Part III: My Boy Jake

Jake surely startled me, whispering the word death and all. How would he know such a word? He's a little guy; heck, he's my boy, my boy Jake, odd, but my boy whom I love dearly.

When Jake and I first met, it was definitely love at first sight. It felt right being with him and his family. It felt like we had known each other all our lives. If I believed in reincarnation, I would attribute the feeling to that. Tending to Jake's needs while completing my school work has been very easy. Jake's not only adorable, but so easy to be with. He's my version of the perfect little boy - doesn't whine, doesn't cry unnecessarily, pleasant, those blue eyes of his, helps the cause of loving him so much easier.

Yes, I described Jake as being odd, you caught that I see. Well he is, the more I get to know him, the more I realized how oddly amazing he is. I mean Jake can see things we can't see. Not ghosts or creepy things like that, it's as if he has been here before and he's just passing back through, perhaps on a mission. I think the old folks, like Ms. Haddy would describe him as having an "old soul".

I remember the story Susan and Mr. Pearson told me about why they moved to this town, and not somewhere more populated, it had everything to do with Jake. It was if they were protecting him from something, or maybe someone.

They chose the right little town that had the right house, with the right neighbors and schools. The town was strangely too perfect, unlike them, and certainly unlike Jake. One certainly can't go unnoticed in this town. In fact, when you stand in any doorway and look out around you, you see nothing but gray prairie on every side. Kinda like visiting Dorothy, but in color not black and white. "Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached the edge of the sky in all directions" - yep that's the place my boy Jake, Susan, Mr. Pearson's and I call home.

The more I think about it, how strange is it that the Pearson's don't talk much about Jake's birth. They don't have many pictures of him. I thought all families loved pictures.

The Pearson's often tell the story of the tornado that came down their street one spring. Jake had been outside playing on his swing set when the wind picked up. Jake must've found the sound the wind makes intriguing and wandered off in search of the source from which the wind started. The Pearson's said that it was the most frightening experience, having to take shelter without him. When the tornado passed over, the Pearson's were startled to find him swinging on his swing set, untouched and not a hair out of place. "The nice lady protected me with her pink feathers, Mama and Papa".

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