Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

M itch Glover got off yet another plane in Amarillo. He felt like he went back and forth between Texas and Virginia quite often. In fact, this ticket had been free, because he’d used his airline loyalty miles to pay for it.

Of course, Daddy would pay for anything Mitch needed, including a cross-country move at the drop of a cowboy hat if Mitch said he wanted to come home to Three Rivers tomorrow. Daddy would make it happen.

Mitch would fall down dead if Daddy wasn’t already waiting for him on the curb, and he moved expertly through the airport, picked up his bag from one of the carousels, and stepped outside. He imagined what a busy place like an airport might sound like, with luggage clunking along metal claim stations, people talking, high heels clicking along the floor, family members laughing as they met up after a while apart.

Mitch couldn’t hear any of it, but it sure wasn’t hard to miss Daddy’s truck. King cab, with an extra-long bed, double-wide wheels in the back. He stepped out of it and walked around the hood, already signing as he came.

Happiness filled Mitch in a brand new way, as he’d been in a real struggle with himself, his life, and God for the past few years.

You’re early , Daddy said as he stepped into Mitch and hauled him against his chest for a hug. Mitch wanted to say, You’re still here before me , but he had to wait until he stepped back so he could use his hands. Daddy smiled at Mitch, who imagined him to be laughing.

Yeah, I’m still here. He picked up Mitch’s bag, took it to the back of the truck, lifted it up, and then opened the passenger door for him.

Mitch found his younger siblings lined up in the back seat. Chaz, who’d graduated from high school last May, and Lynn who would in a couple of months. Finally, his youngest sister—Melissa—waved for all she was worth, and Mitch waved back, signed hello, and allowed the goodness of his younger siblings to fill him front to back, top to bottom.

What are y’all doing here? he asked, though it was Spring Break in Three Rivers too. Momma had been teaching them sign language since they were born, so they could communicate with him. A wave of gratitude flowed over him for such a good mother.

They all started signing at once, and since Mitch had been living at and working for a deaf academy, as well as taking more advanced sign language classes of his own, he’d gotten so much better at his own language.

He laughed, kept up with their individual conversations, signing to one teenager and then another.

Daddy got two new dogs , Chaz said, completely selling out their father without having to say a word that Daddy could hear.

Mitch laughed again. Of course Daddy got new dogs , he said. Is there room for Liberty back there?

Yes, there was room for Liberty, as Daddy had just opened Chaz’s door to let the hound up. She jumped up, and in total non-hearing-dog fashion, she licked his younger brother’s face while the girls grinned and grinned.

Daddy said something, but Mitch only caught part of it as he wasn’t facing him fully and Daddy hadn’t signed. Chaz interpreted, We’re going to stop and get burgers for everyone on the way back.

Sounds great , Mitch said. Airplane food is gross.

At least you’ve been on an airplane , Chaz said.

Don’t worry, buddy. You’ll get on an airplane someday . He turned around and faced the front when his father got in the car. Since he couldn’t hear the conversations around him, he didn’t usually like riding in the car.

He wasn’t sure if the other kids were talking, and right now, he didn’t have the energy to try to keep up. So he simply enjoyed the ride back to Three Rivers, where they got oodles of burgers and fries—way more than they needed for their family.

That should’ve been his first clue that it wasn’t only going to be his immediate family at the Edge Cabin. In fact, Daddy didn’t even go out to the Edge. He turned left at the top of the hill, just under the arch announcing their arrival at Shiloh Ridge Ranch, and parked in front of True Blue.

Mitch looked over to him, and Daddy made the sign for Sorry. I should’ve told you. Everyone wants to see you.

I was just here three weeks ago , Mitch said. Everyone saw me then.

He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t prepared to be the center of attention for one hundred people this afternoon. He just wanted to have something good to eat, take in the view at the Edge, and lie down to play a couple of games on his phone.

The Edge Cabin burst at the seams with the number of people who lived in the small space. But April had arrived, and Daddy had a couple of rooms made up in the barn for anyone who wanted to be by themselves. Then Mitch wouldn’t have to sleep on a bunk with Chaz beneath him.

Uncle Judge arrived, and he got out and retrieved several boxes of pizza from the back of his truck. So this had to be some sort of come-as-you-are, fast food event. Mitch got out and helped his daddy with his dog, the teens, and the bags and bags of hamburgers and French fries.

