Whetted Appetites Read Free Page A

tomorrow, when she dropped by at three, he would apologize and let her know that he would help her out in any way possible.
         He would not say anything to hurt her feelings or form impetuous opinions of her.
         He mentally kicked himself. He did that earlier when he pictured an older woman running the bakery.  It wasn’t a bad picture but, nonetheless, he formed a picture of her based on personality and he wouldn’t do it again.
         Hadn’t he been ridiculed enough in school to know he didn’t like that feeling?  It hurt.  It hurt even worse than the bruises he had gotten from the school bullies.
         Victoria was a valued customer.  He prided himself on working extremely hard for all of his buyers.  It left little time to sit back and relax but he was now financially secure.
         He lounged back in his chair as his early childhood memories flooded his mind.
         He knew he came from a poor family.  His mom and his two brothers and sister had to live on welfare and food stamps for a number of years.  And that had just barely gotten them by.  He was skinny because his mom had to make the food last longer.  They had to ration food until they only got a few spoons apiece.
         He had to get his clothes at a thrift store or the Good Will.  He took meticulous care of them.  He knew, eventually, his clothes would go to his other brothers once he grew out of them. 
         He was made fun of because of his frame, his clothes and the fact that they had government help.
         Eventually, he grew tired of the bullying and as soon as he turned twelve years old, he found odd jobs to do.  Cutting grass for the neighbors.  Walking dogs.  Raking leaves.  Painting fences.  Anything to earn money to save for college.
         He also worked intensively at school.  Doing extra credit.  Even some extra-curricular activities to earn scholarships to go to business school.
         By the time he was sixteen, he had gotten a job at the local grocery store a few blocks from his home.  Good thing, because he couldn’t afford a car of any kind at the time.
         He worked hard, putting in overtime as much as possible until he was promoted to assistant manager. 
         All of that back breaking work finally paid off.  He earned the scholarship to go to the University for Business Management.  The fact that he had been assistant manager for over a year at Tom’s Grocery Store gave him some experience in the management field.
         Working his way to the top, Dalton ultimately reached the president position for a catering company.  Not long after, he bought out the other partner and renamed the company, ‘Hughes’ Catering Supplies, Inc.’ 
         Not bad for a thirty-five year old poor boy.  He smiled, mentally patting himself on the back.
         But the only saddening part about it was that his father wasn’t here to see him.  His father died when Dalton was only nine.
         His dad’s life was taken at such a young age.  Thirty-one.  Killed by a drunk driver as he was coming home from work.
         He remembered the times he could hear his mother crying in her room when he was younger.  At that age, how was he supposed to comfort her?  He was too hurt by it all and was grieving just as much as she was.
         He also remembered the anger he had felt when his mother had told him that the driver had been drinking.  After learning that awful news, Dalton had never touched alcohol in all his years of living.  He equated alcohol with trouble.  It was branded in his brain.  He didn’t want to end up killing himself or some innocent driver or pedestrian.  He knew he could be a responsible drinker, but it still scared him.  Maybe on day he would try a glass of wine or something light.  But not right now.  It was still too soon.
         Eventually, he learned to move on.  He was healthy and had a lot going for him. 
         Except