...I worked for a man named Mel Kadera. He was a construction forman and was in town working on the Basic Science Building that now stands on the west side of the Iowa River. He was one of those guys who have a lot of energy and in his spare time he kept himself busy. There was a restaurant on First ave in Iowa City, George's Gourmet and was run by George Dasovich. It had great, if greasy Pizza and a large menu of sandwiches and fried foods that were pretty darn good. He would tell people it was Croation food, though it was not.
George had a small fleet of International scouts, one Ford Maverick and later an old Volkswagen pick up version of the Volkswagen Van if you remember those. George did a land office delivery business that kept sometimes four or five people busy all night. There came a time when all these assorted vehicles wore out at the same time. George decided he just could not replace them at the time. That was a problem as a good percentage of George's business was his delivery business. That is where Mel came in. He bought this sorry fleet from George and somehow got them all running again, he leased back the delivery to George also added Little Caesars and Pizza Hut on weekends. One of the other Delivery Drivers was bad luck guy that we all called "Wackynacker". His real name was something nobody could pronounce. He worked as a security guard for some outfit or another also with an name nobody could pronounce and also part time for Mel. He was one of those Barney Fife guys with a little thundercloud over his head all the time. Something always went wrong for Wackynaker. He was extremely proud of his Ike jacket and would roll down the window of his scout so he could hang his arm over the door the better to show off his patch for the security outfit he worked for. He turned into an alley and broke his elbow on a power pole. I lost track of Wackynacker after that. I don't think he delivered after that. He did not seem to trust his red haired wife very much and his heart was not much on delivery. As he would make up his run he would find an excuse to drive by his house to check up on his wife.
One day I reported to work and Mel said. "Come on with me, Wackynacker is stuck on a railroad tie at the Gaslight village." "Drive the good Scout," Mel laughed, as we picked the one 4-wheel drive Scout and started for Black's Gaslight Village. I could not imagine how he got stuck on a railroad tie. In those days Black's had a circular drive in and then out of the complex. For some reason Henry wad closed the out drive off and put railroad ties down to form a rustic looking stairway. Trouble was if you drove in the one you could not see over the hillside until too late and there was wackynaker hung up one the ties that were placed pretty widely apart. He was inside with the window rolled up, for a change. A very upset looking Henry Black in his underwear was sqirting water from a hose at the hung-up scout, with poor Wackynacker trapped inside. This would not have happened to Me as I usually called ahead and had residents of Black's meet me down on the street. This was the sixties and the Dopers and hippies that lived at Black's usually took the numbers off their units, I guess to fool the police. they were a paranoid lot and they fooled Pizza guys as well. I found it easier to meet them down on Brown street. Mel walked over to Henry and he apologized and said we were here to get it off. Mel was a small wirey guy and Henry was a big portly guy. Wackynaker rolled down the window enough to say he was sorry. and this elicited another squirt from Henry. For a moment I thought Mel and Henry would come to blows, it did't happen. We hooked up a log chain to Wackynaker's scout and managed with both vehicles working to pull it free of the tie. As we left Henry took another squirt at Wackynacker's scout. This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, the spectacle of a huge old man in his underwear squirting skinny little Wackynacker in his offending Scout. Mel blacklisted Black's for future deliveries.
*George's, sort of still exists under a the name "Brown Bottle" with new owners on Washington street in Iowa City. The food I assume has completely changed. I am told it is still good, but I have no first hand knowledge as you would have to pay me to go to Downtown Iowa City and deal with the drunken yahoos. It is about time to close down about half of those ***damn taverns. George moved on to be "born again" and managed the "Star Dinner" on down the interstate. He became an expert at ice carving.
*Mel moved on to other construction jobs after the City made him tear down the double wide trailer he had neglected to get a permit for at the site of the Napoleon ballparks.
*I have no idea what happened to Wackynacker. Look for a skinny guy with a little thunderstorm over him, I guess. He will be fumbling in his pocket for his bullet.
*Henry has passed on. Black's remains as a preferred residence of "other directed" individuals.
