"I can understand that. And I'm sure that Billy wouldn't have a problem with that. I didn't even tell him that I saw her, so you can save yourself a trip, Buddy."
"I appreciate that."
"But that still doesn't explain why she ignored me and then ran."
He licks his lips and sniffs. "That there is somewhat complicated. And I'm surprised that word hasn't gotten around to you on that score yet."
"What's that?"
He clears his throat nervously. "Well, see, Lennie can't hear anything, Levi. She's deaf."
Chapter 4
Lennie
The shot of the trees turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I was afraid that it wouldn't come out properly in the dark room, but my luck didn't run out today. It sure ran out last night, though, when I had to run for my dear life. I knew I was trespassing, and I know the reputation that Billy Barnes has in this town. Of course, I’ve never met him, but judging by the look on that man’s face, either that’s Billy Barnes or his angry brother. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve gotten into trouble for trespassing. It’s part of being an artist. Sometimes I findbeautiful places that I have no business being in, but I can’t help myself.
It’s been weeks now, but I’ve been heading over to that ranch, waiting for the perfect moment to take that picture. I've tested it at certain times of the day, on cloudy days, I even tried once on a rainy day. That was the perfect shot last night. It was brilliant. Luckily, I got all the footage that I needed, before I was caught. I wasn’t really afraid for my life, more so I was afraid that he would confiscate my camera equipment. That happened once when I was a teenager. I had taken the most perfect shot of a little girl's silhouette in the moonlight, but her daddy didn’t like that much, so he stole my camera from me. I never got it back.
I’ve been doing photography basically since I could speak. And I've been painting for just as long, too. No idea where I get it from, since neither of my folks have an inkling of artistic intelligence. My mama is a librarian, and my daddy works in a steel mill. He doesn’t actually work with the steel anymore, mind. He’s a foreman. Thankfully, his hearing didn’t start to fade until he was in his thirties. That’s when mama and daddy met. I was never supposed to be born. When daddy found out that he had the same disease that I was born with, both my folks decided that they weren’t to have children.
It seems silly to me, considering raising a deaf child doesn’t seem scary to me at all, but then I was born this way. Cochlear implants won’t work for me. It’s the nerves inside my brain that send impulses signaling sounds that don’t work. There’s no family history of it, but somehow, daddy and I both got it. My folks sent me to a special school when I was little, where I learned how to speak properly and how to lip read. Most of the time you can’t tell that I’m deaf, except for the slight twinge in my voice when I pronounce certain words and make certain letter sounds, and while I do know sign language, I don’t often use it.
I’m so good at lip reading, I don’t even need to use closed captioning on my television, unless it’s for subtitles, or unless I’m so exhausted, I don’t care to look that closely. I’m not much for television, anyway. Most of the time, I’m scouting out more places to take photographs, or I’m doing another oil painting, or I’m making an oil painting out of a photograph.
Mama and daddy helped me raise the money to open the store. Buddy gave me such a fantastic deal on rent, I couldn’t let that go. It turns out that my store brings him more business, so he feels like I’ve done him a favor. Despite the closeness there is between my folks and I, I bought my own place. It's a small cottage, and I bought it about five years ago. It’s only a ten minute drive from their house, which works, since, while my folks are still very independent, we do miss each other a lot. But having my own place offers me so much more, in terms of thinking space. Sometimes I’ll get a stroke of creative energy in the middle of the night, and I hate it when I wake up my folks.
Half of my inventory is photographs taken at night or during the first few minutes of sunrise. It’s all about timing. Scouting out an area during all seasons, all times of day, and in all weather. Once, I travelled with storm chasers, and took invaluable and very unique shots of lightning strikes, twisters, funnel clouds, the works. It’s also amazing to see the photographs of the after effect of a storm. Beauty is everywhere. We just have to have the eye to find it.
There’s also a small bachelor apartment upstairs in the store. Buddy always told me that if I ever wanted to rent it out for spare money, to feel free to do so. It’s a back up plan that I couldn’t pass up. While I don’t have a tenant at the moment, if the economy ever dries up around here, I have options. But he is the sweetest man on earth besides my daddy. In a lot of ways, he is like a second father to me. He even installed a special red light atthe front of the store, instead of installing a doorbell at the store, since that’s useless to me.
I’ve actually been thinking about hiring somebody to help me part-time, because, believe it or not, I’ve noticed that Sunday mornings are getting incredibly busy around here, especially during the summer months, when the town holds various shows and displays in the town square. Even people from out of state come to visit then, and with the shoestring budget advertising campaigns I have running, it brings enough traffic to this place to warrant some help at times.
I’m just hanging my new photograph on the wall, when I see the red light flashing on the counter. As I turn around, my heart jumps out of my chest. Along with Buddy, is the man that I saw last night, who chased me away into the woods. But Buddy sees the feared expression on my face and lifts a hand. “You’re not in any trouble, Lennie. Take it easy."
I swallow, and blink rapidly, matching my beating heart.
“This is Levi Paxton. He works for Billy Barnes on the ranch. You’re not in trouble for being there last night." Buddy explains, as this stranger sticks his hand out for me to shake.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am. I didn’t mean to startle you last night. I didn’t know, well," He trails off.
“He thought you were ignoring him." Buddy volunteers.
"Sorry about that." I shake his hand.
"Not a problem."
"I was afraid that you would confiscate my camera. That's why I ran." I explain, and I watch his expression change. He notices the nuance in my voice because I'm deaf. His eyes are moving from my eyes to my lips, as his brain picks up on the accent. The deaf accent, as I call it.
"Oh, I'd never do that."
"So, Levi. Like the clothing company." I confirm cheekily.
He smiles. It's kind of cute. "Yes, ma'am. Fine clothing. I wear the jeans myself. Never had to label my things in elementary school."
"I suppose you wouldn't." My eyes go to the new picture that I just placed on the wall. "If you'd like to know that my time on your ranch was put to good use, come and see the result."
Both Levi and Buddy follow me over to the frame on the wall. Buddy looks at it and smiles. “That is some talent you’ve got there, Lennie. There is nothing of yours that I’ve seen that isn’t beautiful and that’s the truth."
