The Food Truck - 13. Chapter 13

I had Dominic reconstruct the room that Denny and Donnie occupied. I wanted the area made it into two bedrooms with the hallway that connected them to the bathroom. Since the rooms were empty, Dominic started right away on separating the room.

The rooms over the delivery van garage was completed and I was ready to move in as soon as the furniture I ordered was delivered. The extension on the kitchen, including the rooms on the second level, would be starting the coming Monday. The piles have been set and the floor has been poured. The cement blocks for the wall has been delivered and now it was a matter of scheduling the construction.

As we headed into the Thanksgiving catering, Andre came back and asked for his old job back. I was glad to take him back but I wanted to know why and what happened. “The chef was trained in France and believed that if you didn’t at least worked in France you were not qualified to work in his kitchen. It became unbearable, everything I did was wrong. If he told me to do it one way and I did it, it was still wrong. After talking to dad he suggested I go back to work for you as I was happy and appreciate. I told the Manager of the hotel I was leaving and he didn't seem to be bothered at all. He didn't even ask me why.”

“Your dad and I used to talk about Prima Donna's in the culinary field. We had a lot of laughs over it. Your job is still open, I haven't found anyone to replace you although we did find two guys to replace Donnie and Denny. I’m glad your back, tonight I'll introduce you to the new guys, Johnny and Tom. Unfortunately, until the modifications on the bedrooms are finished, your little room is occupied by the new boys.”

“That’s okay as I now have a car.”

“Great, I can always use another driver. Jake we'll be getting his license as soon as he passes the driving test.”

Thinking about our experiences at the fairs needing to use the delivery van, I decided to trade my car in on the vehicle that would sit six people comfortably. That Sunday at dinner, I asked my dad what he thought. “I think that's a good idea, I'll call John tomorrow and see what he has in stock. You probably should think about a small van.”

My furniture for my apartment above the delivery van’s garage was delivered on the following Friday evening. The boys help me to arrange the furniture. Now I had to go and shop for linens for the bedroom and toiletries for the bathroom. I took Mom with me when I went shopping. I could tell she still was slightly bothered about me moving out. I knew Dad understood and I'm sure he’d plea my case to her.

The following weekend I moved from my old bedroom to my new bedroom. I think the move signaled to my mom that I now was an independent man. I vowed to myself, I’d be home for Sunday dinners as I did in the past.

Dominic didn't finish the extension of the kitchen in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas catering. Utilizing Mom, as well as Donnie and Denny and the boys, we were able to handle all of our catering clients. Dominic worked between Thanksgiving and Christmas but not between Christmas and New Years. I was amazed, he had five people laying block. He knew what he was doing as I was concerned how they were going to meet. But as I watched the first few layers being built, it was obvious Dominic and his crew knew what they were doing.

By the end of February all of our construction jobs were finished. Dominic came with the building inspector. He looked over the plans, he looked over our permits and then he looked over the construction area accompanied by Dominic and myself. Andre, with Jake's help, was handling the lunch business, Johnny and Tom were delivering lunches with the jitney.

Mom and Dad had to come to see the extension. Since the whole building was extended out, the school room was also extended out as well. I had Dominic put in wall to provide an office for Donnie. I had a feeling that he’ll be operating out of that office, not only for the food truck business, also any other accounting business he was able to acquire.

I told him he could have free breakfasts and lunches if he gave me a fifty percent discount on his services. He laughed, “If you throw in the office, I'll do your accounting for free.”

“It’s a deal.”

As we headed into summer I began to plan our three-week break. I asked Jake to check the fair schedules to see if we could get three fares in this year. Andre started to plan the menus and to estimate the quantities of food we would need. We also had to plan ordering material for serving our food.

As we made our weekly trips to Restaurant Supply, we began to pick up items that we’d use for the fairs. Utilizing our kitchen, we mixed our ground beef and ground turkey for our hamburger patties. Andre suggested we make the hamburgers and then store them in our walk-in freezer, the boys had to try one to be sure it met our quality standards. I laughed as I watch them eat their hamburgers. There were a lot of comments and a few suggestions. But I knew they were joking around and It was okay by me.

Donnie and Jake reviewed again the sales from previous year’s fairs on a day by day basis. They calculated which days at which fair where we made the most sales. The idea as Donnie explained would be to take advantage of low sales days to move to another fair and perhaps trying to get to at least three fairs this year instead of two.

As we planned our schedule, Andre suggested that the Friday before shutdown we drop off pizzas for the men who normally bought suppers. “Than we can leave on Friday afternoon which may allow us one extra day at one of the fairs.” The boys thought that was a good idea. So we’d made pizzas, individual size, approximately the size of a pie plate and top then with cheese and our hamburger mixture. We’d need to pick up small cardboard boxes to hold the pizzas.

