Together Forever

By Cayce B. Shelton

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.