It was the last week of February when Jenken was released from the hospital. The doctors cautioned Jane to be vigilant. Although Jenken seemed to be doing well with little noticeable affects of the pre-natal brain injury, seizures were always a possibility. Also, due to his premature birth his immune system might be compromised so they were cautioned be sure to keep him indoors and away from sick people until he grew stronger.

Since Jane had maintained her ‘A’ average, the school allowed Jane to rearrange her class schedule so she could leave early every day to care for the baby. A few caring teachers volunteered to tutor her if her grades slipped. Despite being a devoted and doting mother, Jane never needed the tutoring. She finished her sophomore school year with straight A’s.

By the time the school year ended Jenken was 6 months old weighed 11 pounds and measured 23 inches long. By this time he could roll over and make eye contact with people. He could hold objects and put them in his mouth. With that he developed the ability to chew. With a bit of assistance he could hold a cup and drink. While his eyes could still focus on separate objects they usually worked in tandem.

That summer JJ spent nearly as much time as Jane did with Jenken. By then Jenken was reacting to the people he knew in a decisively positive manner. JJ closely observed and noted Jenken’s peculiarities. Naturally, with what happened to his nephew, JJ did quite a bit of side research investigating split brain syndrome.

The vast majority of people with split brains had been done surgically when the subjects were in their twenties as a last resort to treat intractable epilepsy. Since the hemispherical split of those people happened when their brains were mature, the compensations they developed to overcome the loss of side to side brain communication was limited. Since it happened so early in Jenken’s development, no one had any idea how his much more flexible growing brain would cope. Jenken’s awareness of other people as well as his ability to use his eyes and same side hands independently made him an ideal candidate for study.

Those two things remained unusual about the baby. While his eyes functioned normally most of the time, it was quite evident they could operate independently. If one person was on one side of him and another was on the other side, his eyes would shift to look at the closest person so it looked like he was the exact opposite of cross eyed. What was even more unusual about his ability to look in different directions at the same time was that his same side hand could be directed by the eye on the same side. He could deftly reach out and grasp two toys being simultaneously offered independently by different people, one on one side and one on the other side. The other unusual trait was that he continued to sense people he couldn’t see. Jane and her family realized he could instantly pick up the moods of people. If someone was happy he’d be happy if someone was sad he’d be sad, if someone was upset he’d be upset. Jenken obviously was innately a powerful empath sensing anyone nearby. This in turn created issues when he was taken out in public. Being around a large number of unfamiliar people seemed to overload is empathetic abilities. When initially exposed to a large number of people Jenken would seem confused, which then swiftly changed to anxiety and fear. His normally happy demeanor would shift into that of an anxious cranky crying baby.

Jenken steadily grew and flourished. By the end of the summer he seemed to be a happy active baby although as could be expected smaller than a normal 9 month old baby. Jenken had grown to 15 pounds and was 25 inches long. For his age he exhibited dexterity at or even just beyond that expected for his age group which amazed the doctors due to his injured preemie birth. By this point in his life Jenken was able to creep and roll about and understood several words. Without assistance he could hold a cup or a spoon and could eat solid food. He was able to sit on his own. All in all he was a happy gurgling baby. Everyone was pleased that he was able to recognize the names of people and objects that were a part of his normal daily life. By this time the ‘J’ shaped scar on his forehead was plainly visible as the only none freckled area.

Since being released from the hospital, Jenken had been taken to the Doctor’s Office Building of the Reading Hospital every two weeks for a check-up. The doctors were amazed the tough little guy was doing so well. The physicians assumed that due to his injuries and premature birth Jenken would have a compromised immune system but to their surprise he never became ill. They also looked for signs of mental issues. Other than his small size he appeared extremely healthy. The doctors tested his empathetic abilities and his ability to use his eyes independently to see if the abilities faded or grew stronger with time. The doctors gave tentative approval for taking him into the Pub where watching him would be easier while his family worked.

With some misgiving about being away from her adorable child, Jane returned to school for her junior year. JJ also returned to his studies. June took care of her grandson which was the only reason Jane consented to going back to school. This meant Jenken began to spend a lot of time in the basement kitchen and office of the pub. Since most customers were in a good mood, the closeness of unfamiliar people did little to effect his mood. In time the little tyke came to accept being near a limited number of strangers. Every day Jane would rush home from school to be warmly greeted by her smiling baby. The girls who had helped Jane last year when she returned to school after Jenken was born had also been regular visitors over the summer, two even becoming part time waitresses at the Raven’s Perch. They simply adored Jenken and marveled at how small he was. Quite often they would come over after school simply to play with the adorable child.

Within 3 weeks of learning to pull himself up to stand on his own he began toddling about hanging onto objects or an offered hand. Everyone that visited loved to read to Jenken. He would listen to the stories with great intensity and followed along in the picture books pointing to the correct picture as the words were being read as well as beginning to say a few words. By pincering his thumb and forefinger, he could pick up small objects. By Halloween he had mastered using his feet to push himself along on a ride-on toy. By this point his anxiety and being around unfamiliar people was virtually gone and the dysfunction of his eyes also seemed to be improving. By his first birthday Jenken was 18 pounds and 28 inches long.

With a course load of eighteen credits a semester and still helping out in the family restaurant, JJ didn’t have much free time to think about how well Jenken was doing. Thanksgiving finally allowed a brief break from studying and he was amazed that despite his small size Jenken was easily doing things normal one year olds could do. As he thought about the doctors still seeing Jenken every two weeks to ‘monitor’ his development, JJ became alarmed they might be using him as a guinea pig. JJ strongly suggested they begin limiting access to Jenken unless something needed to be addressed. With the obvious now pointed out to them, the rest of the family agreed since Jenken had never had as much as a sniffle and was doing so well. The doctor’s reluctantly agreed the every two week check-ups could be stretched to once a month.

By the time Jane finished her junior year, Jenken was 18 months old, weighed 21 pounds and was 31 inches long. It didn’t take him long to master being able to move from sitting to standing by using hands to push himself up. The spunky child began to walk just about anywhere, though at first with his feet wide apart and arms up to aid balance. Quickly growing proficient, he was soon able to push a wheeled toy in front of himself. He was able to crawl up and down steps and if you held a hand he could actually walk up and down the steps. He was already speaking short childish phrases and was able to engage in short conversations. Since Jane called her mother ‘mom’ and her father ‘dad’, Jenken called his grandmother ‘mom’ and his grandfather ‘dad’. Jane was mommy and JJ was JJ.

Like many toddlers, Disney animated videos became a regular part of Jenken’s life. The Disney Princesses were particular favorites. Even at his tender age he quickly mastered using the remote control. It was obvious that his dexterity was quite advanced as he mastered the pincer grip and could easily pick up small objects, could climb up onto low furniture, was able scribble on paper and drink from a cup without needing help. He loved playing with different shapes, stacking blocks with ease and would pick up his picture books and sit contentedly as he paged through them. The books were always held upright and he always started at the beginning as he made his way page by page to the end.

With school out for the summer, Jane decided to try letting Jenken spend some time outside, something he’d not been allowed to do in the past due to health concerns. Jane took him into the yard behind the family home next door to the pub. JJ had erected a small 18 inch high green plastic coated wire fence to keep the toddler from wandering off. The circular 25' diameter enclosure had plenty of shade and grass with a small sandbox in one corner and a child size picnic table in the center. The fence was low enough for the adults to step over but high enough to keep the inquisitive toddler inside.

The first time inside the enclosure, Jane gently led Jenken around to show him everything. On the kiddie table she had a sippy cup with water. The child was mystified by the sandbox but quickly took to playing in the sand. Once he was familiar with the area, Jane stepped outside the fence to lie in a lounge chair to read and keep an eye on her son.

Jenken was accustomed to mommy being nearby and trusting enough to know mommy would take care of him so being left alone in the fenced in area was not an issue. Jenken walked around touching the grass and looking at the small white clover blossoms and bright yellow dandelions, simply taking in the marvelous new world that had been opened for him. Jane quietly watched him explore, smiling at his childish curiosity as she snapped several photos.

Suddenly a wren swooped down and circled Jenken. The toddler held out a hand and smiled. “Hi bwdy!”

Jane was ready to step in to shoo the bird away when much to her amazement, the wren landed on Jenken’s outstretched hand. Stunned, Jane waited ready to spring into action if needed but mesmerized by the sight. Jenken tilted his head from side to side imitating the bird’s jerking movement of it’s head. The bird began to chirp and, to Jane’s amazement, Jenken made high pitched chirping sounds that sounded strikingly similar to the sounds the wren was making. Jane picked up her camera and set it for video and taped the encounter as the toddler and bird seemed to be having a conversation. As Jane looked on, another wren flew in. Jenken sat down in the grass and the birds chirped away at him as he answered. Within five minutes, 8 wrens, 2 robins, 2 cardinals and a blue jay were gathered around Jenken. They were all chirping away ignoring a stunned Jane who filmed the amazing sight. Before too long, a pair of chipmunks emerged from under the bushes separating the yard from the pub’s parking lot to scamper out amongst the birds to chitter at Jenken who chittered right back.

Jane quietly dialed her mom’s cell and told her what was happening. In 5 minutes, June, James, and JJ quietly sidled up to Jane. They were gobsmacked by what they saw. It looked as if Jenken, the birds, and the chipmunks were having a merry old conversation. Suddenly, as the pollen got to her, June sneezed.

The birds and chipmunks startled and looked at the adults in fear. Jenken reached out and stroked several while chirping and chittering. To the adult’s amazement, the wildlife settled down and turned their attention back to Jenken.

Jenken stood and looked at his family. The bluejay flew up and stood on his head. A robin went to one shoulder while a wren went to the other. A chipmunk scurried up his leg to cling to the waistband of his jeans. The rest of the animals simply gathered about him. “Dad, Mom, JJ, mommy, dees Jenken new fweinds! Dey fwaid caws you big. I say dem you gud an no hurt dem. It ok you say hi.”

Still shocked, the adults managed to smile and say hello. Jenken chirped and chittered apparently translating because the birds began chirping and the chipmunks chittered in response.

“Dey say hi ta you,” Jenken smiled.

Suddenly Jenken whirled and looked at the bushes on the far side of the property just as the neighbor’s big tiger striped tomcat charged out, leaping the fence heading for a tasty meal. The birds and chipmunks all moved to put Jenken between themselves and the charging cat.

“Big Wed, you bein bad puddy tat!” Jenken scolded with a frown on his face. “You be fweinds, not eat!”

Big Red was a notorious hunter in the neighborhood and a swaggering tomcat who deemed humans to be disdainfully below his lofty status. Yet uncharacteristically Big Red stopped his charge to cock his head and look at Jenken then huffed a hearty “Merroww”

“Merroww,” Jenken promptly replied then went on. “Mear, mew, mrow.”

Big Red appeared shocked. Slowly, he lowered his haughty head and almost slunk to Jenken where he rolled submissively on his back at the toddler’s feet.

“Now you gud puddy tat,” Jenken smiled as he went down on his knees to scratch the tomcat’s big furry belly. The birds and chipmunks visibly relaxed and began to chirp and chitter once more.

June, James, JJ, and Jane were speechless. They could actually hear Big Red purring as Jenken rubbed his belly. Not even the people who saw to Big Red’s needs (no one owns a cat, they merely allow humans to be their staff) had ever been able to rub his belly. At best they got an occasional chance to stroke his fur once or twice. Yet here the ferocious hunter had ceased the hunt and willingly submitted himself to Jenken. If the family needed proof that Jenken was truly empathetic and possibly telepathic, they now had it. Jenken looked like the fanciful paintings of St. Francis of Assisi when he’s surrounded by birds and animals

At JJ’s urging the family decided they would keep Jenken’s empathetic abilities with animals to themselves. Since he was already on the doctor’s radar for his unusual abilities, they didn’t want to him to become more of a lab rat. At their next visit to the doctors, Jane and June informed the doctors that since Jenken was doing so well being allowed out of doors and since he’d never been ill, they felt their check-ups could be discontinued and his primary care transferred over to a pediatrician. While the specialists were not pleased, they had no legal basis to object.

The summer sped by. Jenken couldn’t wait to get outside each morning to greet his friends. The number of birds and animals seemed to increase every day. Rabbits, squirrels, and mice came to visit daily. Possums, raccoons, and even skunks made regular appearances. A fox even appeared twice. It was a bird watchers paradise as over two dozen different varieties showed up. Even hawks occasionally showed up. Big Red showed up every day for a belly rub. None of the animals or birds ever showed fear or anxiety, even when being next to their natural enemies. The prey seemed to know they were safe and the predators knew not to attack.

“Jenken, I know you talk to your animal friends,” JJ asked as the summer neared it’s end and he would soon be going back to college. He was perplexed by the sheep lying with the lion paradox. “Why do they all get along so well?”

“I says dem it not nice t’ eat each uder when dey wisit,” Jenken answered with a smile.

“It’s good they listen to you,” JJ smiled. “But don’t the mice feel scared being so close to the others that eat them?”

“Dey not scawd wit me dare,” the toddler answered. “Dey unnestan some be eated an some do eatin. Dat just way it be. Ahway been dat way, ahway be dat way. Wit me dey be safe an get ‘ahong. Dey tawk me an shaiw pwobem an news, I shaiw with uddas so aw unneastan.”

“Wow, that’s a big responsibility,” JJ praised Jenken. “What kind of problems and news do they tell you?”

“T’ings be dangus,” Jenken replied seriously. “Wike when fawma put bad stuff on feewd dat huwts dem. Me not unneastan why fawma wanna huwt aminas.”

“The farmers don’t want to hurt the animals,” JJ explained. “They put chemicals... the bad stuff, on the fields to keep weeds from growing in the crops or to keep insects... bugs, from hurting the crops.”

“But dey huwt aminas too,” Jenken pouted.

“You’re right, they do,” JJ agreed. “But they have to treat the crops to get enough to feed their animals and other people.”

“Fine betta way,” Jenken solemnly declared.

“Well, since you can talk to the animals, maybe when you get older and smarter you can figure out a better way,” JJ smiled. “I’d be happy to help you.”

Jenken smiled liking that idea.

As June and James had done with Jane and JJ when they were small, Jenken was brought to the restaurant on the days all four had to work. Now that Jenken was starting to think and able to move about under his own power, he proved to be a handful. He wasn’t naughty, but he certainly was curious and able. The adults quickly discovered they could not keep him in the basement kitchen/office where they had set up a playroom. That was especially true on the open stage nights. The toddler loved to dance in front of the stage doing childish Irish jigs.

The outpouring of positive emotion from the customers in the restaurant area had done wonders in eliminating Jenken’s anxiety about being among strangers. Now that he could toddle about it was not unusual for him to wander up the steps into the dining room and strike up conversations with the guests. While at first Jane, JJ, June and James were afraid the customers would be upset by the toddler’s intrusions, they quickly discovered that even the crankiest curmudgeon quickly succumbed to the little boy’s charm. The family suspected he was unconsciously using his empathetic abilities to charm them just as he did with the animals and birds. It certainly didn’t take long until customers began coming into the Raven’s Perch simply to meet and talk with Jenken. As regulars brought guests and the story of Jenken’s miraculous life was shared. The White ‘J’ scar on his forehead verified the veracity of the story to doubters. As the business increased, the family had to spend more time working which meant Jenken was there more often. It became a self fulfilling cycle. June and James had to hire more staff to handle the growing influx of customers.

One thing that JJ noted was that while Jenken seemed open and talkative to the adults and older children, little children seemed to put him off his stride. It took a few weeks until JJ realized Jenken had little in common with his age peers. What little play he engaged in was not very childish and his level of maturity was much higher than normal.

The more Jenken interacted with adults and older children, the better his language skills became. By the end of summer he was 21 months old, weighed 23 pounds, was 32 inches tall and was speaking in full sentences. The precocious ever-moving child could walk down stairs while holding onto the banister by placing both feet on each step, could push buttons and turn knobs. Seeing how happy Jenken was to be in the restaurant, Jane felt good about returning to school for her senior year.

Jenken blossomed in the pub. This proved to be a another transition point in his life. Up to this point, his empathetic abilities had steadily grown. By this time not only could he easily sense the mood people were in but now he discovered he could influence their moods. Customers who came in while Jenken was there inevitably left feeling happy. The business grew steadily as feeling good is addictive. Business improved to the point where customers began to make reservations to avoid long wait times.

When Jenken realized the patrons were reading the menus to make their meal selections, he insisted Jane and June read the menu to him like they would a book. They and the customers were quite surprised as they realized he was not only memorizing the menu but was able to point to the appropriate items on the menu. By Halloween he could rattle off the entire menu and prices. While doing this he also was learning his letters and numbers.

By the time his second birthday rolled around, he was able to read, knew the denomination of coins and currency, and was able to do simple addition and subtraction. While still small for his age, weighing 24 pounds and 33 inches tall. His knowledge and personality were far beyond his years.

It was during the Thanksgiving season when his course work was light that JJ realized Jenken seemed more interested in girl type toys and activities than he did in boy type things.. While he regularly played and slept with stuffed animals, he only occasionally played with cars and trucks. He also noted Jenken’s thick straight red hair was starting to grow past his shoulders. “Dad, I remember you insisting my hair couldn’t be more than two inches long. Why haven’t you made Jane take Jenken for a haircut?”

“I tried,” James replied with a heavy sigh. “Every time I brought it up Jane balked. She’s a good mother but often treats him like a live doll. She’ll sit in front of the TV with him on her lap and brush his hair. Your mom does the same thing. Jenken likes the closeness. At the end of September I took Jenken and June with me to the barber for my trim. I wanted to show Jenken it wasn’t painful and it’s what big boys do. Well, he watched and chattered away to Dan about how and why he was cutting my hair. When I was done I told him it was his turn. I’ll tell you, what happened scared the hell out of Dan, your mom, and me.”

James took a deep breath before continuing. “Jenken turned white as a sheet, put his hands on his head to protect his hair and backed away, trembling like a leaf on a tree in a windstorm. I swear I could feel the terror just emanating from him. Even Dan felt it, he put his clippers down and held up his empty hands. June snatched him up and cuddled him. The whole time he kept mumbling “No haiw cut fo Jen! No haiw cut fo Ken! No haiw cut fo Jenken.” It was the damndest thing I ever saw or felt. My guts felt twisted up like I was back in the First Gulf War fighting Iraqis. When I told Jenken we wouldn’t cut his hair unless he agreed to do so, he calmed down. I looked at Dan and he looked at me. We were both spooked. Since then I ask Jenken every time I head out for a haircut but he always refuses. To be honest, I’m afraid to push the issue. With what happened to him, we all know he’s never been quite normal. But that day in the barbershop was the first and only time he scared me.

The incident promptly went into the log JJ was keeping on Jenken’s uniqueness. Saturday morning with the family present JJ spoke to Jenken. “Jenken, do you remember when Dad took you to the barber?”

The normal smile on the little tyke’s face turned into a frown and it almost felt as if the temperature in the room dropped. Everyone shivered. JJ silently swore to himself that he could almost feel the tension building in Jenken.

“No get haiw cut,” Jenken stated as firmly as he could while putting his hands protectively on his head. The little tyke planted his feet as if ready to face down a monster.

“I’m not asking you to get your hair cut,” JJ declared in an effort to diffuse the tension.

“Gud.” Jenken firmly declared.

JJ could feel the tension dissipating. “When Dad told me about your trip to the barber, he told me you became upset when he told you it was your turn to get a haircut. I don’t understand what you meant when you told him “No hair cut for Jen, no hair cut for Ken, no haircut for Jenken. It sounds as if you were talking about three people while it was really only you. Who are Jen and Ken?”

“Jen an Ken be me, Jen-Ken,” Jenken answered as he pointed to his head. “We togeda in head.”

Jane, June, James and JJ were surprised by this revelation. Jen, Ken and Jenken, how had he figured out the three names?

JJ was more than surprised. “So inside your head are two people, Jen and Ken.”

“Jen an Ken an Jenken be togeda in head,” Jenken patiently corrected his uncle.

Multiple personality disorder didn’t normally appear until a person was older, Jenken’s case might possibly related to the in-uterine brain injury. JJ grew excited. “Do Jen and Ken and Jenken talk to each other?”

“Dey tawk but not wike me an you,” Jenken replied with a hint of worry. He was picking up JJ’s vibes and they didn’t feel right. “Dey tink tawk. Dat much fasta den mouf tawk.”

“So the three of them talk in your head,” JJ restated making sure he understood what Jenken was saying.

“Uhuh,” Jenken clarified but growing fearful. “You tawk inside head?”

“Well yeah. But I’m alone inside my head. So when you talk in your head you’re just talking to yourself.” JJ sighed with disappointment.

“Dat what me say you,” Jenken frowned. “Me not dumb. Jen an Ken awgue wot. Jenken makes dem be gud and stay fweinds.”

“So there are three of you inside your head,” JJ perked up seeking confirmation. “If Jen and Ken argue, they must be quite different from each other.”

“Dey be diffwent,” Jenken answered. “Jen witta giwh, Ken witta boy.”

That bit of information startled Jane, June, James and JJ.

“So Jen is a girl and Ken is a boy,” JJ clarified. “What about Jenken?

“Jenken giwh an boy,” Jenken explained. “Dat how he keep Jen an Ken fweinds.”

“So if there are three of you inside your head,” JJ thought out loud. “Who is in charge?”

“Jenken boss,” the toddler explained. “He smawta den Jen an Ken.”

“Okay,” JJ said as he was unsuccessfully trying to slot what his nephew was saying into what he’d learned in his psychology classes. “So do all three of you know what the other is thinking and doing?”

“If Jenken wants,” Jenken replied as he sensed JJ’s growing excitement.

“So Jenken controls Jen and Ken,” JJ thought aloud thinking that Jen and Ken might be imaginary friends.

“No,” Jenken protested as he began to grow anxious. “Jen tink an see, Ken tink an see. Sometime dey see same ting but tink bout it awone. Dey ony know what udda tink an see if Jenken show dem.”

JJ was once more confused. Every time he thought he was getting a handle on the situation the toddler added another detail that didn’t jive. At the same time he could feel Jenken was getting worked up. “Does Jenken think and see things Jen and Ken don’t think and see?”

“Jenken ony see what Jen an Ken see,” Jenken explained as his anxiety bloomed. “Jenken tink by sewf.”

JJ shook his head as things were growing murky. The tension emanating from Jenken was almost palpable. “So Jenken can’t see on his own?”

“Jenken see what Jen an Ken see,” Jenken restated what he felt was obvious. The toddler picked up that JJ was concerned about Jen and Ken and Jenken, almost as if something was wrong.

“Okay,” JJ thought as his mind tried to make sense of what he was learning. But as Jenken’s anxiety grew, it seemed to be muddling JJ’s thoughts. “Can Jenken see anything Jen doesn’t see?”

“Uhuh,” Jenken nodded. “He see what Ken see.”

“Wait a minute,” JJ said thoroughly confused. “So Jenken can see what Jen and Ken see, but Jen can’t see what Ken sees? Can Ken see what Jen sees?”

“Sometime dey see same ting,” Jenken answered. “But ony when dey wook togeda. When dey wook awone, ony Jenken see what dey see.”

Suddenly things fell into place. That weird thing Jenken could do with his eyes, simultaneously looking at things in different directions. “Okay, I think I understand. Jen sees things from one eye and Ken sees things from the other. When they look at the same thing they see the same thing. When they look at different things they only see what that eye is looking at. Since you only have two eyes, Jenken can only see what Jen and Ken see.”

“Uhuh,” Jenken smiled as JJ seemed pleased to be able to understand. “Dat what me bin sayin.”

“Okay,” JJ smiled. “Can you point to which eye is Jen’s and which is Ken’s?”

“Dis eye be Jen,” Jenken explained pointing to his right eye. “Duh udda be Ken.”

“Okay,” JJ said as he tried to assimilate what he’d learned.

Jenken picked up JJ’s emotions and it disturbed him. “Me bwoke in head?”

JJ felt Jenken’s fear swell and realized the tyke was reading his emotional confusion.

“No, Jenken, you’re not broken,” JJ smiled. “I’m sorry if I made you think that.”

“But me be diffwent,” Jenken pouted. “Me see you tink me wewy diffwent.”

Like the rest of the immediate family, JJ knew Jenken could tell when someone was not being honest. “Yes, you are very different,” JJ soothingly declared. “But it’s a good kind of different.”

Jenken frowned. “How me diffwent?”

“Well, most people only have one person in their head,” JJ slowly replied as he tried to diffuse Jenken’s angst. “We always see with both eyes. But that doesn’t mean you’re bad. It just means you’re different.”

Jenken sighed. “Me diffwent cuz how me use eyes an how me knows people feew. Me diffwent cuz me got twee peepes in head. Now me gotta keep dat secwet too.”

“I think that would be best,” JJ replied. “Only talk to Mom, Dad, Mommy and I about those things when we’re alone.”

“Okay,” Jenken sniffed. “I no unneastan why me diffwent.”

“It’s not your fault, Jenken,” JJ smiled sadly as he pulled the lad into a comforting hug. “We told you how when you were growing in mommy she got hurt by a bad man and so did you. The hurts made you come out of mommy before you were ready. You were hurt real bad in your head, so bad the doctors didn’t think you’d live. But you’re tough and you survived and grew strong. The hurts in your head were in your brain. The brain is the part of you that thinks and runs your body. The hurts changed the way your brain worked. That’s probably why you can use your eyes and hands like you do. No one else can do that, only you. We think that’s why you feel things about other people, like if they’re happy or angry. No one else can do that as easily and as correctly as you do. The hurts have made you have three persons in your brain while everyone else just has one. Those hurts are what makes you different. Bad people might try to do nasty things to you if they learn how different you are. That’s why we must keep them secret.”

“Otay,” Jenken agreed able to feel JJ was telling the truth.

The family was relieved that Jenken agreed to keep the three persons in his head secret. Needless to say, the discovery that Jenken had three personalities stunned Jane, June, James and JJ. They loved Jenken and wanted him to have a happy productive life. With each new discovery of how different he was from other people, their hopes that he’d have a good life suffered. They agreed with JJ’s suggestion to keep this latest difference secret. They didn’t want Jenken to become a lab rat or side show freak.

Jane, June, and James continued to sit with JJ to talk with Jenken about the three people in his head. They were more than surprised at how Jen and Ken were so different while Jenken was both and yet able to think separately.

“Jenken,” June stated. “Since Jen is a girl, doesn’t she want to wear pretty clothes?”

“Uhuh,” Jenken answered. “Jen got no pwetty cwose. Ony cwose me got be pwain boy cwose.”

“But we didn’t know you had a girl inside,” Jane explained. “Why didn’t you say you wanted pretty dresses?”

“Me fwaid,” Jenken whispered. “Me gots boy pawts so me be boy. Dad not wike boys dwess wike giwhs.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve scared you,” James declared. “You’re right, I don’t like boys who dress like girls. But over the last few years I’ve been learning I might be wrong to feel that way. But since I learned to think that way when I was a child, I can’t stop the thought even though I know that it’s wrong. However, I can stop myself from acting that way. If you really and truly believe that Jen is a girl and would like to have some pretty dresses, I think mom and mommy would be more than willing to get some for you.”

“Yeah,” Jenken squealed and ran to hug his grandfather. Emotional waves of happiness seemed to explode from the happy tyke.

James, JJ, June, and Jane could feel the toddler’s exuberance hit and engulf them. They could actually feel his happiness which in turn made them happy. JJ realized Jenken was projecting his emotions. Although he tried to slough off the onslaught of happiness, he could not do so. Jenken’s happiness was indeed irresistible. Yet more entries in JJ’s log.

“Unfortunately, there will be times when we can’t let Jen dress up,” James cautioned the tyke as he pulled him to his lap once the initial happiness ebbed a bit. “Remember, we need to keep Jen and Ken secret. So when you’re around people who know you, you’ll have to be Jenken.”

“But Jenken giwh an boy,” Jenken frowned. “You towd me can wear dwesses.”

“Honey, we can’t let anyone know that Jenken is a girl and a boy,” Jane consoled him. “We need to keep Jen and Ken secret. Since everyone knows you as Jenken, they think you are a boy. We have to keep everyone thinking that you’re a boy.”

“Otay,” Jenken huffed. “Me no wike, but otay.”

With the Thanksgiving weekend over, JJ returned to his heavy course load while Jane returned to her senior year of highschool. Jenken spent most days in the Raven’s Perch with his grandparents. Jane and June went shopping for a few skirts and dresses as well as nighties and undies. They couldn’t resist the cute green velvet Christmas dress they found.

Jenken was delighted with the skirts and dresses. As he had been told, he was only allowed to wear them in their home. Jenken quickly shut down Ken’s objections to wearing girly clothes. Ken reluctantly agreed to let Jen have her girl time since he had a lot more boy time. Even when at the Raven’s Perch in boy mode, Jen was happier than ever.

It was during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas that the toddler took another giant step towards maturity. It suddenly occurred to him that only babies and toddlers wore diapers. Older kids and adults did their business on the toilet. It was at this time Jenken’s ability to read moods and project emotions leapt to a higher level as the events were related.

Jenken sensed and projected emotions without conscious thought. Reading the feelings of others was simply a fact of life for him although one he’d already learned to keep secret. With his new awareness of diapers his curiosity about using the potty led him to begin seeking to understand why older people didn’t needed diapers. As customers headed to the restrooms, for the first time the precocious child consciously sought the emotions and feelings that told people to use the toilet. In his effort to learn more his conscious probing focused his innate empathetic ability. At first he didn’t even realize he was entering the minds of the people he was probing, actually reading their thoughts. Probing for information he learned about bladder and bowel control and the sensations that signaled the need for release. Instantly he recognized the same sensations in himself.

Within a week the precocious child potty trained himself, much to the relief of his astonished mother and grandmother. But more importantly he realized that by concentrating, he was able to read the thoughts of people. The more he did it, the easier it became. At first only surface thoughts were accessible, but with practice he began to dig into memories and knowledge. Of course, at his age he didn’t understand most of what he was sensing which frustrated him, but that quickly changed. The confusion and lack of understanding of what he was sensing was rectified by his injury enhanced brain. The confounding and lack of discernment was innately solved by drawing the knowledge and understanding from the person he probed. Knowledge flooded into his brain. Not only did he learn to read proficiently, his math ability bloomed. The precocious toddler learned virtually everything he probed. In effect he was able to copy portions of a person’s knowledge and amazingly integrate it into his own exponentially expanding knowledge.

During the week of potty training himself, his childish manner of speech, typical for a toddler, matured to the level of a 10 year old. Fortunately by reading minds he realized his sudden maturation was alarming people. To ease the concern he felt, he forced himself to lapse into toddler speak making his age inappropriate language skill appear as if he was simply able to mimic the speech patterns of older children.

Naturally the thoughts of his family were also read. They were the main reason he reverted to toddler speak. Their fear of his ability to speak and reason at a higher maturity coupled with his explosion of knowledge. Finally he understood their concerns and worries for him. Wisely he calmed their fears by projecting soothing emotions while using their reactions to model age appropriate behavior. There was no doubt they loved him, which made him quite happy. But he also discovered how his special abilities made them feel slightly intimidated and afraid for his safety.

Jenken had taken his ability to sense emotions as something everyone did. Now he learned no one else could do what he did. His ability to project emotions into others was also unique and that ability made his family jittery. They were awed by his ability to communicate with animals which again only he could do. Now he could actually read thoughts. There was little doubt in his mind his family would be more than a little upset when they discovered that ability. Discovering the depth of their concern about his unusual abilities he came to realize every new ability made it even more likely he’d become a lab rat. Wisely he decided to keep this latest ability a secret.

Still curiosity made him continue to probe the minds of patrons. One of his quests was how people felt about boys wearing girl’s clothes. As his family had told him, most people were offended by a boy who wore girls’ clothing. That made no sense to him since girls could wear boys’ clothes without causing problems. His mind was put at ease that he wasn’t alone since a few of the patrons felt it was okay for boys to wear girl clothes but felt compelled by societal conventions to keep those thoughts secret. At least he now understood why his family wanted to keep his dressing as a girl secret. The spunky toddler also decided to see if he could do something to change that closed minded thinking.

As his abilities grew the patrons in the Raven’s Perch never had an inkling of his uniqueness. Most thought he was merely a highly perceptive child, a thought he encouraged and if not present injected into their minds after he’d discovered it in another patron. It was only after he’d done that several times to relax people who were leery of his precocious behavior that he realized that not only could he read minds, he could implant ideas too. The intelligent toddler couldn’t help but begin to inject the kernel of an idea that boys wearing girly clothes was okay into everyone who came into the Raven’s Perch. While he realized he was violating their individuality he felt compelled to do it to protect himself and others. Jenken steadfastly strived not use his abilities to cause harm.

A week after he had successfully potty trained himself, it was time for a quarterly check up with the pediatrician. By this time he had mastered the art of masking his knowledge in toddler shtick. The after school appointment had been set so June and Jane could be there. The doctor gave him a thorough exam. His mother and grandmother were anxious about him revealing some of his special abilities so he calmed their fears. Upon seeing Dr. Lynne Green, Jenken promptly probed her mind and matched his interaction to her expectations. As always, Dr. Green did a thorough exam checking to see if his prenatal brain injuries were causing any developmental issues. Of course, she was quite surprised the precocious child had potty trained himself in a week and had no accidents since doing so.

Leaving Jen and Ken to handle the interactions with Dr. Green, Jenken probed the doctor’s mind plumbing her knowledge of his medical history. What he learned surprised him. When he was injured in his mother’s womb, what JJ had told him was true. None of the doctors expected him to survive. To the best of medical knowledge, there had never been a successful birth after such a serious brain injury. There was no history of what to expect with the severing of the corpus callosum that split his left and right cerebral hemispheres at 26 weeks of embryonic development.

Tapping Dr. Green’s knowledge of brain anatomy, he learned the cerebral lobes resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side. Yet despite the strong anatomical similarities, the functions of each cortical hemisphere are managed differently. If a specific region of the brain or even an entire hemisphere is either injured or destroyed, its functions can sometimes be assumed by a neighboring region, even in the opposite hemisphere, depending upon the area damaged and the patient's age. When an injury interferes with pathways from one area to another, alternative (indirect) connections may come to exist to communicate information with detached areas, despite the inefficiencies. This ability is known as ‘plasticity.’ The brain’s innate ‘plastic’ ability decreased with age. Since Jenken survived, the doctors assumed his plasticity enabled him to adapt.

It was common knowledge the learning capabilities of neonates show exceptional abilities for differential responding, discrimination learning, and conditioning, often achieved in a matter of minutes after birth. Jenken’s ability to sense emotions was noted four to five weeks after his birth and tested. This unexpected ability had no precedent so the attending doctors assumed it was somehow related to his traumatic injury.

While other people had accidental or intentional cerebral lobe separations, it had always occurred well AFTER birth. Self awareness had already been forged in their brains when it happened. Jenken was the first to have it happen on a ‘clean slate’, especially since at 26 weeks gestation his requisite nerve cell circuitry, which usually matured between the 20th and 28th weeks, was morphologically present to allow for "consciousness and self-awareness,” the beginning of "brain life."

Jenken absorbed the medical knowledge like a sponge. He truly was like no other person. On the trip home he probed his own mind like he did with others. Using what he’d learned about brain physiology Jen existed in his left cerebral lobe and controlled the right side of his body while Ken existed in his right cerebral lobe and controlled the left side of his body. The two lobes had no direct connections and were totally unaware of the other except through the links Jenken provided. Jenken also realized the unique abilities he possessed were in his segment of his tri-fold being. What he couldn’t figure out was in what part of the brain he existed.

The family was more than a bit unnerved by the escalating improvements in Jenken’s mental prowess during the four weeks after Thanksgiving. Jenken had not only potty trained himself but his level of understanding had dramatically increased to the point he was able to read and do complicated math. The intellectual level of the toddler’s conversations also blew them away. For such a drastic change to occur in a few weeks was quite mind blowing. But what really surprised the family was what happened two days before Christmas.

The restaurant was busy and two of the waitresses were out sick. Wanting to help out, Jenken climbed up on the stool behind the cash register. Most of the patrons were aware of the toddler’s precociousness and thought his effort was cute.

As he took the check from the first customer who came up, the man commented, “It looks like you’re trying to help out.”

“Me be,” Jenken replied seriously in toddler speak as he looked at the check. “Da check be tweny twee dowas an atey five cenz pwus sis pacent state sawes tax of one dowa and fowty twee cenz. Da total be tweny five dowas an tweny ate cenz. Wih dat be cash or cwedit?”

Those who were watching were as surprised as the patron. The speechless man handed over his credit card. Jenken took the card and swiped it through the reader, entered the amount and waited for the approval. When the charge slip printed out, he tore it off and gave it to the man with a pen to sign.

After scanning the charge slip, the man nodded his head. “Well, I’m impressed. Everything looks to be correct.” With that he signed the charge slip adding a hefty tip.

“Tank you,” Jenken smiled. “Pease cum agen.”

It was at the point June saw Jenken hand the man his charge slip and pen that she rushed over in time to hear the man complement Jenken.

“You’ve got one smart boy there,” the man smiled.

“Thank you,” June smiled as she checked what Jenken had done. Totally amazed he’d done everything right, she looked at him. “Jenken, how did you do that?”

“Me be smart,” he smiled. “Memba, me can wead an do numbas! Me watch how dis done an me do it.” The whole time Jenken was sending out happy emotions to everyone and scanning for concerned thoughts, shutting down any that might be troublesome.

For the rest of the rush, Jenken manned the register, proving he could return correct change as well as run the charges. The patrons were amused and pleased by the polite toddler’s manners and skills and tipped him along with their waitress. When the rush slowed down, with his eyes big, Jenken slipped from the stool and scurried into the stairway to the basement kitchen and office.

June saw his rush and asked “Jenken, are you okay?”

“No tawk now,” he replied as he grabbed his crotch. “Me need potty fast!” With that he pushed through the beaded door curtain into the basement stairway headed to the kitchen to the amused chuckles of the remaining customers.

Later, the family and staff complimented Jenken for his ability to help out at the register. Sensing JJ’s thoughts and concerns, Jenken probed his uncle’s mind. It took a bit of time but Jenken not only learned JJ was documenting his findings about his nephew, he was keeping his discoveries secret to protect the boy. Carefully, Jenken injected soothing thoughts into JJ in order to ease the young man’s concerns for his nephew as well as reinforcing his desire to keep his findings within the family.

On Christmas Eve, the Raven’s Perch closed early. The family dressed in their best clothes. Jenken giggled and skipped around the house after Jane helped him dress in his pretty green velvet dress. Jen was thrilled by the red tights festooned with green Christmas trees as well as the shiny black Mary Jane shoes. Ken was not very happy about the outfit but Jenken once more helped him see that Jen had as much right to enjoy being a girl as he did being a boy. Since they shared the same body, Jen deserved girl time.

The family drove half way across the county to attend a Christmas Eve service in a Church they felt would be safe since few if any of the attendees had been to the Raven’s Perch. They were made to feel welcome and enjoyed the service. Jenken, in all three of his personas, delighted to be given a candle to share in the candle lighting and singing of silent night.

Jen was the girl sibling in the set of triplets. Ken was the boy sibling. Jenken, both a boy and a girl was the third sibling. Jenken did his best to balance boy and girl time. Even though the family knew Jen, Ken, and Jenken were triplets sharing the same body, they could not help showing a bit of preference for Jen since she was always smiling and giggling. As a result, Jen spent nearly all the time the family was not in the Raven’s Perch being a giggly girl. Ken tried to be a stubborn indignant boy but was unable to do so since he liked the positive attention and in truth didn’t mind being ‘girly’ with Jen. That was a good thing since neither Ken nor Jen could function without the cooperation of the other.

Jenken threw everyone another curve ball during the Thursday night open stage between Christmas and New Year. After welcoming everyone, James took up the Irish bagpipes, June accordion, JJ the bodhran, and Jane the fiddle. They began playing a lively Irish folk tune. Nothing looked out of place as Jenken moved to the front of the stage to dance. Only this time he climbed onto the low stage and picked up the penny whistle James sometimes played. Everyone thought it was cute and chuckled. Needless to say when Jenken put the whistle to his lips and flawlessly joined his family in playing the familiar tune everyone was left speechless. Jenken flawlessly stayed with the family band through three more tunes. Those in attendance rose to their feet and gave the small musician a standing ovation.

In private afterwards the family asked when Jenken had learned to play the penny whistle so flawlessly since they had no idea he could play.

“Tonight was the first time I played,” Jenken smiled crookedly. “The penny whistle is small enough for me to play so I’ve been watching dad play. I just did the same things he did and played it.” Jenken didn’t tell them he’d downloaded the knowledge of how to play from his grandfather’s mind.

By the end of the Christmas holidays the entire family felt better about Jenken than they’d ever felt. Jenken was not controlling them, but he was carefully injecting feelings they assumed were their own. After his first successful family jam session Jenken joined the family for their weekly Thursday night jam sessions.

