"That's what we told her," Greg chimed in.
"Go ahead. One of you come up with a plan. I'm listening," I said.
"We're one step ahead of you," Greg said. "Josh and I are going to stand in front of his restaurant when he opens and block people from going in."
I looked at Josh for a second before I trusted myself to speak. "And you don't think your father will have a problem with you doing that, what with him being the chief of police and all?"
"What's he going to do, lock me up?" he asked with a grin. "Mom would never forgive him."
"I can't say anything about that, but we all know that your father will find a way to blame me for it." I had to get their attention. As I looked at each of them in turn, I said, "Let me be perfectly clear. There will be no human barricades or demonstrations of any kind anywhere near Italia's. We need to attack this problem with a positive response, not a negative one. Do we understand each other?"
They both said that they did, and I only hoped it was true. At the very least, if they disobeyed me now, they couldn't claim ignorance.
"Good," I said. "I'm glad we got that settled. Now, does anyone have any ideas about what we can do to make sure our customers keep coming here instead of going there?"
"We could always cut prices," Josh said.
"Only if we're all willing to work for free," I said. "Our margins here are pretty slim as it is. It wouldn't take much for us to win the battle by selling more pizzas and end up losing the war by being forced to shut down."
"Forget about price cuts," Maddy said. "How about doing some kind of giveaway? We can put a ticket on the bottom of every large pizza pan and takeout box, and at the end of the week, we have a big drawing to see who wins."
"What's the prize going to be?" I asked, intrigued by the concept, but not sure how much foot traffic it would generate.
She smiled at me. "We could always give away a date with the owner."
"I don't think so," I said. Since David Quinton had left town to live in Raleigh, potential beaus weren't exactly lining up to take his place. I couldn't really blame them. There were folks in town whispering behind my back that I'd driven him off by refusing to date him, and I wasn't so sure they were wrong. I'd tried my best, but the memory of my late husband, Joe, was still so strong in my heart that I doubted I'd ever be able to let anyone else in.
I decided to turn the tables on my sister. "We could give a date away with you, instead."
"I'm not sure how Bob Lemon would feel about that," Greg said.
Maddy smiled at him. "Are you kidding? He'd be good for ten pizzas every night. That alone might be enough to get us solidly in the black."
I'd had enough of that particular topic. "Nobody's going out with anyone as a prize in a drawing. There's got to be something else we could give away. How about a free pizza to the winner?"
Maddy arched an eyebrow. "That's not exactly a big incentive, is it?"
"You come up with something, then."
"I have an idea," Josh said.
"Does it require any of us to go out on a forced date?" I asked.
"No."
"Then at least you've got my attention."
"We could name a pizza after the winner for a week, like Bob's Specialty Pizza. Then, the next week, we'll have a new drawing and do it again."
"Do you think that would be a draw?" I asked.
Josh shrugged, but Maddy answered, instead. "If we play it right, it could. We can put the winner's name in the window, and make a big deal out of it. Kids from the high school would love it, and even some of your older customers might get a kick out of having their names up on the wall. We can even keep track of the winners by keeping a master list posted all the time. I like it, Josh."
I nodded and looked at Greg. "What do you think?"
He looked reluctant to respond, so I said, "Now's the time to voice any concerns, before we do something that turns out to be a mistake."
Greg nodded, and then said, "It's a great idea, but I'm not sure it will make enough of a difference to keep us afloat."
"It's a start, though," I said. "Good job, Josh."
I saw our pizza coming out of the oven, so I said, "Let's take this back out front. Maddy, if you'll grab some drinks, I'll bring this. Are you sure you don't want to join us, Greg?"
He looked at the bubbling cheese and the golden brown crust and said, "Maybe I'll have one slice."
"I'll have one, too," Josh said.
I looked at the platter and saw that Maddy's abomination was gone. "I think you've had enough for one meal," I said with a laugh.
"Hey, I'm a growing boy."
"Let's just make sure the direction you're growing isn't out."
He nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right."
The mood was lighter, which was what I'd been trying for, and I was beginning to feel that things weren't quite as hopeless as I'd felt earlier.
We opened for dinner as soon as we'd finished cleaning up our own mess, and I was making the fourth order when I heard a commotion out front. What on earth was going on now? I slid the latest pizza onto the conveyor and walked out.
Judson Sizemore was in the middle of my pizzeria, handing out what had to be notices of his grand opening.
It appeared that he wasn't going to wait for me to attack first.
He was coming straight for me before I had a chance to do a thing.
"You need to leave," I said as I approached him.
"I already told him that," Maddy said, her face flushed with anger. "He says it's a free country, and he can do whatever he wants."
Greg started toward him as he said, "If you won't leave on your own, I'll give you a hand."
I looked around the restaurant to see who was witnessing this confrontation. Among the regulars were several townsfolk, and in particular, Karen Green, a woman who ate with us every day we were open. She, along with just about everyone else, looked dismayed by the scene, and I couldn't blame any of them.
"Nobody's going to do anything," I said firmly, stepping between Greg and Judson. "Josh, call your father. Tell him that we have a trespasser on our premises who refuses to leave."
"With pleasure," Josh said as he pulled out his cell phone.
"This is a public restaurant," Judson said loudly. "I have as much right to be here as anyone else."