They went inside the barn, where Uncle Bear set down six pink boxes of doughnuts. More Glovers arrived, all of them with junk food or fast food. Nothing high-end and nothing homemade, which seemed so odd for the Glovers.

Confusion ran through Mitch, and he automatically looked for Link or Gunnison or Wilder. They’d be able to tell him what was going down here this afternoon. He found Smiles looking his way, and he signed, What’s happening here?

Smiles smiled, something he was very good at. He was very easy-going, go-with-the-flow, laid-back type of cowboy, and Mitch sometimes envied him for that. There’s no school today , Smiles said. Teacher work day before Spring Break, so Momma and Aunt Oakley decided we should have a movie afternoon with as much junk food as possible.

Mitch smiled too, because that so sounded like Aunt Sammy and Aunt Oakley. His own mother bustled out of the kitchen, searching the crowd, and when she spotted him, she burst into a quick jog toward him.

Mitch, baby , she signed, her whole face aglow. You made it. She hugged him as if she hadn’t seen him in years, and Mitch held onto her too.

He didn’t teach on Fridays, and Whispering Paws—the deaf academy and dog academy where he worked—had Spring Break next week. He’d decided to come for the whole week, and he had a special appointment on Monday that he hadn’t told anyone about yet.

It weighed on his mind and heavy in his fingers, and he pulled his momma away from the group and said, I need you and Daddy to come with me to an appointment on Monday.

Momma immediately detected a change in Mitch. What is it? she asked, her smile disappearing and her hands moving slower.

I have a meeting with a real estate agent , Mitch said. He’s going to show me a few pieces of property for something I’m thinking of doing.

Momma blinked a couple of times. What are you thinking about doing?

He glanced over as someone came toward him. Link. Love filled Mitch, and Link looked between Mitch and his momma, clearly understanding that he’d interrupted. Sorry , he signed. Sorry, I’ll come back.

No, no, it’s okay , Mitch said quickly. He faced his momma and grinned at her. I’ll tell you and Daddy about it tonight.

He didn’t wait for her to say okay before he turned to Link and grabbed onto him. He’d seen his cousin just three weeks ago too, but there was something different about this trip. Mitch realized it was him. He was different on this trip than he’d been the last time he’d come to town.

God had told him to do whatever he wanted with his life. He’d asked him, What do you want to do, Mitch? And Mitch hadn’t known.

He’d been angry; he just wanted God to tell him what to do. But the Lord wasn’t going to do that, so Mitch had started thinking about what he wanted to do with his life, what he wanted his life to be. What could he do so that every morning when he got up, he would be excited to do it?

He never wanted to feel the weight of his job in his shoulders, or moan and groan about having to do his work that day. Slowly, over the past several months, Mitch had sketched out a plan for what he wanted. The problem was, he had no idea how to execute plans as big as his. When he got down on his knees and told God that, his Heavenly Father had said, You do it one step at a time, Mitch.

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 a campus of 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 was so simple for 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 enterprises lined 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.

Mitch nodded and said, Let’s go see that one.

They drove across town, this time to the north and east, up near the rich estates where rodeo celebrity Wyatt Walker lived in a gated community. The hills here made for a more mountainous, rural area. They pulled up to a dirt road and went down it until it ended in what looked like a dirt cul-de-sac, then they piled out of the vehicle.

“This one is fifty-seven acres,” Jerry said, waiting until Mitch looked square at him. “It is a little bit more remote, and it’s on the east side of town, which is generally equated with being higher-end.”

Mitch nodded because that was true. Three Rivers definitely had communities, some of which were poorer and older than others. On this northeast side, it was hillier, more remote, and the communities newer and nicer. The houses here cost far more than in town, and Mitch wondered if that was the vibe he wanted for his academy. He wanted it to be elite but not elit ist .

The real estate agent spoke with Momma and Daddy, and Momma conveyed all that he said to Mitch.

This is a great piece of property. The management group that owns it has been trying to sell it for a year, and it’s going nowhere. I don’t think anyone’s looked at it in six months. So again, you don’t need to be in a rush. They’re looking for something beautiful to be built on this side of town and are a little picky about who they’ll sell to.