With Jenken proving to be adept at the cash register, Jane didn’t object to allowing him to play with a computer. Jenken easily plumbed her mind as well as JJ, June and James for computer usage knowledge. Within an hour he was successfully surfing the web, devouring everything he read.

If the toddler found a word in the internet research he didn’t understand, he looked it up on online dictionaries. What was even more amazing was that he remembered what he read, understood what he read and most impressively was able to integrate what he learned. In front of his family he dropped the baby talk and spoke as well as an honors highschool student.

The family was more than a bit unnerved by Jenken’s sudden explosion of knowledge and understanding. The lad let them be concerned but greatly tamped down their worry.

Jenken spent his computer time researching brain anatomy to fill in the gaps he discovered in Dr. Green’s knowledge. After all, as a pediatrician she had knowledge and understanding of the brain, but that was far from what a neurologist knew. But what Jenken gleaned from her knowledge guided his research to fill in the gaps and expand on what he’d learned.

One night as Jen and Ken slept, Jenken had another revelation. His body as well as Jen and Ken needed sleep but he did not. They were engaged in normal diurnal body functioning while he was exempt. At the same time he realized he could not control his body without them. Jen and Ken shared that ability although unless he provided a link, they could only function with awkward difficulty. Fortunately, if a need arose he could wake and or connect them in an instant and tell them what needed to be done.

With Jen and Ken asleep, Jenken put everything he had into self probing his brain. He had no problem finding the dreams of Jen and Ken. They were similar to the thoughts he was able to ‘read’ in other people. Each essence was located in one of the split cerebral lobes. Then he began to concentrate on finding his own thoughts. The going was slow, like trying to see an object in the dark. Pushing with every bit of his concentration the probing suddenly exploded like dazzling fireworks. His probing ability made a quantum leap. Suddenly, instead of finding his thoughts he was “looking” at his brain. What he saw was very much like what he’d read in Dr. Green’s mind and on the internet about FMRI images. There were myriad white pulses moving in hundreds of directions between green stationary locations. The green spots brightened as a white pulse moved to it, then dimmed as it passed the white pulse on to an adjoining green spot. Almost instinctively he realized the green spots were the neurons in his brain. The white pulses were signals traveling across the neurons. Carefully he toned down the bright colors and soon was able to see his brain in minute detail. Quite naturally he looked for the sites he knew to exist from absorbing Dr. Green’s knowledge as well as from his internet research.

The left and right cerebral lobes, Jen and Ken, were mostly dark green with only a handful of brighter green with white pulses. Since his siblings were sleeping, Jenken realized what he saw were their dreams. But where was he? The search for himself was frustrating since there was no place left he could be! With a sigh of frustration he drew his view back to encompass his entire brain. It was only then he saw a cascade of gleaming bright green neurons with thousands of white pulses in an area that wasn’t in any brain anatomy he’d seen or learned. Focusing for a closer examination of the unknown area he found where he existed! Jenken’s existence centered in a unique to his brain area above the upper thalamus as well as the area below, behind and between the cerebral lobes that seemed to be connected to his thalamus!

Accessing his knowledge Jenken knew the thalamus has multiple functions, sort of a kind of switchboard for information. It acts as a relay between a variety of subcortical areas and the cerebral cortex. In particular, every sensory system with the exception of the olfactory system includes a thalamic nucleus that receives sensory signals and sends them to the associated primary cortical area. The thalamus processes sensory information as well as relays it to each of the primary sensory relay areas and receives strong "back projections" from the cerebral cortex. The thalamus also plays an important role in regulating states of sleep and wakefulness. The thalamus plays a major role in regulating arousal, the level of awareness, and activity. Damage to the thalamus can lead to permanent coma.

As he examined the unique area of his existence Jenken was able to figure out what had happened top create the never before seen segment. The thalamus had been impacted by the horrific prebirth injury. With a rush of insight he realized the circuit board that severed his corpus callosum was responsible for creating him! Jen and Ken came about because of the split in the frontal lobes, each sense of self occupying one of the lobes. Jenken came about because as the circuit board split the cerebral lobes, it scraped off thousands of still forming cerebral neurons from both lobes dragging them down to the thalamus leaving dual comet like trails on either side of the intruder. White blood cells rushed into the damaged cerebral areas and sealed it protecting the undamaged areas.

The white matter covering the thalamus had obviously been split open by the edge of the circuit board exposing but not damaging the upper thalamic neurons. Some intact cerebral neurons torn from the cerebral lobes by the trespassing circuit board lodged on the exposed region of the thalamus. Instead of dying the relocated cerebral cells received sustenance from the seeping rupture of the white mass covering the thalamus. In addition the minute pieces of wire, solder, and microchips that were dragged into the injured brain with the circuit board snagged some of the separated cerebral cells on the way. The suction created when the circuit board was removed drew the twin ‘comet tails together with the dislodged cerebral cells clustering about the minute pieces of wire, solder and microchips left behind, all of which was enmeshed with the shredded white matter of the corpus callosum. The dislocated cerebral cells were initially sustained by the fluids seeping from shredded white matter of the corpus callosum and thalamus.

From his online research Jenken knew the brain replenishes cerebral brain cells from a steady layer of stem cells located over the ventricles deep within the brain. This layer of stem cells produces a steady stream of new neurons that replenish the cerebrum. In Jenken’s case, the undamaged but relocated cerebral cells sent out the chemical request for replacement cells and nourishment. The messengers were picked up by the white matter and the stem cells responded. The separated cerebral cells enmeshed in the damaged white matter of the split open thalamus and in the separated corpus callosum grew and merged within a short period of time. New blood vessels grew to supply the budding area. They did not merge with the cerebral lobes because the damaged areas were sealed off however since the exposed upper thalamus was not damaged, the growing cerebral cells rooted themselves into the thalamus cells creating unique neural pathways as well as blood supplies.

The plasticity of his still maturing brain thus created a unique mini third cerebral lobe connected intimately with the thalamus that quickly replaced the heavily damaged corpus callosum. Once the neuron clusters expanded and united blood vessels and veins grew and developed to supply the newly created brain region. Once the unique area matured, which he guesstimated had taken a month, Jenken’s sense of self began to form in the unique mini lobe.

Being so intimately linked to the thalamus, it piggybacked onto the connections to the larger severed lobes that held Jen and Ken. The portion of the third lobe in the severed corpus callosum re-established the left/right lobe connections but did so only with the approval of the new third lobe. Jenken could connect and coordinate Jen and Ken with ease but he could not control them. The unusual development of the mini cerebral lobe was also where the empathy and telepathy abilities originated. Without the ability or need to control a physical body this unique lobe developed in psychic directions normal lobes never had time to explore. In addition, the bits of metallic debris encapsulated in the third lobe formed a sort of broadcasting/receiving antennae that caught and funneled the emotions and thoughts of others into his mind and enabled him to project emotions and thoughts out to others.

The separation of his self into three entities was quite beneficial. Jen and Ken had no paranormal abilities. Since they operated his body the probing and discoveries Jenken made were not known to them unless he allowed it. If anything happened, he could ease out of the connection and they would have plausible deniability.

In the Raven’s Perch Jenken continued to man the cash register during peak hours freeing up the others to serve the customers. During normal operations, he stayed in the small downstairs office while using the computer since it was hard enough for people to accept the precocious child could read, write, do math and run the register and credit machines. Even so, he took a five minute break every half hour to wander among the customers making sure they were satisfied.

One thing occasionally confounded for the boy. He’d always sensed people’s emotions. When he was smaller picking up those emotions at times overwhelmed him. While he had gotten that fairly well under control, now that he’d matured into reading minds, the surface thoughts were effortlessly open to him. Surrounded by the 75 or so patrons in the Raven’s Perch was about the limit he could handle. If there were more people, their thoughts blended creating quite a confusing cacophony.

With parental permission JJ brought his girlfriend home for Spring Break. They had met during their first semester at KU when they shared many of their classes. At first they met in the library to study but soon began casually dating. It was after the summer break of their first year they began dating in earnest as they realized they had missed each other. Judy Murphy was a fourth generation Irish American from Hoboken, New Jersey. The green eyed red head had a charming smile and a tremendous sense of humor which she needed to keep up with JJ.

Judy had a tough time dealing with JJ’s attachment to his family. Even though he was obviously intent on his studies, he seemed equally intent upon his family, especially his nephew Jenken. This seemed quite odd to Judy since her family was quite dysfunctional. Being an only child she had no experience dealing with siblings or for that matter extended family. Her parents were professionals working in Manhattan and had divorced when she was twelve. Neither parent wanted custody as both were quite self centered. Since neither wanted custody and they were too cheap to send her off to boarding school, they were left with no option but to accept equal joint custody. This resulted in Judy being bounced from parent to parent every few days. Thankfully both lived in the same school district. Her life was that of a latchkey child. She lived out of her backpack since she was never certain with which parent she’d be spending the night as ‘business obligations’ continually arose. Keeping a wardrobe was a struggle since it was divided between the two apartments. Since neither had the time nor desire to take her shopping, they begrudgingly gave her money to outfit herself but insisted she show them the receipts to prove she wasn’t wasting the money. The same held true for food. Judy learned to be frugal. It became a source of pride and determination as she kept every receipt and noted who gave her the money. The sole hobby she had was learning to play a used guitar she bought. The only lessons she had were those posted on Youtube. Both parents made it clear that when she finished high school she was on her own. At 15 she began working at Panera’s Bread, saving every penny she earned for college. Determined to succeed, she kept her grades up and managed to get a few scholarships. After she arrived at Kutztown University, during school breaks and over the summer, she had remained in Kutztown taking a few summer courses and waitressing in local restaurants. She had no where else to go and no money to spend.

Judy envied JJ’s home life and marveled that he couldn’t stop talking about Jenken. Naturally, this piqued her curiosity since it was unusual for a guy in college to be so hung up on his toddler nephew. So she bluntly asked him to explain his fascination with his nephew.

JJ explained how at the end of her sophomore year his sister Jane had been raped and the resulting pregnancy. Judy was horrified by the shooting in the Raven’s Perch and Jane’s injuries. To learn of the forced birth of Jenken at only 26 weeks gestation was tough enough, but learning of his horrific brain injury brought her to tears. JJ explained Jenken was a living breathing miracle to which Judy could only agree. She also realized there was more going on than JJ was willing to reveal but was smart enough not to push the issue.

JJ didn’t learn Judy never returned home for school breaks because her parents didn’t want her until after he returned to school after the Christmas Holiday/Semester break. When JJ informed his parents of her situation they immediately told him to invite her to stay with them for spring break. When JJ told her of the offer for Judy to spend Spring Break with his family, she leapt at the chance.

It was set up that Judy would share Jane’s bedroom and Jenken, who up to this point had slept in his mother’s room would sleep in JJ’s bedroom. If all went well, Jenken would stay in JJ’s room. JJ had some misgivings about sharing his room with his nephew/niece but understood the child needed a more intimate exposure to a male role model. Ken needed space to be a guy.

After their last classes before Spring Break JJ and Judy arrived home at 5:30pm. They parked behind the house and hand in hand headed over to the Raven’s Perch since the rest of the family was working.

Since the parking lot was full JJ squeezed Judy’s hand as he anxiously spoke. “Judy, please don’t act surprised if Jenken is running the cash register.”

“I promise I won’t gasp,” Judy chuckled as she assumed JJ was trying to pull a prank on her. She knew JJ thought his nephew was a wunderkind, but she knew a 2 1/4 year old toddler was incapable of running a cash register.

Needless to say Judy was flabbergasted when she and JJ entered the dining area. Behind the register sitting atop a high stool was a cute freckled red headed toddler waiting on a customer.

“Da ticket be thiwty fou dowas an fity fibe cenz,” Jenken smiled. “Tax be two dowa an ate cenz fo tota o thiwty sis dowas an sisty twee cenz. Will dat be cash o cwedit?”

“Credit my good man,” the smiling man beamed obviously impressed by the toddler as he handed over his card.

Jenken took the card, ran it through the card scanner and entered the amount. When the approval came back he hit the print button and the receipt printed. Jenken tore the slip off and handed it and a pen to the man. The man signed and handed it back to Jenken who handed him his copy as he put the signed slip in the register. “Tank you, pease cum agin!”

Judy shook her head and looked at JJ who was watching her reaction with a big smile on his face. He’d known she had thought he was joking about his nephew.

As the next patron stepped to the register Jenken smiled. “Pease scuse me a minit,” before he turned to look to the door. “Hewo unca JJ,” he called out as he waved. “You be Judy. You pwetty giwh! JJ wucky guy!”

Quite a few patrons turned to see who Jenken was talking to. The regulars recognized JJ and waved. The smiles on their faces showed they thought Jenken’s compliment of Judy was deserved. Judy blushed, totally enchanted with the little dynamo. In just those few moments, she began to get an inkling of why JJ was so enamored with the tyke.

The next customer who had waited patiently now handed his slip to Jenken. “Da ticket be fowty two dowas and twelb cenz. Tax be two dowas an fity twee cenz for tota o fowty foow dowas an sisty fibe cenz. Be dat cash o cwedit?”

“Cash,” the man smiled as he handed three twenty dollar bills to Jenken.

“Dis be sisty dowas.” Jenken stated as he quickly counted the money. “You change be fiteen dowas an thiwty fibe cenz,” he stated before even entering the amount into the register. Placing the three twenties on the top of the till Jenken pulled the change from the cash drawer and turned to the customer giving him a ten dollar bill. “You change be ten,” then a five dollar bill, “fifteen dowas an,” a quarter, “tweny fibe,” and a dime, “thiwty fibe cenz. Tank you, pwease com agin.”

Judy was totally stunned that the boy had clearly done the complicated math in his head. JJ just smiled and tugged her hand leading her to the register. JJ led her through the counter to the area behind the register where Jenken smiled as he turned on the stool reaching out for JJ.

“I gwad you here,” Jenken smiled as he hugged his uncle. “I wewy gwad you bring Judy.”

“It’s good to be home,” JJ smiled as he motioned Judy forward to greet Jenken.

Jenken reached his little arms out to Judy who leaned into the hug. “I wike you. You make JJ good mate. He need stwong woman keep him stwaight!”

JJ blushed deeply feeling Jenken had read his mind. If Judy’s visit went well he fully intended to ask Judy to marry him.

Jenken sent a mental communication. “Relax Uncle JJ, I’ve developed a new ability. I can do more than read your mind.”

Meanwhile Judy also blushed as she hugged Jenken. She hoped this trip would culminate with a proposal. Was this precocious child a mind reader? Suddenly her eyes grew big as she looked at Jenken.

“I can do more than read minds,” Jenken explained as he spoke inside her mind. “I’m a lot smarter than my age. I just put on the cute toddler show to make everyone think I’m somewhat normal. Now, I want to link your mind with JJ.”

At that instant JJ and Judy were linked via Jenken who silently spoke to them. “I’ll explain my telepathic abilities later. Now is the time for you to get it together. I know you love each other. Don’t play games, just say it.”

Astonished JJ and Judy looked into each others eyes as Jenken shared their thoughts of love for the other. The experience made their hearts soar.

“That’s enough for now,” Jenken smiled as he soothed their surprise at his mental communication. “I’ve got to get back to work.” With that he broke the link and turned to the next patron.

In a bit of a daze at Jenken’s newest ability, JJ led a very stunned, surprised and happy Judy into the restaurant, getting introduced and hugs from June and Jane as well as smiles from the rest of the staff. JJ led them into the basement office.

“No wonder you never told me all about Jenken,” Judy gushed as she melted into JJ’s warm hug.

“You wouldn’t have believed me,” JJ smiled. “I have trouble believing it. He just keeps getting smarter and smarter. When it’s not busy he sits in here surfing the web. He’s like a sponge, just soaking up knowledge. We knew he was a powerful empath but the mental link is new to me.”

“That was scary when he spoke in my mind,” Judy confessed. “But I’m glad he linked us. I do want to be your wife.”

“I want to be your husband,” JJ smiled. “I need you to complete me and to share Jenken. I’m afraid of what might happen to him if his telepathic abilities are discovered.”

“At least now I understand your obsession with him,” Judy confessed. “Although I never saw any indication a part of me feared you might be some weirdo hung up on little boys.”

“I’m totally hung up on you,” JJ smiled. “Jenken is just so unique I can’t get past it.”

“Well, that’s two of us now,” Judy smiled as she snuggled closer.

JJ took Judy on a tour of the basement kitchen, and storerooms and then up into the bar. Needless to say many of the regulars smiled and winked at JJ when they saw his pretty girlfriend. James, who was working behind the bar, shook JJ’s hand and hugged Judy.

They then walked from the bar into the dining room. Judy had not gotten a good look on her initial pass through as Jenken had drawn most of her attention. JJ led them to a small table in a corner where they could keep an eye on Jenken and the customers. Jane took their order. As they waited for their food they watched the open, happy and welcome atmosphere the Raven’s Perch exuded; Everyone was smiling, enjoying good food, good conversation, and having a good time.

Judy found the food to be just as wonderful as the environment. Having waitressed since she was fifteen she was dumbfounded to find there was not one disgruntled customer or employee. Celtic music featuring harps and fiddles pleasantly formed an ambient background neither too loud nor too soft. The Raven’s Perch simply made you want to stay and when you left had you longing to return.

The rush was slowing down as JJ and Judy finished eating so Jenken abandoned his perch and scampered over to the couple. Grabbing their hands he inserted himself between the couple and tugged them to Jane.

“Mommy, me take JJ an Judy to hous,” he declared. “Otay?”

“Of course, Jenken,” Jane smiled. “Thank you for helping out during the rush.”

“Me wike hepin,” Jenken smiled. “See you wayta mommy!” With that he pulled JJ and Judy to the door.

Once they were clear of the patrons Jenken visibly relaxed but still clung to their hands as he walked between them. “I do like helping out but I really don’t like behaving like a toddler. With Judy here I’ll have another adult to talk to. Judy, you can relax. I’ve been an empath since I was born. I have the ability to sense emotions. I don’t have to try, it just happens. If I see someone is upset, I project serenity into them. If they’re angry, I calm them. If I’m around a lot of strange people, their emotions can overwhelm me. Last summer I started communicating with birds and animals. I could understand them and make them understand me. Then I found I could let them talk to each other like I let you see JJ’s love. From that I developed the ability to read thoughts. I try not to do that but sometimes people have their thoughts just screaming in their heads. If I can, I try to find out what’s bothering them to see if I can help them sort it out. So far, I’ve been pretty good at it. That’s why the Raven’s Perch is so busy. I help the people feel happy and relaxed.”

Judy’s mind was swirling with the implications. “Can you make people do things?”

“I don’t know,” Jenken answered. “I haven’t tried and I’m scared to try. I think I could make someone stop doing something but I’d only do that if they were going to do something bad. To be honest, I think I need responsible sensible adults I can trust who know my secret to help me control it and use it for good. Mommy, Dad and Mom know about my abilities but are too close and protective. I’d like you both to be my mentors. I know that you’ve been keeping track of my abilities, Uncle JJ, and I appreciate it. Your psychology courses will help you. Judy, I know you’re major is in business administration. Since you’ll soon be a part of this family may I suggest you fill in your remaining electives in Public Relations and Communications Study. That degree will compliment JJ’s double majors of Business Administration and Marketing. Not only will that help the family business, it’ll help us as I begin to dip my hands into the business world.”

Judy was so amazed she could only nod in agreement to Jenken’s suggestions. The courses she’d already taken would lead perfectly to such a major. She realized Jenken had scanned her mind for her interests and had instantaneously pinpointed areas she did well in and enjoyed that would truly compliment JJ’s studies. Try as she might she couldn’t detect any ‘thought implants’ from Jenken to make her agree.

“I did probe your mind for your likes,” Jenken smiled. “I also assimilated my findings into the KU course offerings and then the family needs. I did not make you agree with my suggestions. It’s just that I knew what you’d accept.”

JJ just chuckled as they walked. “I told you he’s a whiz kid. Just wait until he’s ready to do something with his abilities!”

On their way to the house they stopped at the car so Judy could retrieve her luggage. Jenken then led them to the house. With Judy the spunky child headed to the kitchen to get drinks. Once they were all seated in the living room, Jenken once more linked their minds and led them on a ‘visual’ tour of his brain.

Judy and JJ were stunned by Jenken’s ability to ‘scan’ his brain. Thanks to their biology classes they knew what they were looking at... or what they SHOULD be seeing in the virtual brain tour. They knew Jenken had suffered a severed corpus callosum. It didn’t take them long to understand that since it happened before any sense of self existed, Jen and Ken independently formed in their respective lobes. Then he revealed his unique third cerebral lobe. They could see that it had formed in the narrow space created by the circuit board through the corpus callosum into the thalamus. The tiny bits of metallic debris were still lodged in the new lobe that had slightly expanded the initial space as it grew. The young adults finally understood how the three distinct yet interconnected entities of Jenken’s mutilated brain had developed. Both were amazed by the unheard of development of a third slightly smaller cerebral lobe. The smaller size of the new lobe did not mean it was less intellectual. If anything, since it did not need nor have the areas normally dedicated to controlling and monitoring the body and it’s senses, the ‘thinking’ and ‘reasoning’ areas that make us human were much larger than the corresponding areas in normal cerebral lobes. That each lobe had independently developed it’s own sense of self was mind boggling. That one entity was a girl, one a boy, and one a blend of both was a total anomaly.

“Jenken, what you’re doing is another powerful psychic ability,” JJ explained after Jenken shut down the link. “What you’re doing is called remote viewing. It’s almost as if you had a camera and were filming what you’re showing us. With practice I bet you could focus your attention in the kitchen and actually ‘see’. Depending on your range, you might be able to see things in the Raven’s Perch.”
“I’ll have to practice,” Jenken smiled. “But for now I want to show you something else.”

Jenken moved to the opposite side of the coffee table where he placed two blank papers side by side and put two paperback books, one on the outside of each paper. Then he picked up two pens, one in each hand. “Open the books to a random page and hold it open at your side of the coffee table. Even though we’ll be looking at them upside down, we can invert the images so it’ll look right side up. Jen will copy the book on her right side while Ken copies the one on his left side. They’ll simultaneously copy the first full paragraph on the right hand page of each book.”

Judy and JJ exchanged looks of uncertainty but followed the commands. As they watched Jenken, they could see his eyes move in separate directions, just the opposite of looking cross-eyed. With seemingly no effort he began to simultaneously copy the targeted paragraphs. Each eye read and directed that hand to copy the printing. The writing looked as if two people were writing. The right hand was a precise flowing script typical of a girl. The left was a bit on the sloppy side like a boy would write.

Once he was satisfied they’d noted the differences Jenken spoke in their minds. “Jen and Ken are doing the reading and writing. I can follow what they’re doing but am still able to think and function independently. I think this proves that I’m three individuals inside my weird brain.”

Judy and JJ could do nothing but agree. The revelation was truly staggering.

The next morning Jenken revealed his ability to read minds, link minds, and do remote viewing to the rest of the family. Needless to say they were quite surprised at these new abilities. Yet considering how precocious he was it was not too farfetched to handle.

As the others went about their activities Jenken wanted to discuss emerging from his self-imposed toddler life with JJ and Judy. “I’m not bragging but I already have more knowledge than most adults. I have what can best be described as an eidetic memory. Everything I read, hear, see, or pluck from someone’s mind becomes my knowledge. Not only that, but I automatically cross link everything. I need to stop hiding and be me. You’re in college. How can I best ‘come out’?”

Judy and JJ thought for a few moments. They had no doubts Jenken was super intelligent. “I think the first thing to do is to take the SAT tests,” Judy suggested. “With high enough scores, you could probably start college in the fall.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Jenken nodded. “Mommy will be going to KU with you next fall. Maybe I can join the three of you.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” JJ cautioned. “I have no doubts you’re capable of doing or even surpassing college work. However, if a precocious super genius toddler suddenly emerges into the public eye, especially one who suffered an embryonic traumatic brain injury, we’ll probably be opening a can of worms.”

Judy and Jenken realized revealing Jenken’s genius in a university environment would raise many concerns and safety issues.

When the matter was brought up for discussion James and June were opposed to the idea. Everyone knew Jenken needed to grow and learn, the issue was how to safely accomplish it. After much discussion they realized it would be an uphill battle to get someone’s Jenken’s age into mainstream education. They discussed what would have to be done to jump through all the hoops. The first thing would be to contact a competent child psychologist to have Jenken take an IQ test. Once Jenken’s genius was verified further testing and evaluation would be needed, most likely at John Hopkins University which has one of the best programs for testing and helping gifted youngsters in the world. If they verified his intelligence, then they could approach the College Board about taking the SAT tests. It would be a time consuming and drawn out affair because of Jenken’s age and it was doubtful if the bureaucrats would budge on their age standards.

After quite a bit of discussion the family decided it would be too risky and time consuming to try to get Jenken into college. Instead they decided to let Jenken continue his self-study. To better enable him they planned to get Jenken his own state of the art laptop, the best internet hookup available, and a WIFI set up so he could log on from their home or the Raven’s Perch.

A lot of the spring break visit consisted of JJ showing Judy around Berks County often with Jenken along for the ride as the giggling cute toddler Jen with her hair tied up in twin bouncy pony tails. Ken, in typical boyish pique, referred to Jen’s ponytails as ‘Rowlf ears’. (Vignettes from the Muppet Show were a Youtube favorite of the trilateral child.) In point of fact, Jenken was instrumental in helping select destinations of interest as during his mind probes he had accumulated a lot of knowledge about the diverse area. The Gruber Wagon Works at the Berks County Heritage Center was one of the more spectacular locations they visited.

All three helped in the Raven’s Perch in the evening. The Ravens were impressed with Judy’s waitressing skills. Jenken easily formed a bond with Judy and helped his mommy, mom and dad to do the same. JJ asked that Judy join the family for their regular Thursday night open stage performance. Of course they agreed once Jenken silently let them know she’d be an asset. On Thursday night at the start of the open stage, JJ introduced Judy to the patrons as the family set up. With guitar in hand she did a modified curtsey. Then unexpectedly JJ dropped to a knee and presented an engagement ring to Judy. While Judy knew they planned to be formally engaged, she was caught completely off guard and left speechless. Blushing deeply she could only nod affirmatively as JJ slipped the ring onto her finger. The patrons erupted in cheers and congratulations.

“The Wavens be a famiwy band,” Jenken stated seriously while sitting on a stool to better reach the mike. “If Judy hadn’t ‘cepted de pwaposaw, we wasn’t goin to wet hew pway wit us. Now, wet’s jam!”

The crowd was delighted witnessing the engagement as well as with The Ravens performance. With Jenken’s help mentally coordinating everyone Judy easily meshed into the family effort. Since no one else had signed up to play, the family played for two hours with a fifteen minute break at the half way point. Up to this point the family hadn’t named their band, but Jenken’s impromptu name stuck.

During the week Jenken periodically mind linked with Judy to discuss her family situation. The toddler was clearly upset by the cruelty of her self absorbed parents. He assured her she would never have that issue with the Raven family. Judy was nervous when Jenken first linked to discuss her family but quickly relaxed and communicated with the boy. She still found it difficult to believe the toddler was so intelligent and such a good actor with his public toddler shtick.

Judy returned to her KU dorm knowing she’d spend every weekend and the summer with her new family. She finally had a place she could call home. She also returned every Thursday night to join the Ravens on the open stage. With the quality of The Ravens presentation, they moved themselves to the last performer since no one wanted to follow them. Even with that, few people wanted to compete with the family band. By the end of May it was standing room only on Thursday nights.

James trusted Frank James, the owner of a local computer tech store that installed and set-up home and business computer systems and did it’s own repairs. The system the Raven’s Perch used came from there. Telling the owner the set up was so the kids could study better from home, it took two weeks from the time the order was placed for the laptop, internet connection and WIFI to be set up and running flawlessly. The owner, a frequent customer, assumed the set up was to help JJ and Jane with their studies. No one told him it was mainly for Jenken.

Being aware of the precocious youngster, Frank allowed the inquisitive well behaved toddler to follow and watch him as he did the installations and set-ups. Periodically Jenken would ask an age appropriate question but on the whole was unobtrusive.

Jenken spent the time plumbing Frank’s knowledge and making it his own. By the time the installation was completed, Jenken knew how a computer functioned as well as several operating systems and a slew of other tech info.

With that knowledge as a base, Jenken continued to learn all he could about how computers were created and engineered. This led him into binary code, operating systems and computer programming. His enhanced mind gobbled the data, incorporating it into his knowledge. It also made his internet research quicker and more efficient. With a bit of practice he became an astute and accomplished hacker. Firewalls presented no issues and the whiz kid left no traces or set off any alarms. When he hacked into files, he did so simply to learn what they held with absolutely no intent to cause damage. The knowledge he absorbed continued to grow at an astronomical pace.

Jane graduated from high school on the first Wednesday in June. The Spring Semester at KU had ended the day before and Judy had moved into the Raven home for the summer. The sleeping arrangements in the Raven home were the same as Spring Break. Greetings were exchanged and the college students slept late the next morning. Jenken was waiting for them when they came into the kitchen. Judy was initially surprised he’d been left alone but quickly recalled he was not a normal toddler.

It was a comfortably warm Wednesday evening and the graduation ceremony was held outdoors in the football stadium. It was a good thing it was outdoors since Jenken was nearly psychically overwhelmed by the crowd of strangers surrounding him. If it had been indoors, it definitely would have been too much for him to handle. It was nothing like facing the patrons in the Raven’s Perch. The noise of the diverse thoughts and emotions of 2500 people pounded into his head as he struggled to mute the incoming thoughts. JJ and Judy did their best to try to calm him and it worked to a certain extent since the overwhelming emotion was happiness and pride. Still, it made the boy physically uncomfortable.

As the student’s names were called and they moved to the podium to accept their diplomas the applause and cheers of the crowd began to overwhelm Jenken. The little guy knew he had to get away from being encircled by the people surrounding him in the audience. When the principal announced ’Jane Raven’ he saw his chance. The burst of pride his family felt for Jane temporarily muted the dizzying cacophony of foreign thoughts and emotions slamming into Jenken’s mind. Jenken knew he had to get away from the center of the relentless psychic pounding. The desperate little guy used the opportunity to slip from Judy’s arms since she was momentarily distracted by the event. With all the speed he could muster the tiny boy raced to the stage as Jane was walking across it to accept her diploma.

“MOMMY MOMMY,” he cried at the top of his lungs in his best toddler speak as he ran to the stage with arms outstretched. “YOU WAS A GOOD GIWL!” When he reached the steps leading up to the podium he easily scurried up on his hands and feet.

Chagrined by his escape and outburst, Judy and JJ were chasing the errant toddler in an effort to capture him but he was up the steps before they even reached the bottom. Jane heard Jenken calling her name and was blushing a very bright red as he scrambled to his feet on the stage launching himself at his mother. Nearly everyone attending knew of Jane’s ordeal and her diminutive son and they chuckled to see the boy so obviously proud of his mommy.

Jane had little choice but to scoop the effervescent toddler into her arms and sit him on her hip before taking the last few steps to the podium. The principal was smiling. “Congratulations, Ms. Raven,” he declared as he handed the diploma to her.

Jenken realized that his mother’s hands were occupied holding him and there was no way he wanted to get down. Now that he was no longer amidst the crowd, the psychic noise was somewhat abated. With cute childish impertinence he reached out and took the diploma. “DON’T WOWWY, MOMMY, ME TAKE DIS FOR YOU. YOU SMART AN’ A WEAL GOOD MOMMY!” With the diploma in one hand and his arm around her neck, Jenken kissed his mother on her cheek.

Virtually everyone present let out a very meaningful “Ahhhhh.” About a quarter of the females were dabbing at tears forming in her eyes.

Judy stood by JJ at the edge of the stage with her arms reaching out to accept Jenken. As Jane began to head over to pass the boy back he wrapped both arms around Jane’s neck and squeezed his little legs about her waist in a fierce hug. “NO MOMMY ME STAY WIT’ YOU NOW!” Jane was proud of her son yet embarrassed by his uncharacteristic disruption to the graduation ceremony.

Jane, JJ , Judy, June and James knew Jenken was playing with everyone with the adorable toddler shtick but didn’t know why until he flashed a quick mental note. “Too many people around me. They’re overloading me. I’m not mentally influencing anyone. I just had to get out of the middle of the crowd.”

“As principal, I’m making an executive decision,” the principal declared as the family digested Jenken’s explanation. “Everyone here knows this little boy is a miracle. Jane has not only done a remarkable job in raising this young man, she has done so while maintaining her grades and helping out in the family business. Despite all those hurdles, grade wise, this remarkable young woman had the highest 4 year GPA in the school. However, she declined being valedictorian or salutatorian because of what she insists was a mistake she made. Anyone looking at her holding Jenken can plainly see Jane did not make a mistake. Ms Raven, you took responsibility for your actions and never asked for leniency. Jane, I and the rest of the teachers and staff of this school salute you.”

The entire staff of the school, everyone in the audience and the graduating class stood and applauded Jane. Jane hugged Jenken tightly as the little boy leaned over and kissed his mother’s embarrassed but happy tears away. This only served to increase the intensity of the applause. Jane was so moved she was speechless but nodded her head to acknowledge the applause.

“Jane,” the principal stated when the applause died down. ‘I think you’ve earned the right to hang onto Jenken and rejoin your classmates.”

Blushing and nodding to accept the permission, Jane headed back to take her place amongst the graduating class. All the classmates she passed reached out to touch Jenken. When she reached her spot and turned around everyone near her also reached out to touch the smiling precocious boy.

Afterward, the proud family headed home. Jenken apologized for his behavior and explained in further detail how the mass of emotion from the crowd had threatened him. The psychic noise was like an ongoing crash of thunder that shook his entire being. While he had stiffened his ability to be around a group of people, he understood he had to greatly increase his endurance, especially if he wanted to attend any big events like baseball or football games where emotions easily went high.

The next morning after breakfast Jenken let JJ and Judy know he wanted to talk to them.

“Judy, I’ve been doing research on your situation,” Jenken smiled when they were alone. “When your parents divorced neither wanted custody of you. When they realized they couldn’t foist you off on the other and what they would have to pay in child support, they begrudgingly accepted joint custody. Because of that, they never bothered to complete the paperwork for the child support payments.”

Judy was surprised. “How did you find that out?”

“I did a lot of investigating,” Jenken smiled. “I have to admit not all of it was legal but I needed the info. What I found out is to your advantage. In New Jersey, child support is meant to cover the basic expenses associated with raising a child including clothing, food, shelter and entertainment. The State Guidelines determine the amount of money it will take to raise the child depending on the child's age and the income of both parents. The Guidelines assume that as income increases, the cost to raise the children also increases. This means that parents with a combined income of $60,000 would proportionally pay the average of what couples with similar incomes spend to raise their children. Parents with a joint income of $6oo,ooo would pay the average of what couples with similar incomes spend to raise their children. At $60,000 income the rate is $300 a week, at $600,000 income the rate is $2500 a week. The amount is split into percentages of what each earns in relation to the total combined income. At the time of the divorce, each of your parents were earning $300,000 which means your parents were responsible for $1250 each. They went with the joint custody when they discovered how much the support payments would cost to avoid paying.”

“You had to specifically ask for money to buy clothes and food and your parents insisted on seeing the receipts,” Jenken continued. “Wisely, you kept all the receipts. That will prove your parents did NOT support you as they should have done. I hacked the IRS archives and downloaded their tax returns for every year since the divorce so we have those records to determine how much they should have been spending on you according to the state guidelines. They can’t even claim an expense on providing you with a place to live since it’s on their divorce settlement they selected their apartments solely for themselves expecting the other would have custody of you. The fact they kept their apartments unchanged since they threw you out reinforces that. You can claim the difference between what they spent and what you received. On average, you spent $15 a week on clothes and $35 a week on food for a total of $50 a week or $2600 a year. Jointly they should have been spending $2500 a week or $130,000 a year. $130,000 less $2600 leaves $127,400 dollars for that first year. Since their income increased each year, the amount they should have been spending would also rise. Since they didn’t, 3.25% interest on what they owe would also accrue. The result is that they owe you a bit over $1,211,000 for the time until you graduated from high school.”

Judy’s eyes were wide open in shock. “You got all this info off the internet?”

“Yep,” Jenken giggled. “But that’s not all. You are a successful full time student at an accredited out of state university. They KNEW you enrolled at Kutztown University. If they would have objected to you attending an out of state school, they could have avoided further child support. Since they didn’t object to it being out of the state of New Jersey they’re still responsible for child support. Including interest, for the past three years they owe about $445,500. That means that as of the end of this school year they owe you $1,656,500 and they’ll still owe child support for the next year while you’re an undergraduate. They are also liable for a portion of your college related expenses of tuition, room and board as well as books for your undergraduate studies. So far your expenses have been $18,000 a year. You have scholarships for $6000 of that and you’ve paid $2000 a year from money you earned and have borrowed the other $10,000. They owe you the $10,000 each year you’ve had to borrow and will have to pay for next year as well. If they want to pay you off and be done with it, it’ll cost them each $848,250 for a total of $1,696,500. You’ll be able to pay off your student loans with ease.”

“Oh wow,” Judy declared amazed by what Jenken had uncovered. “My parents will freak out. Unfortunately they’ll get lawyers and fight it and I can’t afford a lawyer.”

“I have everything already printed out,” Jenken chuckled. “All you need to do is sign everything and file it to complete the child support claim started when your parents divorced. You’ll need to do so in the county family court where you lived and the original determination was made. Since your parents still live there, it will be easy. I’ve set up an appointment for you Monday at 10:30. It will take you just a bit over two hours to get there, so if you leave at 7:30 you should have plenty of time. You and JJ can easily drive over there and file the forms. You won’t need a lawyer. With the evidence you present when you file all the county family court will need to do is verify all the information. Since I used the data they initially calculated, these are the amounts they owe you. The court will only have to reconfirm the results from the child support guidelines. If your parents fight it, they’ll be fighting the court. Their only defense would be to PROVE the documents you submit are wrong or that their initial filing was false. That won’t be possible as their lawyers will quickly point out once they see the evidence. The courts will enforce the judgement. I’d guess you’ll get the money due you before you head back to school. You should be able to pay your way through school.”

“God,” Judy gasped as she looked at Jenken in absolute amazement. “You sound like a lawyer rather than a toddler.”

“I told you he’s something,” JJ smiled.

“Jenken, I don’t know how to thank you,” Judy declared.

“You already have,” Jenken smiled. “I can feel how happy you are. But I do have a request. Don’t get married until you finish your undergrad degree. If you do, your parents won’t have to pay for your schooling or the next year of child support. But then again, once they find out they can’t avoid paying they might be willing to pay off the next year at the same time just to get it over and done with. If that’s the case, then you could marry sooner. I think after all they put you through you’ll want to make sure they pay.”

“You got that right,” Judy chuckled glad to be able to stick it to her parents.

Sunday morning Jane and JJ decided to take 2 ½ year old Jenken and Judy on a walk and picnic down the abandoned rail line into the Lake Ontelaunee watershed. JJ always loved wandering through the protected game lands about the lake. Up until she had been raped, Jane had loved to take morning walks into the serene peaceful forest where it was possible to forget the cares and troubles of the world. The last time she’d been able to wander the forests had been early spring 3 years before. As they led Jenken and Judy down the overgrown railroad right of way Jane and JJ realized just how much they missed those pleasant excursions.

Early June was the time when migrant and breeding birds flocked to the protected wooded watershed. The forests were in full song as Wood Thrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore and Orchard orioles were singing. While a bit farther north than their usual range, a few yellow and black Prothonotary Warblers could be spotted. The shallow, swampy coves attracted ducks, herons and sometimes beavers. Wildflowers that like limey soil grew on the steep, shady banks and rock outcrops along the abandoned rail bed. Meadow flowers that prefer moist soil grew near the water.

Once they had entered the sanctuary, the forest creatures began to emerge to see their little human friend. Even the animals and birds that had never met Jenken were drawn to his presence. In real life scenes similar to those in Disney’s Snow White when she was first lost in the forest, the animals scampered from their burrows, nests and thickets to meet him. Jenken was beaming as he looked at his furry or feathered friends.

Jane and JJ were aware of Jenken’s abilities with animals but this was a stunning revelation for Judy. They were a bit unnerved as they heard Jenken speaking inside their heads as he warmly greeted his furry or feathered friends. It was obvious Jenken had progressed further with his ability to read and communicate with the minds of other beings. Now instead of verbally ‘speaking’ to the animals and birds in their own language, he was able to telepathically communicate with them. But what was even more amazing was that each animal or bird simultaneously heard his ‘mind speech’ in their own language. Jane, JJ and Judy could not only ‘hear’ what Jenken was mentally saying, but they could ‘hear’ the mental replies as Jenken was somehow facilitating a translation from the various sources.

