J And J

Most of us are waiting for that one person, or for that one thing to happen to us, that will change our lives forever. We wait, and we expect that what is now a monotonous routine, will become something more – something exciting, something interesting. Of course, it’s natural to want good things to happen to you, despite the fact that we never really know what exactly it is that we’re asking for. 

Then, there are other people, people who’ve already had so much happened to them, that all they want is a glimpse into the normal life – a life that doesn’t involve shocks and sad events, that doesn’t involve grief and heartache. The surprising factor here is that, both the scenarios are so, so different yet so, so similar. They both involve people asking for something good, even though their situations are worlds apart. 

For Jordan, he’d been through both the scenarios. He had once been an ignorant teenager, who believed that he was ready to take on anything that life threw at him. Who thought that the worse things that life could possible throw at him were the abandonment of his CD collection that he’d spent the past two years collecting. 

When life did throw worse things at him, he was flabbergasted. He didn’t know that worse things could be something like the movies he used to watch, that they could be so worse that, at time, he’d forget how to breath. 

Jackson, his dog, was the one who got him through it all. Jackson, whom Jordan had never even bothered looking at twice, had at the end been the only one left with him. 

When Jordan turned 16 years old, his whole family hosted a grand event. An event where magicians entertained the kids, a grand feast entertained the adults, and the babysitters sat in a room babysitting the babies. It was fabulous, Jordan had thought. He cut the cake, everybody celebrated, and then the gifts were bought in. He had opened his new games, a shiny silver new laptop and a magnificent new phone, gorgeous metallic headphones, and much more. What came at the last though, was supposed to be the best and the most handsome. Jackson was bought in, and Jordan had smiled, hugged, and then forgotten all about the dog that was supposed to be his best friend. 

Time went on, and around two weeks after, Jordan’s world fell apart. 

His father, mother, and older sister were returning from a shopping spree that he had denied going to. Hours had passed, nobody picked up their phone. Jordan, being the careless son that he was, only got worried once around eight hours had passed by. When he went outside to check the roads to see if they were on their way back, he received a call that he soon wished he’d never gotten. 

He was informed that the shopping mall had caught on fire and while his family was leaving the place, the building had collapsed. He didn’t remember what happened after that, he couldn’t. Or maybe he didn’t want to. 

It’s been a year and a half since, and Jordan’s living with an uncle that doesn’t really care and is most of the time, out of the house. Jordan’s life has never been the same, but he’s back to his normal routine. 

He had been living as an ignorant boy, but now, despite having such a similar life to how he was before, he wasn’t the same. Why? Because now he knew that the worst things life threw at people were so worse that even thinking about it would give one a headache. 

When his family was gone, and when he had no other family to rely on, the one who was there for him was Jackson. He had come into the room at night, when Jordan was crying his eyes out, wearing the same cloths he had been wearing since the funeral, Jackson had come and patted Jordan’s head. As if he was comforting him. They sat together for a while, and at one point Jordan had gotten up and went for a bath. He’d changed into clean, fresh clothes, and taken Jackson for a walk. For the first time in around two weeks, Jordan had laughed.

From that time onwards, Jordan had gotten back into studies, started saving up, and spent almost all of his time with Jackson. 

Time has passed, and Jordan has even found a part-time job. He went home and shared this with Jackson, who in turn ran around him in circles and woof-ed while sharing the happiness with Jordan. Suddenly, he halted, and he started to pull Jordan towards his room. Jordan, surprised as he was, followed through, and saw Jackson aiming at the luggage. He opened it up and there, lying in the midst of the mess Jackson had made, was a thin envelope. 

Jordan tore it open and read what was inside:

“Jordon, our dear son, Happy Sixteenth!

We’re so proud of you, our boy, because even if you’re clueless in almost everything, we know that you’re good at heart. We know that you’re someone caring and we’re glad this is how you turned out to be. We just bought Jackson for you, on this beautiful day, and named him that so that you both had the same initials. We know that you might not appreciate him at first, but eventually, you’ll understand why he’s the best gift for you. He’ll be by your side through thick and thin, and whenever you’d want to talk to someone, he’ll always be there. One day, you’ll move out, but still, he’ll be there for you, he’ll be there to look after you in the absence of our presence. So, value him as much as you can, okay? 

We love you, darling!”

With tears streaming down his face, Jordan hugged Jackson, repeatedly thanking him. Even though the dog was clueless, he once again patted Jordan’s back – just like he had a year and half ago. They were together, and Jordan thought to himself: “I’m valuing him as much as I can, mom and dad. He’s made my life better in more than a thousand ways, and I’m thankful for that.”