Once upon a time there was a  young man named, Jonas. Jonas grew up and  lived in a very small town in rural northern Georgia. Unfortunately, one evening in late May, when his parents and his fifteen year old sister were returning home from visiting  some of their distant relatives in a nearby town, all three of his family members were killed in an violent and horrible auto accident. Later that same evening, when Jonas was told of his parent's and his sister's death, he began to cry. And for next several days, all Jonas could do was cry for the loss of his family. He loved them so, and without them, he had no idea what he was going to do.

Since Jonas was the age of sixteen, it was decided by the County's local authorities, in conjunction with the County's only duly elected judge, that Jonas should be given special consideration for his situation. He was too old to be placed in a State sponsored  foster home and too young to be simply turned out into the world. And to top it all off, his relatives in the town where his parents had gone to visit, said that they simply could not handle another teenager in their house.

Fortunately for Jonas, the County judge took a liking to him. The judge was a kind man and someone that most of the people in Jonas's community trusted. Following an offical inquest into his parent's and sister's death, the judge called Jonas into his office and told him that he wished to help him. Jonas was not so sure that he wanted anyone's help. He was already bitter about his parent's and sister's death, and he was still reeling from the pain of their loss. Jonas was bitter for good reason. The driver, who caused the accident and deaths of his only family members, was driving drunk. The drunk driver was arrested at the scene of the accident and brought before the same judge that liked Jonas. The driver was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. Although the realization that the man who caused his parent's death was in jail provided some solace to Jonas, he was still very angry about his loss and his situation. In fact, he began to hate other human beings for their bad drinking habits and their lack of concern for others.

As time went by for a month or so, the judge met with Jonas several, successive  times. At each and every meeting, the judge tried to console Jonas and to reassure him that the man responsible for his parent's and sister's deaths would pay for his criminal behavior. Jonas didn't  seem to react too much to the judge's attempts to reach out to him because he was still in shock, and still trying to deal with all the radical changes in his life. Jonas did notice, however,  that at each of these meetings,  the judge seemed to be a kind and good man. Jonas could tell that the judge was trying to help him, and that he really did seem to care, but still, the pain of his loss was still strong and his anger was too fresh for him to focus on what the judge was trying to tell him. 

After some more time passed, Jonas met with the judge a final time. At this last meeting, the judge told Jonas that he had found a very nice family with whom he could spend  some quality time. The judge also said that after a period of time had passed, if he want to do so,  he could choose to live permanently with this new family. The judge also told Jonas that there was only one condition to his placement with his new family. In order to continue staying with them, he would have to return to high school in the Fall and  stay in school until he completed his high school degree. Jonas immediately agreed to the judge's condition, and told the judge that he wanted to finish school because he knew that it would have been one of his parent's most ardent wishes. 

When Jonas was introduced to his new foster family, he suffered a bit of a shock. The father of his new family was a much older man - maybe in his sixties. The mother was older too - much older than Jonas' mother had been. On top of that, the family's  two children were grown. In fact, both children, a boy and a girl,  were college students, and they both lived on separate college campuses at two schools near Atlanta. So, besides the husband and his wife, whose names were Ben and Elizabeth, Jonas was basically to be left alone and given the full run of the house most of the time. Even though he missed the company of his sister, Jonas decided right away that it was just fine with him that there was no one else in the house to bother him. So he decided to move right in.

Jonas discovered almost immediately that Ben and Elizabeth Wilkes were really nice people. Because they were older, they seemed to understand his problems and his struggles. Sometimes, they even seemed to understand his feelings long before he was able to fully understand them himself. Ben was a good and kind hearted man, who liked to work with his hands. He also liked to tend his very large garden. The garden was his pride and joy, and it covered almost the entire fifty acres of his farm like property. Ben never ordered Jonas around or demanded anything unreasonably from him. Whenever he encountered Jonas, he simply invited him to participate in whatever his momentary activities happen to be. One day, when Jonas came home from school, Ben came over to him smiling and  said, "Hey, Jonas. I'm going out to my garden to pick some tomatoes. Do you want to come and see'm? They are the most beautiful tomatoes I have ever grown."  Jonas didn't know how to respond. He thought about saying no, but then Ben's invitation was so polite and kind, it just seemed crazy to say no. So Jonas agreed to go with him. After two hours of talking about crops in the garden, Jonas realized that  he had  learned a whole lot about farming and about how to grow plants.  It was all very interesting and exciting. "Maybe," thought Jonas, "I have found something to do with my life that will really make a difference." Soon, Jonas was accepting  every invitation from Ben to go out onto the garden and do some work. He accepted because he knew that Ben would always be respectful of him, and that he was going to learn so much. It was all so very interesting.

 As time passed, the anger from the loss of his parents and his only sister began to subside. Jonas began to make good grades in school, and people around the County noticed that he was a much happier young man. In the Spring of his senior year in high school, at the local County  Spring  Fair, Jonas presented a few samples of some new Spring corn he had grown. The group he presented to were beef ranchers and farmers in the County who liked to come to the Fair and see what was new in crop management and crop care.  The farmers and ranchers were very impressed with Jonas's samples and with his presentation. The corn he grew was plump and high yield, and nothing like what the farmers had seen in any Spring crop in Georgia before. Everyone wanted to know how he had done it. Just how did he grow that corn so early? And how did he get such a high yield in his crop? Jonas's response to these questions was simple. Ben had taught him how to grow corn. Yet, as he learned all that he could from Ben, he also began to realize that there were some possible new ways to make his corn better and higher yielding. So he tried out his ideas  and they all seemed to work. The ranchers and farmers were very impressed. They asked Jonas for specifics on what he had done to his small crop, and realized that he was a very smart young man, who had learned his farming from a master. Jonas' reputation began to grow.

Ten years later, Jonas was one of the most successful farmers in North Georgia. He owned a nice sized farm, and also raised a large herd of cattle. He was happily married to a local girl name, Laura, and generally well liked by everyone in the County. And each time some young man or girl in the County loss one of his parents or one of his or her relatives, Jonas came forward to offer his aid and help. He and Laura even took a few of the County's orphans into their home. The only rule for any orphan to stay was that they had to go to school and complete their education. The rest of what Jonas and Laura did for them was by invitation only.

John K. Brackett

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