Sean Cole
Appearances
This American Life
535: Origin Story
The first time my girlfriend Mary Ellen and I walked into Chad's trading post, she noticed that only boys worked there and thought it was weird. Normally, she said, in a place like this, a small country restaurant, you only see girls working. She pointed to the cover of the menu, which read, Dedicated to and operated proudly in the memory of Chad D. McDonald, 31274-31190.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
She leaned into me and whispered, do you think the owner hires only boys because they remind her of her son? I certainly thought this was possible and sad in a way that makes you feel embarrassed for that person. Then a man came over and poured us some coffee, and when he turned around, there, in huge white letters on the back of his blue polo shirt, it said, Chad's brother.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
Do you think that's what they call all the managers here? I asked Mary Ellen. Do you think that's really Chad's brother? Then another friendlier manager type came over and asked us how we were doing and if we needed more coffee. And I noticed his shirt.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
This is the story of Chad's trading post. From the time he was 12, Chad and his brothers and a few friends had always talked about starting a small restaurant together when they graduated high school. They'd planned out menus, Chad's father took him looking for locations, but Chad died in a shooting accident two days before his 16th birthday.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
Chad's father Glenn, his brothers Scott and Corey, and his best friend Mike tell the story.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
In 1993, the year Chad would have graduated from high school, the year he and Mike and his brothers and his father had planned to open a restaurant, they decided to open Chad's Trading Post.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
In all of the interviews I've ever heard and seen, of an emotional nature, the person answering questions doesn't begin to cry until well into the interview. Chad's dad began crying before I even turned on my tape recorder. I asked him for a quick tour of the restaurant. It's a nice place. Homey. Even proofy. Though all the men who created it are tattooed, muscly, working class guys.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
This photo originally showed the two babies in Glenn's arms, but they had the photographer alter the photo, insert Chad's head over Glenn's.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
Glenn showed me a painting in another corner of the restaurant. It was the comedy and tragedy masks from the cover of Motley Crue's album Theater of Pain, Chad's favorite record. After he died, Chad's friends and brothers adapted the design into a memorial to him. It appears on their shirts. Two brass masks hang over the door, smiling and frowning.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
A huge flag with the masks hangs in the breeze outside, too heavy to flutter. Chad's brother Scott calls them the Faces.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
They've tried to stay as close to Chad's vision of the restaurant as possible. He never specified decor, so they've had a free hand there. He and Mike actually drafted a menu for the place, and the families kept about half of it. The other half was slow-baking recipes that no customer would ever wait for. Chad was also a lot of fun, everyone says. A lot of fun. A comedian.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
And they say that's why they joke around so much at Chad's trading post. Scott says when he sees a heavyset customer that comes in a lot, he says, hey, tubby. He builds towers of little creamer packages on the bald head of another customer. Glenn throws crumpled up napkins at his employees. They have water fights.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
All this levity in a place that's essentially a large roadside memorial that serves massive omelettes.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
Because I got to say, I mean, you know, when I was here with Mary Ellen, you know, and we, you know, we didn't know anything about the restaurant either. Obviously, we just, you know, found it. And, you know, the first thing we saw was the menu. And then we saw the back of Scott's shirt. And, you know, I mean, it was a little creepy.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
Well, you know, I just mean that, I mean, it's like there's somebody else here in the restaurant that's not really here. Right. But you know what I mean?
This American Life
535: Origin Story
I think I can safely say I have never seen any other family keep someone alive to this degree. They've gone out of their way to construct a world where they couldn't possibly forget Chad. A jumbo-sized photo of Chad stood behind Scott and his wife at their wedding, They believe Chad has protected their lives in serious accidents, that he brought Mike's son through a recent infection unscathed.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
Chad's room is the same as it was the day he was shot in it, with two exceptions. They took down the girly pictures from the wall, and they replaced the carpet. they did all this, right after Chad died, they all say they were lost. Mike said he wanted to crawl into a hole. Scott and his father had to make a deal with each other that neither would kill himself. Scott and Corey went into counseling.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
What made it better, what Glenn says saved them, was starting the family business, Chad's business. I guess, is it healthy?
This American Life
535: Origin Story
In Northampton, where I used to live, there's a couple, and they own a cafe. And at one point, they had a child who lived 19 days. And after they disconnected him from life support, they built a shrine in their restaurant for him. Pictures of him connected to white tubes dotted the walls and beams.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
And his father, a musician, would perform a song at the cafe weekly, as I remember it, comparing his son to a salmon and to the Messiah. And some of us, at first, though we knew it had to be hard, felt a little embarrassed for them, as though this tragedy had driven them a little crazy.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
I think it's hard for us to know exactly what to do or say when we see public mourning like this, because we see it so rarely. The intensity of it is shocking. It's too naked. And usually we think that if you hold on to someone after their death this way, you can't live your own life. But clearly, you can.
This American Life
535: Origin Story
You know, they did one last year, same kind of smirk. Remember Think Small? It was a half-page ad and a full-page buy. You could barely see the product. I don't get it.