The three adults held back to let Jenken walk about 15' in front of them. Needless to say they were was quite startled when a buck with a velvety eight point rack of still growing antlers emerged from the trees leading four does and six fawns. The fawns looked remarkably like Bambi. The majestic buck ambled right up to Jenken, lowering his head to the toddler’s height. Jenken giggled as the buck mentally communicated his feelings... ahhhh... along with what sounded much like frog croaks as the toddler scratched the fur above his nose. Judy was especially moved since she’d grown up in an urban environment. As she looked at the wild animals coming to greet Jenken, Judy began to understand the beauty and peace that had been the Garden of Eden. That Jenken was able to mimic the long lost nirvana boggled her mind.

As they walked along, the animals followed and grew in number. The abandoned railbed ran along the eastern side of the Maiden Creek. About a mile south of the SR 662 bridge, they reached a clearing that looked down on a long narrow island that split the stream in two. The back water of Lake Ontelaunee was about another mile downstream. They were about a 100' north of a cleared swath 200' wide through which high power electric transmission lines ran. As the humans settled down, so did the animals. For the humans the strangeness of the interspecies communication was already becoming familiar. JJ, Judy, and Jane were fascinated by the thoughts of the animals and birds. A pair of red tailed hawks spiraled out of the sky to land in an open area. The house finches were startled but Jenken easily soothed them.

Quite naturally, the thoughts of the wildlife were certainly not profound nor intellectual. They were filled with simple cares and concerns of their everyday lives. On an interspecies level, the animals shared locations of various edible plants, shelters, safe watering spots and areas where danger lurked. It was clear such interspecies communication had happened amongst the wildlife Jenken had encountered last summer in the backyard. The experienced wildlife ‘informed’ the newcomers that Jenken was an ‘interspecies arbitrator’. Their near constant concerns about safety were temporarily assuaged by Jenken’s mere presence. They had total and utter faith that his mere presence protected them.

For the most part the three adults simply marveled at Jenken’s psychic ability and just listened to the back and forth communication. Tiny interspecies flare ups were common as the prey and predator met and communed for the first time. The same held true for the dominant and submissive. But Jenken made sure things stayed peaceful. Just as he had done the previous summer, he explained that all were part of nature’s cycle of life. Some would be eaten by others. Some of those who ate were also among the eaten. It was simply the way of nature. While most of those listening couldn’t really understand the concept, they all accepted what Jenken told them as fact.

After an hour it was time to head home. Jenken sent out an order that as the wildlife returned to their haunts none should be harmed. Then he told them to go in peace. JJ, Jane, and Judy felt the five minute mind lock he placed upon the predator animals to keep them from hunting.

As they walked home Jenken spoke. “I know you’re concerned about my abilities. My intentions are to use them for good, but at the same time I need to keep them secret. At this point I believe any attempt to get me into college would be detrimental. Truthfully, with the way I can download information from people and the internet, going to college would be a waste of time and money. I can learn and accomplish more by staying out of the system.”

They had to agree that Jenken had an extremely valid point.

“As for what I can learn, I need to experiment with my abilities,” Jenken declared. “For the last few weeks I’ve kept a weak mind link with each animal and person because I want to see how far I can maintain the connection. I’d like to do the same tomorrow when you head to New Jersey. If I can maintain contact to the Hudson County Courthouse, I’d like you to take the Holland Tunnel into New York City to see if I can maintain the link.”

“We can do that,” JJ replied. “If we have any questions about what we’ll be presenting, we can ask you.”

“That was just fantastic how you connected us with the animals,” Jane praised her son. “But they don’t communicate like we do nor do they think like we do yet we were able to understand them. How were we able to do that?”

“I think I have a pretty good idea but it’s difficult to explain,” Jenken sighed. “All brains consist of neurons and they all function the same. Neurons send out electrical impulses which pass from neuron to neuron with the help of chemical messengers, the neurotransmitters. When an impulse reaches the end of a neuron, a chemical is released which sets off a reaction in the receiver area, a synapsis, in the next nerve cell. The impulse travels on from one cell to the next. The impulses are transmitted along the innumerable neuron chains. The final result of these impulse messages depends on which of the neuron link ups were involved. If the impulses came from the area of the brain which is responsible for communication, speech if you will, the result is that we are able to talk and hear. The process is the same for brains of every species. I don’t know how I do it but I somehow tap into the ‘speech’ process in other brains and somehow automatically translate it so I can understand it. The nearest comparison I can come up with is the universal translator from Star Trek. I simply let the translations flow from one species to the other through the mind links I establish. They ‘speak’ in their own way, language if you will, my enhanced brain translates so the listeners ‘hear’ it in theirs. I can do the same thing with what they see. I can literally see what they see. I haven’t tried to share that yet as it’s more than a bit disorienting as well as confusing. I think I can handle it only because of my weird brain.”

“So that’s how you can read people’s minds,” JJ nodded. “You latch onto their thoughts as if they were speaking.”

“Pretty much,” Jenken agreed. “I’ve been practicing probing deeper. I really learned a lot from Dr. Greene. When I probed her I learned she was upset that the specialists in the hospital were using me as a lab rat just as you suspected. She only passes minimal information on to them. I was able to ‘download’ most of her med school memories. That’s how I figured out why my brain is so different. I’ve picked the minds of patrons for their knowledge too. When I do that their knowledge becomes mine. That’s how I learned to play the penny whistle, I copied Dad’s muscle memory as well as his mental memory about how to play it. I simply downloaded that knowledge into me and I could play. I’ve been able to integrate what I pick up with everything I’ve learned.”

“So you can read people’s memories too,” JJ frowned. “Isn’t that a bit invasive?”

“Yes, but I do my best to filter everything as I ‘download’,” Jenken explained. “For the most part I’m able to keep out personal memories and only tap the knowledge. I’ve experimented and can get personal memories, but I’ve only done that with family and only in a limited manner. Yes Judy, I pulled the pertinent data from you about your parents so I knew where to dig for the data I gathered.” Jenken confessed as he could sense her thoughts on the matter burgeoning. “But I left your personal feelings and thoughts about them alone. It’s a fine line but so far I have not crossed it. The only way I can see doing so would be if it’d help a situation that needed immediate resolution. Something like a kidnaping where the victim is hidden and we know who the perp is.”

“Jenken, when the animals that met you last year were explaining you to the newcomers, the way I heard what they said was that you are an interspecies arbitrator,” Judy stated. “Just what is an interspecies arbitrator?”

“That’s difficult to explain too,” Jenken sighed. “My universal translator ability lets me share concerns between and among species. They can actually communicate through me. What they can’t do is understand why another species behaves the way they do. The pair of red tailed hawks that landed are a good example. They are carnivores who eat mice, squirrels, rabbits and similar small animals. They are also avivorous which means they also eat other birds like house finches. There were mice, squirrels, rabbits and house finches with us, they all eat plants and some insects. They have no concept of eating meat and have learned to hide from red tailed hawks. They don’t understand why the hawks eat them. By the same token, the hawks are just being themselves when they catch prey. When I allow them to communicate across species, the topic of who eats what was shared but most really couldn’t understand since it was outside their thinking abilities. Animals have no intellectual basis from which to look at the other guy’s point of view so while the prey was fearful the hunters were checking out dinner selections. They could talk to each other but had no foundation of understanding. I somewhat facilitated their understanding. Basically I tell them that all life has to eat to survive, a concept they all understand. Then I let them share what they eat, which is a concept some can learn. Then I explain that in nature, everything gets eaten in one way or another. We all eat part of nature and some part of nature will eventually eat us. There is nothing malicious in what happens, it’s just the way of life. That makes me an interspecies arbitrator. I don’t solve issues but I help them understand.”

“That’s heavy,” JJ nodded.

“All right!” Jenken suddenly exclaimed. “Everyone, quick, sit down and close your eyes.”

Once they were all seated Jenken linked their minds then opened a link with one of the red tailed hawks. They could see, hear, smell and feel everything the hawk was experiencing. It was calmly soaring above a meadow by the dam breast about five miles away on the other side of Lake Ontelaunee. The clear view was breathtaking as they suddenly understood the phrase ‘a bird’s eye view’. The hawk was sailing with wings outstretched riding the thermals. As it glided in slow circles above the lake shore, the road (Pa Route 73) that crossed the dam breast, and the dam itself came into and vanished from view. With each revolution the hawk was spiraling slowly to the southwest away from the lake. They saw it the same instant the hawk did... a rabbit in the foot high grass!

Instantly the hurried flapping of it’s wings appeared at the edges of the hawk’s field of vision as they felt a sudden burst of energy sweep through the hawk... an adrenalin rush? The swooping head first wing tucked rapid descent almost took their breath away. They could feel the hawk’s tail flaring and shifting to maintain course and stability. With the target in site when the hawk was about 30’ up and 60’ away it let out a loud screech. They instantly understood the purpose of the screech. It was not to warn the animal to flee. Instead the screech made the prey freeze in an effort to become invisible, leaving the hawk had a stationary target. At the last second the wings flared out, the neck came up, and it struck the target feet first. By the time the rabbit saw the hawk’s shadow they could feel the talons grasping the rabbit, piercing it’s fur and holding it firmly even as it struggled to flee. The rabbit’s efforts only caused the talons to sink in deeper. They could feel the satisfaction in the hawks mind as it’s hunt was successful. The sharp beak opened as the hawk lowered it’s head to partake of it’s still living meal.

Jenken pulled the plug at that point. Everyone’s eyes popped open. Words were unneeded. They were forever changed. While before they would have felt sorry for the poor rabbit, now knowing the hawk’s point of view they understood the necessity of the death. As Jenken had explained about being an interspecies arbitrator, it was part of the cycle of life. They were all glad they didn’t experience the feeding.

After sitting quietly for a few moments to digest what they’d experienced, they stood to make their way home.

“I’m amazed by your ability to probe minds,” Judy began. “How did you know the Hawk was going to make his move?”

“It’s complicated but I’ll try to explain it as best I can,” Jenken stated. “I’ve discovered one of my abilities is what I call to TAG brains,” Jenken smiled. “I’ve discovered that every brain has a unique ‘mind print’ which is constantly ‘broadcasting’. It’s slightly related to the brain waves monitored by EEGs. I’ve figured out the mind print broadcasts are what I automatically sense with my empathetic and psychic ability. That’s why being in crowds can overwhelm me. When I consciously reach out and briefly touch a person’s or an animal’s mind I instantly know their personal frequency. So far I’ve only tagged living things I directly see. However, I’ve discovered that without any effort at all and without seeing them, I automatically ‘feel’ their presence and can identify every brain I’ve touched when it gets within about a hundred meters of me. I’ve also discovered I can re-tag any brain, be it human, animals or birds I’ve previously tagged at will. So far distance has not been a factor. But unless I know where animals and birds are I have no idea how far away they are. With people I can get an approximate distance, so far I’ve re-tagged people up to thirty miles away.”

“I can understand each mind has it’s own frequency,” Judy nodded as she thought about what Jenken said. “The brain functions due to the micro-electric signals across the synapses and taken together those signals would create a sort of unique frequency. Does the frequency signal broadcast from the brain?”

“Yes and no,” Jenken said. “The frequency doesn’t broadcast like a radio or cell phone, it more or less radiates much the way a fresh baked muffin radiates heat. That’s how I find those I’ve tagged. As far as I can tell the only ones I can’t find are those who are dead, but that’s just speculation as I have no evidence they died. But I’m pretty sure the mice and chipmunks I’ve tagged have not traveled outside my range yet some are off the grid.”

“If everyone is putting out their frequency, that must really create a mass of signals,” JJ pondered. “I can see why it can get overwhelming. Can you sense signals you haven’t tagged?”

“Partially,” Jenken said. “The problem is that they’re all jammed and jumbled together. Those closest are strongest so they’re easy to snag. But for signals I don’t know, it’s sort of like dumping a box of Alphabet cereal in a washing machine full of soapy water then looking at the water as it’s agitating. The letters are all jostled about sometimes on the top but most times submerged. But I can occasionally spot a letter as it swirls past on the current. The problem is it’s gone before I can grab it.”

JJ and Judy smiled at Jenken’s metaphor.

“As for what I did with the hawk,” Jenken sheepishly smiled. “I discovered I can also place what I call a FLAG in a brain. I formulate each flag to notify me when a certain event happens. Every flag I plant is specific to the brain it’s put in. When the event occurs, it’s sort of like a phone ring with caller ID in my head. I can ignore the call or answer it. When it was with us at the picnic I tagged the hawk to let me know when it was getting to a favorite hunting area. When it did I had us stop to link up.”

“If you could somehow film what we experienced in 3-D it’d make us all rich,” JJ smiled. “Of course, then we’d have to explain how we were able to get inside the hawk’s brain. On second thought, forget about filming it.”

Everyone laughed. The discussion about what they’d experienced continued until they arrived home.

Later that evening Jenken spoke with JJ and Judy about what he wanted to do during their trip to New Jersey. “I’d really like to telepathically ride with you. I want to see if I can follow you all the way but also see if I can tag people and animals you see. Since you’ll be driving, JJ, I’d maintain telepathic contact with Judy as you drive. That way when I want to communicate I can do so without distracting you. The reason I want to maintain an open link with you is so I don’t lose you and to see how far I can tag along. I promise I will not tap into your thoughts or emotions but merely monitor your vision. If I ‘see’ you look at JJ in that way and especially if you hold hands or kiss, I’ll close my telepathic ‘eyes’.”

“You’d better,” Judy admonished with a smile.

The next morning JJ and Judy headed off to New Jersey. As promised, Jenken did not inject himself into their journey. It was slightly unnerving to Judy having someone hitchhike inside her brain, especially as she could not sense his presence. Periodically Judy asked Jenken if he was still with her. Each time he mentally answered affirmatively.

Most of the trip was made on Interstate 78. About six miles into New Jersey from Pennsylvania JJ pulled off into a truck stop to use the rest rooms and top off the gas. They stopped at the Travel Centers of America in Bloomsbury just off I78 at Exit 7 onto NJ Route 173. Jenken tagged a few people including some truckers and site employees.

As they drove on, Jenken tagged drivers of vehicles Judy saw as they passed or were passed. Thrilled by the success, Jenken tried to spot drivers in vehicles in oncoming vehicles. That proved tricky since the direction of travel on the four lane road was separated by a grass strip about 50’ wide. Since the speed limit was 65mph, the oncoming traffic was doing so at 130 mph. Eventually he was able to achieve a consistent level of successful contact.

After a bit over two hours they reached a parking lot near the county seat of Hudson County located near the Five Corners on Newark Avenue in Jersey City. The Hudson County Administration Building at 595 Newark Avenue was their destination. Once they had parked and shut down the engine Jenken for the first time spoke to Judy telling her he was going to attempt to simultaneously link to JJ. There was absolutely no effort involved as he did so.

Jenken ‘rode’ with the couple as they headed across the parking lot to enter the building in order to file the claim. Seeing several pigeons in the parking lot, Jenken successfully tagged into one. Once inside the administrative building, Jenken began to tag other people he saw through JJ and Judy’s eyes. The effort to do so was no greater than what he used to do it to the patrons in the Raven’s Perch.

They were 25 minutes early for their appointment so they checked in and took a seat. Jenken popped about from person to person tagging everyone in sight. Judy and JJ summoned Jenken and told him they wanted a bit of alone time. Agreeing readily he broke off their connection and slipped inside one of the bored clerks where he could keep an eye on them to rejoin as they headed for their meeting. Wanting to experiment a bit, Jenken closed himself to the clerk’s senses so he was in essence deaf, mute and blind so that the link he maintained in her mind was merely an anchor for his probing. In this state he reached out beyond the worker with his extra sensory abilities.

As he’d discovered in the past, what he found was a thoroughly enmeshed mass of individual brain frequencies heading in every direction. The signals of people close by were easily seen and presented no difficulty for him to trace back to the sender. Jenken easily grabbed them and tagged the owner. Some signals were just a bit fainter but still distinct emerging through the walls obviously from the offices behind the reception area. With only a smidgin of effort he grabbed one and easily tagged it’s owner.

This excited Jenken since this was the first time he’d tagged someone new who was not in a direct line of sight from his anchor point. In seconds he mentally leapt about the Administrative complex successfully tagging everyone. Since it was a multistory building he realized that the brain frequencies were omnidirectional from the originating brains. Curious, he utilized his remote viewing to pull back a bit to look closely at the massed writhing brain frequencies. While he couldn’t pick out unknown signals he noted they were coming and going in every direction including right through the earth! Those from the greatest distance were barely discernable. They seemed to travel through solid objects with no delay like neutrinos emitted by the sun pass through the earth. With a bit of deep pondering he theorized brain wave frequencies were a type of electromagnetic radiation which would travel at the speed of light. Since the speed of light and also a neutrino is 186,282 miles per second and the diameter of earth is 7,926.41 miles, it would only take 0.0426 seconds for the most distant brain frequency to travel through the earth! So jumping from brain to brain anywhere in the world would only take microseconds.

Emboldened by his success he decided to jump back towards home about seventy miles to the truck stop. One of those he’d tagged there was the gas pump attendant (in NJ state law does not allow self service). Jenken easily found the pump jockey’s frequency and hopped into his mind. Flush with the easy success, he hopped back to the Raven’s Perch using one of the waitresses he’d previously tagged.

Now that his ethereal consciousness was back within a few hundred feet of his body, Jenken decided to go for broke and disconnected from the bored clerk in New Jersey who was serving as his anchor. Instantly his ethereal consciousness popped back into his body. After a brief look about the house and giggling with excitement, he scurried to the bathroom to relieve his bladder before successfully hopping back into Judy, a distance of about 130 miles!

He’d returned just as Judy was called in for her appointment. The case worker was amazed by the detailed information Judy presented along with the calculations of amounts due. As the man perused the documents he asked Judy pertinent information. Jenken easily gave her the answers the clerk needed.

“I’ll have to verify these figures and information,” the man said as he finished up the review. “You seem to have everything we’ll need. If what you’ve given me is verified, there should be little to prevent the state from awarding what you’ve asked for. Of course, getting your parents to pay may be another matter.”

“I’m sure they’ll initially have their lawyers appeal but once they verify everything is legit, they’ll pay simply to save face” Judy declared. “If this ever went to trial it would damage their business reputations.”

“I hope you understand they’ll probably never speak to you again,” the man stated.

“They hardly spoke to me when I lived with them,” Judy curtly declared. “All they were interested in was when I was going to the other parent. They never even attended my graduation. The day before the ceremony, my father gave me a used car and a $1000.00, told me to pack my bags and take them with me when I left for the ceremony because once I had my diploma I was on my own. I was so angry I packed and left that evening, heading to my mother. She gave me $8000.00, told me I could stay the night then had to get out and if I wanted anything to make sure I took it with me when I left. We haven’t spoken since so never talking to my so-called parents will be a pleasure.”

The man could feel the bitterness in Judy’s words and felt her parents were going to get what they deserved.

Judy was quite worked up when they left but Jenken soothed her. When she cooled down she thanked him for his help in getting the data and for calming her. Since it was just a few minutes before noon, they decided to head into New York through the Holland tunnel. As they drove, Jenken explained his efforts at moving about.

“So you jumped instantly from us to Bloomsburg, then home, then back here,” JJ clarified. “Wasn’t there any time delay?”

“Perhaps a few microseconds,” Jenken answered. “The jumps were a bit weird. I didn’t just ‘pop’ to my destination. I sort of rode intermingled brain frequencies, it seemed sort of like that show Stargate when they step through the portal into the wormhole except it was arrow straight not twisting.” “I’m jealous,” Judy chuckled. “Is there anyway we could ‘see’ the brain frequencies?”

“I think I can link you to see but it’s really weird,” Jenken said. “Think about the sun. It constantly radiates it’s energy waves in all possible directions at the same time. The further away you get, the more the intensity fades. Brain frequencies do the same thing. They wave radiate out in every direction while growing fainter. At the same time, EVERY sentient being is radiating their brain frequencies out in all directions. They simply pass through each other with virtually no effect, but to someone watching, they mask each other nearly into oblivion. It’s only by knowing a frequency that I can pinpoint it. As for letting you see it, I think we’d better wait until you’re home in case it makes you nauseous.”

“That sounds like a real good idea,” JJ chuckled as they neared the Holland Tunnel. “I don’t think it’d be too pleasant in here if someone became ill.”

Jenken easily followed them through the tunnel and as they traveled about Manhattan. Jenken tagged nearly everyone he saw. Then he had an idea and spoke to JJ and Judy. “Could you please go to Wall Street and the UN? I want to tag into financial and political minds to see what I can learn. Do you think you could visit JFK Airport too? If I tag the travelers and flight crews and security I can move around the world.”

“This should prove interesting,” Judy giggled as they headed to those locales.

Jenken tagged and flagged people heading into the New York Stock Exchange; Forex.Com, an online trading business who’s parent company GAIN Capital Holdings Inc. is a global provider of online trading services with over 240,000 accounts providing execution, clearing, custody and technology products and services to retail and institutional investors in more than 140 countries; Vornado Realty Trust, a New York based real estate investment business that controls over $20 billion in assets, including $12.7 billion in real estate, $2.8 billion in cash, and $1.5 billion of investments; and JP Morgan Securities, a leader in financial services, offering financial services to clients in more than 100 countries, a part of JP Morgan Chase & Co. with assets of $2.3 trillion, the largest bank in the United States by assets and market capitalization. It would take several days but by flagging those initial contacts he was able to ‘hop’ his way into the people who made every aspect of the financial world function. This included not only the movers and shakers but also the myriad of unrecognized workers who kept the system functioning

At the UN complex Jenken tagged and flagged the security officers since they would know the diplomats who were the people he was really interested in tagging. It took a few days of monitoring until he had the entire security staff tagged. The flags in the security team were set to alert him when a diplomat or other person of political import was spotted. It would take another week to tag the diplomatic staff.

JFK Airport was fascinating for Jenken. Looking through the eyes of those he tagged he was soon in every nook and cranny as well as numerous jets. Within 24 hours he had spread his ‘tags’ around the world.

The next morning JJ, Judy and Jane sat down with Jenken to discuss his tagging success.

“IT looks as though I don’t have any limits on my tags,” Jenken explained. I’ve followed them to the other side of the world. I can link to them without any problems. Language hasn’t proven to be an obstacle. Just as I translate animal thoughts, I automatically translate human languages. So far I’ve handled fifty seven languages.”

“How many tags have you made,” JJ asked.

“I had 11,340 tags before your trip,” Jenken explained. “So far I’ve made 123,739 tags since yesterday.”

“But we didn’t see that many people,” Judy exclaimed.

“True, but once I tag a person I can tag others from them,” Jenken declared. “I’m tagging others all the time.

JJ shook his head in amazement. “How many tags can you handle at one time?”

“I don’t know,” Jenken frowned in thought. “I hadn’t even thought about it. I just do it. Right now I’m in touch with 12,857 tags. To be an honest I don’t know if I have a limit. Each tag only takes a tiny bit to monitor and just a wee bit more to use that tag to tag another. Now that I think about it, I can download info or knowledge from any of the tags. It’s sort of like SIRI from the Apple I-phones. I simply think of something I want to know and the tags that have the info I want light up so I can download the knowledge. It all takes just microseconds.”

The adults were once more stunned by Jenken’s newest revelations.

Over the next two weeks most mornings were spent with Jane, Judy, JJ and Jenken hiking in the forests about Lake Ontelaunee. While his family spent their afternoons working in the Raven’s Perch, Jenken spent much of the time alone in the house or back yard expanding his tags and if he felt it beneficial mining knowledge. Most nights Jenken helped out in the Raven’s Perch by running the register. Jenken observed visually and with brief mental probes how the customers were reacting to him. A familiar and sought after sight, everyone smiled when they saw him. Day by day the clothing he wore slowly became more androgynous. By the end of the two weeks his outfits were a conscious gender blending mix. With just a tiny nudge, most people quietly accepted his mix of genders. If any asked, and several did so, Jenken explained that his prenatal injuries had split his brain so that each side had developed independently, in effect making him twins inside his brain and that one of the twins identified as female. Most accepted the explanation from the precocious child. A few required further mental nudges to accept his intersexed status

The plucky child accumulated over 75 million tags. Just as he was able to tap into the linguistic sites of animal brains to ‘learn’ their languages, he tapped the linguistic sites of the brains he tagged picking up the audio, verbal, and written language skills of 168 languages as well as hundreds of dialects within those languages. This also mean he could read and write in the native alphabet/writing system of each language. Not only that, but he also picked up dozens of sign languages from every inhabited continent and many large islands. That’s not to mention the lingo of different groups such as medical, communications, and numerous technical specialties.

In his thirst for knowledge he expanded his tags and flags into academia learning to read extinct writing such as hieroglyphics, cuneiform, Norse Runes, Mayan script, and dozens of even more arcane systems and languages. While immersed in the archaeological departments of prestigious universities around the world he was drawn into the sciences of geology, biology, and physics since they were used to identify where stone artifacts originated, what clays were used to make pottery, what plant pollens were in ancient botanical remains, what gases, dust, and pollen were in ice cores and sediment layers as well as various dating technologies. This in turn led to advanced mathematics and the study of matter and its motion through space-time, along with related concepts such as energy and force. This included classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, electromagnetism and special relativity.

Jenken had spread his tags around the world into every country, government, financial institution and university. Not only did he learn the ins and outs of the financial world he also learned of the all too pervasive deceit, corruption, and greed. All that was like a picnic compared to what he found in the realm of politics. The academic world of higher education was little better. Anyone who didn’t follow the ‘correct’ path of their ‘institution’ found themselves at best marginalized, often times ruined and occasionally even dead.

While Jenken was definitely the brains of the tripartite existence, Jen and Ken were far from normal toddlers. Jenken’s intelligence and reasoning overflowed into them. Individually Jen and Ken would easily had IQs above 160. Jenkens intellect was off the charts. With the intellect and knowledge came a level of maturity far beyond their years. As Jenken worked on his tags, Jen and Ken trolled the internet looking up information. With their two consciousness’ they rapidly scrolled through web pages devouring the information. Jenken only needed a tiny bit of his mental ability to coordinate their efforts, assimilate what they learned and guide them to the next target.

It wasn’t long until an idea percolated to the surface of Jenken’s thoughts. The web and computers in general were electronic pathways. When exploring his brain, once he crossed the line of remote viewing, he’d been able to see the electric sparks activating in his neurons. When he tagged people and animals, he did so by finding the electronic frequency of their mental emanations. If something had a brain it produced it’s own unique signal. Jenken had already mastered the electronic emanations of brains, able to pick any he had previously contacted out of the linear macrame created by every functioning brain, be it human, animal or whatever. When searching the mingled writhing mass of brain emanations he was able to see the electronic signatures of every brain and locate the ones he’d tagged or ID’d. Without realizing it he’d also ‘glimpsed’ the electro-magnetic emanations of electronic equipment. Now that he thought about it, they created another mass of energy emanations that were similar yet different than brain emanations. Computers functioned via binary code. If Jenken could tap into computers like he did brains, maybe he could link directly to the world wide web, in effect creating a personal computational cloud which would allow his mind to interface with any computer, storage device, or server without the need for a hardware interface!

At night as Jen and Ken slept, Jenken probed. Already able to ‘see’ the minute electrical emanations of brains, he used the same ‘seeing’ to look at his computer as it sat by his bed. He’d left it running a live web cam feed from Waikiki Beach in Honolulu after disabling the sleep mode. Now he concentrated on probing the electronic emanations. Slowly, a pattern emerged. With concentration he probed deeper, finally ‘seeing’ the electric pathways inside the computer. With growing excitement he slipped a mental tendril into the electronic stream.

As his mental probe touched the flowing stream, it bounced off but in that brief instant he picked up a sense of the frequency of the electronic signal, Jenken adjusted his probe to approximate the frequency. Once more he bounced but not as hard as he did during the first attempt, quickly tweaking his probe getting closer to the frequency. Soon he was hitting the stream like a rock skipping across the water until, like a skipped rock he slipped beneath the surface. For the first few moments he merely moved with current as if he was a cowboy breaking a horse. As soon as the current stopped bucking, he began to examine and analyze the electronic stream. Then he began directing his movement throughout the hardware maze of his computer. Finally moving into the solid state drive he delved into the stored memory data. Without too much effort he was able to distinguish between the software operating systems and stored data, quickly learning to read both thanks to his innate universal translator. By that time Jen and Ken were waking up.

The next night he quickly reviewed the hardware of his computer before moving into the wireless connection to the internet, easily following it into the web. With that, he was able to piggyback on the broadcast frequencies easily passing through receiving and transmitting devices until he finally reached the servers. Once he learned and understood the signal frequencies, he began jumping about similarly to how he was able to jump from mind to mind. Once he visited a hardware component he knew it’s unique signature or tag. Using that he was able to bounce directly from component to component without following a data stream. In the servers and networks he recognized the anti-virus software and firewalls. Stopping at a firewall, after a few attempts he was able to simply step across the barrier similarly to how you step over a low wall. The more complicated the firewalls were, the higher the fence, requiring a bit more effort to step past it. Soon he was exploring secured data.

Just as live brains each had a unique frequency, every computer, server, CPU and data storage unit had a unique frequency. In both cases, even though made of the same materials and assembled in the same way, every brain and electronic device had minute variations that resulted in a unique frequency. Just as he had tagged brains, Jenken was able to tag the electronic devices. Once tagged, he could link to them at will.

As he stretched his reach, his psychic abilities increased. Beginning slowly he discovered he could split his mental tendril to contact and explore more than one device at a time. By hitting a popular Youtube video, he found he was able to follow the world wide web to every computer that logged into the video. From there it was easy to expand so he was able to log into any computer logging into Youtube’s server. In quick succession, Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, AOL and thousands of other servers sprung open to his probing. By the end of the fourth night he’d followed the web around the world and breached every security system encountered without triggering a reaction. Jenken became the penultimate silent and invisible computer ninja. With practice he discovered he was able to simultaneously create and control millions of mental tendrils, downloading information into his brain.

During this time Jenken sensed dad, James Sr, was hiding something. Probing James’s mind he discovered his grandfather had an aortic aneurysm that he was keeping secret even from June. A proud man, he didn’t want pity. Instead he became even more determined than ever to help and encourage his family before his life ended. Jenken waited until everyone was asleep then sent his mental probes into James. After examining the dangerously swollen aorta, Jenken realized that any intense exertion could cause it to rupture, even vomiting could be fatal. Determined to help, Jenken searched James’s body for remnant stem cells. Once found and probed he spent hours trying to force them to respond to his mental exploration. Finally he discovered how to activate them to reproduce. It took little effort to guide them to the aneurysm, where at his instigation they latched onto the weakened area of the aorta to reinforce it. By morning the rebuilding process was in place. It took two days for James’s aorta to repair itself. Without realizing it, Jenken manifested another talent, that of Reiki kinetic, a healer.

Jenken searched the rest of the family but found nothing dangerous. However he tuned up their auto-immune system to fight off infections and to speed up healing. Jenken waited until their day off before he revealed James’s condition to the rest of the family. Naturally everyone was shaken and demanding James seek medical help as well as chastising him for keeping his condition secret. James was more than a bit upset that Jenken had revealed his condition. Once everyone had vented their angst, Jenken told them he had psychically entered James’s body to marshal the self-repair mechanisms to repair the aneurysm. Needless to say they were all stunned. Jenken then added he’d souped up all their immune systems. No one knew what to say but were grateful for his abilities.

June insisted she accompany James to their doctor to check on the aneurysm. The doctor was stunned to discover that somehow the aneurism had healed itself. New ultrasound and CAT scans showed no sign that there had ever been an aneurysm. All the doctors who compared the before and after scans were shocked by the miraculous cure. Blood work revealed no evidence of some mysterious drug that might have been responsible for the healing. They were baffled by the healing.

A bit over two weeks after Judy filed the support petitions against her parents they walked into the Raven’s Perch. Judy and Jane were busy waiting tables, JJ was working in the kitchen, and Jenken was at the register. Jenken saw the scowls on the couple and instantly pinged their minds identifying them and their hostile intentions.

They had temporarily set aside their differences to confront their common foe, Judy. They saw Judy waiting tables in the rear of the dining room and were embarrassed to have their child doing such menial work. Jenken sensed their desire to disrupt and put Judy off balance. Upset by their haughty superior attitudes, Jenken disrupted their single minded agenda to let them realize they were hungry.

In the afternoon rush hour traffic it had taken them almost three hours to get to Moselem from Hoboken and they had not stopped along the way. It only took a tiny nudge for them to note the people enjoying their meals. Another tiny prod had them smelling the savory aromas causing their mouths to water. The two tiny tweaks combined to help them realize they were hungry. As was his custom, Jenken touched June to let her know customers had just entered.

“Hello, welcome to the Raven’s Perch,” June greeted the couple. “Will there be more joining your party?”

“Ahh, no,” Sean Murphy said as he frowned at the distraction of the unexpected hunger pangs. “Just the two of us.”

“Very well,” June smiled as she plucked two menus from the rack by the door and led them to a nearby table. “I have a table open just over here. Jane will be your waitress. She’ll be over shortly to get your drink orders. Enjoy you meal!”

“This certainly isn’t how we planned this,” Adele Murphy sniffed as she opened the menu. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until we entered. At least it looks like a decent place, quaint in a way.”

“It’s family owned and run,” Sean stated. “The food must be decent to have this much business on a Wednesday evening.”

The table they were at was near the register where Jenken sat. Jane came over to them. “Welcome to the Raven’s Perch. I’m Jane, your waitress for this evening. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Is there a good locally produced wine”? Adele wasn’t sure why she asked what she did but it seemed like a good idea.

Jenken almost chuckled. Adele was a wine snob so it hadn’t taken much of nudge.

“Clover Hill Vineyard and Winery is located about ten miles from here,” Jane smiled. “They have won several Gold Medals for their Vignoles. I’m too young to enjoy it but I’m told it has a sweet and flowery bouquet with a clean crisp sweet pineapple flavor balanced with agreeable acidity.”

“That sounds interesting,” Sean nodded although not sure why. “Please bring us a bottle and two glasses.”

“Of course,” Jane smiled. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

At that point a customer approached the register to pay his bill. “Here you go, Jenken,” the man smiled as he handed the slip to the toddler. “Do your thing!”

Adele and Sean watched in fascination as the little guy took the ticket.

“Thank you,” Jenken smiled as he took the slip and looked at it. “Your bill is twenty three dollars and forty eight cents. Six percent tax adds one dollar and forty one cents for a total of twenty four dollars and eighty nine cents. Will that be cash or credit?”

“Credit, Jenken,” the man smiled as he passed his card to the smiling boy.

Jenken ran the card through the reader and punched in the pertinent data. When the response came back the slip printed. Jenken tore it off and handed it and a pen to the smiling man. “Here’s your slip,” Jenken smiled while the second copy printed.

The man checked the slip and the tax chart taped to the counter and shook his head. “Right on the nose again,” the man smiled as he filled in a generous tip and signed the receipt.

Jenken took the signed receipt and gave him the second copy while smiling. “I don’t make mistakes. I know what to do.”

“I know that,” the man smiled. “I still don’t know how you calculate the tax in your head.”

“I just do it,” Jenken shrugged his shoulders with an embarrassed grin. “I’m good with numbers. Thank you for your business. Please come again.”

“Don’t worry, we will,” the man smiled as he turned to leave.

Jane returned with the wine and two glasses, then carefully opened the bottle and poured some into both glasses.

Sean picked up his glass and swirled it beneath his nose while sniffing. “It smells good. But tell me, how old is that boy at the register?”

“That’s my son, Jenken,” Jane smiled proudly. “He’s just a bit over two and half.”

“We just saw him ring up that man’s check,” Adelle said in wonderment. “He seems to be quite proficient and he speaks quite well. How long did it take you to teach him to run the register?”

“That’s just it,” Jane smiled. “We didn’t teach him. Just before Christmas we were short handed. Jenken just climbed up and started taking the checks. We were as amazed as everyone. When we asked him he pouted a bit and said, ‘Me not dumb, me watch how it done and learn.’ He’s never made a mistake and interacting with the customers has improved his speech. None of us know how he can calculate the tax and add it so quickly in his head.”

“I guess you’re all proud of him,” Adelle smiled wickedly. “But aren’t you a bit young to have a child that old?”

“Yes,” Jane smiled knowing Jenken was keeping her spirits from sinking with embarrassment and giving her the strength to continue smiling. “I just graduated from high school but I was raped three years ago. Jenken is the only good thing to come out of it. Now, are you ready to place your orders?”

Adelle was suitably put in her place. By the time Sean placed his order Adelle had recovered enough to place her own. As they waited they watched Judy happily hustling from table to table smiling and exchanging light hearted banter with the customers.

When Judy headed for the bar to get drinks she saw her parents.

Fortunately Jenken jumped into her mind and grabbed her shock and fear. “Relax, I’ve got things under control,” Jenken mentally assured her. “They came here to confront you hoping for surprise and shock to catch you off balance. Smile and greet them as if they were regular customers. You’ll shock them!”

Bolstered by Jenken, Judy didn’t hesitate a bit as she approached her parents. “Hi,” she smiled with a little finger wave as she briefly stopped. “I’m surprised you came all this way to see me! I’m busy right now but things will slow down soon so we can talk then.” With that she headed through the swinging doors into the bar to get the drinks for her customers.

Jenken stayed with her and let her see through his eyes the shocked expressions on her parents’ faces. They never expected their quiet mousey daughter to be so open and jovial. Quietly he let the rest of the family know Judy’s parents were there cautioning them to carry on as normal.

When Judy returned with the beers for her table she smiled and nodded at her parents as she once again passed them. Jane approached with their salads exchanging a wink as she passed Judy.

“The other waitress,” Sean asked. “Is she family?”

“Not quite,” Jane smiled. “She’s my older brother, JJ’s, fiancee and she stays with us when school’s not in session. She and I are sharing my bedroom while JJ and Jenken share another. Since my rape, the family is very much against premarital sex and JJ and Judy respect that.”

“Oh,” Adelle said again caught off guard. “Does her family object to their relationship?”

“I sincerely doubt they even care,” Jane chuckled keeping her anger muted with Jenken’s help. “They’re divorced and both threw her out the day she graduated high school. They basically abandoned her to her own devices. She was surviving but not easily until JJ brought her here during Easter break. We fell in love with her just like he did. My parents are like parents to her and she’s like a sister to me.”

“Sounds like she’s doing okay now,” Sean said as he glared at Adelle.

“She is,” Jane smiled innocently. “Jenken was upset by the way her parents treated her so without her knowing he researched her situation very intently via the internet... her parents and New Jersey’s child support laws. Based on his findings, just two weeks ago she filed a claim with the Courts to get what her parents should have been giving her. With all the evidence, it’s virtually an open and shut case against them. They owe her just shy of $1.7 million. When Jenken explained it all to Judy he said they’d be smart to just pay her off to avoid the scandal of being sued for back support. If the case goes to court the years of mental abuse and neglect she suffered will be publicly revealed and adversely effect their business reputations. Jenken told her not to settle for less than $1.7 million as it would be cheaper than the lawyer fees and bad publicity.”

“That little boy did all that?” Sean asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, he’s super smart,” Jane smiled proudly. “He can read and write as well as comprehend on a collegiate level. We don’t have any idea how we’ll ever find a school for him. Well, enjoy your salads. Your entree should be up in five minutes.”

Jenken had mentally tied the family together so they could see and listen to the ‘innocent’ exchange. They smiled as they saw the consternation in the faces of Judy’s parents.

Since Judy had already spoken to them, they couldn’t just sneak out. They realized coming to confront Judy had been a bad idea and although neither voiced their anger and frustration, each blamed the other for the fiasco. Jenken didn’t plant those ideas but he did nurture them while at the same time keeping them civil. When they finally had time to talk to Judy, they’d be splintered and defensive. The fact the meal was delicious and the atmosphere was friendly only added to their frustration. The couple quickly polished off the bottle of wine as well as a second. Despondent and feeling hopeless they ended the meal with a mixed drink each. Sean ordered an Irish Car Bomb. (A shot of whiskey, one shot of Bailey's, and one bottle Guinness. The bottle of Guinness is poured into a glass and the shot of whiskey poured on top. A shot glass full of Bailey's is dropped into the glass of Guinness and whiskey. When it starts to foam, it should be chugged quickly. It will taste like chocolate milk but if you wait too long it will curdle.) Adelle ordered a Long Island Ice Tea. (A shot of vodka, a shot of rum, a shot of gin, a shot of tequila, a shot of triple sec, a lemon and coke. It begins with a cocktail shaker of ice, add the spirits, squeeze in a fresh lemon, put the lid on and shake. Pour it into a tall glass then add lots of ice before slowly pouring the coke on top of the ice.)

By the time the Murphy’s finished their mixed drinks they were the last customers in the restaurant. Judy brought the Ravens over to meet her parents. Introductions were brief and Jane apologized if she insulted them with her earlier ‘unknowing’ statements. June and Jane continued busing the now empty tables while James, JJ, Jenken and Judy pulled seats over to join Sean and Adelle. Jenken bolstered the family’s resolve and confidence and muted their anger. The precocious toddler also brought a clipboard.

