Hell's Heroes

Jim Sear was born deaf and mute. He couldn't hear you if you were screaming in his ear, and couldn't even create anything that was remotely close to sounds or words. A brilliant mind, he spent his time in the school yard watching the other children, seeing how they corresponded with and reacted to one another. At age 10 he began keeping a journal, writing down these interactions, keeping track of what actions yielded what responses. By age 15 he had begun writing a book on adolescent synergy and communication, and by age 21 he was a published author and was working on his PhD in psychology.
That's when it happened.
He was in New Orleans at the time, visiting his family at their small house on the beach front.