John Pike Forest was the only son of John W.
and Helen H. Forest, a retired Naval Officer. John W. became a wealthy
man from selling his electronic word processor invention after
perfecting the application and obtaining a patent. With more cash in his
pocket than he had made in all of his life, the family moved to the
agreed large city far from the seas.
John P. Forest had never seemed to be interested in the opposite
sex all of the days he had attended public schools. At fifteen years old
with five years of experience playing football, he entered the new
school in his new resident community as eagerly as he had the many other
schools while following his father. John P. had always been a happy
person although he spent copious hours in study of the normal school
subjects in addition to the use, construction, maintenance, repair, and
rebuilding of household furniture due to his lifelong dream of being a
furniture expert. At the young age of twelve years John P. Forest had
already gained a satisfied customer base. In the new city, large enough
to make a good living doing what he dreamed of, John P. entered his new
school with a glad heart.
As he joined the throng of children from the age of ten years
through the age of eighteen years,
middle and high school grades, John
felt at ease. Having visited the school shortly before the school year
began John knew which hallway led to his home room, the first classroom
every morning. As he was looking at all the students moving along with
him and those who were passing him, John suddenly felt as if he had been
covered with a warm blanket, all over his body. As he stopped dead
still, the warm feeling receded to somewhere in the area of his heart as
other students bumped into him. As quickly as it had hit him, the wave
of intense joy passed leaving John P. Forest gasping as students looked
at him strangely.
Jillian Whisper Patterson was only twelve years old when she
entered the ninth grade at the school where she had spent the last three
years in middle school. Having been accepted into the world wide Mensa
program at the age of eight years, the lean but strong smiling female
laughed inwardly as the older high school students looked at her. Being a
foot shorter than any of the even fourteen year old freshman students,
Jillian knew she looked to be out of place. But, having passed over one
grade in elementary classes and one grade in middle school classes as
well as already taking college courses that complimented her high school
subjects, Jillian was not one to brag about her high IQ rating.
Having always leaned toward athletics, Jill had been an active
part of the volleyball, basketball, and baseball programs in all of her
grades. Finding that she was very good in gymnastics, Jillian was able
to join the middle school cheerleaders. Jill was looking forward to
trying out for the high school cheerleader program, a group she and her
parents had watched often when they attended the high school football
games.
Since Jill W. Patterson had willingly devoted all of her free
time to studies approved by her parents, she had never made many friends
and certainly no male friends other than during school hours. As she
was trying not to get tromped on that first morning headed for her
homeroom, Jill suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway as a wave
of warm something covered her causing her to gasp for air. As her heart
beat rapidly, Jill looked around searching for that one person who could
cause that intense feeling of joy in her chest.
Jillian W. Patterson had always had an artist touch drawing on
heavy paper with charcoal sticks. One of her favorite pieces was of a
young man’s head. When her mother asked who the man was, Jill had
gleefully said he was Jack, her husband. With Jill being only four years
old at that time, her mother only smiled and did not pursue the
subject. But, although all of Jill’s drawings had been given away by the
time she was ten years old, the drawings of her husband remained firmly
fixed to the walls in her room with the largest one above her bed.
Sometimes after she had finished her studies for that day, Jill would
lie on her bed staring at that drawing that caused a warm feeling that
covered her and held her tight.
With the popular honor student who was two years younger than
most of her fellow students who were always kidding her or laughing at
the way she would walk through the halls with a big grin on her face
looking for Jack, Jill would cause the students in the hallways to part
passing her when she would suddenly become rigid with her eyes closed
and that big smile on her face. No one could have known that the new
addition to the high school football team was stumbling along gasping
for breath and holding onto one of the other boys was the cause of Jill
standing still close by.
Although Jillian was not as mature physically as the other female
cheerleaders, she nonetheless was accepted into the current group since
she showed that she knew and could perform all of the cheers and
movements required. There was some hesitancy in her being accepted until
the teacher who had been assigned to lead the girls for that year told
the girls that to shun the lean bodied younger female could cause
trouble since she was the smartest child in the entire school. Although
she would not be performing with the other five girls who looked more
like women than just teenage girls, Jill was happy to be suited and
close by in case she was needed.
John P. Forest had no problems in being accepted into the high
school football program for that year after the tryouts. Instead of
being assigned the quarterback position that he held in middle school,
John happily took the running back position knowing that he was
qualified for it and that he was one of the fastest runners on the team.
The only problem with John being on the school’s football team was that
sometimes during the evening practices, he would feel faint as he ran
along the sideline close to the home team’s bleachers. Although John
easily talked to the coaches who questioned why he stumbled along the
fifty yard line when running along the edge of the field, no one could
come up with an easy answer after the school appointed doctor had
checked his heart. No one could even think that John’s faints were
caused by an almost shapeless young, lean, pretty cheerleader jumping
and screaming on the sideline near the fifty yard line.