I pointed to a sign near the register that we'd had posted since we'd opened. "Think again. We have the right to refuse service to anyone we choose for whatever reason, and we're invoking it right now. You're not welcome here, and that's the last time I'm going to ask you nicely."
"What are you going to do, turn your goon on me?" Judson didn't look the least bit afraid. All it would take would be a nod from me, and the stranger would find himself suddenly sitting on the sidewalk out front wondering how it had happened so quickly.
"We don't need Greg," Maddy said with grim determination. "I'll kick his scrawny little carcass out of here myself. What do you say, Judson? Care to get your tail whipped by a woman?"
I was trying to head her off when I saw Kevin Hurley walk in. I was rarely happy to see our police chief in my pizzeria, but this time I was tempted to give him a giant hug and an extra large pizza with whatever he wanted on it.
"What seems to be the problem here?" he asked me.
"This woman just threatened me with physical violence," Judson said as he pointed a bony finger at Maddy.
"Is that true?" he asked Maddy.
"Hang on a second," I interrupted. "This is getting out of hand."
"I'm not talking to you, Eleanor," he said without looking away from Maddy. "Did you threaten him?"
"We asked him politely to leave, and he refused," she said a little petulantly. "It looked like he needed a little extra incentive, so I offered to give him a hand if he wasn't sure he could make it on his own."
Chief Hurley shook his head. "Maddy, what have I told you about that temper of yours? It's going to get you into some serious trouble some day."
"She didn't do anything wrong, Dad. He was passing out flyers for his new pizzeria in here," Josh said. "It's not right you're chewing Maddy out."
Kevin Hurley looked as though he was regretting coming into the Slice at his son's insistence. I pointed to the sign again and said, "We have the right to refuse service to anyone who walks through that door, and that's what I'm doing. Would you please escort this gentleman out of the restaurant?"
"That I can do," the chief said.
He turned to Judson. "It's time to leave, sir."
Judson gave Maddy one last icy glare, and then said, "It would be my pleasure. This place has an unpleasant odor anyway, and I'm certain the pizza is inedible."
Once he was gone, I turned to Maddy and said, "You didn't help. You know that, don't you?"
"Eleanor, I'm not about to just stand here while he destroys our business," she said sharply.
I looked around and noticed that our customers were sitting in silence, watching us as though we were some kind of dinner theater. I could swear I saw tears on Karen's face. This had to end right here.
I turned to my customers and said, "Folks, we're sorry about the disturbance. Your meals are on the house, as our way of apologizing for the scene you just had to witness. We hope you enjoy them."
I went back into the kitchen, with Maddy close on my heels.
It was clear from the storm clouds on her face that she was not at all happy with me at the moment. "Why did you do that?" she asked.
"It's better than the alternative. I can't afford to lose any customers, especially not right now. If it means giving away a little food, so be it."
"They weren't that upset," Maddy said.
"Did you see Karen Green? She was in tears."
"Oh, please, the woman cries at television commercials." Maddy was not about to let this go, but I was finished talking about it, and the sooner she realized that, the better off we'd both be.
I waved a hand in the air. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Greg came back with a sour look on his face. Before he could say anything, I cut him off. "Don't you start in on me, too. I did what I had to do."
"That part is fine with me," Greg said. "That's not what I'm upset about. I just can't believe that Bobby Bannister and Jim Vance upped their orders to extra large specials to go once they heard your offer."
I shook my head and had to laugh. "Tell them they're both crazy, they'll get what they first ordered. I'd be happy to make them anything else, but tell them that they're paying for it."
"Two small pizzas it is," he said with a grin.
"Why are you smiling?" I asked Greg before he went back out front.
"I told them both that was exactly what you'd say, but they were pretty insistent that I try anyway."
"Would you like me to tell them myself?" I asked.
Greg thought about it a second, and then shook his head. "No, but you might want to talk to Karen Green. She's still pretty upset about what just happened."
I nodded. "Maddy, handle the kitchen for me for the next few minutes. I'll be right back."
"Eleanor, are you punishing me for standing up for you?" she asked.
"Believe it or not, it's not a bad thing working back here. I just need you to cover for me while I talk to Karen," I said.
"Okay, but don't be long." I knew my sister wasn't all that excited about running the kitchen by herself. That was only fair. When I had to wait tables and run the cash register instead of running the kitchen, I always felt out of my element, too.
She'd have to deal with it, though.
I had a customer to keep.
Karen was waiting by the kitchen door as I walked out. Before I could say a word, she said in a distressed voice, "Eleanor, is it true? I don't know what I'll do. Are you really going out of business?"
The woman's voice carried all through the dining room, and the last thing I needed was for her sense of panic to spread to my other regulars.
"Of course not," I said, matching her decibel level. "We're here to stay, and you can count on it."
She shook her head. "He's trying to run you out of business though, isn't he? He can't, Eleanor, he just can't."
"Don't worry," I said. "We'll be all right."
"Why don't I believe you?" she asked.
"Have some faith in me, Karen. Can I get you anything while you wait for your pizza?"
"I'm too upset to eat," she said. That really was serious. The woman never went a day without pizza from us. I was about to say something when she added, "I'll eat it later. Could you make my order to go?"
"You've got it. I'll be right back."