tom answered taking a seat next to Dan.

Smiling at Tom, Dan said, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Just be you, and everything will work out all right.”

“Okay.”

Seeing that that topic of conversation was about dead, Dan asked, “How’s the job?”

“I love it,” Tom answered with a grin. He hadn’t known what to expect when he showed up for work his first day. That whole day had been spent walking around the company going from office to office filling out paperwork and watching tapes covering sexual harassment, cultural sensitivity, and drug use policies. There was a lot of paperwork covering everything from taxes and insurance to intellectual property rights agreements. It wasn’t until the second day when they took him on a tour of the facilities that he even had a hint of what he was going to be doing all summer.

“That’s good,” Dan said. He scratched his head and asked, “So what do you do there?”

“I’m a laboratory assistant to one of the chemists working on creating some new scents for the company,” Tom answered.

“Cents? I thought it was illegal to make your own money,” Dan said with a grin despite being a little puzzled by what Tom meant.

Tom laughed at the expression on Dan’s face. It mirrored the one that had been on his face when they explained what he was going to be working on while there. He said, “They are making odors, not money. Well, I guess by making odors they are making money.”

“That clears things up,” Dan said with a grin.

Tom said, “I was a little puzzled by it as well until they explained it. This company makes the additives to detergents that give your clothes that spring time smell when you wash them.”

“Oh. I guess there is a big demand for that kind of stuff,” Dan said. It seemed like everything in the store advertised that it had a new and improved scent. He had never given much thought to what made products smell one way or the other.

“Yeah. It’s a strange kind of business when you think about it. I never would have dreamed two years ago that I’d be working on a job trying to make some cleanser smell like citrus,” Tom said shaking his head.

“You’re trying to make a cleanser smell like oranges?” Dan asked.

“Basically. Although to tell the truth, I’m not sure what citrus smells like,” Tom answered.

“Why not just add some orange peels to it?” Dan asked.

Tom laughed at the overly simplistic solution and said, “The real problem is binding the scent chemicals to something so that they are released only when you use the product. You don’t want the smell to evaporate during the time between manufacturing the product and the person actually getting around to using it.”

“That’s a big deal?” Dan asked.

“That’s a very big deal. It appears that coming out with an attractive scent can help a product sell better. The money involved is rather substantial,” Tom said shrugging his shoulders.

“I’ve got a million dollar idea. How about you get them to introduce a pizza scent for their detergents? I think that people would really want to wear clothes that smell like pizza,” Dan said with a wink.

“Pizza? No way. Of course, that does give me an even better idea. No one would be able to resist clothes that smelled like root beer,” Tom said slapping his friend on the back.

Dan laughed and said, “I could.”

“Thanks for cheering me up,” Tom said laughing.

The past week had been pretty rough. Dealing with Terry, Amanda, and Amanda’s father had taken up his free time. Learning a new job had kept him busy during the day. They even gave him technical papers to read at night to get him up to speed on their research.

“You’re quite welcome,” Dan said with a grin. He hadn’t been trying to cheer up Tom. He sat back in his chair and said, “I’m stuffed.”

“I didn’t realize that Alison was such a good cook,” Tom said. He’d been rather surprised by the spread that Alison had put out for Dan.

“She’s quite the little homemaker. I don’t know how she does it. She worked yesterday and today at the pizzeria most of the day. When she gets done there, she comes home and cleans up the house,” Dan said.

“Wow,” Tom said.

He knew from experience that neither Amanda nor Terry were as much of a housekeeper. They both had ambitions that had little to do with keeping up a house. He hoped that together the three of them made enough money to hire someone.

“She’s been a great help in the kitchen at work,” Dan said. That morning Alison had taken over making the blueberry muffins.

Tom had always been a little amazed at the relationship that had grown between Alison and Dan. She was a very attractive woman and could have had just about anyone that she wanted. He’d been surprised to discover that she was insightful enough to look past Dan’s high school reputation.