“I assume you came to talk me out of the child support suit,” Judy smiled with confidence as she opened the discussion.

The silence was awkward as Adelle and Sean exchanged anguished looks. This was definitely not the way this was supposed to go down. Finally Sean nodded.

“Jane told us she already told you what I’ll settle for,” Judy declared. “Obviously your lawyers have already told you you’ll have to pay the support. You wouldn’t have come all this way to ambush me otherwise. But I’m not the mousey little girl you abandoned. I’ll make this short and tart, just the same as you always treated me. There is no negotiating. If you agree to pay me $1.7 million I’ll contact the family court and ask them to hold the action. If the CASH is not deposited to my account with Wells Fargo within thirty days, I’ll resume the case and make sure ALL the details go public. I’m sure that would do wonders for your public images as well as your business reputations.”

Adelle and Sean realized they were now in the position they had hoped to place Judy. They were feeling the alcohol and knew they’d walked into a hornets nest. Their lawyers had already told them to settle out of court just as Judy stated. The negative publicity could very well ruin them. Reluctantly, they nodded their acceptance.

“I’m glad you agree,” Jenken smiled as he placed the clipboard on the table and pulled out four sheets of paper. “I have a contract ready. It’s quite simple. You each deposit $850,000.00 into Judy’s bank account by July 15 of this year. In return, she’ll drop the support suit. Please read then sign each copy. Dad and JJ will sign as witnesses. Judy will keep one, you’ll each keep a copy, and the fourth will be filed with the Berks County Recorder of Deeds. The deal will be done and there will be no more troubles for anyone.”

Adelle and Sean looked at Jenken clearly shocked by his lucid summation. There was little hint of the cute toddler who had been manning the cash register earlier. The no-nonsense expression on his face and the steely stare of his eyes unsettled them.

“What you witnessed earlier when I was running the register was an act,” Jenken stated. “I do rein my intellect in to keep the peace. It’s difficult enough for people to accept I can run the register, but if I let down all my guards I might freak them out. They’ll accept a precocious toddler. Now, lets get back to the four identical forms.”

The fact his speech was polite and concise did unsettle them. The names of everyone who would sign were printed on the documents. Sean spoke. “How?”

“Using the internet I’ve read law and understand legalese. Everything I read I not only remember. I correlate it with the rest of my knowledge,” Jenken replied with a lot more authority than a 2 ½ year old should ever be able to muster. “I whipped these up on our computer in back after I left the register. These agreements are valid and will be binding when signed. If you sign and don’t pay Judy, we’ll present everything in court. You’ll be in big trouble. To be brutally honest you have no viable option but so sign.”

Being told off by the toddler was more than the deflated arrogant duo could handle. With scowls they signed the forms.

“Don’t worry about the meal,” Jenken smiled as he placed the signed forms in plastic sheet protectors and handed them to the appropriate persons. “Its on house. Oh, by the way, I also suggest you let us take you to a local motel for the night. With all the alcohol you’ve consumed you really shouldn’t try to drive home tonight, ”

That last advice didn’t settle well. In a huff, the duo hastily left. James and JJ followed them to the parking lot to keep an eye on them. Within minutes Sean’s BMW was spewing stones as he angrily tore out of the gravel parking area. Once at SR 662 he turned east laying twin streaks of rubber as he took off at a high rate of speed heading for the intersection with US Route 222 on the way back to New Jersey. Sean was screaming at Adelle who gave as good as she got.

James and JJ returned to the Raven’s Perch to help clean up. After a few moments Jenken motioned them to join the others in a hasty conference in the kitchen. “I’ve been a bit naughty,” Jenken confessed. “I didn’t make the Murphy’s do anything they didn’t want to do but I did encourage them in some areas and dampen them in others. They signed of their own free will. As they finished eating I probed the police officers from the Fleetwood Police Department to see who was on duty. It’s Jay Hammer. I planted a suggestion in his mind to patrol 662 between 143 the traffic light at 222. A minute ago he was parked by the old mill at the Moselem Springs Golf Course when a BMW with New Jersey plates shot past him at high speed on the wrong side of the road. Promptly pulling out he clocked them doing 75mph in the 45mph zone and weaving all over the road. He put on his lights and pulled them over. When he asked for the registration and drivers licence he smelled alcohol so he’s just called for assistance and do a field sobriety test. Judy, your parents are both yelling and shouting bad words. I don’t think they’re going to get home tonight.”

Despite trying to keep straight faces, no one succeeded. Jenken had not made them drink all they had and he had warned them about driving home. There was no way he made them speed and swerve about on the road. He had not made them yell at the officer. If anything, he saved them from having an accident and possibly hurting themselves or anyone else.

“I have an idea that will boost us into an even better position,” Jenken spoke up. “Officer Mort Davis has arrived as back-up. Sean is cuffed in the back of Officer Hammer’s car and Adelle is cuffed being put in the back seat of Officer Davis’ car. It looks like they’ll wind up in jail. If you show up and identify them, I can ‘convince’ the officers to just give them tickets and release them to us. We let them sleep it off, then let them go home in the morning. They’ll owe us even more since we’ll be saving their butts and reputations. Who knows, keeping them out of jail may help them understand family sticks together.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” James declared with a chuckle. “But won’t it look strange if we just show up?”

“Not if we tell them we heard it on the police scanner,” Jenken replied. “After all, you did get one after mommy was hurt when I was in her tummy. If we’re going to do it, you need to leave now.”

Six minutes later James pulled over after passing the police cars and the BMW. James, JJ, and Judy stepped out and walked slowly back to the officers. James called out to the men who were frequent customers.

The officers had been on alert when the SUV pulled over but relaxed upon recognizing James. Officer Davis spoke. “What are you doing out here?

“We heard on our scanner you pulled over a BMW with New Jersey plates,” James said as he glanced in the back of one patrol car to see Adelle. “Your culprits are my future in-laws.”

“These two... people,” Officer Hammer said. “They’re Judy’s parents?”

“I’m afraid so,” Judy said as she and JJ joined them.

“I know it’s asking a lot,” James said. “But could you release them to us? It’d save you having to take them to lock-up and we can take their car too. We won’t let them go until they’re fit to drive. We’re not asking you to let them off. Give them all the tickets you want. Just don’t lock them up.”

The officers exchanged looks. Releasing the drunken culprits to Raven’s was a reasonable action and would save them a lot of paperwork. With chuckles they pulled the now morose couple out of the patrol cars. “Mr and Mrs Murphy, you’re lucky to have friends willing to stand up for you. We’ll need you to sign these violations you refused to sign earlier. If you refuse, I’ll have no choice but to lock you up in the Berks County Prison.”

“Don’t be so damn stubborn,” Judy scolded them. “Paying fines will be laughed off by your friends and colleagues, being in jail won’t. Sign the tickets and let us take you back to the Raven’s home to sleep it off.”

Sean and Adelle were upset and angry. But with some gentle nudges from Jenken while they sat hand-cuffed in the back seat of the police cars they understand their dire circumstances. The entire trip had been a fiasco. If they wound up in jail it would become a total debacle. Despite their inebriation, they wisely signed the violations. Soon they were seated in the rear seat of the SUV with Judy up front beside James as he headed back to the Raven’s Perch. JJ followed in the BMW.

As they headed home, Jenken telepathically let the family know he had not had to exert any influence on the officers to get them to release the couple. He did admit to ‘helping’ Sean and Adelle see the error of their ways.

By the time they pulled into the family parking area, June and Judy had prepared their modest home for their guests. Aspirin and coffee were waiting for Adelle and Sean as they awkwardly followed Judy inside. They were offered two options. JJ and Jenken could camp out in the living room and they could have that room. The other choice was for Sean to sleep with JJ and Jenken while Adelle slept with Jane and Judy. Since they couldn’t stand each other, the ex-couple decided to share bedrooms with the youngsters. The evening had been stressful for everyone so without further ado, everyone cleaned up for the night and turned in. Jenken helped everyone drift off to a sound sleep.

The next morning Adelle and Sean awoke to the smells of breakfast. Although they tried to beg off, that was not an option. Everyone sat about the table eating and talking. It was an eye-opening experience for Sean and Adelle. Everyone was free to voice their opinion on any issues that were raised. The fact that in the end they all clearly respected Jenken’s obvious knowledge and intelligence spooked them more than a bit.

Finally Sean couldn’t take it anymore. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but you knew why we came here yet you clearly went out of your way to help us. We truly appreciate the fact you kept us from being locked up, but why did you do it?”

“That’s simple. It was the right thing to do,” James smiled in reply. “Just because we don’t see eye to eye doesn’t mean we can’t be concerned about your well-being. Being sent to jail would not have helped us in the least but it could have major repercussions for you. Besides, you’re family.”

“The Ravens are good people,” Judy added. “They try to do what’s right without regard for how it will benefit them. You saw last night the customers feel comfortable in the Raven’s Perch. You both felt the open welcome the moment you entered. I’ll lay odds eating a meal was the last thing on your mind when you walked through the door.”

The guilty expressions on Sean’s and Adelle’s faces gave clear evidence she was right on the money.

“But once you were inside, the delicious smells and the welcome friendly atmosphere made you realize you were hungry,” Judy smiled. “It takes good, honest people to create that kind of ambience. Without anyone even knowing who you were you were welcomed and couldn’t help but to be drawn in. When JJ and I get married, we’ll do our best to be just as caring and loving.”

Sean and Adelle began to truly realize this was indeed a very solid and strong family. They never had what the Raven’s enjoyed. At a much deeper level than their normal shallow existence that truly saddened them. After breakfast, goodbyes were said and the Murphy’s began the long quiet drive home. Both were lost in musing about how nice life could be. Even as they left, everyone felt it would be a LONG time before Sean and Adelle returned to Pennsylvania.

The Murphy’s each paid their $850,000.00 share of the money Judy demanded to end the child support lawsuit by the July 15th deadline. Of course they had consulted their lawyers. The document they had signed to end the lawsuit, even though presented by a toddler, was legally sound and binding. The reality was that if they reneged on the settlement, it could be presented in court. Even though they could claim they coerced into signing when they were inebriated, as verified by the traffic citations and thus have the settlement voided, they would still be forced to pay up by the State of New Jersey. In the end they would most certainly loose the case and the bad publicity would severely damage their reputations and businesses. The encounter had left a sour taste in their mouths, not with Judy and the Ravens, but with themselves. Both realized they derived no satisfaction from their hollow yuppie lives. Their selfish narrow world had been ripped open by their encounter with the Raven Family

Once the deposits were confirmed Judy promptly withdrew the lawsuit as promised. The entire Raven family was delighted since there was no longer a reason why Judy and JJ had to wait to get married.

While the Ravens and Murphys were nominally Christian, all were currently unchurched. For them and many others, the religion of Christianity interfered with and diluted their faith. The rituals were dry and had become so rote as to be meaningless. Through Jenken they had communed with nature and felt closer to all existence and spiritually linked to all life. Judy and JJ agreed they wanted a special unique wedding. They decided they wanted a meaningful service that transcended the baggage that came with stagnated organized religion.

After a bit of discussion, Judy contacted one of their college friends, Serenity Dawn. Serenity was a cheerful young woman who loved life. An active member of the KU GLBTQ Resource Center, she openly proclaimed her Wiccan beliefs while never discounting the faith of others. Judy and JJ had sat in on many discussions in the organization and in smaller groups discussing faith and sexuality. Serenity’s mother, Misty, was a Wiccan priestess and they had met a few times when she came to see her daughter.

Misty Dawn was impressed with Judy and JJ’s attitudes and caring. When she learned they were interested in discussing possible wedding scenarios, she eagerly agreed visit the Raven family to discuss options. The Dawns arrived on a Friday evening, parking in the main lot and entering the restaurant. Misty and Serenity assumed the toddler behind the register was the precocious child Judy and JJ spoke of so highly.

By this time it was not unusual for Jenken to sport beribboned pigtails and lace topped anklets with MaryJanes while wearing camo cargo shorts and hoodie as regular features of his daily wardrobe in the Raven’s Perch. His self proclaimed intersexed twin brain explanation was universally accepted. His bubbly personality and quick wit endeared him to one and all. As time passed, more and more customers praised him for being true to him/herself. A tiny handful felt morally repelled by the sexual duality presented but Jenken mentally aborted their outrage without forcing them to change their opinion.

From his post behind the register Jenken recognized the pair from seeing them in Judy and JJ’s memories. It only took him an instant to touch their minds and see they were trustworthy, good people. Since no one was finishing their meal and the family was busy with customers, Jenken slid off his stool and scurried to greet them.

“Welcome to the Raven’s Perch,” Jenken smiled as he approached them reaching out to Misty for a hug. “I’m Jenken and I know you’re Misty Dawn.” Then he turned to Serenity for a hug. “You’re Serenity. Judy and JJ have spoken highly about you both. They and the rest of the family are currently busy with customers. Please, take this table. I’ll get you menus and let the others know you’re here. Please, select anything you’d like, it’s on the house as thanks for coming to talk with us.”

Misty and Serenity were clearly surprised by the effervescent and well spoken child and took the seats at the table. When Jenken returned with the menus he touched their minds, first to keep them calm, then to telepathically speak to them.

“Please relax, I’m communicating telepathically. I’m going to link your minds so we can have a silent discussion. Just think what you want to say and we’ll ‘hear’ it.”
“This is impossible,” Misty and Serenity mentally burbled.

“Not with me,” Jenken smiled. “I’m quite unique. Please, make your selections while I let Judy and JJ know you’re here.”

Misty and Serenity were stunned as Judy and JJ both joined in their mental discussion to welcome them to the Raven’s Perch. They stated they were busy with customers but would be over for proper welcomes as soon as they could, then they disconnected.

The women had been able to tell when Judy and JJ joined them and when they left. They also were able to recognize their ‘voices’.

Jenken returned to his stool to ring up a customer. But even as he easily handled that task he spoke with the amazed mother and daughter.

Jenken explained his conception and birth detailing the critical injuries he’d suffered. “At 26 weeks gestation the brain is assuming it’s finished form and the internal wiring just developing. My injuries occurred at that point. Since my brain was fully formed but not yet wired, it adapted to the damage and developed psychic abilities. In addition to the telepathy I can search out and ‘download’ knowledge from the brains of others. I also assimilate all I learn and forget nothing. Through downloads and internet research I’ve learned how brains develop and function. My physical and mental adaptations to the injuries are figuratively and actually mind boggling.”

Jenken then explained the formation of his third cerebral lobe. “As a result, I’ve developed three separate entities, one in each lobe so in effect mentally I’m triplets. The normal right lobe is Ken, a boy, the left lobe is Jen, a girl, and the third lobe is me, Jenken, I’m both a boy and girl. Jen and Ken control our body but I connect them so they can function. That’s as brief an explanation as I can provide.”

Judy came up to their table at that point and hugged the stunned women. Jenken broke the connection after he allowed Judy to know what he’d explained. The astonished Dawns realized the telepathic exchange with Jenken had taken less than a minute.

“You’ve passed Jenken’s inspection,” Judy smiled as she recognized the look of disbelief on their faces. “Outside of his family, and he now includes me as part of his family, you’re the first people he’s revealed his psychic abilities. I assume you’re a bit overwhelmed so I’ll order for you.”

By the time Judy brought their meals the two women had gathered their wits. The fact that Jenken was easily operating the cash register and handling credit and debit card payments while obviously mentally doing the math including the 6 percent sales tax only served to reinforce his intelligence. The customers clearly enjoyed paying their tab and exchanging friendly and often quite witty banter with Jenken. Misty and Serenity were delighted with the tasty fare and the warm welcoming atmosphere. The Celtic decor spoke to their Wiccan interests. The rough-hewn doors, open beam ceiling and heavy wooden furniture gave a natural feel to the interior. The metalwork fixtures were clearly hand made and complemented the texture of the timber, adding a touch of rustic finesse to the overall design. Stories from the rich heritage of Irish folklore and mythology were illustrated in delicately painted wall murals inspired by distinctively Gaelic art forms. Although this was their first time in the place, it felt comfortably homelike.

By the time they finished their meal and desert, the restaurant was closing. All of the family stopped by and greeted Misty and Serenity. Since they had Jenken’s seal of approval they were warmly welcomed.

After the restaurant doors were locked, June, Jane, Jenken, Judy, and JJ led Misty and Serenity to the house. Judy explained how Jenken was able to commune with wildlife. Under normal circumstances, the Dawns would have disbelieved the tale, but their brief experiences with Jenken made them anxious to experience the miracle.

“The top of the Moselem Hill behind us is special,” Jenken explained. “I don’t know why or how, but it seems as if it’s sort of a magnet for spiritual essence. I feel peaceful and relaxed yet super energized when I’m there.”

“It sounds as if it might be a place of power,” Misty said. “I look forward to going there.”

It was late when James came home from closing the bar. By then everyone was tired and they decided to get some sleep. The Dawns were given JJ and Jenken’s bedroom while they camped in the living room.

Saturday morning after a light breakfast, packing drinks, snacks and treats for the wildlife, Jenken explained he was telepathically letting the wildlife know he was bringing friends to meet them. Until the previous night’s revelations Misty and Serenity would have been sure such an announcement was childish imagination but with what they had seen Jenken do, they did allow that his claim might very well be true. The intrepid toddler led the Raven clan and the Dawns down Railroad Street to Moselem Springs Road, west along the berm for half a block, then down Lake Road for a quarter mile. The morning mists were slowly burning off as the sun smiled happily upon them. The 500' before the road ended in a circle was forested but there was a break in the trees where the cleared right of way for a high voltage power transmission line headed up Moselem Hill. Jenken led everyone up the cleared right of way. Although this was private property, everyone in the tiny village of Moselem knew everyone else and everyone liked the Ravens. They knew Jenken liked to hike the area with at least one adult and had no issues with them doing so. Lake Road was at an average elevation of about 360' above sea level. The right of way went up the mostly wooded hill for a quarter mile to open into an overgrown field. About half way up the right of way a family of rabbits scampered from the undergrowth to greet Jenken. They squealed in delight and rubbed his legs as he briefly stopped to pet them. At the same time five squirrels emerged from the leafy boughs overhanging the sides of the right of way to excitedly chitter. The rabbits scampered around Jenken while the squirrels leapt from branch to branch, tree to tree as they all became part of Jenken’s entourage.

Even though his family had seen Jenken interacting with wildlife, it still amazed them. For Misty and Serenity the sight was nearly over-awing. Judy whispered to them they hadn’t seen anything yet.

The top of Moselem Hill was an abandoned field filled with wild flowers with scattered clumps of bushes and small trees as the surrounding forest slowly reclaimed the area. The field was formed by 2 joined rectangles. The larger area was 800' long by 600' wide with the corners pointing in the cardinal directions. The right of way accessed the area in the west corner of the large rectangular field. The entry point was in the north-west boundary of the larger area. The northwest boundary continued past the lane an additional 240' to create the smaller attached rectangle with a depth of 200'. The larger rectangle was centered on a rounded bare limestone summit 10' across at an elevation of 590'. The combined fields were surrounded by forest which filtered out virtually all human created noise.

As they crossed to the highest point a pair of adult raccoons with several juveniles emerged from the underbrush. Cardinals, blue jays, wrens, pigeons and even a small flock of turkeys joined the procession. Serenity gasped as the regal eight point buck emerged from the forest on the southwest side of the area. Behind him followed four does and six fawns already losing their dappled protective coloring. The high point on the hill, a nearly perfect circle of barren limestone 10' in diameter, was weather worn with small pock marks. Jenken settled down on the rock and invited the animals to join him.

The rest of the party stopped about 20' from Jenken and marveled at what they saw. Serenity and Misty could scarcely believe what they seeing. Even his family still found it difficult to comprehend how Jenken so easily communed with the animals. Everyone could feel a sense of peace and tranquility as if it was emanating from the stone that crowned the hill.

Jenken reached in the sack of treats he had and offered tidbits appropriate for each animal. As he began to set out the treats, he mentally linked to the humans. “My telepathic abilities can detect and link to any creature that has a brain. The animals call me an interspecies arbitrator. As we were walking I sent out telepathic messages telling them I would be holding a meet and greet. When I do that I also send out an assurance of safety, a truce. I tell the hunters to stop hunting and the prey it’s okay to come out. I also enforce a ten minute pause when the meet is over to give the prey a fair chance to get to safe cover I’ve also told them you’re my friends and are obliged to obey my safety decree just as they all are.”

Misty and Serenity were totally flabbergasted when Jenken opened mental links to the animals. They understood Jenken was not only the conduit, he was also the translator. The amazing toddler opened their eyes to the very essence of life. They found the rabbits cautious but simple, the squirrels skittish but playful. The deer were cautious but dignified since the only predator they faced were humans. The birds were cheerful. But what was even more surprising was the absolute and utter simple acceptance of life. They didn’t worry about what tomorrow would bring since they had absolutely no control of events. For them, life was good, even if they fell victim to a predator, it was just part of nature’s way. This easy pure acceptance of life led to enjoying the moment, trusting in Mother Nature that life would go on and that each of them had a role in that life.

This was the first time James and June had accompanied Jenken on a forest trek. They had witnessed Jenken’s interplay with the animals that came to their yard, but this was the first time they saw him in full communion with the creatures of the forests and fields. Once more they were honored and humbled to be Jenken’s grandparents.

Misty realized Jenken had been right about the high point of the hill being a power spot. It was unlike any she’d ever sensed before. There was more than a hint of great power there, yet it seemed somehow muted, almost as if it was linked to another source or the epicenter was buried deep down in the hill. What really made her shiver was that the power seemed to warp itself into and through Jenken. The situation puzzled her.

During their walk back to the Raven’s Perch, they assimilated the mind boggling experience. For Misty and Serenity, the experience confirmed their practice of Wicca. While they wanted to share their experience with fellow Wiccans, they understood the need to keep Jenken’s abilities secret.

June and James headed into the Raven’s Perch to prepare for opening. Misty, Serenity, Judy, JJ and Jenken headed to the family home and sat around the picnic table. Jenken opened a mental conversation link.

“I know no one who experiences what we did this morning can remain unchanged,” Jenken began. “I know Judy and JJ want to marry as soon as possible and I’d like to help. Misty, could you explain your Wiccan priestesshood?”

“I have been an ordained Pagan clergy member for the Universal Life Church since June of 2002,” Misty thought-spoke. “As far as the United States is concerned, the laws regarding who can legally officiate a wedding are fairly ‘iffie’ at best. For all of the lip service that is given to ‘freedom of religion,’ we still fall a tad short of the meaning. The Universal Life Church (ULC) is a legitimate Church and has fought for the legal rights of ALL religions be they Christian, Pagan, or whatever. This does not mean ULC Ministers, are exempt from following and obeying any or all of the individual laws per State. I’ve done my homework and found out what the legal marriage requirements for the states surrounding Pennsylvania are in order to be sure that I adhere to them. All the neighboring states do actually recognize the ULC as a legitimate religious organization. Pennsylvania law empowers clergy of any regularly established church or congregation to perform marriages. The statute requires an activity that occurs on a habitual or patterned periodic basis at a place of worship or before a group of individuals gathered together for the same purpose. I hold monthly Wiccan services with a base group of practitioners. I can legally perform marriages. I would also truly love to marry Judy and JJ.”

“I know Judy and JJ would love to have the ceremony performed where we were this morning with the animals in attendance,” Jenken smiled. “Between now and when school starts, what would be the most auspicious date?”

“The best date would be on the eve of a full moon,” Misty replied. “The next full moon is Thursday a week from now. If we arrive at the hilltop at dusk, we can pick the best location, where the power is strongest, then wait for the sun to fully set. The full moon should provide us with enough illumination.”

“I’ll invite the animals,” Jenken declared.

“I’ll talk to the landowners and get their permission,” JJ added. “They don’t mind us hiking in the area during the daylight, but since we’ll be doing this after dark, it’ll be best to get their okay,”

After a bit of discussion Judy asked, “Do you have any recommendations to make the occasion even better?”

“To enhance the spirituality I’d recommend eliminating as much man made material from the ceremony,” Misty began. “Wearing cotton, linen or wool, natural fibers woven into fabric, will allow a closer bond with nature. Also, Judy and JJ, I suggest you individually look deeply into your hearts to understand your love and the depth of the commitment you’ll be making. With that knowledge write a wedding vow to give your mate.”

A few other details were worked out before they headed down to the Raven’s Perch for lunch. Serenity, Misty, Judy, JJ and Jenken ate while Jane began to help out. One of the topics was that the hilltop indeed seemed to be a place a power.

Misty described what wiccan and druids believed about places of power and ley lines. “I’ve experienced several places of power. In the past when I was near a place of power I was thrilled to feel a tickle, similar to the tingle that makes the hair on your arm want to stand on end. But today... I swear I could feel waves of power descending on Jenken! Just being on the periphery made my very soul tingle! It refreshed and renewed me.”

The others added they felt something similar although not as intense. Jenken had felt the power sweeping through him and decided the phenomena needed further investigation. After the delicious meal was finished and goodbyes made, the Dawn’s left for home.

On Monday morning, Judy and JJ went to the Berks County Courthouse to get a marriage licence. Once they returned home, the lovers went to the neighbor who owned the hilltop and requested permission to hold their small private wedding there on Thursday evening. The neighbor, who had known JJ since he’d been born and had met Judy, readily agreed. They did invite them to attend an after hours reception in the Raven’s Perch. James and June staffed the Raven’s Perch with trusted employees to operate the business while the family was at the wedding. A notice had been posted in the Pub since Saturday announcing it would be closing at 9:30 Thursday night for a private party.

Although not expecting a reply, Judy attached thank you notes to her parents for honoring their deal along with a formal invitation to the wedding. Everyone was surprised when the enclosed RSVPs were promptly returned with positive responses. Jenken declared he had nothing to do with their acceptance but promised to keep tabs on them so they would not create any issues. Judy called them and told them it would be an informal but legal Wiccan ceremony held on the hilltop and required almost a mile hike uphill. They should wear comfortable casual clothing made of natural fibers, long loose skirts for the women and khakis for the guys.

After the family trek to the top of Moselem Jenken explained to he wanted to explore the hill top to examine the place of power. They could tell Jenken really needed to do this on his own so provided a cell phone with GPS tracking to ease their safety concerns. Jenken summoned some of his animal friends to make the trek back to top of Moselem Hill to explore the power flowing there. As he basked in the flow of positive energy Jenken began to understand it was indeed what the ancients, druids and many Wiccan and new age believers call a place of power. Since he had already mastered the art of psychic detection of mental and electronic emanations, linkage to and the use of innate energy flows, what he sensed on the summit was quite similar but came from earth itself!

Searching minds for knowledge and data mining for everything he could find on the subject he began to understand what constituted a place of power. The synopsis of the different theories and beliefs is that the Earth is a multidimensional structure with all manifestations of multidimensional space present, from the basic physical four dimensions in which we live our lives all the way up to the plane of the Creator. With it’s biosphere the earth is a massive living organism. To the living earth humans as well as all other life forms are simply a type of symbiotic infection. The structure of the crystal lattice of the Earth, as a whole or of some parts of its crust, focus the natural energy fields of certain spatial dimensions. Places of power are like “wells” in areas of compacted spatial dimensions, ‘filled’ with layers of subtle energy. Those energy layers can be positive or negative. Physical places of power, both positive and negative, are the result of ecology which is the relationships of animate and inanimate things with its environment. There is the ecology of plants, the ecology of animals, the ecology of human beings and the ecology of the earth itself which encompasses all earthly ecologies. The task of human ecology, the only sentient able to think abstractly, is to establish the harmony of each person with the entire environment, including other people, air, water, all forms of life, and all things non living.

While he was mining and consolidating the available knowledge Jenken was walking around the exposed rock time after time slowly spiraling in on the epicenter of the power. When he pinpointed the exact spot on the bare limestone peak, the focal point of the place of power, he sat down into the lotus position feeling the power flow through his body. With practiced ease he shut out all other senses as he meditated on the power flowing through him.

Jenken cautiously merged some mental tendrils into the powerful flow of positive energy. Within moments, thanks to his expanded abilities, he was able to tap into the positive power flowing into the hill top. Thanks to his rapidly growing abilities, knowledge and wisdom, Jenken was able to detect the energy pathways warping as the positive power was being drawn from the atmosphere to the top of Moselem Hill. The normally linear world wide flux lines curved the closer they came to the hilltop until they poured their energy into the center of the limestone crown. It was like the energy was liquid pouring into a funnel. Jenken allowed his mental tendrils to link with the power flow and ride it down into the earth. As he rode the stream it plunged down inside the hill for 256' emerging into a large undiscovered crystal laden cavern.

Jenken immediately christened it Moselem Cave. Utilizing his ability of remote viewing he was able to explore the cave. The energy flux flowed through the crystalline accretions created a scintillating green flowing light that illuminated the vast cavern with a warm, welcoming aura borealis type of light. Roughly teardrop shaped the chamber sloped from the higher narrow northeast to lower wider southwest. At it’s longest the cavern stretched roughly 115' while the widest part was about 38'. The highest point was about 25' from the southwest end rose to a height of about 38'. There was a pool of still water about 25' long and 13' wide at the southwest end that reflected the walls and ceiling like a mirror. The water level was 290' above sea level, just a foot above the water level of nearby Lake Ontelaunee and about 13' lower than the floor at the higher end of the cavern. Glistening multicolored stalactites and draperies hung in abundance from the roof. Varicolored sparkling flowstone and glittering crystals covered the walls. Impressive multihued stalagmites rose from the floor which was covered with gently undulating accumulations of crystalline accretions. The still water in the pool was crystal clear yet highly reflective. Dozens of crevices and a few side corridors opened into the chamber.

While mentally exploring that location, Jenken sensed a second slightly smaller power flux was merging into the main power descending from the top of the hill. This power flux was flowing underground entering the cavern from a large fissure in the northeast tip. With ease he traced the energy flux, splitting his probes several times as the power split into smaller trails. It didn’t take him long to find their points of origin. Each of those flux lines came from nearby lesser places of power that were innately connected to Moselem Hill. Linking to the internet he delved into USGS maps and surveys as well as Google Earth to pinpoint five smaller linked places of power each centered on interconnected caves.

What he discovered made sense of what he’d detected. The area lies in the Great Valley of Pennsylvania in the Ordovician geological area which consists of shale, dolomite, sandstone and most importantly limestone. Massive formations of limestone underlie the region. Over the eons water dissolved tiny bits of limestone as it percolated into the earth from rainfall. These tiny erosions grew and merged to create caves as well as numerous connecting channels. On the surface the locations of the five caves form a slightly jinked line running almost west to east that runs just south of the village of Virginville. Virginville is almost two miles north of the village of Moselem on the east bank of the Maidencreek immediately south of the convergence of Saucony Creek.

Starting in the west is Onxy Cave, 6500' NW is Dreibelbis Cave, 6000' E is Dragon Cave, 6000' ENE is Crystal Cave, and 9500' ENE is Schofer Cave. Onyx Cave is 8750' SW of the Virginville bridge over the Maidencreek and 10,000' NW of Moselem Cave. Dreibelbis Cave is located in triangular woods 2300' SW of the Virginville bridge over the Maidencreek and 10,000' N of Moselem Cave. Dragon cave is located in a small copse of trees in field 600'N of Virginville Road, 1100'SE of a pond, 3700' ESE of the Virginville bridge over the Maidencreek and 12,000' NEN of Moselem Cave. Crystal Cave, a well known commercial cavern, is 9250' E of the Virginville bridge over the Maidencreek and 16,000' NE of Moselem Cave. Schofer Cave is 300' across Saucony Rd from the Kutztown New Dutch Campground and 24,000' NE of Moselem Cave.

All the caves had narrow unexplored fissures that led deeper into the earth, meandering through a maze of tunnels, caverns and shafts to interconnect them. What made the caves and their myriad connections magnets for mystic power was calcite, a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). As water percolates through limestone it leeches calcium carbonate from the rock. When it reaches a cave drops of water evaporate creating stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and crystals. The crystals in particular drew in and focused the innate power of the living earth.

The positive power drawn to the complex of caves and their crystals energized and enhanced Jenken’s already formidable innate abilities. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to tap into that energy to amplify his abilities. A probe plunged into the flux allowed Jenken to draw the massive power into himself. While maintaining his individuality his very essence blended with that of the Earth. That link supercharged his ability to clearly see everything that emitted energy. Every living thing, every electronic device and even the planet itself was opened to his probing. Utilizing the positive power Jenken was now able to confirm his suspicions that the bits of wire and microchips trapped in his brain were responsible for the empathy he’d exhibited from the very beginning of his life. Now he understood that his basic empathy had been stimulated by the positive power flowing into the area. Not only the flow from the atmosphere warping into the top of Moselem Hill but also the underground flow that coursed directly beneath the Raven home with the epicenter of both flows barely 2000' away. Being raised within the confluence of positive power, the massive incessant natural power had influenced and enhanced his injury induced psychic abilities.

Now able to freely tap this source of power Jenken discovered even greater flexibility for the myriad mental tendrils he had flung about the world in his living and electronic tags. While he’d been able to jump a probe from one brain into a nearby brain now he could project a probe from any tagged electronic device. With little effort he was able to tag all broadcasts throughout the world and follow the signal to any device picking up the broadcast to create new tags. He could also remotely view the area surrounding any tag. With this ability he could literally pop into every communication device, computer and data storage device in the world. With virtually no effort he learned and understood the operating and computing systems that controlled aircraft of every type, commercial and military. Following signals beamed from earth he was able to enter satellites, the manned space station, space probes and satellites. From each contact with a new CPU and affiliated hardware his knowledge increased. With virtually no effort he was able to project a tendril probe from an electronic device to tag and step into the human operator or adjacent electronic device. In effective he was able to tag the users and other components of any electronic device. His reach not only spanned the globe but extended into the solar system.

Police, fire, civil defense, FBI, State Department, military, CIA, the US Supreme Court, the US Congress and the US Presidency communications and data storage systems were now open books to his probes. That was only a portion of his probes as he delved into virtually every commercial, religious and government network throughout the world. Needless to say he was upset with the multitude of unsavory hidden truths he uncovered. Part of him wanted to expose the ugly truths but due to knowledge gained from his many tags he realized greed, lust for power and corruption were a sad fact of human civilization. It unsettled him a bit to keep his discoveries hidden but he realized there may come times when he could release the multitudinous hidden skeletons to benefit his goals or deflect scrutiny from his activities.

With Jenken’s vast and constantly growing learning, wisdom became a major part of Jenken’s sweeping intake of knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to sort truth from fiction, fact from fable, and even more difficult: to differentiate mysticism from illusion. Mysticism is the personal experience of states of consciousness or levels of being or aspects of reality beyond normal human perception. This sometimes includes the experience of and communion with higher beings or entities. Faith in God (or gods, nature, Mother Earth, Buddha, Hindi, Gaia, or whatever people choose to call those other sources of power) is enhanced by mystic communion.

The vast majority of people seldom if ever make the connection although many are blessed to get a brief glimpse. Some people claim, either intentionally or delusionally, to have a mystical connection to entice gullible disciples or shills. A fortunate few can detect the mystic but most wisely do not advertize their ability. The few who do not hide their ability become messiah like leaders whose devoted followers fall under their magnetic personal charms. Sadly the vast majority of those messianic leaders are quickly corrupted by the power they wield and ultimately leave death, destruction and disillusionment in their wake. The high profile immorality incidents of TV Evangelists, Charles Manson and his ‘family’, Rev. Jim Jones and the People’s Temple in Guyana, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, Marshal White and Heaven’s Gate, and Osama Bin Laden and Al Quida are prime examples of such corruption.

Jenken’s psychic ability to detect energy emanations from living beings, electronic devices, and the earth enabled him to identify real mysticism from the fake as well as from the living, breathing planet itself. Jenken could quite literally sense genuine mystical communion as well as physical places of power such as the top of Moselem hill and the five nearby caves.

Jenken also realized that he’d developed another new mental ability. When he’d reached inside his grandfather to manipulate his body to repair the damage, his reiki talent manifested. With the boost of tapping into the earth’s innate power he discovered he could reach out to psychically manipulate objects. From the initial manipulation of cells inside a nearby human being, with practice he was able to flip switches, unplug power cords and cables, and actually pick up and move small items. He’d developed telekinesis.

Thursday afternoon of the wedding day Misty and Serenity arrived a little after three. Adelle and Sean arrived about four. With the tags he’d installed, Jenken knew when the guests neared. It was he who greeted them as they arrived. Jenken was wearing a floaty flowery knee length cotton skirt and simple linen top with white strap leather sandals, looking like an adorable little girl.

Adelle and Sean were clearly shocked by Jenken’s girlishness and more than a bit of their prejudice showed.

“I’m Jen,” the pretty little girl explained. “On top of being so precocious I’m also intersexed. While I usually present in boy-mode, I feel girl mode is better for the wedding.”

While a bit shocked, Adelle and Sean once more realized Jenken was like no other person they’d ever met and begrudgingly accepted the explanation. Judy, JJ and Jane were preparing back-packs with treats for the wild-life and supplies needed for the wedding. Jane had three digital cameras, two for filming the wedding and a third for snapshots. Adelle and Sean questioned Misty about her Wiccan beliefs. The pair were lapsed Catholics, having lost the their faith in the tough business world. The rote religion had lost all validity for them. At 6:30 they headed down to the Raven’s Perch for a light meal. The staff and patrons were not really surprised to see Jenken dressed as a girl. Jenken calmly explained that because of the injuries he’d suffered in vitro his split brain had developed two distinct personalities, one a boy, the other a girl which meant that at least mentally and probably physically he was intersexed. With a bit of telepathic soothing of ruffled feathers everyone accepted the explanation. To them it was merely another aspect his uniqueness. It was the first Adele and Sean had been made aware of Jenken’s in utero injuries. Judy and JJ explained the details of the injuries and that for Jenken to even be alive was a miracle. It was 7:00 when they shouldered the packs and began the trek.

They reached the top of Moselem Hill at 7:45, 25 minutes before sunset. Adelle and Sean were quite taken with the view. James and JJ had taken turns using a large red wagon to haul a 30 inches high and 18 inches in diameter section of a tree trunk during the hike. They set the bark covered section of log on end in the center of the limestone outcrop. A folded unbleached linen cloth was draped over the top of the log to create a small round table. Jane set up one video camera to record the ceremony. The other she would hold to film all the wedding guests. As they were setting things up, Jenken stood on the high point facing the setting sun and raised his arms.

Opening his telepathic ability he linked the wedding party. “I’d like to thank everyone for coming to witness this epiphany of love. Now I’ll summon the non-human wedding guests. Please don’t gasp.” Jenken tapped into the power vortex deep beneath his feet to amplify his summoning.

Adelle and Sean were stunned to not only hear Jenken speaking inside their heads, they could silently hear the affirmative responses of the other members of the wedding party.

“I am Jenken and I declare a truce,” Jenken sent out his summons. “Please come to the sacred place. My uncle JJ and Judy are going to be mated after sunset. All are invited. Please join us!”

Adelle and Sean found it difficult to accept the telepathic communication Jenken facilitated between the humans. They were left utterly speechless as they felt the joyful positive responses from the animals.

Nature’s creatures began to arrive from every direction. Birds of all sorts arrived. Their chirping and calls blended into a harmonious anthem. Rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and even field mice emerged from the undergrowth to join the humans. Four ground hogs waddled up to join them. Once more the regal 8 point buck emerged leading his harem and children. Two foxes and three kits even came forth.

Jenken maintained his cross species link and every sentient life was able to telepathically communicate, thanks of course to the toddler’s ability to be a universal translator. The already shaky yuppie lives of Adelle and Sean were not only turned upside down but inside out as well. All their shallow feelings and thoughts about the world crumbled to dust as they felt the pure raw energy of life surrounding them.

As the sun disappeared behind the trees to the west, darkness slowly descended. As is normal during the summer, the full moon was already out and provided steady soft illumination during the cloudless night. Misty took advantage of the links Jenken provided to ask those present to form a circle about the top of the hill. In a few moments only Misty, Jenken, Judy, and JJ stood on the high point. The attending animals, birds and humans formed a circle about the quartet. Not one species stood next to another of it’s own. Jane slowly swung the second video camera around the circle to include every participant.

With the last rays of the sun gone, Jenken summoned thousands of fireflies to swarm above the couple and Misty clearly illuminating the wedding party as if with a myriad of twinkling yellow Christmas lights swirling just above their heads. Jane caught everything with the videos. Judy wore a crown of woven flowers and JJ a crown of ivy. Judy carried a bouquet of herbs to ward off evil spirits together with flowers, a symbol of love. JJ wore a boutonniere of mistletoe and holly.

As she looked about to see those in attendance Misty began to vocally speak with Jenken translating for the animals. “The ceremony in which we are about to participate is a Wiccan Hand Fasting Ceremony. This is a binding ceremony amongst humans during which they pledge to be mates. Welcome, friends, as we gather to celebrate the marriage of Judy Murphy and James Raven Junior.”

