Mindset (14 page)

“Sure, Cade, only can we go early?  Remember my friend from middle and high school, Trish?  We ran into her today, and she’s coming over tomorrow morning around nine to talk over some business plans the three of us are considering.”

“Yeah, sure.  I think he opens at seven, so we can leave before then, if you can drag your butt out of bed that early.”

“Okay.  Sounds like a plan.  And for your information, I’ve been up early every day this week, thank you very much.  Eva has, too.”

“I’m the cook, so I’m always up early.  Besides, I like to feed Elton.”

“Elton?”  John scratched his head in confusion.

“Yes.  Elton, the baby cow, I mean calf.  I named him after Elton John.”

“Well, that’s a fine name, honey, and I’m glad you thought of it.  I hadn’t gotten around to that yet, and Elton fits him just fine.”

“Thanks, John.  I hope you don’t mind.  I didn’t want to just keep calling him Baby, so I improvised.  If you had something else in mind, I figured I’d adjust.”

“No, honey, I didn’t have another name in mind.  I swear, I don’t know how we made it around here without you.  You’re just part of the family now.  And besides, we were a little short on girls around here.  You fit in just fine.”

Eva smiled sweetly and hugged the man who was quickly becoming like the father she’d often dreamed of but never had.  “Thank you, John.  For everything.”

Chapter 11

Callie climbed into the front seat of Cade’s black Ford Explorer for the ride back to the ranch house after dropping off her jeep at the body shop.  He gave her a pensive look as she buckled her seatbelt.  “It’s going to take me awhile to get used to the new hair color.”

“Have you decided whether you like it or not yet?”

“Oh yeah.  I like it.”

“Better than the old color?”

“I don’t know.  I think it’s more the person that’s wearing it that I like, rather than the color.  And that’s all I’m going to say about it.  Your head’s big enough without any more compliments.”

“I do not have a big head.”

“Let’s see.  You’ve been making a living from modeling since you were a teenager.  You did mention magazines, fashion shows, and commercials the other day, if I remember right.  Are you telling me that you’ve remained shy and reserved despite all that fame and fortune?”

“Cade, in all the years we’ve known each other, have you ever known me to be shy and reserved?”

“You got a point there, Callie.  Even when you were a kid, you always knew what you wanted, and you went after it.  It never seemed to occur to you that you wouldn’t get it.  I always admired that about you.”

“Lord, Cade, you’re on a role.  I think you’ve complimented me more in the last five minutes than you have in the last fifteen years we’ve known each other.  Or, by any chance, could you possibly be trying to make a favorable impression?  Maybe even – and this is even more of a stretch – might you be feeling a little flirty?”  She batted her long, black eyelashes.

“Oh brother!  Look, just because I don’t make a habit of handing out compliments or saying nice things to you doesn’t mean I never thought them or that I didn’t see things about you that I liked and admired.  I just thought it was best to keep them to myself, that’s all.”

“Why is that, Cade?”  Silence.  “Ok, let’s try this one:  Exactly when did you stop seeing me as the skinny, irritating little kid who drove you nuts and start seeing me as…someone worth complimenting?”

“You’ve always been worthy of complimenting, Callie, even when you were that skinny kid.  And you’ve never, ever
stopped
being irritating as hell.”  Callie laughed.

“Seriously, Cade.  I never knew you even thought of me, much less noticed me.  So, when did you start, you know, noticing me?”

Cade chanced a quick glance her way and continued, “Right about the time you moved to New York, I guess.  I felt like a damn child molester.”

“Why Cade, I didn’t know you ever cared.”  Callie batted her eyelashes at him again and smiled.  “All this time, I thought I was the only one daydreaming.  I thought my attraction to you was totally one-sided, when you were daydreaming right along with me almost the whole time.  Just think of that.”

“Yeah, well, I did think about you, and I concluded a long time ago that it was a bad idea.”

****

Trish arrived at nine sharp the next morning, and all three women were sitting at the kitchen table talking about how best to proceed with their business plan.

 “Ok, ladies, I know all the stuff we need to set up in terms of materials and equipment, but before we get into that, I’d like to describe the kinds of services I have in mind and see what you think.”

“Okay, Trish, you go right ahead.”  Callie gave her friend her undivided attention.

“Okay.  I’d like to start with an overview of the current educational system that’s out there and how it relates to the problems we’re facing in American education and how I’d like to address those problems.  Reading can be broken down into parts.  Those parts are phonemic awareness, which mostly deals with sounds, word recognition, which includes phonics, matching up sounds with letters, vocabulary or the meaning of words, fluency, which is both the speed and inflection we use while reading, and lastly, comprehension, or understanding what we read.  All five areas work together to make for good reading.”

