Page 56 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late

One step at a time.

Mitch didn’t know which step came first in starting a deaf academy that would teach children of all ages—pre-school through high school—sign language and how to speak out loud. He would need trained professionals for that, and he had no idea how to find them and get them to come to Three Rivers.

He needed land, he needed facilities, he needed on-campus housing. Just the fact that he thought he was going to build acampusof any type in Three Rivers was absolutely ludicrous. And yet, Mitch had called a real estate agent to take the first step.

Finn had given him the man’s name, and Jerry Bozeman had scheduled some time on Monday morning to show Mitch three building lots in the area. Empty patches of land that could be the homesite of Mitch’s dreams.

He wanted part of his facility to be a training arena for dogs, so those students at his school could have a hearing dog when they left. Or, they could take the canines home at night to help them with their communication in their families.

He wanted to offer community sign language courses, so that hearing people who had deaf loved ones could speak with them. Deaf children, teens, and adults deserved a language-rich community with both those who couldn’t hear and those who could.

He wanted community courses on cochlear implants and ways to support the deaf community, provide inclusive services for the deaf, and more. All of that started with education for all people, hearing, deaf, and everything in between.

He envisioned part of his academy to be a training breeding ground for hearing people to become licensed and professional interpreters. Then, they could go out into the world and provide excellent service for the deaf community as they needed help with their doctor’s appointments, to get their driver’s licenses, to fill out forms for college, apply for a job, anything that a hearing person did that wasso simplefor them.

They could speak and ask questions, and someone could answer. Done. Mitch couldn’t do that. He was severely limited in his communication, and he felt bundled and bound inside his own body. He hated typing out everything he wanted to say, and he would fight for more inclusivity and accommodations for the deaf in the world.

As he’d sketched out his plans, his academy had grown several limbs. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do them all at once, but again, he only needed to do one thing at a time. And right now, apparently, it was movie-junk-food-afternoon. Mitch folded himself into the Glover embrace, flopped down on the beanbag with Wilder and Fawn, Uncle Ranger’s kids, and ate anything anyone passed to him.

When Monday morning came, Mitch drove with his daddy in the passenger seat and his mom in the back to meet Jerry Bozeman. They went to his office first, where Mitch used Momma as an interpreter to talk to the real estate agent, asking a few questions about the lots, their availability, the zoning laws, and the permits he might need to build a campus.

Jerry showed him aerial views of the lots he had selected to show Mitch that day. He told Momma, who told Mitch, that they were all viable options for the type of academy he had described.For the amount of land he needed, and the water rights he required, and they were all plumbed and ready for electricity as well.

While Mitch’s academy would serve a nonprofit in one sense, providing interpreters and hearing dogs for the deaf, it would also be a commercial enterprise, a school where people would pay to send their kids. Mitch would need to pay his employees and himself. He had to have a way to make money.

“All three of the lots do this,” the real estate agent said, and Mitch read his lips. “They’re already zoned, and the proper permits have been filed.”

Mitch nodded.I don’t know if I’m ready to buy a piece of land, he said.I just want to see what there is.

“Well, there are some great opportunities here,” Jerry said, looking right at Mitch. “Some of these properties sit on the market for years, because they’re specialized, and they’re waiting for the right business to come in.”

So you won’t be upset if I waste your time this morning and just look?

Jerry smiled and shook his head. “I won’t be upset. This is what I do. You might see something you really like, and you might learn what you don’t want. That’s why you look.”

Mitch nodded, reassured that he wasn’t doing something he shouldn’t be doing. Together, the four of them got up and left the real estate office.

Jerry drove this time in his SUV, and Mitch sat in the passenger seat with his parents in the back. No one spoke to him, and his nerves balled in the back of his chest behind his lungs, pushing the air out faster than he could bring it in.

The first lot was on the west side of town, close to Aunt Dot’s landscaping company. Beautiful land existed out here, and Marcy Walker also had her crop-dusting business, Payne’s Pest-free, on this side of town. Several other industrial enterpriseslined the south side of the road, but this parcel of land sat on the north side.

They accessed it on a new road that had been well-maintained, and Mitch gazed over it before turning to face Jerry. “It’s forty-two acres,” he said. “I think that’s more than enough for your academy and some on-campus housing.” He glanced over to Momma. “Have you worked with an architect at all?”

Mitch shook his head, and he pulled out his phone to make a note for himself. He probably should talk to an architect or someone who could design something for him based on what he envisioned in his mind for the academy.

“That might be a good idea,” Jerry said. “They might tell you how much land you really need. Based on what you told me in your email, I figured forty acres or above.”

Mitch nodded.This is a nice location. He looked at his father.What do you think? We’re kind of close to town.

Daddy said nothing, not with his hands or his mouth. His eyes sure said plenty, though. Mitch looked across the land, but it was hard to assess forty-two acres with a single glance.

Daddy did the same and finally looked at him.This is a nice location.

Momma smiled and said,It would be great here, Mitch. It’s out of the way. It has a nice road. You could do good things on this piece of land.

I was kind of hoping for more of a ranch environment, he said, and Momma spoke to Jerry.

“We’ve got a piece of land like that,” he said. He continued speaking, but Mitch didn’t catch it. Instead, Momma signed to him,They have a piece of land like that.

---