Tom said, “She cares a lot about you.”

“The feelings are mutual,” Dan said looking in the direction of the house.

“How are things living with three women?” Tom asked.

“It seems to be working well,” Dan said although he never knew where he was going to sleep. It seemed to him that he was changing beds every other night. He didn’t mind that they had taken charge of his sleeping schedule. It kept him from having three women angry at him.

“That’s good,” Tom said. He wondered how it would work out if he ever started living with Amanda and Terry. He looked over at Dan and asked, “How do the sleeping arrangements work?”

Although it was a little personal, Dan answered, “I sleep where they tell me.”

“That’s easy enough although I don’t think that would work if Terry, Amanda, and I were to live together,” Tom said. He guessed that he could sleep alone every other night, but he wouldn’t like it. He knew that Terry wouldn’t want to join him and Amanda in bed. He didn’t think that Terry would want Amanda sleeping with him.

Ernie walked into the pizzeria looking a lot less hostile than before. Rather than belligerent, he looked nervous and contrite. He spotted Dan leaning against one of the picnic tables near the back of the store.

He went over to him and said, “Hello, Dan.”

“Hello, Ernie,” Dan replied with a slight nod of his head.

Ernie was wearing his Parker’s Perfect Pizza tee-shirt. It was actually clean and on the proper way for a change.

“I apologize for my behavior earlier,” Ernie said looking over Dan’s head. He licked his lips nervously after apologizing.

“Apology accepted,” Dan said in a pleasant voice. He felt that apologizing had to have been the most difficult thing Ernie had done in years.

Relaxing a little, Ernie asked, “When do you want me to work?”

Dan had been waiting for that question and answered, “You’ve got some more training to undergo before you return to work here.”

“Say what?” Ernie replied staring at Dan. After Jimmy had explained that the Universe didn’t care one whit about Ernie Smithers and that the people around him didn’t care much more than that, he had been prepared to give the job a real try. Jimmy had told him that Dan was his best, and probably only, chance at a good life.

Dan said, “Talking to Jimmy was only the first step. You’ve got to work up to this job.”

“Huh?” Ernie asked shocked by Dan’s reply.

Holding out a piece of paper, Dan said, “Be there tomorrow morning at eight o’clock. Wear something that you can ruin without regretting it. You’re going to work your ass off, tomorrow.”

“Doing what?” Ernie asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach. His time with Jimmy had let him know what kind of future he faced unless he straightened up. The older black man had laughed in his face when he had talked about how whites were keeping blacks down. Jimmy had drilled him with the facts of life, explained what it meant to be happy, and told him how to take control of his life. Jimmy hadn’t pulled any punches.

“Construction work,” Dan answered with a grin. He added, “You’re not going to like it. I know because I’ve done it.”

“I want to cook pizzas,” Ernie said gesturing over at the pizza station. The idea of actually doing physical labor didn’t appeal to him at all.

Dan laughed and said, “I’m sure you do, but you’re not ready for that yet. By this time next week, you’re going to have learned some real good work habits.”

“I’ll be on time,” Ernie said. There was a pleading tone to his voice.

“Good, I’m sure that Leo will be glad to see that,” Dan said.

“Who’s Leo?” Ernie asked.

“He’ll be your foreman for the next few days,” Dan said. He knew that Ernie had no idea what he was about to experience.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Ernie asked.

Looking Ernie in the eye, Dan answered, “I gave you a chance and you blew it. Now you’re going to have to earn a second chance before I let you have it. Getting a second chance in life is very rare, so don’t blow it. You’ll never get a third chance with me.”

“That’s not fair,” Ernie said thinking that he had learned a lot during his time with Jimmy.

“I’m sure that Jimmy explained the Facts of Life to you. You know that ‘Life is not fair,’” Dan replied in a very serious tone of voice. It was well past time for Ernie to wake up and join the rest of the world. It was time for him to learn what it meant to have no salable work skills in the modern world.