Best Friends Jonathan and Jennifer

By Seung Geel Hong

"Best Friends Jonathan and Jennifer" is a story that spans 30 years. It is a story of a sister’s attempt to help and protect her brother during a time when the brother could not receive very much guidance or support from anyone else. It is a heart-warming story of a love between two siblings that would remain firm throughout their entire lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387621699

Book preview

Prologue

Jonathan Heard grew up during a time when the public had very little understanding for those who had any type of mental difficulties.  And such individuals were often looked upon as being stupid or lazy.  Too often, only the most compassionate individuals (such as Jonathan’s sister Jennifer) would have the desire and the patience to befriend someone such as Jonathan.

Best Friends Jonathan and Jennifer is a story that spans 30 years.  It is a story of a sister’s attempt to help and protect her brother during a time when the brother could not receive very much guidance or support from anyone else.  It is a heart-warming story of a love between two siblings that would remain firm throughout their entire lives.

Chapter 1:  Childhood Years

a. Jonathan

Jonathan and Jennifer Heard grew up in a small city that seemed to have had few opportunities for the average person.  It seemed as though only the lucky ones or the gifted ones had much chance to succeed in life.  Therefore anyone who had any ambition to get ahead in life had better chance for success by leaving the city and looking for opportunities elsewhere.

Jonathan was born in 1947 in Zimmerville, Michigan, and his sister Jennifer was born two years later.  Even though Jennifer was the younger of the two, it was she who would become the leader:  She had the wit and the determination to look out for their best interest during their early childhood years.

The largest manufacturer in Zimmerville was a fiberglass factory that employed approximately 400 workers. The factory officials expected its workers to work hard for their money.  Nonetheless, it treated the workers quite decently.  The workers did have a union, but it was an organization whose power thus far had never been tested, because the union members and the company officials had managed to work out all their differences before anything serious had developed.

The workers showed their appreciation toward the company by keeping down absenteeism to a minimum and by producing quality products. And the company, in return, showed its appreciation toward the workers by providing regular wage increases and by holding regular holiday events:  Fourth of July Picnic, Christmas Party, Easter Egg-Hunt.

The greater part of Zimmerville’s workforce worked in the service sector:  restaurants, motels and hotels, transportation services, service stations.  Some of the young workers entering the job market were fortunate enough to inherit their position in life.  For example, Joe Furley, one of Jonathan and Jennifer’s neighbors, worked for his father at the butcher shop until his father’s retirement.

Joe, then, bought out his father and expanded the business by opening up two more shops in nearby towns.  And at age 55, Joe sold all three shops and retired.

Unfortunately for many of Joe’s friends, things did not work out so well.  For instance, Joe Furley’s elder brother Ray had a very disappointing life.  During the last two years of high school, both Furley brothers worked for their father after school.  But each ended up living a life that was completely different from that of his brother:  Young Joe did well in all aspects of the butcher business, whereas Ray did well only in the meat department.  Even though Ray was an energetic worker, he had limited abilities when he had to make decisions or perform any type of mental-work.  And as a result, the father eventually turned over the responsibility of running the butcher business to the younger son Joe.

Joe tried to show consideration toward his elder brother by always including him when making any important decisions.  But it was still the younger brother who was really in charge of things, and everyone in-and-around the shop knew it.  Therefore Ray became very uncomfortable working under his young brother instead of working with him, and Ray eventually left the family business.  And for the rest of his working-years, Ray went from one employer to another, looking for a suitable position.

Jonathan Heard had a life that was similar to Ray’s life.  He (Jonathan) was born with a learning-disability that was never properly diagnosed by anyone in authority.  For whatever reason, Jonathan’s mind and body did not always work together.  For instance, if his mother had instructed him to go upstairs and find his sister’s shoes, he might have thought that he had been instructed to go upstairs and change his own shoes.  Or, if he wanted to say Thank-you, he might say Sit down without even realizing that he had responded inappropriately.  Also, when riding in the family car, Jonathan would sometimes insist that his father was either driving in the wrong direction or driving in the wrong lane.  Jonathan’s condition would improve with age, but it would still be a stumbling block for him throughout his whole life.

After Jonathan had learned to read and write (which required much more time), if he wanted to write the letter B, his fingers might write the letter M instead.  Moreover, his brain would sometimes misinterpret the signals from his eyes and ears.  For example, if he would approach a street sign that read Fort Street, his brain might interpret the street name as Francis Street.  And becoming excited or angry would only magnify Jonathan’s condition.

