“University engineering students?”
“No.”
He looked through the open hangar doors toward the neighborhoods beyond the airport fence.
“Kids who have never had a reason to imagine they belong in a place like this.”
Victoria stayed quiet.
“Two per year,” Ethan said.
“Paid.”
“Real work?”
“Supervised real work. Maintenance basics. Systems thinking. Engineering exposure. Safety culture. Problem-solving.”
He continued.
“No coffee-running internship where someone photographs them for the annual report.”
Victoria almost laughed.
“Specific.”
“I’ve seen those programs.”
“What age?”
“Older high school to early community-college range, depending on regulations and insurance.”
“And you would run it?”
“I would build it with the right people.”
Victoria asked, “Why?”
Ethan looked surprised.
“That’s the part you need explained?”
“I want your explanation.”
He thought for a moment.
“My father taught me.”
Victoria waited.
“A lot of people taught me.”
“Technicians who didn’t have to.”
“Engineers who stayed after shifts.”
“Old mechanics who could have guarded what they knew because knowledge was the only thing that made them special.”
He shook his head.
“They didn’t.”
“They handed it over.”
Ethan looked toward the hangar.
“Knowledge is supposed to keep moving.”
Victoria nodded.
“Two apprentices.”
“Every year.”
“Paid.”
“Absolutely.”
“Real access.”
“Within safety and legal limits.”
Ethan extended his hand.
Victoria looked at it.
“You haven’t asked about compensation.”
“I assume you’re not planning to insult me.”
She laughed.
“No.”
“Then we can discuss it later.”
They shook hands.
Three seconds.
No photographers.
No board approval ceremony.
No formal announcement.
Yet that handshake eventually changed more lives than the acquisition Victoria had flown to Denver to sign.
Mia was the first person Ethan told.
She climbed into the truck at 3:15 and performed her usual facial inspection.
“Something happened again.”
“You need another hobby.”
“You’re smiling differently.”
“I agreed to some consulting work.”
Mia immediately became suspicious.
“More travel?”
“No.”
“Night work?”
“Sometimes, maybe, but optional.”
“Are you going back to your old job?”
“No.”
That answer relaxed her.
“What do you get?”
“Money.”
“Obviously.”
“And something else.”
Mia waited.
“An apprenticeship program.”
Her expression changed.
“For who?”
“Two students every year.”
“To learn aircraft stuff?”
“Yes.”
“Do they get paid?”
Ethan looked at her.
“That was your second question?”
“People should get paid.”
“Yes, they get paid.”
Mia nodded approval.
“Good.”
That evening, Victoria called.
Ethan answered while washing dishes.
“Mia wants to see the helicopter.”
Victoria laughed.
“I was actually calling to ask whether Mia would like to see the helicopter.”
Ethan looked toward the kitchen table.
Mia was drawing.
“She’s pretending not to listen.”