Although Jillian Whisper Patterson was not to perform during the
night time football games, she was included in the practice sessions
after school as the football team practiced on the field. The first
evening when the team was charging around like warriors without an
opposing army, sometimes her teammates would gather around Jill whenever
she just simply freeze in place with her eyes wide open as she gasped
for breath. But, Jill would quickly laugh and continue her performance
as the intense feelings that made her pause passed. The other
cheerleaders all thought it was marvelous when Jill explained the
apparent reason for her actions. The day after they had all learned that
the twelve year old genius was waiting for her husband, the team would
look around for a boy whenever Jill went rigid in the cheering line.
When the football game started on the fifth week of the season,
Jill joined the other regular cheerleaders. She had been asked if she
was ready shortly before school was out for the day. With Jill dressed
in her cheerleader costume, she and her parents were giddy with joy as
they arrived at the football field on Friday. Running out onto the field
for the first time with the entire school football players, Jill was
more excited than her teammates. As the game progressed, all of the home
school supporters cheered on the team. Jill saw that her parents were
seated close to the bottom center of the bleachers. Jill had informed
them about the first time she had to pause on the field screaming that
Jack was somewhere close. Her parents had already guessed that the boy
their daughter had been infatuated with all of her life must be one of
the boys on the football team.
Then it happened, suddenly and without warning. John P. had the
ball and was running along the sidelines in front of his benched
teammates who sat in front of the five lovely bouncing female
cheerleaders screaming their heads off in support of him and his team.
Everybody seated on the benches jumped up and dodged out of the way as
two large boys from the opposing team hit John solidly. As the three
heavily padded players sailed over the benches and landed near the five
females, a warning scream caused the girls to jump to avoid being
tackled. Things moved swiftly as the tackle team got to their feet and
moved away. All of the cheerleaders stood watching their team man
struggling on the ground gasping for breath as he was trying to get his
helmet off. Then, apparently in some kind of distress, they all watched
the injured player roll toward the cheerleaders as the smallest girl was
running toward him. As John struggled to his knees, Jill was standing
in front of him grinning widely.
John could never tell why he suddenly spoke reaching out for Jill, “I have been looking for you, princess.”
As he felt faint, feeling his entire body being warmed, John
collapsed looking up at the beautiful face of the one female he knew he
would always love. As her arms encircled his head, John smiled as she
spoke.
“Oh, Jack, I have waited for you for so long. Oh, my darling,
finally, here you are. You will marry me, won’t you, Jack?” Jill was
shaking all over as she stared into the brown eyes of the only man she
would ever love.
When she bent to kiss him, John felt that he could only breathe
as his wife breathed. Her lips were warm and sweet as she held him
tightly and kissed him so tenderly John felt calm. Even as the medical
team arrived and put him on the stretcher, he could feel the firm grip
of the angel close to him.
As the entire school and all of the football players watched, a
cheerleader walked beside the stretcher carrying a football player to
the waiting ambulance. The other cheerleaders held hands as they cried
and listened to the silence in the stadium.
By the time the doctors at the hospital were laughing with John
and Jill who were holding hands, the parents of both of the children
came walking into the emergency room. John’s parents stood in amazement
at their son who was sitting on a chair with a cute young cheerleader on
his lap. None of the adults spoke of how Jill had her arm around John’s
head and he had his arm around her trim waist. When the doctor told
them they were dismissed, all of the adults stood smiling as John stood
up holding Jill in his arms. As the girl kissed John on his lips, his
father held onto his arm guiding him out of the hospital. Neither of the
children seemed to care that John’s mother was carrying his uniform and
paddings.
As John and Jill stood holding each other a short distance from
the four adults, the two families discussed how the two kids had arrived
at that point in their lives. John’s parents were amazed to learn that
Jillian had known who Jack was from the early age of four. And Jill’s
parents understood when they were told John had never even talked to a
girl like he was talking to Jill. With the agreement of his parents John
and Jill kept kissing as they were ushered into the car of her parents.
As the father of the bride drove he kept track of the young man’s
parents following.
The Patterson adults did not try to talk to the strange male in
the back seat of their car holding their young daughter as they drove
home. John held onto Jill as they followed her father into their home
closely followed by her mother and John’s parents. Jill seemed perfectly
happy to being carried by the strong young man. As the adults loudly
laughed and talked about their strange children, Jill was in her bedroom
with her husband, John, who was marveling as his future bride was
excitedly telling him how she had known he would someday find her.
Click on
Cayce B. Shelton for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
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