Chapter 14

(Dion)

All it takes is a moment of kindness

"Excuse me, you folks still in need of a dishwasher?" An elderly gentleman stopped Dion to ask as he was on his way inside Chili-Pops to look over his Pops newest creations.

With the Summer Sizzler series ready to launch later in less than twenty-four hours, he couldn't afford to leave any box unchecked.

"Yes, sir," Dion said, knowing better than to make any assumptions about his age.

If he needed a job he needed a job, and they were a dishwasher down now that Justine had headed off to summer school to get a jump on her first college semester.

"If you'll step inside with me, I'll grab you an application."

"Oh, it's not for me, sonny, it's for my grandson," the elderly gentleman replied. "Boy and his mama just moved here from Detroit to live with me. My son, God rest his soul, drowned saving his youngest from a riptide. Shawn, that's the older boy, he's been looking for something but not had any luck. The kids a hard worker, did most of the grunt work to get him, his mama and his siblings moved. I tried to tell him he didn't need to rush out and start helping with bills, but he's stubborn. A good trait, most days."

"Until he's using it to defy you."

The old man wagged a finger at him. "See, you know. I can't even be mad at him. He knows I don't get much from Social Security and his mama's still looking for work too, but no way could I ever see them as a burden. That's my flesh and blood and I'm proud of the way they've come through this."

Even if he hadn't said the words, Dion could see the pride in his eyes when he spoke about the young man in particular.

"How old is Shawn?" Dion asked.

"Seventeen and about to start his junior year again. Got behind a little in school last year with everything going on, so they're making him repeat it. I don't know if it'll be good or bad for him, but I know not working is going to eat at him until he figures out something. I'd rather it be in the neighborhood. I hate the thought of him coming across town on a late-night bus. Anything can happen to him out on the street these days."

"Have him fill this out and bring it in," Dion said as he passed over an application form. Nothing online for Chili-Pops, it was still old school pen and paper all the way. "After school is when we need help the most. You tell him to come dressed to work. If his application looks good, he can get started today, maybe make a few friends before school starts again. We've got two boys in the back, Julio and Peter, who will be seniors this year. Good kids who live in the neighborhood too."

"Thank you kindly," the old man said, tipping the rim of his Porkpie hat.

Talk about old school, it had a small, bobbing feather fluttering from where it was attached to the bow. His Old Man's dad had a hat like that when Dion was growing up and wore it to church every Sunday.

"He'll be down as soon as he finishes filling it out," the elderly gentle said, waving the pages at Dion before hurrying away, his gate marred only by a slight limp that hardly slowed him down any.

"Was that Stanley Jinkins?" Pops asked, making him jump and whirl around.

"I'm not sure," Dion admitted. "He looked familiar though."

"I'm pretty sure that was him. Who'd he say he wanted the application for?"

"His grandson," Dion explained. "Him, his mom and his siblings just moved in with him and the grandson is looking for work to help out with things."

Pops nodded. "I read about his boy. You remember Johnny Jinkins, don't you? Didn't you go to school together?"

"Yeah," Dion replied, recalling the high school basketball star now that he really thought back to those days. "Damn."

The old man was several blocks away now, but Dion had no doubt the grandson would arrive just as soon as he had the application filled out.

"Glad you told him to come ready for work," Pops said. "It's going to be a busy day and Julio has to leave early to go down and speak to the recruiter. His mom asked your father to go down with him and make sure he's not being talked into anything besides the MOS he's interested in."

"MOS, that's job title, isn't it?" Dion asked.

While the service had never been a route he'd been interested in, Dion's Old Man had served for ten years before retiring to make a family with Pops."

"Sure is," Pops said. "Julio wants to fly helicopters, but his mama is worried they'll try to convince him to accept some supply position, like they did to his brother when he enlisted. He went in there wanting to be an MP and they've got him slinging cargo and wandering around warehouses ticking off boxes. It's a shame how they do some of these kids knowing enlisting is the best shot at a future many of them have."

"It's a good thing The Old Man is going with him then," Dion said. "Which branch is he looking at?"

"Army. Wants to fly Blackhawks."

Dion could just picture him on the wall of fame one day. "Good for him."

"Alright now, come on to the back while the food is hot. I need you to taste these maple bacon jam sliders, let me know what you think. We've got beef and chicken. The only thing I can't decide is if they should be an appetizer or an entree."

"What about four as an appetizer and two as an entrée with some sides," Dion suggested.

"Hmmmm." Pops said, but nothing else as he led Dion back to the kitchen where Asha was already waiting.

