Chapter 1

Jack Clive Owens was a January born baby, he seemed to be like every other child born in the world, and for the next three months he developed as you would expect any baby to.

His parents were over the moon with their new son, Mary his mother who had been a full time nurse prior to his birth, was on maternity leave now and for the next six months.

His father, Brian, had now returned to work at Baker, Brown and Jackson, a stockbrokerage in Athens, Georgia in the United States. Brian had hoped to have been a stockbroker himself, but didn’t have the necessary aptitude for the job when he had tried it, so now he was an associate to Mr. Brown, the Brown in the company name, it wasn’t as prestigious a job as his bosses, but he still earned a satisfactory salary which allowed him to provide a comfortable home for his family.

The first sign that their son Jack was different was when he reached six months old. He was already an unusually quiet baby; yes, he cried, but he didn’t scream out his displeasure like a lot of infants, but more sobbed his distress when he was wet, dirty or hungry.

The sign that Jack was different wasn’t that he seemed to have a searching gaze when looking at everything around him, or directly at you when you were doing something with him; no, it was one evening while the family were sat in the living room, Brian and Mary were sitting on a love seat sofa watching the television, while Jack was sitting on the floor.

Nothing strange about this scene you would surmise, and you would be right, but what happened next was different. Brian got up to grab a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses to relax with, Jack turned his head so as to watch him leave the room, and then did the same when he returned, his headed tilted to the side for a few second as though he was thinking. His parents were briefly unaware of what their child was doing while they poured their wine and took their glasses. Jack had only got the hang of crawling recently and he wasn’t particularly proficient as yet, but for some reason he took hold of one of his cuddly toys and attempted to lift himself to his feet. His movement had caught his parent attention, both of whom sat open-mouthed at their son’s display. Obviously Jack’s development hadn’t got to the point where his legs could support his bodyweight in a vertical position, so he collapsed back to the floor, where he began to sob.

Worried that he may have hurt himself in falling Mary was over to him in a shot, picking him up to soothe him, while gently testing his knees and hips to see if he had any particular pains. Thankfully Jack soon settled and none of her ministrations seemed to cause him any distress. Mary carried Jack over to the sofa where Brian was still sat, they looked at each other in consternation,

“Did he really just try and stand up already.” Brian queried.

Mary looked up from Jack to look back at Brian, “That’s what it looked like to me, but then perhaps it was just him climbing that made it look like it.”

“Yeah, perhaps that’s more likely what happened” Brian agreed, they both settled back down to their show with Jack now seated between them.

The next peculiar instance was only a few weeks later; Jack had just filled his diaper and, as was his norm, gently started sobbing to get his mother’s attention. Mary was now well aware of the strange unconventional behavior of her son. She picked him up to check his diaper as she had just recently fed him. Sure enough there was evidence of him needing a new one.

“Well Jack honey, I won’t be sorry when you are past the stage of needing diapers anymore.” she chuckled.

“Aww Mom.” Jack replied. Mary let out a short scream and nearly dropped Jack so shocked was she. Her heart felt like it was going a mile a minute, she knew at some point Jack would start making more cohesive noises, but this was something totally different. Reaching the bedroom where the changing table was located holding all the supplies needed for the job at hand, carrying Jack to the room had allowed her the time she needed gather herself, and her heartbeat to return to what could be considered a normal level.