Everyone could feel the mental murmuring of approval emanating from every sentient mind in attendance.

“Within every masculine nature lies the feminine,” Misty continued. “Within every feminine nature lies the masculine. The interplay of masculine and feminine forces, when flowing freely in a union based on true Love, finds many expressions.”

After a brief pause Misty looked at the bride. “Judy, do you come here of your own free will?”

“I do,” Judy spoke loudly and clearly as Jenken continued to serve as universal translator.

Looking to the groom Misty spoke. “James, do you come here of your own free will?”

“I do,” JJ spoke clearly and honestly.

Smiling broadly Misty continued. “Judy and James, if your love is genuine and honest, if you truly love the other, use your eyes to look into your mate’s soul and repeat after me:”

M: “You cannot possess me, for I belong to myself.”

J&J: “You cannot possess me, for I belong to myself.”

M: “But I give you that which is mine to give.”

J&J: “But I give you that which is mine to give.”

M: “You cannot command me, for I am a free person.”

J&J: “You cannot command me, for I am a free person.”

M: “But I shall serve you in those ways that you require.”

J&J: “But I shall serve you in those ways that you require.”

M: “The honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.”

J&J: “The honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.”

Misty raised her eyes towards the heavens and outstretched her arms. “Divine One, I ask thee to bless this couple, their love, and their marriage, as long as they shall live in love together. May they each enjoy a healthy life filled with joy, love, stability and fertility.”

Misty turned to the East and raised her arms in open welcome: “Blessed may you be by the element of air. Judy and James, may you be blessed with communication, intellectual growth, and wisdom.”

Misty turned to the South and raised her arms in open welcome: “Blessed may you be by the element of fire. James and Judy, may you be blessed with harmony, vitality, creativity, and passion.”

Misty turned to the West and raised her arms in open welcome: “Blessed may you be by the element of water. Judy and James, may you be blessed with friendship, intuition, caring, understanding, and love.”

Misty turned to the North and raised her arms in open welcome: “Blessed may you be by the element of earth. James and Judy, may you be blessed with tenderness, happiness, compassion, and sensuality.”

Misty then turned to look at every being present: “In all the eons, the long slow climb of evolution has no greater culmination than the union of people in love. From the time the first amoeba fissioned into two, there has been the possibility of companionship and the possibility of loneliness. From the time Nature invented sexual reproduction, love has been a quickening. In humans, as self-aware beings, sexuality provided a way that love can conjoin the bodies, hearts, minds, and souls of those who love.”

“There is war, loneliness, and desolation, and the soul of Nature mourns,” Misty declared with sadness before swelling with hope. “So when there are those of us who love enough to make a commitment such as this one today between Judy and James, the very stars rejoice at the rediscovery of love, joy, and bounty.”

“Love has its seasons the same as does the Earth,” Misty went on. “In the spring of love is the discovery of each other, the pulse of the senses, the getting to know the mind and heart of the other; a blooming like the buds and flowers of springtime. In the summer of love comes the strength, the commitment to each other, the most active part of life, perhaps including the giving of life back to itself through children; the sharing of joys and sorrows, the learning to be humans who are each complete and whole but who can merge each with the other just as the trees in a forest grow green and tall in the heat of the sun. In the fall of love is the contentment of love that knows the other completely. Passion remains, and ease of companionship. The heart smooths love into a steady light, glorious as the autumn leaves. In the winter of love, there is parting, and sorrow. But love remains, as do the stark and bare tree trunks in the snow, ready for the renewal of love in the spring as life and love begin anew.”

“Now is the time of summer, both for nature and the love Judy and James share,” Misty declared. “Judy and James have gathered before their friends to make a statement of their commitment to each other, to their love.”

Judy and James turned to face each other, grasping hands, smiling happily, looking deep into the soul of the other.

Misty happily looked at the loving duo. “Do you now commit to each other to love, honor, and respect each other, to communicate with each other, to look to your own emotional health so that you can relate together in a healthy way, and provide a healthy home for children if you choose to have them; to be a support and comfort for your partner in times of sickness and health, as long as love shall last?”

In loud clear voices the happy couple spoke as one: “We do.”

The couple moved first to the East, bowing their heads, then repeated the action in the other cardinal directions.

Misty and the couple moved to the makeshift log table where 3 candles had been placed. Misty then gave them a box of wooden matches. “Please light your candle.”

JJ opened the box, took forth two matches, and gave one to Judy. She struck the match on the striker part of the box and lit the candle on the left side. JJ did the same with the candle on the right.

“These two candles represent yourselves,” Misty intoned as she held the candles aloft for all to see. “Each of you is a whole and complete human being. Your life force shines for all to see.”

Misty turned to the bride. “Judy, what special thoughts would you like to share with James?”

“I want to look behind the mirror of your eyes and see the secret world; the world your words disguise, the birth place of your sighs,” Judy began with utter honesty. “I want to know the pain of all your silent fears and when you speak of them, the ones that no one hears. I want to taste your tears. I want to know you. I really want to know you. I want to share the dreams you've never shared before, to stand inside your soul, to unlock every door, and darling, even more. My Beloved, there are many things that I can't give you or bring to this relationship. Although I want to, at this time I can't give you my heart whole for you alone. I have a history of running and hiding from emotions, especially from loved ones. I may not be able to give you all of my heart and life, but I can vow by all that I hold sacred that the time of running is past. I will not willingly leave you, in life or by death, without coming to you first and talking. I will be open and sharing not only with the happiness but also with the pain and doubts and petty emotions that might plague my days. I will honor and respect you as my mate and honor and respect the life given me, knowing that what touches me, touches you and all that love me. But mainly I will love you,” with that she reached her free hand up to tenderly stroke JJ’s cheek, “my Beloved.”

Sean and Adelle were once more shamed for they finally understood that their selfishness had forced Judy to run and hide from her emotions. Their hearts felt torn asunder for the hurt they did to Judy and each other. Tears of pain ran down their cheeks as they watched their daughter overcome the damage they’d selfishly wrought.

Misty turned to the groom. “James, what special thoughts would you like to share with Judy?”

“My love... your words touch me deeply... and your love is more than I could have dreamed,” JJ began as his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. “My love for you knows no limits... it is unconditional... know that I will honor it in this life. I am bound to thee in love, in honor, and in duty... and am overjoyed to have it be so. I, too, cannot promise you much in this life... save all that I was, all that I now am... and all that I hope to be. I will promise you, too, that I will be here for you in any way I can; I will listen when you need to talk, I will try to find the words when you need to listen. I will try to make your troubles lighter where I can and offer what comfort and strength my presence and understanding can bring. I will be your anchor... to hold you fast and safe and firm... and to be your wings to bear you aloft and carry you free. In this circle of safety and love, before these witnesses, I swear my love and devotion to thee... and happily... proudly bind my life to yours for ever and always.”

“You have spoken from your hearts,” Misty acknowledged as she handed the candles to them. “Together, light the third candle, but extinguish not the first two. For in marriage you do not lose yourself; you add something new, a relationship, the capacity to merge into one another without losing sight of your individual self.”

Those words of wisdom tore into the already sundered souls of Adele and Sean. They had grown to look at their marriage as an anchor holding them down rather than as lifeboats.

After Judy and JJ lit the third candle, Jenken, wearing a crown of flowers, stepped forward, handed the rings to Misty, then stepped back.

“We are truly blessed by Jenken’s presence,” Misty declared as she gazed at the amazing toddler. “Today Jenken is publicly revealing his dual nature by being the female flower girl and the male ring bearer. It is due to Jenken’s unique abilities we have our animal friends with us for this celebration.”

“Let us bless the rings,” Misty intoned. “Circles represent eternity, and though our lives are finite, love is everlasting, the creative force that binds us together, the force that gives new life. The blessings of the wind upon these rings and your love, that you share communication and creativity. The blessings of fire upon these rings and your love, that you share passion and the spirit. The blessings of water upon these rings and your love, that you share love and compassion. The blessings of the earth upon these rings and your love, that you share health and sexuality.”

“We humans are born of stardust and deepest oceans, of erupting volcanoes and the bones of the earth,” Misty continued. “In celebrating love you celebrate a heritage of all these things, and of the love of all humans from the dawn of time. In making a commitment to loving each other, you share that which is best in us and give a moment of light to the world.”

Handing a ring to Judy, Misty went on. “Judy, place the ring on James' finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed.”

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Judy emotionally declared as tears of pure joy trickled down her cheeks.

Handing the other ring to JJ, Misty spoke. “James, place the ring on Judy's hand and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed.”

“With this ring, I thee wed,” JJ proudly declared as he felt his eyes well up at the site of Judy’s joy filled tears.

“Above you are the stars. Below you is the earth,” Misty declared. “As time does pass, remember, like a star should your love be constant, like the earth should your love be firm. Be close, but not too close. Possess one another, yet be understanding. Have patience with each other. Be free and giving of affection and warmth. Make love often and sensuously to one another. Have no fear and let not the ways or words of the unenlightened give you unease.”

Misty then crossed the Bride's and Groom's wrists and tied them loosely with a garland strand. “As your wrists are tied by this flowered strand, may it be a prelude to the flowering of your lives together, and a fond remembrance of this Hand fasting. So also may it symbolize the bonding of your souls, your energy, and your life force; that throughout your life together, you may know of nothing but each other's joy and love, in perfect balance and peace.”

Jenken rejoined them with a hand made broom. Kneeling, he held it in front of the couple a foot above the ground. With their wrists still tied together, Judy and JJ jumped over it.

“By jumping the broom together, you have proven that you can work as a single mind and spirit,” Misty praised the couple. “Therefore, let the physical bonds of the Hand fasting be removed and saved as a reminder of this joyous day. But ever remember, the spiritual bonds will always remain.” With that Misty removed the garland without untying it as a sign of their bond.

“I now pronounce you married,” Misty declared feeling overjoyed with the ceremony. “May you each and together be blessed with health, happiness, harmony, and love.”

“Thank you for witnessing the Hand fasting of Judy and James,” Misty spoke to those in attendance. “As you depart, let there be peace between us now and forever. Blessed be. The Circle is Open but Unbroken. May Peace be in your hearts! So mote it be!”

A cacophony of chirps, squeaks, grunts and cheers erupted from most of those attending. Adelle and Sean were shaken to the very core of their being. The divorced couple were ashamed of their selfish past and humiliated by their self-centered treatment of their daughter. They thanked Mother Earth that Judy had found a place in the Raven family.

Jenken realized the Murphy’s had been torn open to their very essence by the experience but had no idea how to deal with their new feelings. After briefly making Misty aware of their spiritual dilemma he created a private three way between the Murphy’s and Misty.

True telepathic mind to mind communication comprises verbal and visual and emotional qualities so what is discussed can be done so at a deeper level than verbal communication and quite literally at the speed of thought. Misty opened her Wiccan faith to the Murphy’s and since they had been so opened to existence outside their tiny yuppie enclaves they drank in the essence of spirituality and were forever changed. They reached deep into their souls and rediscovered the long lost emotions and love that had first drawn them together.

The pause was a bit awkward but Jenken projected love and patience to sooth all present. Then Jenken mentally spoke to all in attendance. “I’d like to invite everyone to remain a bit longer and reform the circle.

Jenken mentally told Judy and JJ to take the positions in the circle of Adelle and Sean while telling the stunned older duo to approach Misty. Then he set up to translate what was about to be said to the non-humans in attendance.

“Adelle and I are deeply ashamed of our past lives,” Sean spoke once they reached the makeshift table. “Until tonight, in our selfish arrogance and ignorance, we simply didn’t comprehend what life means. Tonight, our eyes and our hearts were opened. Judy, we humbly beg you to forgive us for our arrogance and ignorance. We promise to never return to the way we existed for in truth that is the way of death, it was certainly not a way of life. In addition, we’d like to start over. We ask all of you to witness our Hand fasting as Adelle and I finally recover our lives... together.”

It was impossible to lie when Jenken linked minds so everyone knew Sean was speaking from his heart and with Adelle’s blessing and approval. Judy was crying tears of joy. The smiles and wet eyes of the Raven family indicated their acceptance of the remorse and vow to change. Their impromptu Hand fasting was shorter but no less heartfelt.

When it was over JJ and Judy joined her parents by the table.

Jenken moved to stand by the couples and guided the circle of animals, birds and humans as it opened next to Jane. A fawn led the former living circle, now a line, to greet the happy newlyweds. Each animal or bird smiled, those unable to physically do so did it mentally. Then each bowed or raised their head according to their kind to allow Judy and JJ to jointly lay on their hands as a sign of thanks. They did the same for Adelle and Sean. The fireflies continued to swarm above the couple. The deer stepped to the side of the line after their turn and allowed the smaller animals and birds to use their bodies as platforms to get them closer to Judy and JJ as well as Adelle and Sean. Treats for all the animal and bird guests had been spread out in nearby areas and after they had wished the couple well Jenken directed them to the appropriate treat.

Misty and Serenity had their Wiccan faith confirmed. The earth was alive and all creation was interconnected. They marveled at how Jenken was able to facilitate the interspecies contact.

Everyone felt refreshed and energized by the events and the shear positive energy of the site. Throughout the ceremonies Misty was positive she felt the power of the high point grow to massive proportions. The Wiccan priestess looked questioningly at Jenken who smiled and nodded. The innate power of the spot had burgeoned by many magnitudes. The love shared by the expanded Raven family, the redemption created by Sean’s and Adelle’s remorse and rekindled love, as well as the lovefest of the dual weddings, reinforced by the innate power on the site, became a magnetic beacon of positive power. The cross species linkage strengthened by the love and hope of all present created a vortex of positive power focused on the center of natural positive power inside Moselem Cave. In turn this sudden increase in power acted like a magnet for the earth’s innate essence. The merger of all this power created a feedback situation in that as the power grew, so did the strength of attraction. As the attraction increased, it drew in more power. The amount of power increased steadily by many orders of magnitude with no sign of slowing. If left unchecked, the burgeoning power could catastrophically overload.

But that would not happen since Jenken had initiated the massive continued power surge. Without his presence, the power would not have grown. Jenken was the living sentient lightening rod and capacitor that kept the power controlled. Without any effort, Jenken began drinking the powerful essence of Mother Earth and all of nature.

Only once before in humanity’s long history had anything like this occurred. The growing confluence of positive energy created an event that had not occurred for about fifty two millennia. As a species, Homo Sapiens emerged about two hundred millennia ago. The early humans were behaviorally primitive and nearly socially indistinguishable from other extinct hominids such as the Neanderthals or Homo erectus. Humans of the Acheulean and Mousterian cultures lived in an apparent stasis, experiencing little cultural change. Then about 52,000 years ago at an event dubbed The Great Leap Forward or the Upper Paleolithic Revolution occurred. Since that point an abundance of complex artifacts such as artwork and bone tools appear in the fossil record. Such artifacts are absent from the fossil record from before then indicating that earlier hominids lacked the cognitive skills required to produce such artifacts. This was followed by a sudden flowering of fine tool-making, sophisticated weaponry, sculpture, cave painting, body ornaments, and long-distance trade. Humans also expanded into hitherto uninhabited environments such as Australia and Northern Eurasia.

The Great leap forward was ignited by a blending of the essence of humans, birds, animals, insects and plants in a natural place of power just as Jenken had unknowingly facilitated tonight. Submerged in the powerful energy vortex, Jenken could detect the still vibrating remnants of that past momentous event in the positive energy pouring into this place of power and now pouring into him, the living conduit. Back then it had been a family of powerful shamans, five generations together. Back then it was highly unusual to have four generations of a family alive simultaneously. For five generations to be alive at the same time was absolutely rare. To have all five be powerful shamans had never before occurred and would not happen again. It had taken the combined interrelated essence of the five generations of shamans to form that momentous link. Mother Earth, while not a truly conscious entity, never-the-less reacted positively to Jenken’s ability to control and manipulate more energy. Because of his unique birth injuries, the spunky survivor was able to channel more energy than those five shamans ever dreamed existed. Jenken was humbled and more than a bit awed that he had been allowed to meld into the living essence of Mother Earth. The link was so firm Jenken psychically was able to link into the power grid of earth’s innate essence. The youngster realized the import of what he’d accomplished that night.

The trek down the hill was made in happiness and joy, the path through the leafy canopy flickeringly illuminated by the fireflies Jenken asked to accompany them. Jenken released them with thanks when they reached the road. Everyone made the short journey to the Raven’s Perch and the private reception in joyous spirit.

The invited staff, neighbors and friends had set up the lite snack buffet June had the staff prepare. Chips, pretzels, veggies and assorted dips in addition to wine, champagne and of course the wedding cake were enjoyed as Jane played the wedding recordings on the big screen TV in the bar. None could believe the wildlife had so peacefully gathered with the wedding party to witness the ceremony until it was simply explained as Jenken’s doing. All those in attendance knew the toddler was unique and gifted, so his ability to commune with nature was accepted as another sign of his irreproducible birth and survival. Jenken also placed a cantrip, a mind block, on the guests to keep Jenken’s ability to commune with wildlife secret. Placing cantrips on those to whom he revealed his amazing psychic abilities to keep them from revealing his secret became standard practice.

A limo took the happy couple to the bridal suite of the Philadelphia Airport Marriot Hotel where they would spend a most enjoyable night. The next morning they would fly to Miami to board a Royal Carribean ship for a seven day Carribean Cruise honeymoon.

The night of the wedding Jen and Ken were happily exhausted and easily fell asleep. Since Jenken didn’t need to sleep, he began to explore his newly realized connection to the place of power. First he projected himself into Moselem Cave At a point 13' above the edge pond beneath the highest point of the cavern was the epicenter of power, a maelstrom swirling vortex. With little hesitation he plunged sveral mental tendrils into the vortex. Now intimately linked with the innate essence of the earth, his mental tendrils flowed unimpeded wherever his thoughts pointed. The tendrils worked together, splitting and uniting as they spread. The energy Jenken received from the vortex boosted his ability to utilize millions of tendrils. The earth itself revealed itself to his curious probing. Geologic knowledge was open to him.

In order to practice his enhanced his telekinetic power Jenken began seeing what he could lift and move. Each morning he tagged into the vortex as he headed into the forest so he could play around moving fallen trees and broken limbs. He excavated around two partly buried rocks until he was able to psychically lift them out. Then he stretched his abilities to perform similar feats of telekinesis at points increasing distant until he was able to do so at will anywhere in the solar system.

When the newly weds returned from their honeymoon, they moved into one of the smaller apartments above the Raven’s Perch. JJ’s old bedroom that he’d shared with Jenken became Jenken’s alone. The morning of the day after they returned Jenken asked for a family meeting.

“I’ve figured out a way to make money for the family,” Jenken began. “I’ve been playing with pretend investments in the stock market for two months starting out with $10,000. If my trades had been real I’d have $255,300. I can show you what I’ve done so you’ll know what I’m saying is true. What I want to do now is to set myself up as a day trader with a stake of $25,000. I’ll need your financial backing as well as your legal signatures to get started. I intend to increase the value of my investments by fifty percent every week. I know I can do this. I’ve flagged the tags I have in the business and trading industries to let me know when an event will rapidly change a stock’s value. There will be no evidence that I’m doing anything wrong because I won’t be breaking any laws. It’ll seem like I’m super prescient.”

The family was taken aback just a bit by the audacious request but they really weren’t surprised by Jenken’s request nor did they doubt he could do as he claimed. James had a small account with a major brokerage so kept an eye on the volatile stock market and agreed to review Jenken’s financial moves.

After reviewing the careful records Jenken had kept of his pretend dealings, James was astounded by the unrivaled success the toddler had achieved. James and June put up $25,000 while Judy and JJ gave him $75,000 giving Jenken a lot more than the $25,000 he wanted to establish himself as a day trader. They reasoned $100,000 would give him a better start. They would be silent partners. While the adults knew day trading was risky, they had confidence Jenken could succeed. In less than a week Jenken, with James signing as the responsible adult, had a day trading account set up in his name and funded with the $100,000. A storage room in the basement of The Raven’s Perch was cleaned out. A local contractor insulated, drywalled, wired and painted the room creating a private office for Jenken’s day trading. By the time the fall semester at KU began at the end of August Jenken began making trades. The spunky child knew what he was doing as the value of his day trading fund soared.

Jenken knew he’d be using massive amounts of bandwidth to make more and more trades. To prepare for that he signed up with Exede, a satellite internet provider for their premium service knowing it would take two to three weeks to have a satellite dish installed and make all the connections. Jenken drew $20,000 from the trading fund at the end of the third week to pay for the upgrades and expenses. The savvy youngster also ordered a top of the line server to handle the increasing flow. Those items would be installed and running by the end of the fourth week. More equipment would be added as the volume grew, eventually adding more satellite connections to handle the load.

Like other day traders, Jenken logged into his account on his laptop. From there things changed. The telekinetic toddler used his mental probes to conduct the trades. In addition, he used his ‘tags’ and ‘flags’ in the financial markets and business CFOs to see trends before they actually hit the market. In this way he was well ahead of every other speculator and sold his successful low value purchases to those that jumped in after he had done so thus making a tidy profit on each transaction. Thanks to the millions of flags and the efficiency of his mental tendrils, Jenken was able to make thousands of trades every hour, his volume per hour far outstripping what his competitors could do in an entire day. Jenken averaged 50% profit a day after paying the brokerage fees and pulling out $100 a day in salary. The initial investment had grown to $150,000 by the end of the first week.

Life for the Raven’s returned to normal... at least for them. June and James ran the Raven’s Perch. Judy, JJ and Jane went to their classes at KU during the day and helped out in the restaurant in the evening. Jen and Ken helped their grandparents while Jenken split his efforts between day trading, expanding his tags and absorbing knowledge.

The Thursday night open stage continued every week. The downside was that The Ravens were so well received no one else wanted to take a turn. The Raven’s Perch was packed for every performance. The family felt a bit guilty for hogging the open stage but they truly loved performing for an audience. Besides, not one of the customers complained.

The weekly performances sparked an interest in music for Jenken. The plucky child tagged the greatest vocal and instrumental musicians in the world in classic, pop, country, rock, jazz, blues, as well as regional genres such as Irish, Cajun, Spanish, traditional Chinese, Japanese, native American, Mexican, Carribean, Indian, African, and nearly every other musical expression. Not only did he download their knowledge, he downloaded their physical skills. Because of his age he was physically unable to utilize much of what he learned. But that only presented him with another challenge.

With his reiki ability he had learned to modify physical bodies for healing. Now he began experimenting on himself to enhance his physical abilities. First he tweaked his vocal chords to create a four octave range, from tenor through soprano. With his ability to alter his body Jenken decided to slowly expand his range to six octaves when he was a preteen. In addition he balanced his tone and timbre giving him perfect pitch. His improved virtually perfect singing voice delighted the family away and blew their audiences away. At the same time he manipulated the growth and development of his bones, muscles and ligaments to give them the needed dexterity to play nearly any instrument.

From there Jenken went into dance, downloading the precise movements and muscle control of ballerinas and tap dancers as well as Olympic athletes in gymnastics, skiing, skating, martial arts, track and field, swimming and many others. Where their bodies were limber, their bones strengthened, ligaments resilient, and muscles powerful, he modified his own to mimic them or set himself up to develop that way. At the same time he modified his lungs to increase the efficiency of oxygen-CO2 exchange. In addition he increased the strength and flexibility of his heart, arteries and veins to dramatically increase the efficiency of his blood flow to feed and cleanse his muscles and organs. This in turn tremendously increased his stamina.

On the internet Jenken found and bought a pink half size DE electric guitar that weighed 6.1 pounds. It was of decent quality with a nice neck and fretwork, and a nice full and warm sound coming from its two humbucker pickups. It featured a three way pickup selector, one tone and one volume controls, a solid wood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, capped tuners, and a fixed bridge with an overall length of 33 inches. Utilizing his downloaded skills, especially those of Lita Ford, Jenken began to jam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JCLNbW_KPM With only a day of practice he was doing an acceptable imitation of Lita Ford that blew the family away.

Jenken explained to his family what he’d done in downloading the musical knowledge and motor skills of the world’s best living musicians. It took a bit of convincing, but not too much, for the adults of the Raven family to agree to let Jenken download into them some of the borrowed mental and physical musical aptitude. Inspired by Jenken, James became an expert on the Irish bagpipes, flute and penny whistle while adding the saxophone and trumpet. June became an expert on the accordion and concertina while adding keyboards. JJ became an expert on the bodhran, drums and added nearly every type of percussion instrument. Jane became an expert on the fiddle and added keyboards. Judy became an expert on the electric and acoustic guitars and added the banjo and Irish harp. Jenken became an expert on virtually any instrument choosing to play the penny whistle, Mandolin, Electric and acoustic guitars as well as the saxophone. In addition to the skills needed to play the various instruments Jenken also downloaded a three thousand song repertoire. The family quickly assimilated all Jenken gave them and their performances became lively, joyous and ever more popular.

With their burgeoning music expertise, with the family’s permission, Jenken signed them up with BMI (Broadcast Music Inc) to register any songs they might compose and to pay royalties on songs they performed. They also signed on with the American Federation of Musicians.

With his now ubiquitous connection to Gaia, Jenken sensed there was more to his physical body than was previously known. His psychic abilities were due to the injuries he’d suffered prenatal, but that unknown aspect of his being was why he was able to link so intimately with and use Gaia’s essence. The truth surprised him. After thoroughly examining himself he sat down with his family to let them know he was even more unique than they’d all assumed.

“When I identify Jen as she and Ken as he, I have been telling the truth,” Jenken explained. “I am a human chimera. I was conceived as fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. My chimerism occurred when the twins merged into one fetus shortly after conception. A chimera is a single body that has two distinct DNA patterns, the same as if they’d been born separate twins. Portions of the body are one DNA sequence while other parts are the other. As seems to be part and parcel of my existence, the merger didn’t go normally. A third DNA sequence emerged that is a blend of the other two. Jen, the girl DNA, has a normal XX sequence. Ken, the boy DNA, has a normal XY sequence. Jenken, has merged girl and boy DNA, XXY. I’ve done in depth abdominal self scans and discovered I’m intersexed. I have all the male and female reproductive organs. Whether they will ever function can not be determined at this point. But this means I am a boy and a girl at the same time.”

“Since we all thought I was a boy, Ken was in charge of my presentation,” Jenken continued. “When I realized I was also Jen, Ken shared control with her. Jenken is the blend, simultaneously girl and boy. Sometimes Jen likes to be in charge, other times Ken does. The alternating presentation is confusing to everyone. Since Jenken is a compromise being both boy and girl it’s merely been a matter of convenience that I refer to my triplet self in a male context. However, I’m feeling increasingly uncomfortable presenting as a male. It’s part of the reason I’ve been presenting androgynously.”

“We need to ask Dr. Green to do a chromosome work up on me,” Jenken declared. “Once she has verified my findings, then I can begin presenting primarily as a girl.”

“What about Ken?” Jane asked.

“Ken will accept the change,” Jenken assured her. “He’s never really been a boy’s boy. Once I’m presenting primarily as a girl, at times I’ll be a tomboy.”

At first Dr. Green was amused by Jenken’s seriousness when he told her that he thought he was a chimera. But his continued insistence as well as the support his family gave to his theory convinced her to humor them. The results came back on a Thursday near the end of her office hours. Needless to say she was absolutely stunned when the chromosomal tests came back showing the toddler was indeed an extremely rare intersex triple chimera, XX, XY and XXY. Despite many inquiries from the labs, Dr. Green was principled enough to keep the identity of her patient a secret. She knew the Raven’s had a family restaurant and pub and decided to deliver the results in person and sample their fare.

She was perplexed when no one in the family seemed to the least bit surprised that Jenken had predicted his unique status. Jenken knew she intended to eat so he sat her at a small table near the stage where she could see the register, informing her the meal was on the house for all she’d done for him. At first she thanked him and tried to demure the offer, assuming he was overstepping his authority. June just smiled and told her that if Jenken offered a meal on the house, it was a valid offer. As she ate her delicious meal she watched Jenken man the register. She was amazed at his ability to do the math in his head and run the credit card machine. Jenken injected suggestions into her mind to simply accept his precociousness as explanation for his suspicion about his chimera existence. She was utterly blown away when the family took to the stage and began to play their unique mix of Irish folk and rock music. By the time she left she had a much deeper appreciation of the entire family.

With the results of the chromosome testing in hand, in mid September Jenken decided to present full time as a girl. Anyone who questioned Jenken’s girlish presentation was politely informed of the toddler’s intersexed condition and that SHE had decided that presenting as a girl felt right. Most respected Jenken’s decision. Jenken eased the anger and opened the minds to acceptance of those who were upset by the decision to present as a girl.

Locally The Ravens were making a name for themselves as a family band. With his rapidly growing wealth Jenken self produced several CDs and DVDs of their live performances. They sold dozens every Thursday night and just as many during the rest of the week from a display of THE RAVENS by the cash register. The Ravens were also registered to sell performances via iTunes. Videos of their performances began to appear on Youtube where they quickly became viral hits. Their iTune sales skyrocketed. Their spirited and lively music made people feel good. Of course having the spunky toddler playing and singing as an integral part of the family band drew people’s attention.

Jenken maintained his 50% proficiency in day trading each week. By the eighth week the wunderkind’s portfolio had increased to $2,411,015. At that point he spread his trading to the top 20 worldwide stock exchanges. As the end of October approached Jenken, with his family’s permission and using what he’d learned from lawyers, established a legal corporation, Nekjen Enterprises, to handle his business dealings. Using his tags Jenken selected and approached by e-mail six couples most with children who were chafing under the stifling dogma of established corporations. In correspondence he explained the ideals and goals of the newly created Neknej Enterprises knowing they’d be extremely interested. Once he had their interest, he set up individual skype meetings for face to face discussions. For this, Jenken had JJ sit in as the spokesperson to do the actual talking while he sat off to one side watching. Jenken mentally prompted JJ on what to say while also keeping tabs on the tagged interviewee’s thoughts. All the interviews went well and financial offers twenty thousand above their current salary were made plus a signing bonus, fully paid relocation expenses and homes within walking distance of the headquarters. In this way a core of young, honest and reliable people who would be willing to relocate to Moselem to operate his corporation were tentatively hired.

A bit of history is needed at this point. The Moselem Iron Company was formed in 1823. The village of Moselem was built as a company town and in 1874 the Reading Railroad built a branch called the Berks and Lehigh Line that served the blast furnace as well as other sites along the route to Slatington. By 1885 the company owned the furnace buildings, a grist mill, saw mill, store, hotel, the mansion, and 42 tenant homes but had lost profitability and shut down the furnace. Most of the residents left with the jobs. By the mid 1890s the furnace buildings had been torn down, the hotel had burned down in 1892, the store closed, and the mansion and 8 tenant homes remained occupied. Only the grist and saw mills remained in operation but they closed during the Great Depression.

The hotel that burned down was rebuilt and eventually became The Raven’s Perch. Up slope on Moselem Hill, 320' southwest of The Raven’s Perch was the mansion. At the end of the tenth week of trading Jenken had Neknej pull $2,000,000 out of his portfolio to purchase and restore/remodel the 1825 stone mansion and three adjacent properties. Included was much of Moselem Hill including the place of power on the summit. Several local contractors were hired to do the restoration/remodeling of the newly purchased buildings with the mansion to be the headquarters of Neknej Enterprises.

Jenken arranged for the six people he’d hired and their families a fully paid visit Moselem over the Thanksgiving holiday, putting them up in a local motel including a Thanksgiving day feast in The Raven’s Perch. The new employees arrived at their motel in Kutztown Wednesday night. They ate a continental breakfast at the motel not realizing some of those whom they shared the breakfast would be coworkers. Individually they traveled to Moselem arriving around 1:00pm. They were surprised to see the people they shared breakfast with getting out of their cars in the parking lot. JJ greeted them as they came in to The Raven’s Perch, made formal introductions, and seated them together at a large table by the stage. JJ introduced the rest of his family to the group as they went about preparing for the holiday feast. Then informed them the founder and CEO of Neknej was in the dining room, challenging them to guess who it might be. As they eagerly looked around hoping to see the man JJ added that they should stay at their table after the festivities and that the last person in the room after everyone else left would be their boss. Much discussion passed around the group as they tried to decide who it might be. Regular patrons with their extended families who had made special reservations arrived between 1:30 and 2:00.

The sumptuous meal was served family style. The waiters and waitresses making sure everyone had all they could eat. The Ravens moved from table to table greeting the regulars. Jenken made the rounds and made sure to talk to everyone at the Neknej table. Everyone was impressed by the cute well spoken toddler girl.

As the meal finished but before desert Jenken climbed to the stage. “Now that you’re finished with the main courses, The Raven’s will entertain you while you enjoy your desert.”

With that the rest of the family came to the stage and took their places. The regulars knew what to expect. The newcomers were stunned to realize The Ravens were the family band they’d seen on the viral Youtube videos. Everyone enjoyed the show. For their last song they played Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood. Jenken blew everyone away as he played lead guitar and sang while James played backup sax. When it came time for the sax solo Jenken swapped her guitar for her sax and wailed the solo before going back to the guitar. They found it hard to believe the spunky youngster could really rock out. The diners gave The Ravens a raucous standing ovation.

As the applause died down the entire staff came forward carrying a large birthday cake with three candles. For once Jenken was caught off guard. She’d been so focused on the Neknej aspects of the day she’d forgotten it was her birthday.

“Today is a very special day,” Jane declared. “My darling miracle baby was born three years ago. That she even survived her tragic premature birth was a miracle. Please join in as we sing Happy Birthday!”

Jenken blushed a deep red that almost matched her hair. When the song was over she blew out the candles as everyone cheered. Then they shared small slices of the cake to top off the feast. Rest assured, no one went home hungry!

As those who attended prepared to leave, Jenken manned the register and rang up the flat fee that had been charged. Everyone was happy and in an upbeat mood, all complimenting the staff, the Raven family and wished Jenken a happy third birthday. The staff bussed the tables then headed home leaving only the Neknej table and the Raven family.

The Neknej people whispered excitedly as they realized the founder and boss had to be a member of the talented family. Most selected James, but he was the first to leave the room. Then they thought it had to be JJ but he and Judy exited together. Their attention turned to June but she and Jane left the room. Confused they looked around seeing only Jenken closing out the register.

With a smile and giggle, Jenken slipped off her stool and walked over to the confused people sending out soothing vibes to keep them from freaking out. “If you haven’t figured it out, Neknej Enterprises is mine. Neknej is my first name spelled backwards.” She paused smiling at the clearly surprised group.

“The week of Labor Day I began day trading with a stake of $100,000,” Jenken explained. “I’ve increased my portfolio by 50% every week. Three weeks ago I drew $2,000,000 out of the portfolio to buy and remodel properties for Neknej Enterprises and to hire you. Even with that withdrawal as of yesterday the portfolio stands at $11,619,000. If I keep growing at the same rate, and I don’t see that 50% weekly increase changing, I’ll be the richest person in the world. I’ve personally selected you to assist me.”

“I know you’re having trouble accepting what I’ve said and that you feel I’m making fools of you,” Jenken explained. “Let me tell you my history. When they surprised me with the birthday cake, my mother said it was a miracle I survived my tragic premature birth. That’s putting things mildly.” Jenken went on to explain the circumstances of his birth and the catastrophic injuries he suffered in that very room. They were stunned when he explained his triparte brain and three separate persons in each part sharing his brain as well as his triple chimerahood and intersexuallity. Then he explained some of his psychic abilities. “You haven’t even realized I stopped verbally speaking two minutes ago. I’ve been talking to you psychically.”

The shock on their faces showed they were clearly blown away as they realized she was speaking psychically.

“I’m not bragging when I say I’m probably the most intelligent person in the world,” Jenken added. “My intelligence and abilities are directly related to my split brain. I hope each of you can accept me for the persons I am. If you can’t, please say so now and leave. You can keep the $5000 signing bonus either way. Now that you know the truth I’ll give you a half hour to discuss our future.”

Every one of the six person staff Jenken had selected was gay or had relatives who were gay. Pete Williams, the manager was gay, married to Fred Frank. They had a six year old son, Dave, and a 4 year old daughter, Janet, orphaned siblings they adopted. Peg Harding, the treasurer was married to Harry Harding. Both had gay siblings. They had two children, seven year old Karl and five year old Kyle. Perry Kerry, the web master, lived with his boyfriend Mark Howard. Wendy James, the communications manager, was gay and married to Sara March. They had three children, ten year old Sam, nine year old Fran and seven year old George. Marshal Wagner, the IT Manager, was married to Lynne. Both had gay siblings. They had 3 children, eleven year old Mary, 8 year old Ginger, and 5 year old Kate. Linda Garret, the office manager, was gay and married to Patti Murray. They had two children, seven year old Jazmin and five year old Ariel.

The six employees and their families discussed their options. Jenken had chosen right, they all decided to come on board. The six families returned to their motel for the night.

The next morning they came back. Jenken took them on a tour of the buildings being remodeled. They were impressed with the designs Jenken had come up with for the Neknej complex. The mansion was a large stone structure that had housed the manager of the Moselem Iron Company. The building was two and a half stories high with a full basement, 25' deep and 50' long. Built into the slope of the hill, the first floor main entrance faced Route 662 to the north and featured a column supported portico 6' deep the length of the building. On the west side, the slope dropped away enough to allow a basement level entrance. The rear of the house, the south side, faced the up the slope of Moselem Hill. A porch off the second floor 8’ wide touched the slope which allowed a second floor entrance. A stable that had been converted to a four car garage which was made weather-tight but left unfinished was 30' west of the mansion was . Mansion Avenue, really just a lane, came off the east side of Lake Road to allow access to the Mansion. As part of the remodel, dead end Mansion Avenue was extended across the northeast downslope to link up to Railroad Street just behind The Raven’s Perch. The exteriors were restored to original although the windows and doors were replaced with modern energy efficient fixtures that looked like originals. The interiors were opened, insulated, replumbed, rewired, and a geothermal heat pump based HVAC installed.

The three other main buildings were simultaneously renovated. The largest building was next door to The Raven’s Perch. It was two and a half stories tall, 30' deep and 65' long facing Route 662 with a ground level basement on the front. Railroad Street separated the property from the Raven’s Perch while Lake Road angled back on the other side. This was being remodeled into three condos. The first home down Lake Road on the same side as the first building was a large two and a half story duplex each 35' deep and 20' wide which was also being updated. A carriage house 100' behind the first and 80' east of the second was being remodeled into a single home 30' wide and 45' long.

The new employees and their families were anxious to move to Moselem and begin their new jobs. The remodeling of the homes was completed by mid December allowing the employees and their families to move into their new homes. The mansion headquarters would be completed by the start of the new year. Neknej Enterprises would begin operations on January 2nd. Jenken was about to show herself to the world.

With Jenken’s success as a day trader many money management corporations as well as many domestic and foreign government agencies began investigating how a three year old could be doing what she was doing. Just the fact she’d achieved a consistent 50% profit each week baffled all the experts. The SEC launched an investigation of Jenken’s astounding day trading success. In addition the DHS, FBI and CIA began investigating and developing dossiers on the precocious youngster. Dozens of foreign government agencies and businesses also began investigations. Everywhere the corporations and government agencies looked they found total transparency. Jenken made no attempt to hide her activities or finances. The money management giants and government agencies were easily able to follow the massive electronic trail of her successful trades but could not find even the barest hint of insider trading. It seemed she was able to somehow deduce and act on trends quite precisely before they occurred. No business, much less any individual, had ever matched her phenomenal winning streak much less across such a wide spectrum of stocks and markets. Other brokers and dealers who tried to jump onboard her trades could not begin to keep up with the speed or volume of her transactions. No one was able to figure out why she was so successful much less how she was able to conduct thousands of worldwide purchases and sales in a massively diverse and constantly changing portfolio, hour after hour, for twenty four hours every business day in the top twenty worldwide exchanges. At times the volume and variety of her trades threatened to overwhelm the computerization of the exchanges. Companies with offices full of people couldn’t come near Jenken’s round the clock multiple trade volume.

Jenken felt the heat and didn’t like it. Thanks to her multitudinous tags she quickly learned which agencies, companies, and individuals who had targeted her.

The plucky child decided the release of some of the unsavory secrets she’d uncovered in her many off the grid searches and probes needed to discretely become public. Since her presence behind supposedly secure firewalls was undetectable, she copied damning information and inserted it into Associated Press and United Press International wire releases while they were in transit. The resulting scandals revealed bribery, kick-back schemes, and outright dishonesty in all branches of every government and business that was investigating her. Wikileaks was suspected but in reality was jealous of the damning juicy revelations. Governments around the world were thrown into chaos as public outrage soared forcing resignations of many top leaders.