"Why am I always waiting on you," Asha complained, pouting as she swung her feet, the stool she was perched on too tall for them to reach the floor.

Dion plopped down on the seat beside her and immediately noticed the red on the back of her hand. The flyswatter pattern reminded him of the way his boys rear had looked before they'd loaded up in the car last night to drive back from the lake.

"Pops do that to your hand?" Dion asked rather than answer the question.

Narrowing her eyes like him, Asha sucked her teeth and pouted more.

"You're damn right I did," Pops said as he divided the sliders onto two plates, a burger and a chicken for each of them. "Told her she'd have to wait until you were here so you could try ‘em together and that's just what I meant."

"Which would be fine if someone didn't take forever to show up," Asha grumbled.

"He was present," Pops said. "But unlike you back here trying to sneak food off the plates he was lining up a new dishwasher."

Sighing, she just shook her head at him. "Fine, you're forgiven then. Now can we please eat? I'm starving."

"Girl, I know you ate before you got here," Pops declared. "You was scrubbing grits off your shirt with a baby wipe when you came through the door."

"Because your great niece flung more on me and her highchair than she got in her mouth," Asha pointed out, but the smile she wore was all love for the little girl Dion couldn't wait to meet in person.

"Better learn to duck," Dion quipped, laughing when she rounded on him and pointed a finger.

"Do not start with me about ducking or I will find a way to involve you in the scheme I've been cooking up."

Dion was hesitant to ask what she was referring to but figured he'd better if he wanted to get ahead of whatever she was cooking up. "Do I even want to know?"

"It's for the Slip n' Slide Extravaganza," she explained. "I've got our food truck permits all lined up but then I got to thinking how much fun it would be if we set up an activity for the kids to go along with the free samples and coupons we'd planned to hand out. At first, I was thinking dunking booth, then I started calling around and pricing how much it would be to rent one and figured we'd be better off donating that money directly to fundraiser for the splash pad."

"Okay," Dion murmured as he brought the burger to his lips, inhaled the scent of caramelized onion, bacon, maple, burger and cheese and immediately started drooling. "Mmmmmm."

That first bite was pure heaven. Cheesy, with all the sweet n' savory Chili-Pops was known for. This was no flat slider with everything thin and perfectly layered. This was juicy and dripped just a little, like good barbeque, but a bit less messy.

"Did I nail it, or did I nail it?" Pops asked as he rubbed his hands together, big grin on his face as he took in the looks of appreciation Dion and Asha were wearing.

"Pops," Dion muttered, not even finishing his thought before diving in for his second bite.

In four it was gone, but that didn't mean Dion was going to let the drop of sauce on his plate go to waste, no way. He scooped that up on a finger and sucked it off with a happy sigh, knowing moments like this were the only time he'd be able to get away with displaying poor manners.

"Sliders and salsa," Asha blurted, the chicken slider having vanished from her plate. "That's all we need to sell out of the food truck. "Two packs, four packs, mix and match deals, we can come up with a family pack too."

"Better have ten in that one," Pops suggested.

"I can work with that."

"Who do you have lined up to help you and Pops in the truck?" Dion asked.

"You mean besides you and whoever we rope into the scheme I was telling you about."

"Sounded like you'd rejected the idea."

"Of the dunking booth, yes, but then I came across that old shark mouth bean bag toss game Marvin and I picked up at a garage sale a few years back for our Shark Week party and he graciously volunteered to repaint it with a few additions, to create burger shark. That's when I had the brilliant idea to use water ballons instead of bean bags and pose someone behind it to give the kids a target.

"And yet he didn't volunteer to be the target." Dion deadpanned.

She tisked at that. "How is he supposed to do that if I'm manning the truck with Pops and he's taking care of Savanna?"

Okay, she had him there. Couldn't very well expect the man to care for a toddler while being pelted with water balloons but it was still awful damned convenient.

"We can have one bucket with ballons and the other filled with the prizes Carter Williams already sent over from the Ninety-nine cent store," Asha declared. "Wait until you see the colorful collection of little squirt guns and squeezy critters that spit water at people he sent over. The kids are gonna go apeshit."

"And you've graciously given me the option of being in the truck with you dishing up sides or standing with my face in a wooden shark's mouth being pelted with water?"

She shot him a cheshire cat grin. "Pretty much."

"Ohh, those look awesome," Blaze remarked as he stepped into the kitchen and made a beeline their way. "Let me have a bite."

"You better back up off me," Dion said as he wrapped an arm around his plate to shield it.

"Oh man, come on," Blade pleaded.