With Jake and Denny’s input, we’d be able to attend three fairs in the twenty-one days of shut down. Only this time we brought with us all of the meat for hamburgers, the hot dogs and the hot sausage. I bought extra ice chests to carry the extra food. The refrigerators were full as well as the truck’s freezers. We notified Paul with the dates of the fairs. Donnie volunteered to pick him up.

The first fair we attended was a four day event at a very small town. It was an extension of their 4H clubs. There was a livestock exhibition and several contests for the best pies, cakes and various food canning. We took advantage of the pie contest. There were only two other food trucks there, one was selling fried dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and the other truck was selling corn on the cob. I noticed the boys were buying corn on the cob, but not the fried dough. There also were stands selling fresh vegetables and fruit, a true farmers market. By the end of day, we had replaced one of the ice chests with fresh vegetables.

It took us two days to get to the next fair and we got there the night before the fair was to open. We showed our permit to the guard and he directed us to a spot where we could set up the food truck. In the morning, well I fixed our breakfast Donnie and Denny took off to buy hamburger buns and hot dog buns.

By the time they return the coffee was done, the bacon was cooked and Andre was making toast with the homemade bread we bought at the previous fare. I was frying eggs for Jake, Tom, and Paul. After unloading the buns, the boys went to look for a table. The boys weren't gone more then five minutes, when I heard them coming back. Jake came in to get it a wet rag to wipe down the table.

As the eggs were done, plates were filled, passed through the window, we sat down to eat our breakfast. I chuckled as I remembered the last time this happened, we ended up getting tickets for the rides. This time no one came to ask us if we sold breakfast. Denny and Jake calculated that we’ll only stay five days at this fair before moving on. Donnie kept track of our sales by each day at each fare we attended.

The last fair was the same as the previous year. It was a small fare but because of the limited number of trucks we did very well. It was on the second day something occurred that deeply bothered me. A young boy, I would estimate ten or eleven years old, stood about twelve feet in front of the food truck. Next to him was a young girl probably six or seven years old. You could tell by their clothes that they were poor, but their clothes where clean as well as the children. I watch them for almost an hour. A man came and spoke to the children. I don't know what they said to him but he shook his head no.

I looked at Donny, when he looked at me I saw that his eyes were wet. I nodded yes and he took off. After speaking to the man he brought the kids to the window. “Jim, I just hired these two kids to pick up the papers laying on the ground around the truck. But first we have to make sure they aren’t hungry cause everyone knows you can't work on empty stomach.”

I think if Denny wouldn't get jealous, I would give him a kiss. I looked at Andre and he was already frying french fries. Hamburgers were on the grill and buns were being toasted. Paul squeeze by and filled two coffee cups with milk. I figured the father, whom I assumed was the man that talked to the kids, would probably also enjoy at least a cup of coffee. I noticed when the food was put in front of the kids, the boy broke his hamburger in half and ran to give the half to the man. At first the man didn't want it but the boy must have said something, the man took it and gave the boy a hug. By this time, all of us where watching. It wasn't long before two more hamburgers hit the griddle, two handfuls of fries in the French fryer, another cup of coffee was drawn. Again it was Donnie who went and talked to the man. At first the man did not want to come, again I don't know what Donnie said, but the man reluctantly came and sat down at the table. The children smiled, I noticed when sun hit the man’s eyes they glistened. I knew they were moist with tears. Donnie made sure that the kids had enough to eat. I heard him tell the kids that we’d be here for four more days, and if they wanted to work picking up papers he’d see that they got paid.

That evening when the man and the children left, Donnie gave them a bag of food for their supper. As we closed the truck for the night, I found Donnie and Denny siting in the van, Donnie was crying. “I know what it feels like to be hungry. These are only kids and they can’t help it. No child at that age should ever feel hungry.”

I knew where Donny was coming from. I knew when he was hungry and was looking in dumpsters for food. He knew what hunger pains felt like and for him to think that those kids probably also knew what those pains felt like, tore him up inside.

Over the next four days, we fed those children breakfast and lunch. At night they were sent home with enough food for them and their parent’s supper. In the time we were at that fair, Donnie was able to establish a rapport with the children. According to Donnie their father worked on a farm until he got hurt. He was still in rehab, he hadn’t worked for five months. The farmer who owned the farm had no Insurance to cover the accident. The medical costs wiped out the families savings.

I knew that left to his own Donnie would make a visit to that farmer. But Denny talked him out of it. “Listen Donnie, there are better ways. Let's do a search on the Internet. If you can find out the man's name and when the accident occurred we can check newspapers to determine the particulars. Then we can decide how best to help this man and his family.” As I watched Donnie I knew this was far from over.