Voter fraud and outright ballot fixing by organizations across the world was revealed. Eighteen percent of the those in the US Congress were revealed to be on the take. (There were many more but Jenken decided to hold off on those.) Clandestine sales of military weapons to sanctioned nations by the CIA were revealed. Covert ATF cooperation with drug cartels was not really a surprise but the evidence revealed lead to the very top of the political food chain. The release of irrefutable evidence of bribes and insider trading tips to the staff of the SEC kept the agency ducking it’s head. The extent of FBI and DHS intrusion into the lives of US citizens dwarfed the revelations of Eric Snowden. The money trails of illicit weapons sales, fat cat contracts signed, and the sale of top secret information as well as laundered drug money and secret bank accounts were laid bare.

The governments, agencies and their staffs, at least those who survived the releases, had their hands full with damage control. All attempts to trace the source of the leaks failed. No one had any idea how the damning data was inserted into AP and UPI dispatches as there was no I.T. address outside of the original sender. The AP and UPI bulletins and stories were sent out clean but were received with the damning information embedded with no discernible delays to account for the unauthorized additions. Obviously the bulletins and stories had been added in transit but how such vast amounts of evidence could be inserted without delaying the messages was an utter mystery. Evidence of tampering with the hardware and/or software of the systems involved in sending and retrieving the data was not found. What was most disturbing was that the released evidence was utterly accurate and included emails and other correspondence as well as photos and financial trails. Once revealed, the damage done was irretractable.

Needless to say, the multitude of investigations and witch-hunts against Jenken collapsed since those who were gungho on ‘nailing the brat’ were also those most effected by the revelations of misconduct.

Jenken felt guilty for the chaos her revelations created. At the same time she felt justified that the pompous self-righteous hypocritical individuals who felt they could run roughshod over the common people and do as they pleased had been brought low. Jenken almost felt like a secret superhero who had vanquished the bad guys. With that in mind she began exploring what she could do to bring more evil doers to justice without creating so much chaos.

The Ravens were pleasantly surprised when Adelle and Sean contacted the family asking to be allowed to join them to celebrate Christmas. Of course they were welcomed.

When Adelle and Sean arrived they thanked the Raven family for removing the blinders from their selfish eyes. They announced that they had sold their businesses and condo apartments, successfully cutting themselves off from the cut-throat business world that had corrupted them. They had rented an apartment in nearby Kutztown. Humbly they asked if they could become unpaid apprentices for June and James so they could learn what was required to run a small people oriented business. Of course they were welcomed with open arms but James and June insisted if they worked for them they would get paid. After a bit of argument, Jenken cut to the chase and brokered a settlement so the reformed couple would earn minimum wage. While they learned the ex-yuppie couple would look for a small local business they could buy and operate.

New Years day Jenken sat down with her family to let them know her plans which naturally included them. “As you know Neknej will be up and running tomorrow. I’m moving my day trading office to my office in the Mansion. I’ll also be transferring funds from the daytrading accounts into the Neknej coffers to finance several projects. Naturally Neknej will be LGBT friendly in everything it does. Once the basic staff is up and running, in February I want to form two divisions. One will be security and the other a contracting group to handle all future construction.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about these things. We all realize that with the popularity of The Ravens and my day trading expertise that our need for security has and will continue to increase, thus the need for a security group. One of the first jobs for the contracting division will be to build us a new home. I know we haven’t talked about a new home but we already know we don’t all fit into our home and when I have cousins it’ll grow worse.”

JJ and Judy hugged and kissed. They all knew they planned to start a family once they graduated in the spring.

“The property our current home is built on is too small to adequately enlarge the house,” Jenken continued. “On top of that it’s too close to the road to set up an effective security. Through Neknej I’ve already purchased most of Moselem Hill behind us. I’ve had the Mansion remodeled as headquarters for Neknej. I’d like to build a zero energy efficient secure home on the slope about even with the Mansion but 800' southwest to take advantage of a more southern exposure. We’d still be close to the Raven’s Perch and security would be easier. In fact, I think once we move into our new home we then remodel our present home to become the Neknej security headquarters. I think we could build a home with privacy for the adults and closeness for the family. We just need to put our ideas together to come up with a functional design. I’d also like to build well lit underground connector tunnels for all the buildings so we can move back and forth without worrying about the weather. We’d also use the tunnels for utilities. Don’t worry about the cost, I just transferred $10 million from my day trading account into the Neknej operations fund.”

The family really couldn’t refute Jenken’s reasoning. They were well aware that Jenken had more than enough funds to carry out her ideas. They didn’t really like having JJ and Judy in the apartment and being in one home would be nicer. The idea of planning a new home got everyone excited.

During their first month with Neknej the staff learned Jenken was the most remarkable and knowledgeable person they’d ever met. Although they had met her at Thanksgiving they never expected her to be so on top of things. She knew what they were doing before they even reported it. At first they had bristled that all final decisions had to have her approval but they learned to trust her decisions as she trusted them to present the best plans. The Neknej team was delighted with her decision to sponsor LGBT groups.

With all the time Jenken spent reading her many tags her eyes were opened to a major difference in attitudes about the LGBT community between Europe and the USA. There were those who were still bigoted but as a whole Europe was more accepting and supportive of the LGBT.

At their end of month meeting Jenken delighted the Staff. “You know I’m an intersexed XX, XY and XXY triple chimera. Neknej Enterprises is and will be LGBT friendly. Each of us has connections in the LGBT community and as a private corporation all future employees will sign a pledge as part of their employment package to support LGBT. Neknej Enterprises has as one of it’s charter goals to donate 1% of all profit to charity. I’d like to set up as a charity umbrella group to coordinate and support LGBT organizations across the country and world. This charity will be a clearing house for materials and provide a way to share successful ideas. It will also provide financial aid for legal actions. I’d like you to contact every LGBT support group to determine if they’d be interested in joining a funded umbrella LGBT support charity. They will at no time be asked to financially support the umbrella group although we’d like their feedback. I want a website set up with a presence on all social media. Each month we’ll feature a prominent LGBT group, spotlight an LGBT supporter, and feature an LGBT person of the month. I’m volunteering to be the initial person of the month. I intend to set myself up as a prime example of a successful LGBT person and NEKNEJ Enterprises as an open and affirming LGBT business.”

“I have a lot of plans,” Jenken continued. “I want every subcomponent of Neknej to be manned and if possible run by LGBT individuals or friends. We’ll need an armed security presence led by someone who is ex-military. Neknej Security will not only provide security for Neknej Enterprises facilities and staff, it will do so for myself and family. Eventually they should be able to provide armed security for hire. I also want to form a contracting/construction arm, Neknej Construction. They will be in charge of all new construction, remodeling, and facility maintenance. I’d like both to be up and running in a month. I have found several individuals who I think would be appropriate to lead these new operations. I’d like you to contact them and see if they’re interested. If they are, bring them in for a face to face with me similar to how I did for you. It’s in our best interest they don’t find out I’m only three until that point.”

The staff chuckled and agreed.

Jenken’s first choice to head Neknej Contracting leapt at the chance. Kirk Manning had been in construction work for 20 years. No one ever had a complaint with his work or his work ethic. However, when his employers discovered he was gay, the news spread to his co-workers and the harassment began. To his credit he never allowed himself to be lured into fighting. But any chance for advancement was eliminated. After the initial interviews with the Neknej staff, he was called back for an interview with the owner.

Upon arrival at the Mansion, Kirk waited in the lobby for his interview. The fact the company was openly LGBT and had sought him out because he was gay was a refreshing change. A bit nervous and hopeful that his life was finally looking up, he smiled when the cute little girl wondered into the room. She was wearing a pink coverall, pink sneakers, a pink plastic hard hat with twin pigtails and tool belt full of plastic toy tools. He smiled as he watched her check the hinges of the door she’d entered and ‘tighten’ the screws. Then she walked to the wall and began tapping on it with her hammer while listening closely to the sound. She moved back and forth tapping with each rotation shorter than the last. With his practiced ear he could tell she was locating the stud. When she took a piece of chalk and marked the spot he pursed his lips and nodded his head approvingly. “I’m impressed. You found the stud,” he smiled when she turned and looked at him.

“Thank you,” Jenken smiled and did a mock curtsey. “We need ‘lectric here. Are you a ‘lectrican?”

“I’ve done my share of wiring,” he replied.

“Good. There is a circuit we can tap downstairs,” Jenken replied. “Can you cut a hole here so we can fish a wire up?”

“Well, you really do seem to know what you’re doing,” Kirk smiled. “But I’m afraid I can’t help you right now. I’m waiting to be interviewed by the owner. If I get hired and he wants to put an outlet there I’ll be glad to help you.”

“Hmmf,” Jenken sneered a bit. “What makes you think the owner is a man?”

The cute girl’s curt response caught him off guard. “I apologize for being presumptuous,” Kirk backpedalled thinking the little girl might be the daughter of the owner. “I just assumed the owner would be a man. If anyone should be aware of inequality it should be me.”

“I guess you should,” Jenken replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “As a gay man you’ve experienced your share of misconceptions.”

“Whoa,” Kirk gasped clearly taken aback by the little girl’s remark. “I guess you know who I am.”

“Of course, Mr Manning,” Jenken smiled. “If your interview goes well you’ll be head of Neknej Contracting and build our new home. By the way, I’m Jenken. Now, please come with me so we can get the new outlet installed.”

“Ahh, what about my interview,” Kirk asked totally baffled by the little girl.

“Showing me how to put in the outlet is the interview,” Jenken replied with a cute smile. “We have tools in the basement. Come on.” With that she turned and headed out the door.

Kirk was bewildered. The interview was showing the kid how to put in an outlet? After a brief hesitation he stood and followed the girl out to where the receptionist sat. “Ahh,” Kirk said as he pointed at the girl as she descended the steps to the lower level. “The little girl wants me to put in an electrical outlet?”

“If that’s what she wants, you’d better do it,” she smiled. “Jenken can be quite a handful but don’t underestimate her and don’t be bashful.”

“But the interview,” Kirk asked with clear confusion.

“Will be completed AFTER you show Jenken what she wants,” the receptionist smiled.

“O-kay,” Kirk said as he turned to follow Jenken. In the basement utility room was a tool box, a coil of 14-2 gauge non metallic wiring, a voltage meter, a rotary plunge saw, a tape measure, a utility knife, a needle nose pliers with a wire cutter, a PVC outlet box, a capped junction box with a single cable to a circuit breaker panel and a wire coat hanger. The little girl stood by the tool box smiling. Everything he needed to install the new outlet was there. This had to be the craziest interview ever!

“Please tell me what you’re doing and why so I can learn,” Jenken declared.

“Only if you promise never to do anything like this on your own,” Kirk replied as he looked into the girl’s sparkling eyes.

“Of course,” Jenken replied. “I’m curious, not stupid.”

Her reply made Kirk chuckle. First he opened the breaker box to check the wire to the junction box was properly installed to the circuit breaker. Once sure he turned off the breaker and opened the junction box to find the wire properly clamped in with the ends ready to be connected to another wire. Step by step Kirk set about installing the new electrical outlet explaining each step to Jenken. After the outlet was installed Jenken picked up a box from the receptionists desk as they walked back into the waiting room, then waited while Kirk checked the outlet.

“There it is Jenken, everything is working,” Kirk smiled at the perky girl. “Now, can you tell your mother I’m ready for the interview?”

“I could but she’s waiting tables down at the Raven’s Perch,” Jenken replied with a giggle.

“Okay,” Kirk sighed. “Then can you tell whoever is going to interview me?”

“Of course,” Jenken smiled perkily as she placed the box on the floor and stepped up to the outlet to plug in the cord.

Kirk frowned as he looked at the box as lettering appeared: “You’re hired!”

“I apologize for putting you through this,” Jenken smiled. “Neknej is my name spelled backwards. I’m the owner.”

Kirk was thoroughly confused. Was he being punked?

Jenken giggled as he walked over to the door marked ‘president’. “Please, come into my office.”

Kirk followed with a bit of trepidation. Inside was a kid friendly desk facing ten computer screens on racks and a conference table.

“Please, have a seat,” Jenken smiled as Kirk sat at the conference table. Picking up the phone she hit a speed dial button. “Pete, please bring in the contract.”

A moment later Pete Williams, the Neknej manager came in with a folder. From it he took a contract and laid it on the table before Kirk. “Welcome to Neknej Enterprises.”

Kirk’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the simple contract with generous terms. Then he looked at Pete with a totally perplexed expression upon his face. “Is this for real? I feel like I’m being punked. I don’t want to sound ungrateful and I mean no disrespect Jenken, but you’re a bit young to be the owner.”

“I’m the owner, founder and boss,” Jenken chuckled. “I started a day trading fund with $100,000 at the beginning of September. My worth is growing by 50% every week. On January 1 I pulled $10 million from my day trading fund to finance Neknej to hire you and others. On March 1 I’ll pull $1 billion dollars from the fund for Neknej. By the 2nd week of May the day trading fund will top off at $100 billion. At that point I’ll be able to draw an average of $50 billion a week.”

“That’s impossible,” Kirk declared. “Now I know I’m being punked!”

“Mr. Manning, Kirk,” Pete chuckled. “You are NOT being punked. Jenken is the most unique individual I’ve ever met.”

“Then she can’t be three years old like I thought,” Kirk stated. “What is she, a midget?”

“I turned 3 on Thanksgiving,” Jenken smiled.

“Kirk, you’ve been listening to Jenken speak since you entered this office,” Pete informed him. “But you failed to notice she’s never moved her lips. She’s been talking to us telepathically.”

“Now that’s impossible,” Kirk frowned sure he was being punked.

“No it’s not, Kirk, you’re not being punked,” Jenken was audibly giggling as she mentally spoke to Kirk. “I’m quite real. One of a kind, but totally real.”

Kirk’s eyes grew as wide as saucers as he realized Jenken was indeed speaking telepathically. His mind nearly boggled as she explained the circumstances of her birth, triple being, and chimerism. Totally blown away, he signed the contract.

Construction on the new Raven home began in mid February. By then Jenken pulled a similar interview with Kirsten Bell, who signed on as the head of Neknej Security. She had a great deal of input into making sure the new home featured up to date security. Kirsten was a MTF transgender retired Navy Seal. She was still in transition but eagerly took the job. Neknej Security started in the headquarters mansion and Kirsten worked out of an office while living in one of the apartments above the Raven’s Perch. She promptly began hiring a core of ex-military to form the back bone of the security service.

Jenken’s earlier searches of databases revealed thousands of secret bank accounts in Swiss Banks as well as several other nations that provided discreet banking services. In most cases she’d been unable to determine who controlled access to the accounts. With her increased abilities thanks to the vast power from the vortex she was now able to access, Jenken plumbed the world’s computerized energy emanations for the owners. If the owner wasn’t already tagged, she tapped others who were tagged to locate them so she could tag them. Once contact was made, she was able to determine if the funds were legitimately earned or if they were obtained illegally. There were thousands of secret bank accounts that held billions of dollars that had been illegally obtained. Since the money was tainted, Jenken decided to take some of it with the aim that it benefit humanity by establishing a charity to spend the reclaimed tainted money for good purposes. What she needed was a brave principled Swiss citizen to set up numbered accounts and transfer ill-gotten funds sitting in secret accounts to new accounts. Once the owners of the illicit accounts realized they’d been emptied they’d most likely come looking for revenge. Of course, Jenken would not allow the person to suffer. If nothing else, Jenken could cause the selected person to have a fatal stroke.

The week after officially opening Neknej, Jenken reviewed her Swiss tags, deciding on a dying cancer ravaged elderly devout Jewish man with no surviving family. Born in 1931, Kurt Goldstein had used the strength of his faith to endure the Nazi Concentration Camps as a child and teen. After the war, Mr. Goldstein became a hard working man earning a very good living but had never been wealthy simply because he always gave freely of what he had to help those in need even if it left him with nothing. For him the deprivation he’d endured in the concentration camps made living on a shoestring budget while free acceptable as long as he was doing good for mankind. With scraggly long white hair and full beard and wearing tattered clothes befitting a homeless person, Mr Goldstein was a deeply pious man who disdained organized religion because any faith that becomes religion loses it’s spontaneity as it becomes bogged down in the rules and laws. He firmly believed he’d survived the Nazis concentration camps because God had a plan for his life. While interred, he heard the voice of an angel in his head that told him what to do. Time and again obeying the voice had saved his life. Now that he was near death, doubts that God had some big plan for him were becoming frequent. Knowing this, Jenken contacted Kurt Goldstein telepathically speaking to him as she did with her family. Kurt quickly overcame his initial fear that the strange child-like angelic voice in his head was a sign of his mind failing. With tremendous elation he accepted the angelic communications as a sign God was once more talking to him.

Because of his unflinching faith, even in the agony of his last days, Kurt assumed he was being contacted by an angel who would finally reveal God’s plan for him. Jenken neither confirmed or disavowed the dying man’s assumption. When the angel explained the plan to set up a world wide charity partially funded by the illegal money hidden in secret accounts, Kurt eagerly agreed. It would be a final act of revenge against the criminal current equivalent of the Nazis, people who illegally prospered at the expense of innocent victims. The next day the failing feeble old man went to the main office of the USB (Union Bank of Switzerland) in Zurich. Jenken supplied the information needed to access several multi-million dollar numbered secret accounts that funded Al-Qaeda as well as accounts held by drug lords and harsh dictators. Kurt calmly withdrew 99% of the funds from dozens of illicit accounts and redeposited it into three new numbered accounts he established. The next day he did the same at the Credit Suisse bank. The six accounts were given the same name, Hope (English), Esperar (Spanish), Hoffen (German), Hoppas (Swedish), Harap (Maylay) and Umut (Turkish).

As Jenken fed Kurt the information he needed to access the illegal accounts and to set up the six new numbered accounts Jenken delved deeply into Kurt’s psyche and body. Lymphatic cancer was destroying Kurt. The man would be lucky to survive another week. The fact the man was at peace with God and ready to die impressed Jenken.

Jenken decided to try to see if she could help Kurt survive. She’d been toying with telekinesis in conjunction with remote viewing and had used her reiki abilities to cure Grandpa James’s aneurysm and enhanced his immune system as well as that of her family. None of them had even the slightest sniffle of a cold or even a bit of watery eyes from spring time allergies since. She’d also used the remote viewing and reiki to enhance her and her family’s bodies to become better musicians. But when she’d done those enhancements she’d been physically close to the person. Kurt was nearly half a world away.

Jenken waited until Kurt went to bed. Monitoring him via the tag she’d placed she waited for him to fall asleep. It didn’t take long for her to realize the pain wracked old man couldn’t get comfortable enough to doze off. Jenken used a mental tendril to shut down the pain receptors in Kurt’s brain allowing him to fall asleep. Increasing the power of the mental probe he split the initial tag into multiple tendrils which entered Kurt’s bloodstream. The man’s withered body was inundated with hundreds of nodular growths and tumors throughout his lymphatic system as well as his spleen, kidneys, liver and bone marrow. It was an advanced case of follicular lymphoma. Keeping Kurt asleep Jenken located the nearest electrical outlet in the small bedroom. Plunging a mental tendril into the outlet, Jenken used telekinesis to withdraw and channel the electricity, controlling the amperage to focus the power into what can best be described as a miniature high power pinpoint laser beam. Carefully she focused the laser to cauterize the tiny blood vessels that supplied the cancerous nodules with nourishment while keeping the veins intact. It took half an hour to figure out the best way to cauterize the blood supply to a few nodules, but once she found the best way, her mental tendrils scurried throughout Kurt’s body until every cancerous nodule was sealed off from Kurt’s cardiovascular system. Within minutes of being sealed off the tumors, deprived of nutrients and oxygen, began to die.

With the constant drain of nutrition thus ended, Kurt woke up after the best sleep he’d had in months feeling better than he had in quite a while. Of course he had no idea the lymphomas that had been starving the rest of his body had ceased their fatal cannibalism. For the first time in weeks he ate a hearty breakfast. Still weak but feeling stronger, he assumed it was his last rally before a total physical crash. When he heard his ‘angel’ suggest he go for a walk and enjoy the beautiful winter day, he did so eagerly.

Jenken kept her tendrils inside Kurt monitoring his condition. When she was sure a tumor had died, she attempted to obliterate the tissue with minute but precise high frequency vibrations. After a bit of experimentation she hit the right frequency and the dead cellular tissue lost cohesion and began to liquify. Slowly the veins drained the murky liquid from the tumor. Once successful, she began doing the same to other dead tumors. At the same time she tuned-up and energized his kidneys to filter the debris from his blood and flush it from his body. Jenken’s telekinetic abilities were growing.

By the end of the day Kurt was tired but still upright and had eaten a good lunch and dinner. The only downer was that he was constantly thirsty and relieving his bladder more than he had ever done. Not only that but his urine was darkly cloudy. He assumed it was his body shedding his dying flesh. That assumption was correct, but not for the reasons he thought.

It took Kurt three days before he realized he was growing stronger. The large tumors were noticeably smaller and still shrinking. Hope soared in his heart. With true faith he called on his ‘angel’ to ask if he had received divine intervention. Jenken sent a mental smile to the old man again neither confirming nor denying the intervention. Kurt chose to thank God. Jenken had no problem pretending to be an angel sent by God for this good man, after all, God, in his/her many forms, did use humans to perform good deeds and miracles so in that sense Jenken was merely God’s tool.

A week later Kurt went to his physician who was totally amazed by the unheard of remission at such a late stage. Most nodules were gone and the few that remained were greatly reduced. Kurt refused to become a guinea pig although he did allow tests and blood samples to be taken as the doctors sought to understand what had occurred. Kurt simply explained that God had given him a mission and a reprieve.

While that was happening Jenken used some of his mental probes to create untraceable computer transfers to remove funds from hundreds of secret numbered accounts that held illegally obtained funds. The withdrawal orders simply appeared out of nowhere and the cyber trails of the electronically removed money became so entwined and convoluted they became untraceable. At the same time, equally untraceable deposits appeared in the six HOPE accounts Kurt had established. While the amounts deposited always equaled the amounts withdrawn, since the deposits were randomly split the funds between the six accounts, none of the withdrawals from any account matched the deposits in any of the six.

With Jenken guiding him Kurt trimmed his long hair and trimmed his beard, and purchased decent clothing which totally changed his appearance to that of a well but inexpensively dressed almost dapper old gentleman. By the beginning of March Kurt began establishing a charity to help people in need help themselves. The method was to bypass corrupt governments and officials to get aid to those who needed it most. The goal was to give financial grants to small villages in third world nations to establish wells, sewer systems, roads and other infrastructure as well as interest free loans to entrepreneurs to start small businesses. Kurt set things up and incorporated, including setting up checking and saving accounts for the charity. Jenken made traceable $1,000,000 transfers from each of the six HOPE accounts into the charity’s accounts to serve as the initial cash flow. What was not revealed was where the funds in the six HOPE accounts came from. The charity was named TAMTF, which stood for TEACH A MAN TO FISH from the proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Kurt was listed as founder and president and it’s charter called for absolute and total financial openness. Every penney taken in and spent by the checking and savings accounts would be publically accounted yielding total transparency.

Healed of the cancer and absolutely convinced God had at long last given him the mission promised when he survived the Nazi concentration camps, Kurt was a man driven by faith tested zeal to do what God had set forth. Using funds from the account, Kurt began hiring a basic staff for TAMTF (pronounced tam tough). Using her tags, Jenken guided him to honest people who sincerely wanted to help humanity and had the skills TAMTF needed. All wages/salaries were in the middle class range which meant having a reasonable amount of discretionary income so that they did not live from hand to mouth as the poor do. This meant their earnings allowed them roughly a third of their income left for discretionary spending after paying for basic food, shelter and taxes. As head of the charity, Kurt set his own salary a good deal lower than those he hired to set an example for the staff and as evidence the charity was sincere in it’s intentions. All employees knew their earnings would be publically listed on the TAMTF website. The same held true for all expenses including the promise to see that 99% of every dollar collected would be used to assist those who needed help. All donations would be equally listed, including all donations from the six HOPE accounts. What would not be disclosed is where the HOPE accounts received their anonymous funding.

The six HOPE accounts had been set up by an old frail gaunt wild haired dying man who bore virtually no resemblance to the vibrant man Kurt had become. Furthermore there was no traceable evidence linking the HOPE accounts to Kurt or TAMTF since all surveillance video of those who visited the banks the day the accounts were established was mysteriously corrupted and unrecoverable. Jenken could easily transfer funds from illicit accounts to the HOPE accounts without any evidence of collusion.

One of the first things done by the TAMTF staff was to establish a website to communicate with the world. The charity asked for poor towns and villages and oppressed people around the world to send requests for help to TAMTF. All TAMTF staff meetings were recorded and posted on line. TAMTF would send field inspection teams to evaluate requested needs and report back. Each team would do double duty as investigative and communications/camera crew with live internet, cell phone or satellite hookup to record all they did as well as whoever and whatever they encountered. Everything they did and everyone they encountered was broadcast live and posted on the website. In that way they would expose corruption in the governments and officials who were accustomed to being bribed and otherwise siphoning funds from charities thus limiting the amount that reached those in need. To increase TAMTF funds, agreements with commercial TV producers were made to utilize the recordings to create a reality show. An online account was set up to accept online donations.

While that was going on Adele and Sean were learning the satisfaction and joy of physical work and interaction with the public as they worked the various jobs in The Raven’s Perch. Their former smug narrow superior outlooks had been completely erased. For the first time in their lives they felt satisfaction with their lives. In April Adelle and Sean announced they had purchased the Kutztown Campground - The Nei Dietch Meihl (New Dutch Mill), located on a bend of the Saucony Creek in Richmond Township just 4 1/3 miles from Moselem. Jenken knew the site was just on the other side of the road from Schofer Cave. It had transient and seasonal campsites as well as efficiency apartments. They planned to expand and modernize the facility as well as add activities and attractions.

Just after Easter the Raven’s moved into their spacious state of the art new home. The shared areas were the kitchen, dining room, livingroom, game room formed the center of the dwelling. Four suites consisting of a master bedroom with bath and walk-in closet and two smaller bedrooms that shared a bath projected off the central shared area.

As soon as they moved into the new home, the construction team bean to remodel their former home into the headquarters for Neknej Security.

At the end of April the angel voice in Kurt’s head told him to send an e-mail to two popular pop stars as well as one popular Youtube musician explaining the concept of TAMTF and asking for a public starting donation. The request included asking each to be celebrity co-chairpersons and as such to be the public faces of the new charity. Jenken was the Youtube artist and the same request had been sent to all listing the names of the other two. This was done to prevent those investigating Jenken from wondering how he became involved in the new charity. Since the two singers had already been tagged by Jenken, he knew they would be open to such a far reaching and thoroughly open charity.

During the first week of May Jenken used his Face book account to announce he’d been contacted by Kurt Goldstein on behalf of TAMTF to assist in getting the new charity started. Included was the mission statement of the charity and the fact Jenken, via his corporation Neknej Enterprises, had established a dollar per dollar matching donation. For every public donation via the TAMTF website that was tagged ‘match Neknej’, the donation would be matched up to 1 million dollars. For most people Jenken’s mention and generous support of TAMTF was the first they heard of the new charity. Naturally the news agencies picked up the sizable donation and reported on the new charity only further spreading word of the new enterprise. It also brought Jenken into the limelight. The world wondered how a 3 ½ year old could make such a donation. By the next day small donations were steadily flowing into the Tamtf account from around the world. Internet searches for Jenken Raven swamped the search engines. The youtube music videos of The Ravens were gobbled up.

Jenken and Neknej Enterprises were thus brought to full public exposure. Jenken was no longer hiding in the shadows. Requests to Neknej for information about the wunderkind exploded. Neknej had prepared a video biography on Jenken detailing her tragic birth, her miraculous survival, her resultant triparte brain, being intersexed and her chimerism. The hits on the various The Ravens websites exploded and their music downloads soared.

At the time she posted to Facebook Jenken also used her new-found fame to publically contact the two other celebrities to coordinate their efforts. The perky youngster used her childish appearance to her advantage by asking the well known pop stars to join her as celebrity co-chairpersons of the charity. Both were well known for their charity work and enthusiasm in helping those that needed aid. Once aware of Jenken’s uniqueness and as the public response to her Facebook announcement of her support for TAMTF exploded, each had their people check to see if Jenken truly was a three year old polymath and to check out TAMTF. Once the positive investigative results came back, it only took a tiny nudge from Jenken for each to agree to come on board as celebrity co-chairpersons.

The two songstresses set up a simultaneous skype meeting with Jenken. Jenken was simply blown away by their upbeat bubbly personalities. (One drawback of tagging was that it only allowed knowledge and feelings, it did not reflect personality.) Katy Perry is a sparkplug of love and concern publically supporting many charities. The other songstress was Miley Cyrus. The former Disney diva grew out of her tween pop star status and moved into adulthood with a controversial rebellious declaration of being true to herself. Despite that self-indulgent wild rebellious image she is dedicated to helping others and in 2012 ranked second to Taylor Swift in charitable giving. She was also quite vocal in support of LGBT issues. A charity concert in Zurich was scheduled for the beginning of August.

The cyber meeting with Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus had a definite effect on Jenken’s sense of self. Their self confidence and positive identity with femininity touched the innate femininity within her. While mom Jane, grandmom June, and aunt Judy were feminine and self confident, they had not had to deal with an entrenched male dominated business to achieve their success. The men in their lives respected and loved them as equals. But they had, especially Judy before linking with JJ, all felt the sexist walls men have emplaced to keep females in their ‘place’. Jenken’s many female tags were replete with encounters with male resistance to female success. Jenken’s experiences with adult resistance and reluctance toward children as well as her sexual duality were similar. However with her psychic abilities she had not found much to be a significant barrier although she could certainly understand how normal people could be intimidated. Now with more worldly experience, she could see not only those issues, but also the daunting issues facing lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgender. Jenken had encountered quite a bit of push-back and outright hostility about her gender presentation although she’d always empathetically soothed those issues. Still, as her real world exposure expanded, she encountered more and more gender role bigotry. It gave her great concern and a lot more sympathy for the LGBT who had to face those issues just to be themselves.

Jen was furious at the ignorant hatred and bigotry. Ken also felt offended and quite angry. Jenken was upset with the status quo and wanted to find a solution but other than forcing the haters to change, which she was quite reluctant to do, she met with little success. However, those who were ambivalent about the issues could be nudged into supporting LGBT rights.
With Jenken’s full emersion in girlhood, Ken had spent over six months being submerged in Jen’s girlishness. Looking at their triparte existence, he admitted he really felt no need to express his masculinity especially since males in general were too concerned with their machismo presentation to allow themselves to freely express themselves. Their true selves were suppressed for the sake of manly appearance. When he really thought about it, he realized he was transgender! This only reinforced Ken’s decision to yield his masculinity and fully present as a girl. When Ken announced his decision to go female the family voiced their concerns but Ken had no problem convincing them that he was transgender. With that he fully immersed himself in the girlishness of her triparte existence.

What Jenken also discovered was that while males expected females to be at least somewhat subservient, few could resist bubbly femininity. In the two songstresses she saw that at times they used their girlishness to get around male reluctance without compromising their integrity. In their own way all three were decidedly girlish yet firm in their goals and desires.

{:-)

With spring upon them Jenken insisted Kirsten accompany her on a hike up Moselem Hill. Kirsten was still in awe of the three and a half year old wunderkind marveling at her intellect and business acuity. As they hiked up the power line right of way Jenken paused.

“I’m about to blow your mind,” Jenken giggled. “Please don’t be startled by what’s about to happen. Remain still and be quiet.”

Kirsten watched as Jenken closed her eyes, spread her arms wide and tilted her head back until her face pointed to the sky. Kirsten shivered as she felt a pleasant tingling slowly envelop her. It only took her a moment to realize some sort of energy was emanating from Jenken. Soft scrambling noises began to come from the brush and forest surrounding them. First to appear was a squirrel in the branches of a tree, then another, soon over a dozen. Then rabbits began to hop from the underbrush to surround Jenken, many rubbing against her legs. Birds began to sweep in chirping and chittering. A bluejay landed on her extended right forearm. A cardinal on her left. A robin landed on her shoulder. Kirsten’s mouth dropped open in awe of what she was seeing. Louder noises came from the trees on the right. A large buck with velvety points of his emerging rack led first one than four does accompanied by five spotted fawns. Raccoons, chipmunks, birds of every description descended upon the adorable child. Kirsten realized Jenken had been right... her mind was blown... or so she thought.

“Welcome everyone,” Kristen heard Jenken say. Or so she thought until she heard the birds and animals respond with their own hellos and welcomes. Her eyes flew wide open as she realized she could understand the animals!

“I never revealed my psychic abilities to you,” Jenken smiled. “In addition to all you know I can do I’m also an interspecies arbitrator. I can summon and talk to the animals and birds. The tingle you felt was my message going out to invite them to meet me and guarantee their safety. The predators know not to hunt until five minutes after I dismiss everyone. Besides, they also enjoy the chance to be able to freely and openly communicate with each other.”

“How...” was all Kirsten could say.

“It’s part of my abilities,” Jenken answered as they began walking uphill with the birds flying about them and the animals scampering about. “It’s a result of the injuries I suffered when mommy was hit by the debris of the cash register. Those psychic abilities are how I’m able to be such an effective daytrader.”

The pair continued talking as they climbed while the conversations with and between the animals flowed about them. They emerged into the overgrown field at the top of the hill and walked to the center standing upon the bare rock. Kirsten had been there several times while scoping out the lay of the land. It was a beautiful peaceful site. But now that she was with Jenken she could feel the raw power of the earth.

“This is a place of power,”“ Jenken told her. “It’s a focal point of the earth’s natural essence. It’s always here and it makes you feel good whenever you’re here. I’m like a lightening rod in that I draw the power together and concentrate it. That’s what you can feel. I can channel that power and use it for good. This is why I bought the hill. I need it protected as well as my family.”

“I can understand that,” Kirsten replied as she looked on in amazement at the variety and number of animals and birds that continued to arrive. “I guess fencing it is out of the question.”

“Yes,” Jenken smiled. “In fact, I’d like to open this area up to the public. You don’t have to worry though. I can help with the security. Look around you. You’re seeing the sharpest eyes and the best senses of hearing and smelling in the world. They are also quite unobtrusive. No one would be suspicious of living sensors.”

“The birds and animals...” Kirsten gasped as she looked around understanding how the animals were constantly aware of all that happened around them.

“We’ll have to provide safety and food and perhaps shelter for them,” Jenken smiled. “If we provide the predators with all their food they’ll stop hunting and devote their time to observing. All of them will continue living their lives and be our eyes and ears.”

Kirsten nodded her head. “How will they notify us when something is up?”

“I’m working on that,” Jenken said as she explained her ability to tag and flag brains. “Right now I’m the conduit. I already have all these animals and birds tagged and flagged. Whenever one of the flags is triggered I instantly know. I can jump into their brains and see what set off the flag. I’m working on a system that can do that for me. The problem is each brain frequency must be isolated from the swirling mass of frequencies. I do it naturally but creating supersensitive devices that can reliably do it is daunting. Plus each brain will have to have it’s own device. Once I get that accomplished I’ll need to develop a way to ‘read’ what triggered the flag.”

“That sounds impossible,” Kirsten nodded.

“It is,” Jenken giggled. “Current science and medicine can only detect a tiny portion of individual emanations and then only if the brain is immersed in a sensor array. Even then they don’t fully understand what they find. Trying to find those weak frequencies more than a foot or so from the brain is far beyond current mechanical abilities. However, since I can do exactly that, I have the advantage of knowing what to look for and am making progress to develop a living system.”

“Anything you come up with will have to be secure, isolated and totally off the grid,” Kirsten nodded. “It’ll have to be protected from EMPs and have an independent power supply.”

“That shouldn’t be too difficult,” Jenken said. “Any thing I devise will be biological, not mechanical. I’ve had some success tweaking insect brains to monitor individual animal brain frequencies so I know I’m going in the right direction. However, I need a secure private laboratory to make real progress.”

“You’ve tweaked insect brains...” Kirsten asked totally awed by the wunderkind.

“Yeah. I can ‘see’ into living organisms at the sub cellular level and telekinetically manipulate individual cells,” Jenken replied. “I’ve used insects because they’re short lived and not really sentient. However if I move up to more complex brains to accomplish what is needed then I face the moral dilemma of subverting a sentient being. You don’t have to worry about a ‘Planet of the Apes’ scenario. I’m not doing genetic manipulation which would be self replicating. Everything I’ve done and will do is not self replicating nor will I allow it to become self aware. But I will need a state of the art secret and secure bioengineering lab and a small knowledgeable staff to assist. I’ve already screened people with the skills I need and they are psychologically open to doing what is needed.”

Kirsten felt her mind spinning. “How can you do that?”

“I have virtually every human being tagged,” Jenken said. “I have those in the business and financial world flagged to give me a heads up on upcoming situations that will create profit scenarios on the stock market. It’s why I’m so effective with my day trading. Any knowledge I need, I can tap into tagged individuals who have the knowledge and retrieve it.”

Kirstens mind was boggling. “Is that how you found me and the others?”

“Yes,” Jenken answered. “I can download knowledge without touching a person’s individuality. I needed a head of security who was LGBT so I searched those who were capable. You floated to the top of the list as the best qualified. I only probed deep enough to find out if you were honest, trustworthy and open to new situations. Although I can probe into a person’s private thoughts, I have only done so on a handful of individuals in order to help them. You nor anyone on the staff have been probed below surface thoughts. Your inner being is secure.”

“This is a hell of a lot to take in,” Kirsten declared as she looked around at the still talking animals and birds.

“That’s why we’re here,” Jenken sincerely replied. “As head of security I had to come clean to you.”

Kirsten smiled. The amazing kid had spunk.

Jenken thanked the animals for attending then dismissed them with the promised safe conduct time. Then she and Kirsten headed downhill.

Over the next month the unfinished 50' by 30' four carriage house cum garage by the mansion was remodeled as a state of the art biolab. A lab director was hired along with a 3 person crew. The director oversaw the renovation and equipped the lab with state of the art equipment.

In mid May the Neknej Enterprises day trading account reached $100 billion. The eyes of every major brokerage firm in the world were on Jenken as were those of dozens of governments. No one could figure out how a toddler could so effectively and consistently manipulate twenty international stock exchanges. While a few other traders had very occasionally hit a 50% profit for a week, none had ever managed it for two consecutive weeks. Yet Jenken had made a weekly 50% profit for thirty seven straight weeks! If the profits had been made in one stock exchange, they could assume there had to be some sort of insider trading. But to have done so in twenty exchanges across the world... there was no way only one person could be consistently getting insider info from each. They searched and searched but not find even a hint of impropriety.

As before, Jenken kept an eye on those investigating her which was especially easy since she had all the players tagged and flagged. She had plenty of damning evidence on all who were investigating her. If they started getting nasty in their investigations they found themselves scuttling for cover. One of the things Jenken decided was to keep the day trading account at $100 billion, transferring all excess into Neknej’s cash accounts at the end of trading each week. The excess money would be used in several ways. Valid charities throughout the world would receive 10%. Real estate investments would take 50%. The other 40% would be for discretionary spending, prioritized by the Raven family and the staff of Neknej. The weekly cash transfer to Neknej Enterprises never dropped below $50 billion.

To fulfill Jenken’s goal to protect the positive power sites located near her home from corruption as well as to provide a safe place to recharge her spirit, she launched her plan in mid May. To do this she started a tax-exempt subcomponent of Neknej Enterprises, the Maidencreek Area Independent Dynamic Environmental Narrative, or MAIDEN. The project would protect the local linked places of power while at the same time preserving the environment and opening the protected area for environmentally friendly protective hiking/bike riding/horse riding and rafting/kayaking/canoeing while simultaneously preserving farmland from development. Jenken allocated the first weekly $50 billion dollars withdrawn from the day trading account and placed it in Neknej cash accounts to fund the project. JJ and Judy would head the project when they graduated from KU at the end of May.

The first step was JJ and Judy taking Jenken to every farm and property that would be directly impacted by the MAIDEN plan to explain the purpose and to either purchase or long term lease the land that would be involved. Since all were local and were well acquainted with the Raven Family and the Raven’s Perch they agreed to the meeting. Even though most of the sites Jenken wanted were not for sale Jenken used her psychic abilities to create a positive atmosphere that put the owners at ease. It was easy for Jenken to mentally probe each owner to find out what it would take to make a deal. Offering 50 percent more than market value many sales or generous renewable long term leases with first right of purchase were agreed upon. Neknej Enterprises bought the properties containing Onyx Cave, Dreibelbis Cave, Dragon Cave, Crystal Cave and Schofer Cave. All the remaining homes and property in Moselem as well as those nearby along Church Hill Road and Gehret Road were purchased outright which brought all of Moselem Hill under Neknej control. In addition the needed strips of property bordering the Saucony Creek and Maidencreek were purchased or leased. The corporation paid for all development and subdivision fees as well as any taxes. This allowed the farmers to continue living and working on their farms but with significant bank accounts to back their efforts.