Naturally, such misinformation between Jonathan’s mind and body would lead to much misunderstanding between Jonathan and the outside world.  And he would often get himself into difficult or embarrassing situations by sticking his foot into his own mouth.

Unfortunately for Jonathan, his parents were too close to him to realize that he had any problem.  As far as they were concerned, their son was no different than anyone else:  He was just careless about everything.  And they felt confident that Jonathan would eventually outgrow his awkwardness.  As anyone can imagine, Jonathan had a very frustrating and insecure childhood.

Jonathan’s school years were a nightmare. He made frequent mistakes in almost everything he did. And it took him several years longer than the average student to even reasonably understand what he was reading, and his vocabulary would remain extremely limited until his late 20’s.

Meanwhile, whenever Jonathan would make mistakes in class, his teachers would scold him for:

Not trying hard enough . . . just being careless . . . not paying attention . . . making silly mistakes.

Moreover, Jonathan’s friends, neighbors, and even his own family-members would often accuse him of getting into trouble deliberately to get attention. And Jonathan would often become so flustered that he would reach the point of pure desperation, and sometimes even the slightest tone of disapproval from an authority figure would cause Jonathan to sulk or suddenly enter a weeping spell.

Then, mysteriously, Jonathan’s tears somehow dried up. And by the time Jonathan entered the 4th grade, he temporarily lost the ability to shed tears. It seemed as if Jonathan had exhausted his allotment of tears, and it would be many years before he would again be able to shed any tears from his eyes. Until then, Jonathan would shed tears only within the boundaries of his heart. Fortunately for Jonathan, his sister Jennifer had the compassion to understand what her brother was experiencing.

To survive his condition, Jonathan had to work extra hard in anything he would do. And anything he attempted required much more time-and-effort than normal.  Hence, Jonathan always felt flustered, insecure, vulnerable, and frightened.

Jonathon rarely told his problem to anyone, because most listeners would usually make innocent yet insensitive remarks such as:

"You’re just imagining, . . . things can’t possibly be that bad, . . . you shouldn’t feel that way, . . . you should ‘change your attitude,’ after all, you should be thankful that you don’t have real problems, like the people who are starving on the other side of the world."

In time, Jonathan learned to remain quiet and display the appearance of everything being normal. No matter how much Jonathan was hurting inside, he would hide his feelings, because no one seemed to understand that a person’s true feelings can only be covered up at will, not changed at will. Hence, Jonathan would try to close his mind against the constant fear-and-uncertainty of everyday life.

In the meantime, because Jonathan performed so poorly in school, his 3rd and 4th grade teachers failed him, which meant that Jonathan had to repeat grades 3 and 4. Sadly, even with such evidence of poor academic ability, no one seemed to realize that Jonathan had difficulty with learning-and-communicating skills. Instead, Jonathan’s bad grades seemed to reinforce the mistaken idea that Jonathan was not trying hard enough, and most people believed that Jonathan just needed to settle down and get serious with his education.

However, one teacher in Jonathan’s life did actually try to understand Jonathan’s problem. In the beginning of the 5th grade, Jonathan’s teacher (Miss Corbin) believed that Jonathan might be performing poorly in school because of his vision, and she suggested that his eyes be examined.

Jonathan’s parents had his eyes tested two weeks later, and the ophthalmologist declared:

His eyes are excellent, Mrs. Heard.

Jonathan’s mother asked:

"Then, why does he have so much trouble reading if his eyes are so good?  He gets things all mixed up like he can’t see straight."

The ophthalmologist replied:

"I don’t know.  He may have a problem, but there’s nothing wrong with his vision. . . ."

Before long, the school authorities had become interested in Jonathan’s problem. And three weeks later, the school authorities arranged an IQ examination for Jonathan.

Meanwhile, Jonathan’s mother had become very concerned over the possibility that she had given birth to a son with low IQ, and she anxiously waited for Jonathan’s test result.

After the IQ exam, the examiner announced:

"He has an IQ of 108, Mrs. Heard. You have a smart young man. If he has a learning-problem, it has to be something other than low IQ. Did you ever have his eyes tested? . . . "

After learning the test-score of the IQ exam, Jonathan’s mother breathed a sigh of relief: She just knew that there was nothing wrong with her son. And she proudly drove Jonathan to Diana’s Sweet Shop for a treat, where she and Jonathan both ordered chocolate milk shake and glazed doughnuts to celebrate the outcome of the IQ test. Jonathan’s mother was very thankful that her son’s IQ had proved to be normal.