The rest of our time at the fair was fairly routine. The kid showed up each day with big smiles, there weren’t many papers to be picked up. Jake had made sure of that, the rubbish barrel was close to the table.

On the last day as we are closing up the truck, the man appeared to thank us. Invited Donnie and Denny to his home. I told them to take the van and we’ll wait for them at the truck. While we waited, we made our dinners.

Everything put away, the truck was cleaned and now we waited. I think Jake, André, Paul knew Donnie’s background and understood why he behaved as he did. I wasn't sure how much Johnny and Tom knew, but it was Donnie’s story to tell.

It was a nice night, so we sat outside around the table drinking our coffee. Paul brought us up-to-date on what is happening in his life. We chuckled a few times at some of his antics but I was glad for Paul. He seemed to have found his niche in life. The boys wanted to know if he found his significant other. When asked Paul blushed. “There’s this one girl in my class that I might be interested in.”

That was all the boys needed to hear. Then the teasing start and the questions. What does she look like? What color hair does she have? Is she tall or short? What color eyes does she have? Have you dated yet? I just watched as Paul's squirmed a little bit. “Come on Paul, tell us.”

“Well, I think she's pretty but that's not what’s important. What's important for me is her personality, she always pleasant, speaks well of the other students and does well in class. We get along very well.”

“So is it love or just infatuation or just friends?”

“Right now, we're friends, I think it’s too early to be anything more than friends. Who knows what’ll happen a few years from now. We both have careers in mind and our studies require a lot of our time.”

“Well, you're right Paul you still have lots of time to make those decisions.”

“Tom, Johnny, what do you think about working the fairs?”

“It was fun, I have never been to a fair, amusement parks, yes, but not a fair. I think I'd like the first fair the best. With all those animals and everyone seemed so nice. There was a kid who had a pig enter in the competition. He said he was a member of a 4H club and this was his favorite pig. He said in order to enter him in the competition he had to raise the pig and keep a daily chart of the pig’s growth. I thought that was pretty neat.”

“I've heard of 4H clubs. They are quite popular in farm communities.”

“Here's Donnie and Denny”

We watched as the boys came and sat down at a table. Andre offered them coffee.

“I’ll get it.”

When I went to get the coffees I remembered the pie we bought at the first fair. The problem was how to cut it into seven pieces. When I brought the coffee out for Donnie and Denny, I reminded the boys about the pie. “The problem is how to divide it into seven pieces.”

Tom said, “I can do it.”

I passed the pie to Tom. He took the knife cutting it into four parts and then dividing them into two parts. In total he had eight pieces of pie. I watched as he handed an eighth of the pie to each of us except Donnie. He got a quarter of the pie. “That’s for being a good samaritan”

None of us had a problem with that. I think we all realize Donny deserved his portion. Clean up then off to the motel, in the morning we’ll head home.

Habits are hard to break, we were up at six in the morning, a few of the boys, Paul and the new guys, found it difficult to wake up. I fired up the truck. I made breakfast while Andre cleaned up, we headed home. We had three days before we needed to be home. So we took our time, stopped for lunch, stopped for supper and found a motel to stay in for the night.

Waking again at six in the morning, after breakfast, we were on the road again. We stopped for lunch but we were back at the Park in time for supper.

Paul had three more days before he had to head home. Donnie and Denny went home after supper. Dominic had done an excellent job into converting what was once two bedrooms into four. Since Andre stay home, each boy had their own bedroom with one spare bedroom for guest, such as Paul or when Andre wanted to spend the night.

Monday morning we were right back in the groove. The operation of the food truck, became routine. Each of the boys knew their responsibilities and pitched right in as if they were the owners. I was proud of my crew and equally proud of those who worked for me and have gone on to get their college degrees and other occupations. Being somewhat a realist, I knew that my current boys would follow their dreams as well. I don’t think Andre will leave and maybe in time I’ll make him a partner. But I believe that the other boys will leave much like Denny and Donny.

Donny did follow up on that man with the kids who we fed at the last fair. The boys found out that the farm was owned by a conglomerate and the farmer in question was a hired manger. They also found out that he was turning in a payroll with the companies standard hourly wages but was paying the workers minimum pay, he was pocketing the rest. Once the company was made aware and the possible downside, they fired the manager and hired the children’s father to manage the farm. All’s well that ends well, except for the old manager. The company took him to court and he now doesn’t have to worry about his meals or where he sleeps. The State now takes care of him.

I learned one thing about owning your own business, you don’t own the business, the business owns you. But I’m happy and doing well.