Veterans Village makes progress

#Middlebury #Veterans

The first customer to purchase one of the tiny homes was a town police officer who’d been sent to investigate a complaint about the parking lot being full of construction materials.

“I own the lot,” said Sarge.

The officer nodded. “Then do what you want.”

He stepped over to the first tiny home and peeked in. Within a half hour, the officer had chosen his flooring and exterior cladding, signed a purchase agreement and put down a cash deposit, the $17 he had in his pocket.

David, the homeless veteran foreman of the Veterans Village project, stood gripping the $17 after the officer left.

“I’ve just sold my first tiny home,” he said to Sarge, amazed and stunned. “He’ll be back tomorrow with a cashier’s check for the whole thing.” Sarge patted him on the shoulder and headed into the coffee shop, where he pulled out his phone and punched in some numbers.

By 10 o’clock the next morning, the second tiny home also was sold, full of custom extras. By noon, David was at the counter in the coffee shop, Sarge at his elbow, while he tapped frantically at a calculator and consulted a notebook of costs.

“Can this be right? Is this possibly right?” he asked.

Sarge checked the math, tapping the calculator: sales prices minus cost of materials, minus carpenter wages, minus, minus, minus, until he hit grand total. “That’s right,” he said.

David slumped onto a stool. “Sell two more tiny homes and I’ll be able to put something down on that land,” he said, “before it’s gone.” Sarge ran a hand down his jaw, considering the secret he’d been keeping.

Then he pulled a much-folded savings bank statement from his back pocket and handed it to David. “This is from the old vets here,” Sarge said, “plus their families, plus many others, plus a state grant, to help you get Veterans Village started. For you to buy the land and pay cash. You’ll own it outright.”

© 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.