Mitch nodded as he gazed east, the morning sun painting the land into a color he’d call golden warm. It’s a nice piece of land , he said. Because it was, but was it his nice piece of land?

They all piled back into the truck and drove south along the highway where Uncle Preacher had gotten in a terrible accident many years ago. They continued south past the turnoff that went to Golden Hour Ranch and Seven Sons Ranch, and they drove so far south that Mitch was sure they’d passed Shiloh Ridge too.

Are we even in Three Rivers still? he signed to Momma.

She asked Jerry, who shook his head. No, this other piece of land is a county property .

Mitch wasn’t sure what that meant, so he looked at his father. Just means it’s not in an incorporated city, son.

What about water and electricity? Mitch asked.

“You pay to the county,” Jerry said, explaining to Momma and Daddy that it was still plumbed with electricity and water, but payments would go to a county system instead of Three Rivers. Mitch nodded once he’d gotten the information from them.

They came up on the land, and it was definitely more remote. Mitch hadn’t seen a house, ranch, arch, or turnoff in at least ten minutes. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Anyone coming to the academy would likely have to go through Amarillo, and this was at least a two-hour drive from that airport. Maybe more.

It’s remote , he said as he got out, not looking at anyone. It definitely was remote. There weren’t as many trees, the land was flat, and it looked completely barren and uncared for. Mitch suddenly had the urge to be the one to bring it to life, to make it an oasis for the deaf community, as he often felt alone, desolate, and uncared for.

“This one is the largest parcel,” Jerry said. “It’s ninety-seven acres and has a stream that runs through it, which is kind of nice. It needs a lot of work, and that’s why it’s on the market for the price it is—the cheapest one, but with the most land.”

Mitch nodded. He looked at his daddy and said, It’s really far away.

Daddy nodded and looked around as he signed. You said you wanted it far away.

Yeah , Mitch said. But I’m not sure I want it this far away.

Well, he’s given you three really different pieces of property , Momma said. It gives you an idea of what’s available around Three Rivers.

Mitch couldn’t argue with that. That’s true , he told his momma. Thank you so much, Mister Bozeman . He shook Jerry’s hand, counting on his mother to voice his words for him. This has been really great. I know it’s a lot of driving and we’ve taken your whole morning. I really, really appreciate it.

“No problem,” Jerry said. “This has been really fun. I don’t often sell land.”

No? Mitch asked, cutting a glance over to his father. The wind out here pulled at their cowboy hats, and Daddy had one hand pressed to the top of his head.

“No,” Jerry said. “Usually farms and ranches.”

A new idea pranced through Mitch’s mind. What about me taking over a farm or a ranch? You think that could be converted into an academy? It would already have buildings.

Jerry sat thoughtful for a moment and then said, “It’s actually a possibility. One of the more luxury ranches would have a huge lodge-type house on it. That might be somewhere you could house children, and they probably would have a generational house where you could live on-site. Something to think about.”

I bet they’d be far more expensive.

Jerry nodded, not even trying to cover up that fact. “Yes, far more expensive.”

Mitch looked over to his momma to follow the conversation through her hands instead of lip-reading. How expensive?

She asked the question to the real estate agent while Mitch waited. She got the answer and turned to Mitch. Some of the top-end luxury ranches go for two or three million dollars around here.

But they’re private, right? Mitch asked, and Daddy conveyed the question this time.

“Yes, they’re private, remote, and beautifully maintained.”

Mitch’s throat closed over the fact that he might spend millions to build this academy. I think maybe I’d like to see some of those.

“Sure,” Jerry said once Daddy had told him what Mitch had said. “How long are you in town?”

I fly out Friday.

“Let’s meet on Thursday. That’ll give me a couple of days to find what you’re looking for, and I can take you around to some properties then.”

Sounds great , Mitch said. He shook Jerry’s hand again, and they all got back in the car. So many things teemed inside of him. He just wanted to start flailing his arms and spew them all out into words, but he contained himself while they made the long drive back to the real estate office.

He shook Jerry’s hand again, and then he and his parents piled back into his truck. He still couldn’t talk to his momma and daddy as he drove, but as soon as they got back to the Edge, they got out of the truck, and Mitch started talking and talking and talking.