When we last left our hero...

The year Emily was born, 1987, I was playing in a rock band and still working at O'Connell's. Annette had more earning power than I did in the work force so we thought I'd quit working and take care of the baby, still practice with the band, and Annette would get a full time job with benefits etc. What a laugh! The day she was born, I called the band manager to tell him I quit. Suddenly life looked very different. I was to be the primary bread-winner and mom would stay home. OK, sounded good. Just one problem. I was making about nine bucks an hour. That wasn't going to be enough. So, Annette got to working on my resume and we sent out dozens of them to restaurants far and wide. I finally got a call from KC Masterpiece. They were expanding their restaurant chain into the St. Louis area. I was hired as an Assistant Kitchen Manager and was soon off to Overland Park Kansas to train in the restaurant there. It was only supposed to be one month, but it turned out to be two. I lived in the Drury Inn next to the restaurant, and since I didn't have a car, I ate every meal either at McDonald's or KC Masterpiece for the whole time. Likewise, I didn't have a way to get to the laundromat. I would get "home" and step into the shower with my KC Masterpiece Polo shirt still on. I would then soap it up good, rinse it off and hang it up to dry. I cycled through three or four shirts like this per week, then beg a ride with someone to the laundromat for the rest of the stuff. After getting back to St. Louis, the store was still far from being ready. But we had to hire an entire staff before that anyway, so we all went to work everyday. This was a very pleasant time...before the restaurant opened. Then...it opened. I worked about 100 hours per week for about three or four weeks before I broke. One night, I just got in the car and left. As I approached the highway, home was east and I turned west.

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