Jenken also used her psychic ability to expedite getting the Federal, State and local variances and permits needed to make Maiden a reality. Everything planned was designed for minimal environmental impact and in fact sought to restore and preserve as much as possible to pristine condition.

MAIDEN was designed to establish and maintain a massive outdoor hiking-biking-horse trail complex along the final six miles of the Saucony Creek as well as the Maidencreek from the WK&S Railroad in Kempton south to Moselem. The two streams would also be used for rafting/canoe/kayaking. The WK&S Railroad, a tourist railroad, although successful was chronically low on funds. MAIDEN stepped in to bankroll operation. Included as part of the deal was financing allowing the WK&S to hire several full time employees who would upgrade the track and facilities as well as oversee the reconstruction of the track reconnecting the short line to the Conrail tracks in Evanstown. Stone arch bridges http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddelay/433028478/ would be constructed across Moselem Creek and the Saucony Creek to carry the reinstalled tracks. Once the reconstruction was completed, the relaid track would be leased to the WK&S Railroad for inclusion in it’s rail tours. Two existing covered bridges, one over the Saucony and the other over the Maidencreek, would be integrated into the tourism plan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNnESwrKTcM Start 1:02 to 3:16

Crystal Cave was a functioning business. http://www.crystalcavepa.com/video/crystal_cave.wmv Onxy Cave had been a functioning business but had been closed for thirty years and needed to be upgraded for reopening. Dragon Cave, Dreibelbis Cave, and Schofer Cave would be restricted admittance since the entrance of each was narrow, slippery, and sloped sharply downward. Only experienced spelunkers would be allowed access. It would take two years for the entire project to be completed. The village of Virginville was destined to be the hub of MAIDEN. The area businesses would prosper greatly from the tourism. One of those businesses was the campground owned by Adelle and Sean Murphy.

With a second dose of $50 billion funding, MAIDEN donated $10 billion to the Berks County Agricultural Land Preservation Board which oversees the implementation of the Berks County Agricultural Conservation Easement (ACE) Program. Easements prevent the development of farms for any other purpose other than agricultural production, permanently preserving large clusters of farms. The ACE Program encourages landowners to make a long-term commitment to agriculture by offering them financial incentives and security of land use as well as to protect farming operations from complaints of public nuisance against normal farming operations. Spending an average of $7.5 million a year since 1989 Berks County has preserved over 66,000 acres of farmland which ranks it first in Pennsylvania and third in the nation of preserved farmland. Having spent $195 million since 1989 Neknej’s massive donation would allow the program to explode.

Up to that point each Neknej building had a small electric generator as a back up energy supply. With the purchase of all the properties in Moselem, Jenken declared she wanted an independent self contained electric power grid. To that end she ordered a solar panel array covering an area 200' wide and 1000' long parallel to the Maidencreek starting 400' southwest of PA 662 WITH vertical windmills around the perimeter. It was also decided to put all utilities in the underground tunnels that connected all Neknej buildings with Neknej installing and maintaining the infrastructure

In addition, the deteriorating four span bridge that carried Pa 662 across the Maidencreek was slated by the State for replacement. Built in 1932 with a 50 year life expectancy it had already exceeded it’s design by over 30 years. The design the State had settled upon would construct a replacement bridge immediately south of the current span. Neknej offered to pay for the entire cost of construction if the design was altered to allow the soon to be reconstituted railroad to pass beneath the new bridge. This would require the former railbed to be lowered 20' leaving it 15' above the Maidencreek and above the flood line. With a tiny bit of mental nudging the State approved the plans.

The Biolab was up and running by the first week of June. Just like the mansion, the south/rear wall of the building was cut into the slope. A well concealed secret room 45' by 45' by 15' high was constructed into the hillside. The staff had set up the small hidden room with everything needed to keep insects alive. After a lot of research Jenken selected the white pine weevil as his host insect. While dangerous to pine trees in the wild, the weevil is not aggressive and with the right conditions can live fro 2 to 3 years. Jenken had the staff set up 150,000 individual incubator nests. The staff was to feed the insects and record their health and longevity with the ostentatious goal of determining how to extend their life. Each weevil was numbered and charted in a master data base. For his part Jenken psionically tweaked the brain of two insects to correspond to a tag of a particular bird, mammal, or reptile that formed the living grid around the Neknej Enterprises holdings. When the flag in the living grid actuated, it pinged the two insects. Jenken instantly knew the location of whatever created a ping, knowing the distance and direction from him to the ping. With three pings, he automatically knew the distance and direction the connected pings were from each other. Although the insect mimic pings all came from the lab room, there was enough separation that Jenken could triangulate the location of the original ping. By installing an ultra high intensity ultra sensitive detection system in the lab, it was possible to detect the simultaneous triple ping. From there it didn’t take much effort to set up a GPS grid that could pinpoint to within 6 inches of the original ping.

The difficult part was reading the pings. For that Jenken needed a sentient brain. She solved that issue by having the staff set up a collagen scaffolding of a cerebellum explaining she was going to attempt to clone part of her brain. While stunned, they had already learned there was little Jenken set her mind to that she couldn’t accomplish and agreed to assist her effort. After Jen and Ken fell asleep, Jenken mentally reached into Moselem Cave placing several of her tendrils in the power vortex to tap the earth’s essence as a power booster. Using her well honed reiki ability she plunged inside her body to harvest a few hundred stem cells from the layer of stem cells located over the ventricles deep within her brain. Next she guided the stem cells through her circulatory system to her nose, jamming them into a capillary located in her right nostril. At that point she induced the stem cells into stasis and surrounded it with a thin protective layer of pure essence. Cautiously she opened the tiny capillary until a small drop of blood oozed from the hole. Carefully she telekinetically grasped the encapsulated stem cells she’d harvested and drew them through the hole. As she healed the small hole she’d made in her nostril, she moved the stem cells out of her bedroom and out of the house. Once outside she flew the encapsulated cells to the biolab and into the secure lab room.

Jenken guided the stem cells to a carefully prepared lab dish that would bathe them in a fluid that provides oxygen and nutrients. Then once more utilizing her reiki ability she pushed the cells to multiply. When Jen and Ken woke in the morning, Jenken kept a close watch on the rapidly growing stem cells. After two days they had quadrupled at which point she moved the large mass of stem cells to a plastic skull with a brain shaped scaffold made from collagen immersing the entire thing in an oxygenated nutrient bath. Telekinetically she strategically planted the stem cells inside of the scaffold. Once all was in place she once more she pushed the stem cells to multiply and to begin to differentiate into the various cells found in the cerebellum. As blood vessels and veins formed she made sure they were identical to her own.

As her cloned brain developed, Jenken carefully monitored every detail. The staff was simply amazed as they monitored the effort. As the brain approached full development she projected several tendrils into the clone brain to instill her personal essence thus occupying and taking over the brain. Jenken applied a great deal of her telekinetic abilities to the newly made brain to ensure the development mimicked her cloned brain was intimately linked to the insect/living grid and able to interpret all pings. Since the clone brain had no connection to any physical sensations, it eagerly accepted Jenken’s imprint thus becoming a psychically linked twin. Jenken found it quite easy to develop a cloned brain/computer interlink. If a ping proved to be a security threat, the cloned brain could notify security of the threat as well as the severity and location. Since Jenken had her cloned brain tagged, any alert issued to security also went to her. Anytime a weevil seemed to be failing/dying, Jenken immediately knew and linked a new insect to the group to replace the fading component.

It took a weeks of carefully guided forced growth for the cloned brain to reach maturity. When the cloned brain reached the point where the nutrient bath was no longer able to sustain the continued growth, Jenken connected a triply redundant artificial life support system consisting of an artificial heart, a small dialysis machine, an artificial lung and an automated nutrition system. Jenken labeled her cloned brain Jenken 2.0 or JK2. It was intimately connected to and an extension of Jenken’s original brain.

Under Jenken’s guidance JK2 began reviewing and updating the psychic links to every mammal, reptile, bird, and insect withing a10 mile radius of Moselem. Those who knew Jenken recognized JK2 as Jenken and trusted their friend. It took three days to establish an interlocking grid that could detect any and all intrusions into and through the perimeter. These links would also allow Jenken to tag anything with a brain that entered or was born within the area thus maintaining complete coverage. JK2 also linked to a state of the art computer system with which she could communicate with the world. It featured an artificial voice that sounded just like Jenken. Jenken 2.0 linked her computer to that of Neknej Security. The explanation was that it was an experimental security and alarm system.

While she’d never really encountered any limits on her ability to monitor her trillion plus tags, the paired insect brains and her cloned brain greatly increased her ability to monitor her tags and flags.

James and June grew increasingly concerned Jenken was trying to do too much but as she’d done with Jane, JJ and Judy, she soothed their concerns and convinced them she was no where near overloading herself. They were also concerned that Ken had been subverted by the continual feminine presentation. The were simultaneously right and wrong. Although Jen and Ken were only four, since they were so intrinsically linked with Jenken, it was impossible that their childhood was not effected. The youngsters still thought independently but the exposure to Jenken as well as the need for Jenken to facilitate their bodily communication and coordination effected them. Their innocence and naivete were intact but their exposure to the adult activities Jenken performed had an effect. Both were far beyond normal four year old maturity which thus effected their play and interests. In addition, being so intimately connected with femininity only confirmed that Ken was transgender. Jenken assured the adults all was well and that Jen and Ken were deeply involved in their triple identity.

While there had been no criminal incidents at the Raven’s Perch, at times people became a bit over excited to be near Jenken. The security guard was easily able to handle all issues. The family agreed they had acted wisely in setting up the security before it was really needed. Neknej Security had already made arrangements to have the Raven’s Perch as well as the rental homes and the Neknej building and homes fitted out for a top of line security system.

Jenken immediately sent a tendril into the evildoer’s mind and froze the perp’s ability to control his limbs, locking them in place. Then she jumped into the victim, Hannah, to soothe her fears. The innocent child knew the man was about to hurt her and had been praying that God send an angel to rescue her. Thus inspired, Jenken wished she could appear as an angel. It was then she discovered that thanks to being linked to JK2 her telekinetic abilities were much greater than she’d supposed. Without conscious thought she tapped into the power vortex in Moselem Cave. Utilizing the earth’s innate positive power she tapped the myriad mass of individual mind emanations and the earth’s innate quantum power, actually converting the sub-atomic wave particles into real mass. Picturing herself as a powerful female avenging angel she materialized as such in the room Hannah was being held. She was quite muscular but not obscenely so, a very impressive statuesque amazon; wearing a green leather armor tunic over a short sleeved green chain mail dickie and green metal greaves carrying a scroll of justice in one hand with a sword in a scabbard mounted on her back. The joy in the eyes of the child and the abject terror in the eyes of the perp proved she had created the desired image.

“You are Satan’s spawn,” the imposing Amazon spoke with a venom filled voice. “God has sent me to save Hannah and send you to hell. You will never have the chance to carry out your vile plan to molest her and then dismember her while she still lives!” At that point she pulled the sword which began to flame once exposed to air. Clutching it in a two handed grasp she raised the flamed licked blade back above her head.

The man was beyond terror yet unable to move.

With a shout of rage she spoke. “I condemn you to Hell!” Then she swung the sword overhead aiming at the top of the man’s head.

Like a light saber from Star Wars the tip of the sword sliced cleanly through the basement ceiling as it streaked toward the man’s head. Micro seconds before impact she released control of his body. An expression of abject terror appeared on his face and his arms began to rise in a much too late futile attempt to fend off the inevitable impact. Both hands were quickly lopped off at his wrists before the blade easily and cleanly sliced through him evenly cleaving him in half. There was no blood as the flames instantly cauterized the gaping wounds. The sound and smell of sizzling meat momentarily filled the room and wisps of steam wafted away from the horrendous wound. Still sizzling and steaming, the halves of the man, with a few terrified fleeting thoughts of his doom before his brain ceased to function, toppled away from each other.

As soon as the deed was done Petra deftly returned the blade to it’s scabbard causing the flames engulfing the sword to flicker out of existence. Turning to the child, she knelt and hugged her while speaking. “Sweety, I’m Petra. God loves you, Hannah. Always remember that! Just as she sent me to save you today, God will always be with you! Now, let me lead you to safety.” With that she took the child’s hand and led her from the basement room.

Once upstairs they went to the phone where Petra told Hannah what to do. “Hannah, dial 911. Tell the operator what happened. I’ll stay with you until someone gets here to help you.”

Hannah picked up the phone and dialed 911.

“911, what is the nature of your emergency.”

In a clear childish voice she spoke. “A bad man was gonna hurt me but an angel came an saved me. She used her sword to send the bad man to hell. Can you help me?”

“Can you tell me your name,” the operator asked realizing she was talking to a very calm young child with a vivid imagination.

“I’m Hannah,” the child answered.

“Okay Hannah, is there an adult with you?”

“Just the angel. She’s gonna stay with me til somebody gets here.”

“Can you put the angel on the phone?”

Hannah questioningly looked at Petra who smiled and took the phone.

“Hannah has told you the truth,” Petra spoke with authority. “I’m Petra, an avenging angel. God is quite upset by the horrors happening in the world, especially pedophilia, so SHE dispatched me to stop the evil. Hank Tudor, the first to face God’s vengeance through my hand, has been sent to hell. He will be followed by many evil doers. The only way those who have fallen under Satan’s evil can save themselves is to publically confess to their depravity and accept the worldly consequences of their actions. Once they do so, they may then confess their sin before God and beg HER forgiveness. Their eternal fate will depend upon God’s judgement of the sincerity of their repentance. Please share this message with the world. Now let’s get back to Hannah. She is three years old. I will stay until you send someone to safeguard her. Then I must go. I’ll say no more.” With that she gave the phone back to the little girl.

“Who are you?” The concerned operator asked unaware the phone had been handed off.

“I’m Hannah,” the little girl replied. “The angel doesn’t want to speak anymore. Please send someone, I want to go home.”

“Okay, Hannah,” the spoked operator said. “I have help on the way.”

Ten minutes later a police car pulled up before the home. An officer cautiously approached the front door. As he climbed the steps Jenken reached out and psychically opened the door. Reaching for his weapon he stopped as the door clearly opened on it’s own.

“Dispatch, this is officer Bailey. I’m at the address. The front screen door just opened on it’s own as the inner door swung in. This is creeping me out. I’m going in. Please send back-up.”

Cautiously the officer peeked inside the door. Seeing nothing he slowly entered to smell the sickly sweet odor of burned flesh. In the next room he saw a regal woman wearing green armor. The hair on his arms rose. In an instant he knew he was not seeing a true human but an ethereal being. She calmly held the hand of a little girl.

“D... Dispatch, h... how near is my b... back-up? I see the little girl and... well... th...there appears to be an a... angel holding her hand... wait... she’s fading... the angel... sh...she’s fading away... dis... disappearing!”

“Thank you, Petra,” Hannah said as she waved goodbye to the fading angel who was smiling and returning the wave.

“Th... the angel... she just dis... disappeared,” the spooked officer reported. “The little girl seems to be okay. Sh...she thanked the angel.”

“Bailey, get the girl and wait for back-up,” the gruff duty sergeant ordered.

“Will do Sarge, will do.” Without taking another step he reached a hand out to Hannah who smiled and walked over to him.

Back- up arrived shortly and they searched the first and second floors by the time the sergeant arrived. Finally they noticed the twenty inch burned slice in the floor. The officer that headed down to the basement quickly returned, his face white and clearly dumbfounded. “S... Sarge... there’s a guy down there... c... cut in half from the top of his head through his crotch.”

Twenty minutes later the local CSRs took one look at the scene and stopped. They asked for back-up. The news media monitoring the police radio were already on the scene. The story that an angel had saved a girl seemed incredulous. But that wild tale seemed more believable as the evidence emerged. The clean precise cauterized cut that halved the man... the burned four foot arc in the ceiling that sliced through three floor joists, one completely severed with a twenty inch slice in the floor above that described the sword’s trajectory... the testimony of Hannah and Officer Bailey... there was nothing that could explain the damage and injury... the media demanded explanations. No one wanted to accept the girl’s story was true... until someone reported the live internet feed.

The depraved perp had planned to broadcast the molestation as it happened as kiddie snuff porn. Instead it showed the materialization of the angel stopping the dastardly deed, the wrathful expression upon her face, her damning words, the appearance of the fiery sword, and the actual cleaving of the perp. There was a distinct sizzling as the horrendous wound was instantly cauterized followed by the steaming twin thumps of the body halves striking the floor as the angel calmly sheathed her sword. As the angel turned toward the girl the wrathful visage transformed into a warm comforting smile as she knelt and hugged the girl before standing and leading the girl up the stairs and out of the webcast. The appearance of the officers and CSRs was also captured. Needless to say copies of the webcast and 911 recording went viral.

After dissolving her avatar and returning to her physical body, Jenken was quite upset by what she’d done. For the first time she’d intentionally used her abilities to not only hurt but to kill. Her lifelong fear of abusing her gifts had sadly become reality. Any childish naivety and innocence she retained had been forever ripped from her. At the same time her super genius intellect was able to rationalize what she’d done. While the violence she’d wrought upset her, she knew she had done what was needed to save Hannah while sending a powerful warning message to the world. Her determined declaration that Hank Tudor was just the first to suffer the vengeance of God would on it’s own send reverberations of the ire of God throughout the world. Still, she was quite shook up and disturbed and decided at least temporarily to keep Jen and Ken out of the loop.

Feeling emotionally drained, she mentally projected mental tendrils into the cavern beneath Moselem Hill using her remote viewing ability. Due to the massive power converging in the cavern, she had no difficulty creating a doppelganger of herself similar to the way she’d created Petra. Having an actual body in the power vortex made it easier to absorb the refreshing positive energy. After a few moments of regeneration it occurred to her that when she’d created and animated Petra, for the first time in her existence she had actually directly controlled a physical body! Inspired by what she’d done in creating Petra, she concentrated. With a bit of tweaking, the myriad crystals, stalactites and stalagmites began to sparkle and glow with a mystical green glow clearly illuminating the vast chamber. The light moved and flowed like the energy waves from which they’d been created Slowly she walked about the vast chamber looking through HER eyes and touching things with HER hands, consciously directly feeling for the first time. It was a momentous event. Looking up she saw the scintillating crystalline formations. Once refreshed she dematerialized her doppelganger and returned to her real body. With a sigh of determination she rechecked those she had flagged as pedophilic sexual predators.

As she found them she graded the flags to reflect the likelihood the pervert would take action. She also set up a ‘template’ for Petra so when she was needed the ‘design’ was ready to be instantly implemented. Many of the memories she saw in the reflagged minds disgusted her and there was a desire to immediately end their lives. Fortunately she realized doing so would not help those who had been their victims nor would it send a message to the world to stop such horrid abuse. Each perp would have to publically confess or be caught in the act. Briefly she thought about putting a geas on each peado. However she understood that putting a block on any such powerful drive would quickly lead to massive frustration which wold inevitably result in some other violent action. Trying to erase the sordid desire would lead to collateral damage of other personality aspects. A black and white decision of how to handle such confrontations was impossible to set. The outcome would depend upon each perp’s evilness.

Jenken managed to keep Jen and Ken in the dark about her escapades as Petra but they could not miss her uncharacteristic solemnity. When they asked what was bothering their sister, Jenken mentally shrugged and told them she was not ready to discuss the matter and begged them to be patient. Since Jen and Ken implicitly trusted Jenken, they acquiesced to her request while letting her know they needed to know.

The day after Hannah’s rescue the news media and web was filled with discussions, commentary, speculation and wonder. As could be expected the webcast of the deed as well as the released 911 call went viral. In fact, many servers were overloaded and crashed. The autopsy confirmed what the video showed. Hank Tudor had been cleanly sliced in two symmetrical halves with the wound instantly cauterized. The evidence of Hank Tudor being cut in half with the massive wound instantly cauterized was indisputable. The video clearly showed the instantaneous materialization of the avenging angel. It revealed her anger at what the man was about to do. It also showed the pulling of the flaming sword, the horrific blow that cleaved him in half, and the sword’s return to the scabbard once the deed was done. The video also showed the sword slicing through the ceiling as it arced towards it’s target. Using the video they calculated Petra stood 6' tall, was quite muscular but not obscenely so, and weighed about 180 pounds. They estimated her measurements to be 38-25-38. A very impressive statuesque amazon.

To further compound the mystery, no fingerprints could be found where the video showed Petra had touched an object. There were imprints, but there were no hints of the normal friction ridges on fingers that were unique to an individual. There was also not a shred of DNA evidence. The policeman’s testimony she simply faded from sight when he arrived only added to the mystery. It was possible a high powered laser could cleave a body in half cauterizing the wound but such a laser was huge and needed more electric power than was available in the entire neighborhood. Simply moving the laser to make such a strike was unwieldy. Additionally, a laser simply would not stop with the man, it would have hit and penetrated the walls behind him but that had not occurred. The only burns were along the arc the blazing sword had inscribed.

There was simply no scientific way to explain what had occurred. The only answer that made sense was the one the video showed. Petra had been an avenging angel. That unsettled nearly half the world’s population since if Petra was an avenging angel, that meant the Judea/Christian/Muslim God had to exist. It also upset the vast majority of the Judea/Christian/Moslem believers since in the 911 tape that was released Petra had turned the Patriarchal stereotype of God as the Father on it’s head. Two sentences cut them to the bone. The first was “God is quite upset by the horrors happening in the world, especially pedophilia, so SHE dispatched me to stop the evil.” The second was “Once they do so, they may then confess their sin before God and beg HER forgiveness.” What would it mean if God was female rather than male?

The saving of Hannah, the obvious execution of Hank Tudor and the words of Petra were the main topic of discussion in the Raven’s Perch. Jenken listened in to the conversations and probed the minds of the patrons and staff to try to gauge how everyone felt. Most were apprehensive fearing the appearance of an angel was the harbinger of the end of times. Yet virtually everyone felt Hank’s execution was justified.

Jenken put a lot of thought into how to proceed. In the heat of the moment she had declared other evildoers would face God’s wrath at Petra’s hand. Indeed over the next several days Petra eliminated other pedophiles with extreme prejudice as they prepared to molest a child. Knowing the power of the web she sent out a live webcast as well as recording each encounter. The downloads were totally untraceable. No one could figure how they got on the web.

When a predator’s tag alerted Jenken they were about to molest, she promptly placed the perp and victim in a temporary state of suspended animation. Petra ‘popped’ to the site as did a remote video camera to record the encounter and to follow Petra afterward. Once set up, Petra faded from sight. Simultaneously she released the suspended animation as the camera began filming. Petra would instantaneously ‘POP’ into the scene, save the child, condemn the perp and promptly execute them with her flaming sword. Then she contacted the local police to rescue the child just as she had done with Hannah. The difference was that the video showed Petra arriving and leaving, materializing out of nothing and then fading back to nothing. Her every move and word was out there for the world to see yet not a shred of physical evidence about how it had been recorded or posted was found.

By the third day Petra had taken out fifteen pedophiles from six different continents. Each encounter occurred in the most prevalent language of the location. With the executions spanning the globe, the world sat up and took notice. Many pedophiles turned themselves in to the authorities and confessed their sins. The rest stopped their predatory actions out of fear.

The stress on Jenken began to take a toll. Even Jen and Ken, normally happy and bubbly, had grown quiet and introspective. On the morning after the third day of executions Jenken told her family during breakfast she had a confession to make. Her demeanor was way out of character and they knew what she had to say was quite serious. Jen and Ken understood they were about to discover what was bothering their sister. Both gave her mental hugs of support.

“I have been projecting mental tendrils into different locations around the world and even the solar system for a few months. With practice, I’ve been able to tap into the earth’s ambient quantum power emanations to actually manifest my projected image,” Jenken began once they’d gathered together. “You’re aware that during the past several months I’ve attracted some stalkers. While annoying, most are harmless. But quite a few are perverts. Fortunately most of them never act on their perversion. Then there are some who do nasty things. Using the billions of tags I’ve made, I was able isolate the true perverts and place a flag in them. The flags are set to alert me when they are about to molest a child.”

Jenken paused to catch her breath and could feel Ken fight back the tears he could feel coming as Jen began to cry. “Three days ago one of the flags went off,” Jenken continued. “I immediately sent a mental probe into the perpetrator’s mind to investigate what he was going to do. What he intended to do was absolutely horrible. I knew I had to stop him and send a message to others like him.”

“I was appalled and angered by his intentions,” Jenken sniffled. “It was a spur of the moment decision to create Petra but I did it to save Hannah.” With that she broke down in tears.

Jen and Ken were stunned. They had heard the news of Petra and the many discussions about the executions of the bad men had engendered. They also new that child molesters hurt little kids and they were glad Jenken was stopping them.

“Oh my God,” Judy gasped almost instantly. “Jenken! You’re Petra?”

The rest of the family gasped as they realized Judy had hit the nail on the head.

“I was so caught up in saving Hannah I had to prevent him from ever doing anything that evil again,” Jenken shivered as she recalled the pervert’s feelings of delight at what he was about to do. “He not only intended to rape Hannah in every orifice, he intended to torture and dismember her while she was still alive! I immediately paralyzed him and leapt into Hannah’s mind to calm her and assure her she would be okay. She knew he was a bad man and was going to hurt her. She’d been praying to God to send an angel to save her. That gave me the idea for Petra the avenging angel. Everything happened so fast I just did it. Once I’d sent him to hell, I had to see that Hannah was rescued. I was absolutely horrified that I’d killed another human, but almost instantly rationalized that anyone who could do what he was about to do to Hannah could no longer be considered human. I was still trying to process what had happened while I took Hannah and had her call 911. That’s when I let Petra say Hank Tudor was just the first. Since then I’ve done the same to other perverts all over the world. It’s having an effect. I can feel their fear and it’s stopping them from acting on their perversion. Quite a few have turned themselves in.”

“Oh Jenken,” Jane cried as she swept her beleaguered child into her arms. The rest of the family joined in for a loving tear filled embrace.

“Jenken, it’s never easy to take another life,” James said. “I know. The guy that hurt your mother and you was not the first man I killed. I killed at least a dozen in combat during the First Gulf War. June has helped me to deal with the anguish. After I returned there were many nights she held me as I had flashbacks and nightmares. She did it again after I killed the man in the Raven’s Perch. It does get better but you’ll need our help. It’s something you’ll have to learn to live with, but you don’t have to handle it alone. Don’t deny the pain, accept it, cry, and move on. We’ll all be here for you.”

The rest of the family firmly agreed as they held the family hug. Jenken melted into their love and support. It meant a great deal to her that Jen and Ken were unswervingly supportive.

“So where do we go from here,” James asked after the hug ended.

“Petra has to go away,” June declared. “Violence solves nothing.”

‘Ah... mom... you’re not completely right,” JJ fidgeted. “While violence usually engenders more violence, it’s violence between humans. What Petra is doing is violence between humans and God. That engenders fear of the Lord and will curtail violence.”

“JJ’s right,” James nodded. “I’m not downplaying what Petra is doing, but the executions are having a positive effect. Dozens of pedophiles have turned themselves in.”

“That may be so,” June countered. “But it’s Jenken, not God who is doing the killing. It’s taking a heavy toll on her.”

Everyone was silent for a few moments as they thought about the problem.

“I know this may sound weird,” Judy spoke up. “When JJ and I married, we all felt the presence of a higher power... Mother Earth, Gaia, God... call it whatever you feel comfortable with. Also, remember, Petra referred to God in the feminine. Think about this... doesn’t ‘God’ work her miracles through humans? Jenken said she materialized Petra out of the earth’s ambient quantum power emanations. Isn’t the innate power of Earth a form of ‘God’? What if ‘God’ needs a human to channel it’s power in order to perform miracles? Maybe Jesus is a such a channel! God used the channel of Jesus for good hoping to convince people to follow. Over the centuries billions have done so, but humans have corrupted the good of Jesus to meet their own ends and desires. The Crusades are a prime example. The entire Reformation occurred because of such corruption! What if the next human channel to come along after Jesus is Jenken? I’m not saying that Jenken is divine, but her birth and survival can only be explained as a miracle! What if ‘God’ used Jenken’s innate chimerism combined with the inutero injuries to manifest a channel that was simultaneously male and female? Since the ‘Love’ angle that Jesus preached is so corruptible, maybe ‘God’ decided to try the ‘Fear of God’ route?”

“The angel being female puts the ‘vengeance of God’ in an entirely different light,” Judy continued. “With a powerful male avenging angel it would be difficult to project empathy and caring along with justified vengeance. But a female avenging angel can be righteously wrathful and still compassionate. Every one of the kids Petra has saved knew they’d been saved by a loving Angel who hurt only the bad guys. That’s also exactly what Petra did when she offered public confession by the offenders as a way to avoid facing her wrath! The more I think about it, I believe ‘God’, in whatever form, wanted Jenken to create Petra to do exactly what she’s been doing. She wants someone who can do the reaping without being corrupted by it. Jenken’s compassion will temper the violence! In turn, we are Jenken’s support group to let her grieve for the violence without having it poison her!”

All heads were nodding as they absorbed Judy’s words. What she’d said not only made sense, it explained why Jenken had survived when by all accounts she should have been still-born or at the very least suffered severe brain damage. Yet Jenken had not only survived, she’d flourished. Using that reasoning even her inter-species communication made sense! She was the inter-species arbitrator! Creating an avenging angel to eliminate the horrors created by humanity made perfect sense!

“So I’m God’s earthly hands,” Jenken sighed. “I guess that’s why I’ve had thoughts about trying to stop other forms of human created evil.”

“There’s a lot of human created evil,” James nodded. “As your support group, I think we should take on some of the onus for deciding what, if anything, needs to be done.”

Again everyone nodded.

“Are you in any danger when you’re Petra?” June asked.

“No,” Jenken replied. “I’m perfectly safe since I’m not really there. Petra’s manifested body might take some damage, but I could easily repair it.”

“Does projecting your thoughts and manifesting Petra take a lot out of you?” Judy asked. “How much can Petra do?”

“It took quite a bit of concentration and power to manifest Petra the first time,” Jenken explained. “But when I projected myself into the cavern and manifested a doppelganger, I barely used any energy. Each time I’ve manifested Petra it has become easier and less costly power wise. Yesterday I even had two manifestations going at the same time. While it took a bit more energy, it was a lot less than what it took the first time.”

Upon seeing the looks of confusion in the eyes of her family she giggled. “I just realized I never told you about the cavern. The big rock at the peak of Moselem Hill is not the focal point for the power flowing into the site. It’s merely the conduit. I mentally joined the power flux and flowed with it into the ground. Several hundred feet beneath the top is a huge cavern I’ve named Moselem Cave. It’s filled with crystals, stalactites and stalagmites that collect the energy. New agers have a valid point when they talk about the power of crystals... they just have no idea what it is or how to tap it. All crystals collect energy.... masses of crystals form in caves so the energy in individual crystals is magnified by others in close proximity. We’re lucky to have five other caves in the area, Schofer Cave, Crystal Cave, Dragon Cave, Dreibelbis Cave and Onyx Cave. They collect ambient power on their own and then funnel it into Moselem cave through underground passages that connect the caves. The underground connections have their own crystals which collect, store and transfer the power. The power in Moselem Cave is so vast and powerful it easily rejuvenates me.”

“After I rescued Hannah, I was distraught and felt wiped out,” Jenken stated. “After Petra faded out and I left the site, I projected myself into the cavern beneath Moselem Hill to refresh myself and then manifested a doppelganger because having a corporeal body makes power absorption faster,” Jenken explained. “That was when I realized that I had been controlling Petra’s body and was controlling my doppelganger. In this body, Jen and Ken control it, I’m just along for the ride. But with Petra and my doppelganger, I actually controlled a body! I lit up the cavern with shimmering green light from the crystals then walked about exploring and touching everything. I never realized what I was missing!”

“But back to Petra,” Jenken continued. “I think if I manifest her in Moselem Cavern, that corporeal body will be immersed in the power vortex. That should provide more than enough energy to allow me to simultaneously project dozens of Petras. Since I’m able to split and project my consciousness into hundreds of tendrils, I shouldn’t have any issues controlling multiple Petras.”

“Wait a minute,” JJ frowned. “What’s with projecting hundreds of tendrils?”

“Oh... yeah... I guess I never told you about that,” Jenken blushed. “It’s just something I do that I never really thought too much about. You know I can tag minds and create flags. I do that by projecting tendrils of my consciousness. When I got the laptop I began to wonder if I could project my tendrils into computers and the internet. So at night while Jen and Ken slept, I experimented. Oh... I guess I never told you that the consciousness in my third lobe never sleeps. Anyway, now I’m able to mentally tap into the internet at will. I’m able to mentally step into every computer and device connected to the internet. When I find a firewall or virus software, I simply mentally step around the barrier. I haven’t found a device I can’t touch. I’ve mentally been all over the world in every government, business, and school in existence. With my ability to learn by downloading information, well, I’ve done it with computers and devices as well as brains. That’s how I know so much. If I don’t already know it, I know where to find the knowledge.”

“My God,” June gasped. “That’s incredible!”

“Damn,” JJ exclaimed. “Is that how things mysteriously appear on the internet without a trace?”

“Guilty as charged,” Jenken smiled crookedly.

“All those scandals... the skeletons hidden in closets that were exposed last spring,” James declared as he looked at his grandchild with awe.

“That was me,” Jenken declared. “The agencies were sniffing around my successful day trading and the FBI, CIA, and other alphabet agencies had me under surveillance with the intent to shut me down. I pulled the skeletons out of the appropriate closets and the heat was off me.”

“Jenken, please don’t take this the wrong way,” June stated. “But are doing anything illegal? Your success in the stock market does seem suspect.”

“I’m skirting legality but technically not breaking it,” Jenken confessed. “My trading success is due to two things. First using my tags I’m in effect getting information on business deals and circumstances without anyone making any disclosures. That might be considered insider trading but what I do does not meet the legal definition. That knowledge enables me to hop onto hot items before anyone is consciously aware of them. Secondly, with my ability to travel the internet, I can make my deals way faster than anyone else and the volume of my trades has so far been limited only by the hardware’s ability to handle it. I’m the first to jump on a bargain. Other brokers and traders watch me and copy my trades. That alone sends prices soaring. Then when I feel the price is as high as it’ll go, I sell, making a hefty profit. Again others try to copy me. But I’m the first in and out and the volume I handle is much greater that anyone can match. That’s why Neknej is worth a bit over a trillion dollars.”

Everyone’s eyes bugged out at that revelation. “Did you say a TRILLION dollars?” James asked with obvious disbelief. “Exactly how much is a trillion dollars?”

“Ahh, yeah,” Jenken began as Jen and Ken wrinkled their face. “Well, Neknej has spent Nearly $20 billion and another hundred million or so has been donated to charities. Once I hit the hundred billion dollar level in my day trading account last May I started pulling cash out to keep the trading account at $100 billion, The funds drawn off have been going into Neknej to purchase real estate and purchasing controlling interest in dozens of businesses around the world. As of the close of trading yesterday the value of the Neknej Enterprise portfolio is $1.8 trillion give or take a couple of billion.”

“Jenken... $1.8 TRILLION!” JJ exclaimed

Jenken grinned crookedly and nodded his agreement.

There was a collective mouth drop.

“I’d intended to donate 10% to charities,” Jenken added. “But I realize such large amounts will stop others from giving. So I’m working out campaigns with several charities where Neknej will match all funds donated during the campaigns. Oh, Dad, Judy, how would you like the money I owe you for staking me?”

“Just write us checks,” James said as he tried to wrap his mind around the latest revelations by their wunderkind. “That’s if it’s okay with Judy.”

“That’s fine with me,” Judy sighed. “So Jenken, what other types of human evil have you thought of tackling!”

“The biggest one and the hardest to stop,” Jenken replied quite seriously. “Terrorism.”

“I say go for it,” James almost growled. “I fought in the First Gulf War. I found the vast majority of Muslims were decent people. Unfortunately a few hot-heads have terrified their own people. On top of that are Imams, Mullahs and Ayatollahs who hate and use the Koran to foster the hatred terrorists thrive on.

“Dad, it’s not just Muslims who use terrorism. There are a number of Christians who use it too,” Jenken cut in. “I’ll take out all who foster terrorism regardless of their race, faith, or gender.”

James nodded his approval. “I stand corrected. If Petra can stop those who stoop to terrorism, do so.”

“James, that’s too dangerous,” June exclaimed. “If the government can’t stop them, how can Petra? Besides, they’ll come after us!”

“Mom, we’re safe,” Jane grinned with an almost predatory smile. “Petra has been sent by God, the same God many of the terrorists claim to be following via jihad.”

“Do you have any ideas as to how to get the terrorists?” Judy asked.

“Yes,” Jenken declared. “I’ll start with a warning... a warning that can’t be ignored, downplayed, or explained. Then Petra will wreak a horrific vengeance.”

“How will you select suitable targets?” JJ asked.

“I’m already combing my tags,” Jenken replied. “With a few simple mental queries I can tell who supports terrorism and who conducts it. I’ll take out the worst offenders.”

“What if you miss someone?” Judy asked.

“I also check each mind that knows about terrorism for their supporters, leaders and followers. Even if I don’t have a person tagged, once I discover someone might be a person of interest, I can search them out and tag them. Those who may not be evil enough to make the hit list will find the evidence of their complicity has been made public. They may escape Petra’s wrath, but they will not get away with their misdeeds.”

After hours of discussion a consensus for a plan was reached. Jenken promptly set it in action.

Jenken materialized a doppelganger in Moselem Cavern. Then she allowed her materialized body to float in the energy flux to the center of the massive cavern so the power vortex surrounded and engulfed her. With that she sent her tendrils all over the world to search out and link into every commercial broadcast. After making sure she knew the language being used, she was ready.

Two days before New Years Eve, all over the earth, every commercial broadcast was suddenly and simultaneously interrupted. The avenging angel Petra appeared on every TV screen and radio speaking in the language of that station.

“I am Petra, the avenging angel,” Petra declared as she stared at those watching her after five seconds.

“I have been sent by God to put the fear of the Lord into evil doers. This message will repeat every four hours through 8pm Greenwich mean time New Years Eve. No power on earth can prevent my interruption of these broadcasts. I invite you to try to find how I’m simultaneously doing this on every commercial broadcast channel in the language normally used on that broadcast. You will fail.”

After another five second dramatic pause she continued. “I started my mission by confronting pedophiles. So far fifteen have been sent to Hell. When those abusers of childhood innocence attempt to act on their perversion, I will strike them down. The only way they can avoid going to hell is to confess their evilness and accept their earthly punishment. They must then confess their sin before God and beg HER forgiveness. Their eternal fate will depend upon God’s judgement of the sincerity of their repentance. Dealing with pedophiles was simply a warm up for my main task which is to eliminate terrorism.”

“God is furious that HER message of love and peace has been perverted into condoning and supporting hatred and terrorism,” Petra sneered after a ten second pause. “Those who practice or support terrorism will pay for their evil actions. Even worse is the fact there are pastors, imams, mullahs, ayatollahs and others in leadership within their individual faith intentionally misinterpreting the Bible or Koran, perverting the message of God’s love and peace. There will be no forgiveness from God for their betrayal. Because they have led innocent believers astray, they will suffer unspeakable horrors while in eternal damnation in Hell!”

After ten seconds of furious staring she continued. “At the stroke of midnight New Years Eve Greenwich mean time two hours of reaping will commence. I will split into 40 identical avenging angels. I will appear to the worst blasphemers to cleave their blaspheming heads from their worthless bodies with my flaming sword. It will take each of me five seconds to appear before a blasphemer, condemn them to Hell, then sever their head. Each will instantly move to the next target. With my clones I will be reaping 57,600 of those who foster hatred and terrorism condemning them to eternal damnation.

This time there was a twenty second pause as she allowed her words to sink in.

“Think about what will happen,” Petra ordered as she her ferocity transformed into serenity. “After the reaping think about what happened. God also wants you to think about HER! I will appear in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City at noon local time on January 6 to talk about God. I’ll need a circular area five meters in diameter roped off on the western edge. I’m inviting leaders of every faith and belief system as well as a political representative of every nation. They will receive an email with a unique code allowing attendance. Those invited will have 48 hours to contact Vatican security, who will be getting the codes, to arrange attendance. I’d like the invited to have seating arranged about the roped off area. You will provide the media full access so what I say can be shared live with the world. Goodbye.”

The simultaneous interruptions of the broadcasts ended as abruptly as they began. At first most thought the interruptions had been of the station they’d been tuned to. But that quickly changed as reports flooded the communications network that indeed every public broadcast throughout the world had been interrupted at the same time for the same message by the same person claiming to be Petra. Since most had seen at least of the peado executions on the internet they easily recognized it was the same Petra. As difficult as that was to comprehend was that each interruption had been done in the language used by each station.

Authorities in every nation searched for what had been done to cause such total interruption but nothing could be found. Indeed, no one even knew how such a total cross-band interruption had been accomplished. Four hours later, Petra reappeared to repeat her five minute message. This time some governments and agencies and most broadcasters were closely monitoring the broadcasts. Again they could find nothing to explain how it was done.

