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.