Dion shook his head. "Nope."

"Don't even look this way," Asha said when Blaze started to turn towards her.

"Come on Unc, I know you've got some more stashed away somewhere," Blaze pleaded.

"What I've got and what you'll get are miles away from touching," Pops said. "Unless you've got something to put on the table, you'd best be going on now and getting those tables wiped down and ready for the start of business."

"Aweeeeee," Blaze nodded, kicking at the smooth stone floor with his toe.

"Hey Pops," Dion said, suddenly hit with a novel idea that would also allow him to fuck with his cousin and get him back for some of the shit he'd dished out the day Angel had joined him for lunch. "What if he were to volunteer for that special duty we were talking about?"

Asna snorted and reached for her drink while Pops nodded and stroked his chin.

"Well then, I might be persuaded to round up a couple sliders for him," Pops said.

"What special duty?"

Pops waved a finger at him, lips pressed tight together.

"That's not the way it works, youngster," Pops declared. "Are you free on Saturday or not?"

"I'm free," Blaze admitted, a cautious tone having seeped into his voice as Pops got up off his seat, went to the warmer and pulled out a plate with three more sliders. He plucked one off and took a bite, making a big show of humming and letting his eyes roll back in his head as he took a bit. "Damn I outdid myself this time," he murmured once he'd swallowed the food.

"You sure did, Pops," Dion said after he'd had a bite of the chicken one.

Despite sharing some of the same components, the maple bacon jam with the grilled chicken breast created a completely different profile. With the same juicy cheesiness as the burger and an extra bite of spice to balance the succulent sweetness, it had the perfect components to make a beautiful midmorning snack.

"You used a different cheese on this one" Asha declared as she peeled the bun back to take a closer look at the burger.

"Jalapeno and chipotle pepper jack on that one," Pops declared. "Chipotle Gouda and pepper jack on the chicken."

"Now you're all just being cruel," Blaze declared as he watched them eat.

"I suppose you could have these other two," Pops offered, holding the plate out then pulling it away the moment Blaze reached for it. "If you're willing to help out on Saturday."

"Fine, you win," Blaze said as he lunged for the plate Pops finally stopped playing keep away with and let him have. "Now will you tell me what I've gotten myself into?"

They all laughed at that, while Pops brushed his hand off on his apron and took another bite of the slider he held.

"You are the official target in the shark mouth," Asha declared.

"And that's how you get volunteers," a smirking Pops said.

"Well played, Pops," Dion remarked with a little bow down motion, giving the older gentleman his props.

"Shark mouth?" Blaze muttered, not that he looked too concerned with the first slider pressed to his lips.

"Picture big bucket of water ballons and every one of them flying at your face," Dion remarked, though he waited until Blaze swallowed so his cousin didn't choke.

Hell, it was a good thing he'd finished his food off or he'd have been the one gagging at the look of wide-eyed panic that crept across Blaze's face.

"He's the perfect choice," Asha pointed out while Blaze still struggled to process what he'd learned. "Think about it. With the act he does up at the comedy club, I know he'll really bring it when it comes to entertaining the kids."

"And maybe come up with some new material for his act in the process," Dion offered.

"Ohh, I didn't think of that, but an afternoon behind that shark would give him plenty of time to practice it."

"Nothing in my act is child friendly," Blaze pointed out.

"Guess you'll have to work that out then," Asha said. "You've got four and a half days to come up with something."

"Better make it good, nephew," was all Pops said.

"How good is Savanna's throwing?" Dion asked, just to rub it in.

He could tell his cousin was still reeling, but he was putting a hurting on the sliders too. One was a bite away from being finished and the way he was eyeing the second left no doubt in Dion's mind that he didn't regret getting suckered into the event in the slightest.

"She's three," Asha pointed out.

"True, but when they are that young, aren't siblings and adults allowed to help them?" Dion asked.

Squealing, she turned a bright smile on Blaze. "True. Oh my god I will have to make sure Marvin brings her over to the truck."

"And you'd better have a camera ready," Dion suggested.

"You know I will," she said.

"These are fuckin' amazing," Blaze moaned as he bit into the second one. "Pelt me with whatever you'd like, just don't quit feeding me."

Pops, ever the comedian, raised an eyebrow at him after hearing that. "Boy, ain't nobody taught you nothing, have they? You should know not to make offers like that with this family. Oh well, you gone and done it now. You'd best believe no one at this table is going to forget it, either."

Blaze's eyes widened like a deer in headlights, for about a second, then he shrugged, turned his attention back to his food, and started nomming away.