As for Miss Corbin’s opinion concerning the result of Jonathan’s eye examination and the IQ test, she still believed that Jonathan had a serious problem, but there was nothing more she could do for him.  It seemed that her conjecture had been proven wrong. And Jonathan’s parents and the school authorities came to the conclusion that, since Jonathan’s eyes and brain had been proven to be normal, he just must be careless. Therefore Jonathan would just have to pay more attention to whatever he would do, because he now had no excuse for performing so poorly in school!

All through his school years, Jonathan remained with the academically slower students. At the time, the local educational system had a way of classifying the students according to their academic levels.

For instance, when Jonathan entered the 6th grade at Washington Intermediate School, he was classified as a 6-1 student, which meant that Jonathan was a member of the slowest 6th grade students, whereas a 6-4 student would have been a member of the most advanced students (also called College-Prep students).

Fortunately, even though the academic levels of all the students were more or less public knowledge, all the students socialized as one student body.  Occasionally, a 6-4 student would make an insensitive remark such as:

"Oh, that’s the dummy class, or Here come the retards."

However, such remarks were rare. And most of the time, the students among the four categories intermingled very well.

Unfortunately, the comradeship among the students would change as they advanced through high school. For example, when Jonathan entered the 9th grade at Isaac Newton High School in 1963, his classmates accepted one another as members of a single class (in this case, the class of ‘67). But as the students progressed through the four years of high school, they segregated themselves into different groups: General Education Group, College Prep Group, Athletic Group, etc. Of course, other factors such as race, sex, social class, and family income would also affect the students’ association with fellow students.

Most of the students socialized among the members of the different groups without any problem. Nonetheless, some were actually humbled into remaining within certain boundaries.

For instance, a classmate of Jonathan (named Richard Baker) was dating a girl from another home-room. Richard and his girlfriend dated happily for a month-and-a-half before the girl’s parents learned of Richard’s limited academic potential, whereupon the girl’s father suggested:

With Richard’s poor scholastic aptitude, there’s not much chance of his getting a decent job when he graduates. Maybe you shouldn’t see him so much.

The mother, then, joined the conversation:

"Your father is right.  You’re too young and much too attractive to be dating just one boy. There are lots of boys out there who have much more to offer. . . ."

At the time, the girl was not interested in dating anyone else, but she reluctantly obeyed her parents’ wish: She saw Richard less and less, and she began to date boys with higher potentials. And before long, she stopped seeing Richard altogether.

As for Richard, the loss of his girlfriend hurt him deeply, but he accepted his position in life, and he tried not to show any emotion. He simply suffered in silence and hoped that his girlfriend would one day return to him. But fortunately for him, his girlfriend never did return to him. Instead, she eventually married the son of an attorney. And the son joined his father’s law practice upon graduation from law school.

In the meantime, when Jonathan became aware of Richard’s heartache, he vowed that such thing would never happen to him: He would never let himself become that close to anyone. And from that moment on, Jonathan would make a point of letting all his dates know that he had very little material things to offer. He believed that there must be at least one girl in school who would be interested in him for his honesty and sincerity. And if such girl should show interest in him after he had spoken so bluntly, he intended to do almost anything to keep her.

Sadly, Jonathan never encountered such girl in high school. Instead, because of his matter-of-fact attitude, Jonathan actually discouraged many potential relationships, and as a result, Jonathan had very few dates throughout his high school years.

During his first year-and-a-half of high school, Jonathan and his friends were quite busy. They attended many types of activities: ball games, parades, band concerts, school car-wash.

Then, during the second half of the sophomore year, Jonathan’s friends, one by one, became attached to girlfriends. And by the beginning of his junior year, Jonathan found himself to be very much alone. Jonathan would have the opportunities to attend all the school activities, but he would avoid most of them.  He would avoid them because things had changed: Jonathan would often feel out of place whenever he would show up at any event without a date.

Gradually, Jonathan began to spend most of his free time in the library, because he wanted to improve his reading ability so that his adult years would (hopefully) be more secure than his childhood years had been. Hence the remainder of Jonathan’s high school years was filled with feelings of both loneliness and hope.

1b. Jennifer

While Jonathan was having a difficult childhood, his sister Jennifer was enjoying