As the message repeated every four hours, despite every effort made to block Petra’s message, none were successful. Every effort was made to attempt to locate the source of Petra’s message. Again nothing could be found.

The broadcast signals went to the antennae or cables as they normally did. However it was Petra’s message that came out. Many stations sought to block Petra’s message by shutting down the broadcast, however, even with the power turned off, the broadcast went out.

Even knowing the message would repeat every four hours no one could even begin to explain how the interruptions were done much less where they originated. The amount of electricity the interruptions would need was mind boggling and should leave some sort of trail but nothing showed. What was even more upsetting was that each message was slightly different than the others although the messages were the same.

As could be expected, North Korea, Russia and Iran as well as many hard line Muslim clerics condemned the broadcasts as an American hoax to frighten them. They reassured their followers that Allah would protect them.

The simultaneous broadcast interruptions and the repeated message didn’t even begin to cause a drain on Jenken as the power vortex in Moselem Cavern provided more than enough energy. Between broadcasts, Jenken dissolved her doppelganger and rejoined her family. They had watched the initial broadcast and if they had not known that Jenken was responsible, they would have been quite concerned. As it was they went about their daily routine with a calm serenity while the nervous conversations of their staff and customers at the Raven’s Perch swirled about them.

At night while the family slept, Jenken sent her doppelganger to the cavern to tap into the power vortex to energize the interrupted broadcasts. After each, she attempted to create the forty Petra clones. Creating the clones was taxing but not undoable. Generating the forty flaming swords strained her ability to maintain control. When she added jumping from target to target, problems arose since it required more power than Jenken could absorb. That issue was easily resolved when instead of creating her doppelganger, she materialized Petra to float in the power vortex. Instantly she discovered that since Petra was over twice as big as Jenken, she could receive over eight times as much power. She also found it took considerably less energy to create a copy of Petra when she was already in that form.

As zero hour approached, Petra was ready to strike. The four hours between the last broadcasts interruption and midnight she created the forty clones and triple checked her control over each. When midnight Greenwich mean time hit, Petra struck. Before the raucous cheers of celebration of the new year were a minute old, four hundred eighty haters, terrorists or their ardent supporters had been beheaded and sent to hell. Their instantly cauterized wounds didn’t bleed or ooze. Most had expressions of abject terror etched upon their faces as their heads bounced to the floor. Over the next two hours the forty Petra clones struck around the world. Reports began flooding across the communications networks that Petra was indeed carrying out the vengeance of the lord. Thousands of people witnessed Petra appear, pronounce the sentence of damnation and behead the offender before disappearing. Hundreds of the beheadings were caught on surveillance video.

After the two hours of non stop mass executions, Jenken collapsed in tears into the arms of her family. It was only after crying for fifteen minutes that she realized she had an unexpected problem. Jen and Ken suddenly found themselves on their own.

“Ahh, Jenken just went away,” Jen said.

“In a big hurry, too,” added Ken.

“Oh God, something must be wrong,” June gasped. “Did she say where she was going?”

“No, but I can still feel her,” Jen answered.

“Yeah,” Ken agreed. “She’s really busy!”

Fifteen minutes later Jenken rejoined her siblings, their face showed confusion and delight.

“Jenken, what’s going on?” JJ asked.

“There has been an unforseen consequence of manifesting Petra in Moselem Cavern,” Jenken answered. “I’d never kept a manifested body that long nor used it to channel so much energy. She was in there for a bit over six hours drawing on the power vortex to pinpoint the targets and energize the forty avenging angel Petras.”

“What happened?” Judy asked.

“Petra became real,” Jenken answered. “The other times when I was done projecting Petra, the body I manifested to tap the power dematerialized when I left the cavern. This time Petra didn’t dematerialize. She’s still there. She became real.”

James frowned. “How was that Possible?”

“I form a doppelganger by drawing on the earth’s positive power emanations and combining it with my essence through my mental tendrils,” Jenken explained. “Then I pinpoint the location I want the Petra clone to appear and give it a mental push. The combination manifests a temporary corporeal body that is in reality simply an extension of myself. The created body can touch and manipulate objects, speak, talk, and use the sword of justice. It a takes a lot of power so at first I projected a copy of myself into the vortex in Moselem Cave. With a real body there I was easily able to absorb enough power to use to project Petra. When I tried projecting 40 Petra’s, the power draw was intense and almost impossible so instead of projecting a copy of myself into the vortex, I projected Petra. Being more than twice my size she was able to absorb more power. I also discovered it was easier to project a copy of Petra if is she was in the vortex. In the past I’d never maintained a projection longer than 20 minutes. This time it was over six hours. The 40 manifestations popped in and out of existence as they moved from target to target so none existed more than 5 seconds. The original Petra in the vortex was real for too long and the massive amount of power that she drew in for that time locked her into that form.”

“Can’t you just dematerialize her?” James asked.

“No,” Jenken replied. “She’s real and she’s now a part of me just like Jen, Ken and I are part of me. Only now instead of having three minds in one body, I have six minds in two bodies.”

JJ was stunned. “Six minds?”

“Yeah,” Jenken sighed. “When I projected a doppelganger, I did so based on myself. My original doppelganger was simply an exact copy of me. Petra is an exact adult copy of me, buffed up quite a bit but still what I’ll look like when I become an adult. The copies are accurate down to my triple chimera and my triparte brain. The only difference was that I, Jenken, am in all three sections of the brain of the doppelganger. We’re mentally locked together so dematerializing her would effect my mind. But she’s trapped in the cave. I have to figure out a way to get her out.”

“You said the cavern is connected to the other caves,” Jane said. “Could she make her way out one of them?”

“No, at places the passages are to small too squeeze through,” Jenken explained.

“It would take weeks to dig our way into her,” James said. “But how would we explain that and get the equipment to do it? How long can she survive?”

“Quite a while,” Jenken answered. “There is plenty of water so she can drink. I should be able to materialize food inside for her to eat.”

Everyone thought about the dilemma but came to no satisfactory conclusion.

“Of course! Thanks Ken!” Jenken sat up smiling. “Ken said that if I can materialize things like food out of the positive energy flow, I should be able to reverse that to dematerialize things into positive energy! Since Petra is in the power vortex, she has virtually unlimited power access. Using her body I should be able to dematerialize stone to make a tunnel! I can have her uncreate the rock to make a straight tunnel from the cavern to a point about 20' below the ground floor of the our new home. Then she can make a stone staircase that will open into the wall of the basement!”

“Okay, that makes a lot of sense. But what will we do once Petra tunnels through?” James asked. “Petra is quite recognizable. How will we explain her?”

Again everyone fell to thinking as Jenken helped Petra plot a straight line course and begin to dematerialize a tunnel.

“Dad, we have relatives in Ireland, right?” JJ asked.

“Yes, but what’s that got to... oh, yeah... an Irish relative would have red hair like Petra,” James nodded.

“With modern clothes, a different hairstyle and make-up, our Petra will only bear a resemblance to the avenging angel,” Judy added.

“We’d still need the paperwork for her from Ireland including a visa to emigrate to the US,” June added.

“I can easily handle that,” Jenken answered. “I have tags in our ancestral home in Castlebar, Ireland. I’ll search the records for a deceased girl who would be in her mid-twenties if she’d lived. With all the family intermarriage I’m sure I can find someone who would be some sort of relative. Then I’ll just tweak the files, get her birth certificate, fake school records, and get her a passport and visa. She can fly into New York, you pick her up and bring her home, and we have a distant cousin living with us.”

“If she’s already here, how can she fly in?” June asked.

“I’ll create a doppelganger in Dublin to make the flight,” Jenken smiled. “I’ll book her first class. When no one is looking I dematerialize her and instantly materialize another copy. That way she won’t become real.”

“Well, my sweet little daughter, I suggest you get busy making Petra’s records,” Jane smiled as she hugged Jenken.

The family celebrated New Years Eve when they dropped the ball in Times Square, New York. By then some of Jenken’s many tendrils had located records she could alter and set to work.

By the time the family arose the next morning, Jade Walsh was a twenty five year old orphan who had dropped out of school to support herself at sixteen. She had contacted a distant family relative in the US, James Raven, who sponsored her for a family visa. Jade had an Irish passport, a US entry Visa, and a First Class ticket for the 4pm Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to JFK in New York. By 3pm Dublin time a Jade doppelganger was in the boarding queue. It was 10am in the Raven home.

“Jade Walsh is in the boarding queue in Dublin,” Jenken announced at breakfast. “Her flight is scheduled to take off in an hour. She should arrive at JFK in New York about 6:30 this evening.”

“You got everything together that quickly?” Judy asked.

“It was easy,” Jenken giggled. “With the New Years Eve holiday most of the record keeping computer systems were shut down so I was free to do what I needed. I was able to easily slide everything through the Irish and US immigration systems because of the holiday, too.”

“So I guess I need to make a trip to JFK,” James sighed. “JJ, Judy, would you like to ride along to meet your ‘cousin’ Jade?”

“Sure, dad,” JJ chuckled as Judy nodded her head.

“You don’t have to go to JFK,” Jenken smiled. “When Jade gets there, I’ll manifest a copy of you and the SUV where no one can see, then have it drive to the terminal to pick Jade up as she exits. Then you’ll just drive away. When you get someplace isolated, I’ll dematerialize everything.”

“You make it sound so easy,” James sighed as he shook his head in amazement.

“Actually, it is getting easier,” Jenken answered sweetly. “The more I materialize things, the easier it gets. Petra already has the tunnel near the house. She should break through to the basement an hour or so after lunch.”

After lunch, James and JJ plopped in front of the TV to watch ESPN. June, Jane Judy and Jenken sat in the kitchen after doing the dishes. The women sat and began discussing what having Jade as part of the family would do to their dynamics. Then Jenken excused herself and headed into the basement to help guide Petra as she dematerialized the stone to create the staircase. June, Judy and Jane tried to figure out new sleeping arrangements assuming Jade would want to be next door to Jenken.

After an hour of discussion, June, Judy and Jane were still discussing the ramifications of having a new member of the family. The door from the basement opened and Jenken and Jade emerged. Jade was wearing a pleated knee-length skirt and kneesox in the red/green/blue plaid of Ireland’s County Mayo. She wore a matching green angora full sleeved angora wool sweater, and a pair of ankle boots with a metal buckle ankle strap with two inch heels. Her red hair had been restyled with softly curled bangs with the rest pulled back into a high bouncy ponytail in back held in place by a Mayo plaid scrunchie. Her green eyes flickered with a hint of mischief and her smile was dazzling. They could instantly tell she was indeed an adult duplicate of Jenken.

“Mom, Mommy, Aunt Judy, I’d like to introduce our cousin Jade Walsh,” Jenken smiled as the they gaped at Jade.

“I’m delighted to see you in person,” Jade spoke up with a delightful alto Irish brogue. “I know it seems a bit awkward but since I’m really just another part of Jenken, I already know you. Only now I’m seeing you from up here rather than down at Jenken’s height.”

“We’re pleased to meet you, Jade,” June smiled as she stood to hug the beautiful amazon.

Jane and Judy quickly joined the group hug. The women were dwarfed by the statuesque redhead. As they parted they continued to size each other up.

“Jenken suggested I change into something less Petra like so we morphed Petra’s outfit into this,” Jade explained.

“Jenken, I didn’t know you could do that,” Jane declared as she once more marveled at her child’s continued evolution.

“Neither did I,” Jenken shrugged. “But after spending all that time dematerializing the stone to make the tunnel, I thought we’d give it a try and it worked. Jade, would you like a Coke?”

“Yes, please,” Jade smiled. “I worked up quite a thirst channeling our morphing abilities. Besides, I’m anxious to see what it tastes like.”

“Please forgive me, Jade,” June spoke up. “I’m being a terrible host. I should have offered you something to drink. Would like something to eat?”

“You’re not my host, I’m part of the family,” Jade replied. “I’ll earn my keep just like the rest of the family. I know you can use an extra hand in The Raven’s Perch. Besides, you won’t have to train me. I already know the routine.”

“Your help would be greatly appreciated,” June smiled. “But don’t you want to go to school too?”

“No, since Jenken and I are linked I already know what she knows so it’d be a waste of time and effort,” Jade replied. “I just want to experience life for a while as I adapt to being an adult.”

“To start you’ll be rooming next to Jenken and myself,” Jane said.

“For now we have to figure out a way to hide the tunnel you just made,” June added.

“Oh, we already took care of that,” Jade spoke up.

The three women frowned a bit as they looked at Jade.

“When I broke through, we could feel the cool air from the cavern flowing into the basement,” she explained. “That’s when Jenken thought about making things by morphing other things. We arranged the tunnel so the stone steps come up just behind the basement wall nearest the cavern. Then we morphed the air flowing in to create an insulated door like on a walk-in freezer. All we need to do is put a padlock on the door to lock it. It’ll keep the cooler air in the tunnel without effecting the temperature in the basement.”

When James and JJ finally tore themselves away from the New Years day sport extravaganzas they were surprised upon first meeting Jade. They were not accustomed to meeting a statuesque beautiful woman who equaled their height.

Things settled down after that. Even though Jade was a physically imposing yet beautiful adult woman the family knew she was adult version of four year old Jenken. By the end of the day Jade had melded into the family structure. After supper, they all dressed warmly and headed into the basement. Jade led the way through the new door leading the excited family down the steps into the tunnel. The each carried a flashlight to illuminate the way as they trudged through the slightly down sloping tunnel floor.

“Turn off the flashlights,” Jade said as they noted a scintillating glow coming from up ahead.

When they did so the tunnel was softly illuminated by flickering green light coming from the cavern. When they exited into the tunnel they gasped in awe. They entered the oval shaped chamber from the northwest, the highest point of the sloping floor. The ceiling at the entry tunnel was about 13' high but rose up to a height of about 38' while the floor sloped down about 13' over the length of the cavern. The other end of the cavern was about 115' away and it was about 38' wide. What caught their eye was the sparkling green scintillating swirling vortex about 6" in diameter about 13' above the edge of a pool. Glistening multicolored stalactites and draperies hung in abundance from the roof. Varicolored sparkling flowstone and glittering crystals covered the walls. Impressive sparkling stalagmites rose from the floor. A scintillating green light flowed through the crystalline accretions illuminating the vast cavern with a warm, welcoming aura borealis type of light. At the southeast end of the chamber was a pool of still water about 25' long and 13' wide that reflected the walls an ceiling like a mirror. The water level was 290' above sea level, one foot above the water level of nearby Lake Ontelaunee. While the rock floor was damp and rounded, they were able to easily walk around the chamber. The water in the pool was crystal clear, cool, and quite refreshing. They spent a half hour exploring. As they headed back to their house they spoke of the mystical power they’d all clearly felt proving the cavern was the center of the place of power.

Jade was permanently psychically linked to Jenken and JK2 so that all Jade did or thought was instantly known to Jenken. In turn, Jenken could share information with Jade before she fully conceived the question. Jenken, JK2 and Jade were now mental triplets. Jen and Ken were still kept in the dark about JK2. As in Jenken, Jade’s third lobe was the one with psychic abilities. Although the brains of JK2 and Jade began to diverge from Jenken from their inception as their thoughts and ideas made them unique they remained irrevocably linked. The three brains communicated with each other with a mere thought. Jenken seldom attempted to force her way into domineering the others and the few times it had happened were at times of great need or for safety. Instead, Jenken consulted with her other entities when differences arose to reach a consensus of opinion. Due to the fact Jenken had no physical body to control, her attitudes and behavior was at the level of a mature and stable adult. Even though Jen and Ken had access to Jenken’s knowledge, they were still children. Jade had come into existence as an adult and it was her maturity that made a major difference between her, Jen and Ken. Mind reading, matter manipulation, power absorption, placing tags and flags, downloading knowledge, empathy and implanting emotions and ideas were among Jade’s psychic abilities.

Over the next twenty four hours the reports of the executions flowed in. It was easy to tell who had been on Petra’s hit list as they were beheaded with the wounds cauterized. There was no denying who Petra had been sent to Hell. The toll steadily rose until the 57,600 deaths Petra had foretold were accounted for.

As could be expected in today’s world, the majority had been radical Muslims. But thirty people, Catholic and Protestant, had been beheaded in Ireland and Northern Ireland. In North Korea Kim Jong-un and virtually his entire coterie of cronies were history. Iran was also quite leaderless as virtually every high government officials and thirty percent of the Assembly of Experts who elect the Ayatollah were beheaded with their spiritual leader. In Afghanistan the Taliban leadership and the most fanatic fighters were totally annihilated. Pakistan lost nearly a quarter of it’s upper government officials and military officers. Al Quida and ISIS were without leadership and many of the most fanatic troops were dead. Other Moslem nations suffered high losses in government, military and religious leadership. Throughout Africa the leadership of the various Islamic Jihadist groups was eliminated. Hamas as a group was clearly beheaded. The Islamic insurgents in the Philippines and Thailand became leaderless. In Malaysia and Indonesia the radical leadership of Islamic insurgents along with all hard line clerics died. In Russia terrorists in the North Caucasus republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia–Alania were executed. China experienced executions among the leadership of Islamic Extremists as well as in it’s upper military and political echelons amongst those who used terrorism to fight the terrorists and control their citizens. Extremist groups and drug cartels in South and Central America and Mexico were also hit hard. Quite a few in the Chinese and Russian government, spy groups, and military felt Petra’s wrath for their support of terrorists.

However it was the supporters of the terrorism in Western Europe and the United States that were the biggest surprises. Several hundred highly placed individuals in business and religious charitable organization world were beheaded. Government sponsored spy organizations and the military in the US, France, Britain, Russia and Germany lost people who had been in positions of power and trust. What really surprised many in the USA was the number of religious leaders who were executed. The adult members of the Westboro Baptist Church had met Petra as had many others who preached hatred against LGBT. All those who practiced gay conversion therapy were beheaded as well as dozens who enjoyed beating up on Gays and transsexuals sending a clear message to those who denounced and hated LGBT. The KluKluxKlan was decimated as were many black panthers and other militant blacks.

The underlings who survived quickly abandoned the groups in which they’d been involved. The groups and organizations simply crumbled into nonexistence much like rats scrambling from a sinking ship. Car bombings and other terrorist acts instantly ceased. Headlines around the world proclaimed that God WAS real. Attendance at religious services around the world soared to the highest levels on record. Muslim clerics who had long deplored the Jihadists but had fearfully held back their concerns broke their fearful silence proclaiming that Islam was a faith of peace. Quite publicly they declared the true faith had been hijacked and perverted by hatred and intolerance. Jihad, they added, had no place in the modern world. They pointed to Petra’s vengeance as proof Allah was angered by the corruption of the true faith. However many of the long oppressed faithful found those pious words to be too little and too late. The remnants of the North Korean military opened the gates to South Korea asking to be formally reunited into one free nation

Despite all the government and institutional investigations, no one had a viable explanation of how Petra had made her repeated simultaneous broadcasts much less how she had carried out the mass executions. Governments and institutions around the world began to scramble. They wanted every conceivable device and instrument focused on St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican and the surrounding area, on the ground, under the ground, in the air, and from space. They were determined to find out how Petra could appear and where she was coming from when she arrived on January 6 at noon.

When the Raven’s Perch opened for business on January 2, Jade was a welcome addition to the staff. Naturally since she was simply another aspect of Jenken she fit right in and needed no training since what little Jenken didn’t know was easily downloaded from the other staff. With a bubbly personality, a ready smile and her enchanting Irish brogue she was an immediate hit with the rest of the staff as well as the customers. Everyone accepted the explanation of her origin. Of course there were a few quirks due to Jenken being only four years old but thanks to her mind reading abilities she quickly adapted. That she was an Irish cousin of the Raven’s was entirely reasonable and believable as witnessed by the family comradery. She easily joined in the family band since like Jenken she was able to play every instrument with alacrity.

On January 6 the world waited with baited breath for Petra to reappear in St. Peter’s Square. Every available satellite was focused on Vatican City. All commercial and private flights were grounded and the flight zone in a twenty five mile area about Rome was restricted at 11am. The USAF and NATO each supplied two E3-AWACS aircraft which allowed the four aircraft to fly in a five mile circle centered on Vatican City above Rome. Ten helicopters crammed with sensors and detecting equipment hovered a quarter mile out at a height of 1000'. Remote cameras and electronic sensors had been installed to cover St. Peter’s Square from every conceivable angle. Film crews from around the world were set up on the outer perimeter of the square ready to begin live broadcasts. Presidents, Premiers, and Prime Ministers from across the world were in attendance as were religious leaders from every Christian denomination, every Jewish sect, representatives from every Islamic sect, as well as leaders from the Buddhist, Hindu and the their various sects. Most surprising were the druids and Wiccan representatives. The streets of Rome surrounding Vatican City were jammed with the faithful of every faith. The broadcasts went live at 11:30am with the incessant patter of the anchors.

The only thing that showed up on any sensors as everyone waited with baited breath were the inevitable pigeons. Suddenly at 11:57, an emerald green ball of scintillating light about one foot in diameter appeared about 500' above the center of St. Peter’s Square. Everyone’s attention was immediately riveted on the sight. The cameras and sensors showed the roiling light was there. However a source for the ball of light could not be found. It was not being projected nor was it composed of anything but energy. Between 11:58 and 11:58:30 the ball of light expanded to 10' in diameter. The emerald green scintillating light faded away leaving a transparent slightly green ‘soap bubble’ hovering in mid air. At precisely noon, the bubble popped and Petra instantly materialized in it’s place. Wearing her uniform of green leather armor tunic over a short sleeved green chain mail dickie and green metal greaves she floated in the air as she surveyed the area as the entire world gasped. The sensors revealed Petra was not a hologram like projection but seemed to be an actual breathing being with human-like body temperature.

Petra looked about for the minute it took her to descend to ground level landing in the roped off area. For another few moments she regally walked about the circle looking at all in attendance as if sizing them up. Then she spoke while looking over those in attendance as well as into the cameras. Every 30 seconds or so she reached across the roped off area to lay her hand upon the person seated there. “Thank you for coming. Let me begin by saying neither I nor God took any pleasure in the Reaping. Unfortunately humanity was unwilling to rein in the excesses of the blasphemers. Humanity appears to have forgotten that God IS real. Since God exists, so does Satan. God watches humanity and hopes you will use the free will SHE has given to you to make the correct choices. Satan regularly intervenes in humanity, perverting God’s gift of free will to corrupt God’s gifts. Satan uses a two prong attack. First HE twists the teachings of love and peace into judgmental intolerance and hatred. At the same time he corrupts the twin desires of humanity to help your fellow man and for equality. Unfortunately Satan is an expert at perverting the concepts of assisting the less fortunate and equality.”

“Please know that only the worst offenders were reaped,” Petra informed the audience. “Many who supported the blasphemers are still alive. God feels they were tricked, misled and coerced into following those who were reaped. It is God’s sincere hope they repent. If they do not, all peoples should ostracize them and report them to the governments. EVERY government must be prepared to utterly destroy anyone who resorts to terrorism.”

“For those of you who are proud to call yourself liberals, please listen closely,” Petra continued “You can NOT help people by giving them things they did not earn. You HELP them by assisting them to help themselves! You can NOT give someone equality. You can help them ACHIEVE equality. Giving people RIGHTS without requiring RESPONSIBILITY only destroys them. The ultimate irony is that those who seek to do good by attempting to GIVE equality and rights are actually harming those they seek to help! Satan could not be happier! Unfortunately it is those who seek to ‘Do Good’ who allowed the Jihadists to get away with their evil by claiming terrorism is the result of the success of those who have earned better lives! They excuse the Jihadist hatred because the ‘haves’ take advantage of and use the ‘have nots’. While there are many cases where unscrupulous greedy people, businesses and even nations have used the less fortunate, the vast majority of interactions are beneficial to both sides.”

“For those of you who are proud to be conservatives, please listen closely,” Petra declared. “Humanity is not stagnant. To be human means to change. By resisting change you restrict humanity’s growth. Galileo was denounced for trying to show the earth was not the center of the universe. The dogma of the Catholic Church denied progress for centuries and in some areas still does. A bit over a hundred years ago conservatives were declaring that if God had meant for man to fly he’d have given them wings. Today, despite what medicine and science are discovering conservatives still insist that homosexuality is a perversion. They insist transsexuals are perverts. Denying same sex couples the right to be married is abhorrent to God. Conservatives continue to resist change thus causing grievous pain to those they should love.”

“God has a powerful sense of right and wrong as well as justice. She also has an ironic sense of humor. She feels a song written by Glen Fry and Don Henley, recorded by their group The Eagles and released 1994, is quite appropriate and, with one exception, that being substituting the word ‘undo’ for ‘kill’, should be taken extremely seriously. I quote:

I turn on the tube and what do I see
A whole lotta people cryin' "Don't blame me"
They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else
Spend all their time feelin' sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma's too thin; your daddy's too fat
Get over it Get over it
All this whinin' and cryin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it
You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash
The more I think about it, Old Billy was right
Let's undo all the lawyers, undo 'em tonight
You don't want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing
Get over it Get over it
If you don't want to play, then you might as well split
Get over it, get over it
It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You're makin' the most of your losin' streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak
You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little ass
Get over it Get over it
All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it
Get over it Get over it
It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit
Get over it, get over it.”

“To put it bluntly, God wants humanity to stop making excuses and get over it. It’s absolutely disgusting that people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton live high on the hog while bemoaning the suffering and oppression of Black People. Granted, there are economic and educational walls to tear down, however they only advocate the walls be torn down from the outside. They never stress the need to climb over the wall from the inside! In effect they stymie the people they claim to want to help by giving them excuses to wallow in their situations. The efforts of Mr. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton only serve to raise the walls higher and reinforce the prejudice of both sides. Rev. Martin Luther King tried to overcome the walls from the inside as well as the outside and was quite successful. Today he is recognized for his efforts much like Ghandi upon whom he modeled his efforts.”

“Each person is responsible for their actions, it’s part of free choice. God would like everyone to do what they can do to assist their less fortunate fellow humans help themselves. Those that have much should voluntarily share their bounty by assisting those less fortunate raise themselves up. No one, be it a person, business, or government should erect roadblocks to keep others from bettering themselves. Those who knowingly exploit other humans thus preventing them from earning a better life are Satan’s acolytes and will receive no mercy when their earthly life ends. Anyone who hinders people from bettering themselves condemn themselves to eternal damnation in their afterlife. Those who inadvertently support such oppression have a chance at redemption but they must act quickly. If a person supports an oppressive government or owns even a minuscule interest in a business that takes advantage of or abuses the poor, they must take action to correct the evil behavior the support! The best example of assisting needy people to help themselves while simultaneously exposing Satan’s acolytes is TAMTF. I was the angel who told Mr Kurt Goldstein to created TAMTF.”

“God is also tired of hatred for old wrongs. The Israelis and Palestinians are a prime example. Their hatred goes back thousands of years! What was done in the past IS the past! Who was right and who was wrong back then is meaningless today! Stop repeating and reliving 4000 years of hatred! GET OVER IT! Share the land. Share the history!”

“God is also disgusted with bigotry. Race, tribal affiliation, creed, gender and sexuality should never be causes for hatred or distrust. It doesn’t matter what color skin you have or who your ancestors were. What your faith is does not matter... what’s important is that you have a faith! Gender has no bearing on what job you do. A person’s sexuality does not matter. God is more concerned about promiscuity. Sometimes genetics and the expression of DNA does go astray, but even then, GOD does not make junk! Most people are born being attracted to the opposite gender just as some people are born being attracted to the same gender. It’s no different than most people being born right handed while some are born left handed! How you are born is NOT a choice! God has told me to tell you point blank without any qualifiers that homosexuality is just as valid as heterosexuality! Some are born with the body of one gender and the soul of the opposite gender. Again, that is not a choice! Medical science has advanced to the point such physical errors can and should be medically and surgically corrected. No one would deny corrective surgery to a child born with a cleft pallette, so why deny corrective surgery to someone who is transgender? God gave humanity a brain to think and learn and grow, it’s time you started doing so! As I said earlier... GET OVER IT!”

“Another point is that despite how nice equality and justice sound, those lofty ideals have never been part of God’s plan for humanity. It’s recorded in the Christian scriptures that Jesus stated the poor will always be amongst you. But that does not mean you shouldn’t try to help them! The only way to achieve equality and justice is to have everyone be the same. The only way to accomplish that would be to have all humanity at the lowest common level. That in turn would end drive and achievement as well as free choice. However, thanks to God, every human is different! They have different abilities, different likes, different dislikes, different ways of thinking. Those differences along with every other difference is what makes humanity human, just as God planned. That is the very reason why God has allowed so many different beliefs and faiths to develop! There is something for everyone!”

“Homo Sapiens evolved about 200,000 years ago. Yes, I said EVOLVED! The scientific evidence for the origins of life are fairly accurate. When God decided to create this reality, she did it with a BIG BANG about 13.8 BILLION years ago. God created the universe out of nothing! Time to God is meaningless. Time came into being with the creation. The stories of creation are simply that, stories! Humanity didn’t have the capability to understand what God had done so the creation stories followed the reality but were couched in terms early humans could understand, just as one would explain a complex issue to a toddler. The creation stories are fables based on reality! Even today, with modern scientific knowledge and evidence, many people still refuse to believe the truth when they hear it! There will be some who will deny that I reaped the blasphemers or even that I’m here talking to you!”

“During humanity’s pre-history with a hunter-gather lifestyle, and even into the beginnings of sedentary lives, mankind worshiped the Earth Mother. Then about 52,000 years ago there was a sudden explosion of human ingenuity that you know as the Great leap Forward. Language blossomed, tools that had barely changed for tens of thousands of years diversified. Art exploded onto the scene. Those early humans knew all life came from a mother and instinctively understood that God was female. Females and males were respected as equals, partners, not the same but one gender was just as vital as the other. That belief existed and continued until the development of villages, towns and cities. That is when Satan made major inroads into corrupting mankind in the form of greed and avarice which led to warfare. Warfare led to militaries and male dominance. Males forced females into a subservient role under the guise of ‘protecting’ them.”

“About 5500 years ago writing developed and along with it recorded human history. Time after time God attempted to explain HER desires for humanity. Unfortunately every time her words were misunderstood and warped. The problem is that while humans might hear the words of God they can not fully grasp the intent. People understand what they ‘hear’ based on their life experiences and knowledge. The emergence of civilization with male dominated societies prevented women from being taken seriously by men. That necessitated that God’s messages be given to men. Those men could not conceive that God could be anything other than male, so they changed God’s gender to fit their experience. In effect they gave GOD the first sex-change! Men simply could not accept that God was female. As a result God’s messages were corrupted from their very utterances. Even today many men think females are to be subject to males. I’m here to tell you that is blatantly and blasphemously wrong! No human should be subject to another. Satan has been quite successful in warping Islam to marginalize women. I’m telling you now with no qualifiers or restrictions that any man who refuses to give women total equality is condemning himself to eternal damnation!”

“Religion and faith are vital to humanity. No human can handle all the cares and heartache of life alone. That is only possible with God. But no religion is superior to another. What is right for one human can be wrong for another! That is why there is such a diversity of faiths! It’s part of God’s plan! Because of that truth, governments need to be secular while ensuring religious freedom. Please remember that every Theocracy has failed because by humanity’s very nature, morality can NOT be legislated!”

“Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism, the beliefs of indigenous peoples through the world, the polytheistic beliefs of ancient civilizations, up to and including Druid and Wicca are ALL based on God’s core teachings! All have also been corrupted by mankind to meet political and economic needs. However they still share the common core of love of God, in whatever form that may be, love of their fellow man, and harmony with all existence. No human shall oppress another. That includes human institutions such as governments and businesses. Equality is impossible, but striving for equality is very doable. Justice is difficult but not unattainable. It is humanity’s duty to assist each other. But keep in mind, your life on this world will end. When it does, God WILL judge you. Your decisions in your earthly life will determine if you go to hell or heaven.”

“Remember that belief in whatever form of God you find fitting is not static just as Humanity is not static. Faith evolves just as humans do because God is a living God. The faith of your grandparents is different from your faith today because the world has changed! Faith will always change and grow right along with humanity. God is ALWAYS by your side. You have free will! Use it wisely!”

“Each faith must change to accommodate what I’ve revealed today. Remember this... each faith in their beliefs have things that are right but they also have things that are wrong. All faiths are valid and accepted by God regardless of the form they envision God taking! They must disavow anyone who claims their faith is the only way. They must disavow anyone who advocates violence. Respect by the various faiths for other faiths is vital. All these things must become a part of each faith’s creed.”

“For eons humans have asked why God allows evil to exist, why she allows she allows disease to exist, why she allows natural disasters to occur, why she allows war. The answer is simple but many will not like it. This existence, this universe, was created for sentient life. Here on earth that is mankind. Also know that mankind is not the only sentient life form in this existence. As harsh and cruel as it seems, this existence is a means of testing your soul. Facing adversity, be it manmade or nature, requires use of your spirit. How you use your spirit is up to each individual. That may seem harsh but you never have to endure hardship alone. God is here with you to assist you in handling life’s crisis. You have free will to accept, reject, or even deny God. Life as you know it is finite, but your soul is eternal. Where your soul goes after this life is determined by how you handle this life. Your goal is not to die, but to graduate to the next level!”

“Also know all creation must be respected and protected. Natural resources can be used but they must be used wisely. Pollution must be limited as much as possible if not stopped. Those individuals, businesses and governments that pollute must be stopped and severely punished. Jail time and forfeiture of ill gained wealth along with severely punitive fines must become common worldwide law. Pollution that has occurred must be isolated and cleaned up. The planet has been raped by unscrupulous people. It must stop and be reversed.”

“Lastly, know this, God sent me to earth to reap Satan’s minions and deliver this message. It is not an accident today is Epiphany, for today is most certainly a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being. Any faith that has reduced females to second class must promptly reform. If the leadership of those faiths fail to do so, the leadership will have blasphemed God’s words the world has heard today thus condemning themselves and all who follow them to eternal damnation! Women are to be accepted and welcomed into leadership positions, including the top position, in all faiths. This does not mean women are superior to men. It means both sexes and all variations of gender expression are equally accepted and valued by God. Mankind must do no less.”

“Furthermore, I have NOT been recalled to God’s side. I will remain here and watch. If I see evil, I will expose it. God is hoping humanity promptly deals with the issues I raised so I don’t need to take further action. This means humanity will need to take responsibility of earthly affairs! Do not let evil regain a foothold in the hearts of mankind. If evil in any form is left unchecked, I will again reap! I can guarantee SHE will not be happy! It is my sincere hope that you will not see me again!”

Petra raised her arms in a V with her fingers extended as visible arcs of electricity leapt between her fingers. “God in her many names and forms will bless each and every believer.”

With that Petra rose into the sky. Thousands of instruments kept track of her ascent. When she reached 1000' a massive lightening like green flash rippled outward for 1000' before dissipating into nothingness. A mighty roll of thunder instantly followed rattling windows for miles. Petra had disappeared into nothingness just as she had appeared from nothing.

After analyzing all the sensors and thoroughly analyzing her communication interruptions, nothing could be found to explain where she came from, where she went, how she appeared or how she had done what she’d accomplished. Those she had touched said they felt a mild electric buzz that engulfed their body while they were instantly filled with peace and well being. All the evidence they’d accumulated indicated that during her appearance she had a corporeal body.

But what truly stunned the world was how Petra spoke. Everyone present heard her speak in their native tongue. There were ninety different languages amongst the hundreds of news and film crews that broadcast Petra’s appearance. Each simultaneously broadcast and recorded her appearance and words. Yet each not only heard and recorded the speech in their own language, their video showed her lips were moving to form the words they heard! When put side by side, the movement of her lips matched her words for each language. Yet all ninety languages were recorded at the same time!

Science was at a loss to explain Petra. That she existed and physically reaped the evildoers was undeniable. That she had appeared in St. Peter’s square in Vatican City was also without dispute. There was only one explanation but many people didn’t want to go there... Petra had been sent by God! Which meant that God had to be real! Atheists had to rethink their denial. But it was those who professed a conservative belief in God that faced having their faith torn asunder. They could not deny that Petra was God’s messenger which meant God was female! Centuries of male domination of religion crumbled as women throughout the world demanded the equality centuries of male arrogance had denied! Islam’s treatment of women as chattel was turned upside down and shown to be blasphemous. The unwarranted sexism of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox and many conservative Protestant churches was revealed as blasphemy.

Most males were unprepared for Petra’s condemnation of their vaunted male religious supremacy. Women welcomed the truth. Suitably chastised, public attitudes about the LGBT shifted as a result of Petra’s actions and speech. Membership in the LBGT organizations quadrupled as those who had hidden or denied their sexual orientation were emboldened to step out of the closet.

In fact, thousands of lawsuits were being filed around the world to eradicate legal restrictions on alternative gender expressions. Constitutions and bylaws of nations businesses, and organized religions had to be rewritten granting equality to all. Islam, Greek and Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church were all in turmoil as they tried to deal with the revelations Petra had shared. Centuries of male centric dogma were rendered obsolete. Their institutional condemnation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender individuals was revealed to be sinfully wrong.

In many instances women, energized and vindicated by God’s words that Petra shared openly rebelled against the repression they had endured for millennia. Mosques were stormed and hard line male supremist Imams who kept women relegated to chattel were driven out by irate frustrated women. The male dominated Christian churches fared only a bit better in that the arrogant male leadership was voted out. Many women abandoned the centuries old male dominated churches in droves when the male leadership balked or dragged their feet to open themselves to female leadership. Since women were traditionally the workers and supporters of those churches and mosques with their families, the very bedrock of male domination, social chaos ensued. Arrogant macho men were thrown out of positions of power by suddenly empowered women. Governments around the world stumbled, many fell, all were reformed. Militaries found themselves without wars and were wisely redirected to public safety and disaster relief. The good old boys that long dominated politics were forced by public outrage to resign. Around the world special elections were held to replace them.

Jade took over the duty of monitoring the flags of evildoers and the skeletons hidden in the closets began coming out as the revelations mysteriously appeared on the internet. Those in the most influential positions fell first. Several times Petra put in very noticeable and public appearances to pointedly accuse wrongdoers of their evil and present incontestable evidence of such. Bribery, payoffs, pollution, abusers of every ilk were exposed with undeniable proof of their misdeeds. Those in authority had no choice but to take prompt corrective or isolating action or face a massive public backlash. Those who had supported terrorism were revealed as all evidence of their collusion was made public prompting severe reaction from governments and citizens. Every three to four months Petra put in a public appearance to reap a pedophile or dangerous religious fanatic. That kept the fear of God in everyone’s consciousness.

The Ravens settled down to enjoy life. The Raven’s Perch prospered. The Ravens hopped around the world to perform their uplifting music and the demand for their videos, CDs and downloads never ceased. Jade became a vital part of the Raven family. She met and fell in love with Dave Garrett while he was visiting his sister Linda, the Neknej office manger. They married after a year courtship and soon started a family. A year after the reaping JJ and Judy had their first child. Jane met a nice young man at KU and brought him home. They married upon their graduation and it wasn’t long until Jenken had siblings.

Neknej flourished as Jenken guided the business in preserving land and headed efforts to reverse pollution. On the eastern slope of Moselem Hill where the trees met farmland south of Gehret Road and west of Maidencreek Road and north of Water Street, Neknej bought the land. In a massive excavation an area 4000' east to west and 3000' north to south was excavated to a depth 360' above sea level. A massive ten story energy neutral building was constructed, the roof earth covered and planted with vegetation. The all above ground walls were covered in solar panels. The green roof held ribbon wind generators amongst the foliage. The building held Neknej Research Labs. Jenken made sure to hire the brightest and best scientific, engineering, and tinkers.

Utilizing the knowledge Jenken continually downloaded she guided the staff to develop ways to recycle/mine landfills and safely neutralize toxic chemicals and radioactive waste. They also developed safe pesticides and fertilizers. Cheap desalinization of seawater as well as safe cold fusion power generation would emerge withing ten years. Profits were limited to ten percent and all profits were equally split between donations to Tamtf, further research, and maintaining the lab.

Tamtf brought economic viability to the second and third world while helping to eliminate bribery and greed in government.

As for Jenken, she maintained her tags and whenever she noted someone nearing an outburst of violence she made sure the chance of violence was cut off by either tweaking the person to get help or alerting someone who could safely intervene. She also used her tags to decriminalize illicit drugs, bringing the manufacture and distribution of drugs under government safety guidelines. This effectively ended the drug lords and underworld organizations while bringing tax revenue into the government. Safe drug use became as acceptable as safe alcohol use once being under the influence was removed as a defense for dangerous actions and any dangerous actions while under the influence became felonies with mandatory incarceration and punitive fines for first offence.

As for Jenken herself, she blossomed into a vivacious teen and stunning woman who looked like her older cousin Jade. Helping the world in anyway she could was her life calling.