“The problem with the state of Texas is that it’s too phonics heavy.  That’s basically the only area that’s stressed.  Almost all the reading programs in elementary school are phonics based.  Phonics is important, but it’s only a part of what should be covered.  Hence, you get reading books all about
Tog the dog, who sits on a log, watching a frog leap out of the bog.
  That’s the kind of crap kids are made to read.  That’s bad for several reasons.  First, although it does address phonics, it doesn’t make much sense in terms of comprehension, it certainly doesn’t make reading very interesting, and the vocabulary is just plain stupid. 

In addition to being phonics heavy, there’s a test called the TPRI that’s given to the kids the first three or four years of school that’s all about how many words per minute they can read, so reading becomes a race to the finish line, again with little concern for comprehension or the other areas.  Reading instruction in Texas certainly doesn’t address any higher order thinking skills.”

“Because of these two factors, we see a significant number of kids who lack comprehension skills, not to mention that kids are so turned off of reading they never read except when they are forced to read in school.”

“What needs to happen is a more balanced approach to reading that offers tons of great books for kids to read and addresses all the areas of reading.  What I propose is a Literacy Center that offers not only a balanced literacy approach, but does so in such a way that kids not only improve their reading skills, but come to realize that reading is both important and entertaining.  Are you with me so far?”

After both women nodded, Trish continued.  “What I’m proposing is a multi-faceted center that does several things.  The first step would be assessment.  When someone has a hard time reading, the first thing you have to do is figure out what areas they’re having trouble with, so you have to test them.  Once strengths and weaknesses have been identified, it’s just a matter of choosing and using the various strategies that address each reading area, until the problems are corrected and overcome.”

Callie cut in.  “You said multi-faceted.  What else do you have in mind, Trish?”

“Well, literacy encompasses four areas, reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  Aside from addressing reading problems, I’d also like to work on critical analysis of reading and exercise and encourage kids to use what we call HOTS, or higher order thinking skills.  The education system is so test driven, that the goal is to get the kids to pass the stupid test, rather than question or analyze what they’re reading.  So I’d like to start not only book clubs, but use Socratic seminars, which is picking apart the reading and making life and world connections to it, and getting kids to challenge themselves and what they read while listening to and considering other points of view.  If we create these reading clubs and Socratic groups, that will automatically address the reading, listening, and speaking areas of literacy, and we can also develop writing groups to address the area of writing.”

“You have really thought a lot about this, haven’t you?  And your passion comes through loud and clear, Trish.  You’re getting me excited, and I don’t even have a background in reading or education.  I can’t speak for Eva, but I’m in.”  Callie smiled enthusiastically.

“You can count me in, too.  This is such a worthy thing to do, Trish.  I so admire your knowledge and your determination.”

Trish had a big smile on her face as she continued.  “Aside from all that, I would eventually like to offer teacher training on strategies, so they can take the information back to their classrooms and help their kids.  We can conduct the teacher training while kids are in school, so our days will be filled while schools are in session during the school year.  I also envision eventually offering adult classes along with the after school tutoring for struggling readers and writers, and maybe even family reading nights and Saturday morning story times.”

“Trish, it sounds like you have a pretty clear idea of what you want to do.  Now we need to work on a business plan and figure out exactly how we’re going to accomplish it.  I’m going to work up a market analysis to see what the needs of the community are and what kind of potential clientele is out there.  Next, I’ll take a look at your list of things we’ll need to get this off the ground and come up with a budget.  At a glance, it looks like you’ve given a lot of thought about the physical things we need like a building, equipment, materials, and supplies, but we also need to consider the cost of marketing, advertising, and the basic employee stuff like health care for fulltime employees.  Plus, although you’ve included your salary, I’m thinking we’re going to also need at least a part-time receptionist/secretary and maybe more educators, depending on how quickly we get customers.  Then there are expenses like utilities, grounds care, building maintenance.”

“Oh my God, Callie, you’re absolutely right.  I didn’t even consider that stuff.  So much for my cost estimates for the first year.  Are we still going to be able to do this?  Health insurance is so expensive, and my babies have to have it.”

“Don’t look so worried, Trish.  I can start looking into all that, and when I come up with a budget, we’ll go over it again and decide where we need to go from there.  In the meantime, why don’t you start looking into the materials you have listed and make sure your cost analysis on them is still current and accurate.  And Evita, why don’t you start pricing the office equipment Trish has listed and add a fax machine, a copier, and a multi-line phone system.  You might start looking into office furniture also.  Ladies, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.” 

****

New York

“I can’t believe that fucking bitch put a restraining order on me!”

“Looks like she wasn’t as broken in as you thought she was, brother.  At least you’re not alone.  Callie had one put on me, too.  I forgot she told me her brother was a fucking lawyer.”