Jonah Havensby

by Bob Bannon

  When he wasn’t helping, Jonah went to a music website that had free streaming music videos and checked some of them out. The boys agreed on some songs, and disagreed on others. The kid requested some videos that Jonah had never heard of. Of course, Jonah had been a little out of touch for almost a month.

  A girl came out of a women’s clothing store that was just to their left and bee-lined it right to the boys. Jonah looked up and was stunned. She was a Chinese girl with long black hair the color of pitch-black night. It was up in a ponytail but seemed to flow out behind her. She was wearing a fur-lined tan coat that, for some reason, made Jonah stare at her dark brown eyes. She was wearing a taupe colored sweater that matched her boots. In short, she was the most amazing girl Jonah had ever seen.

  “Oh my God, Eric M.!” She said, punctuating each word as if there was a period after each one. “Your mother is so cool!” She dropped her shopping bag on the ground and brought out a distressed denim jacket that had a fur-lining around the collar. “Your mom just gave me fifteen percent off on this,” she said, displaying the jacket. “Fifteen percent! Heather Montrose is going to die when she sees me in this.”

  The boy, clearly Eric M., barely looked up from the video game. “We can only hope,” he mumbled.

  “Hi,” she said to Jonah. Then went in for a closer look. Up close, she was stunning.

  “What’s wrong with your eyes?” She asked.

  “I, um. I.” Was all he could mumble before he broke into a ridiculous grin.

  “I mean, do you wear contacts or something? Because I think you lost one.” She said.

  “No, I… Don’t.” Jonah stammered. “It’s just how my eyes are.”

  “Oh.” She said. “Really?” She looked in them for another moment and then caught herself staring. “That’s pretty cool, actually.” She smiled, then dropped the denim jacket and picked up the shopping bag. “See you tomorrow, Eric M. Thank your mother for me.” And then she was off, flipping her phone out of her purse as she went.

  “Who was that?” Jonah asked quietly.

  “Emma Wong. She goes to my school.” Eric said without much of a thought. He hadn’t much looked up from the game during the entire exchange. “My Mom owns Vineyard over there.” He pointed to the store Emma had just left. “All the girls in my school go there. Sometimes my mom will discount stuff for people she likes. She even asked me to start an e-mail list for her so she could announce when she was getting new stuff in. Like any of those girls talk to me.”

  “She just talked to you.” Jonah said.

  “Who? Emma?” he said, pausing the game. “No, Emma’s cool. She’s like one of the popular girls who isn’t afraid to talk to anyone. I think everyone in school knows her. It’s just that most of those girls only talk to me if they want a discount.” He pushed his glasses up farther on his nose, as if trying to remind Jonah who he was talking to.

  “So, Eric M.?” Jonah asked. Awkwardly changing the subject.

  “Eric MacIntyre,” he said. “They all call me Eric M. because there’s two Eric’s in our class”.

  “So who’s the other guy?” Jonah asked.

  “Usually just Eric,” he said pointedly. “He started out in fifth grade as Eric F., but I guess since more people talk to him, he’s just Eric now.”

  “I’m Jonah,” he said.

  “I kind of got that from your log-in,” Eric said “I guess we never introduced ourselves. That’s pretty funny.” As an aside, he added “I was going to ask about the contacts thing too. I guess we got wrapped up in the game. That would suck if you went home missing a contact. I bet your parents would be pissed.”

  This caught Jonah a little off guard. He didn’t know how to reply, so he said “My dad said my eyes couldn’t decide what color to be when I was little, so they settled on both. There’s a name for it, but I can never remember it.”

  “I’ll have to do an internet search on that when I get home,” Eric said, making a mental note. “Hey, you don’t go to our school do you?”

  “No,” Jonah said. “Home schooled is what my dad calls it.” Jonah replied. He hadn’t counted on getting into these types of conversations.

  “Wow. Really?” Eric said. “I’ve read about that but I’ve never met anyone that actually does it. Sometimes I think that would be better.”

  Just then, a rambunctious group of tenth graders was passing by, they both looked up. They were bigger boys than the two of them. There were only four of them, but they were so big, it looked like there should be more.

  The leader, a blonde boy with hair that spiked straight up in the front, subtly stopped the group. He was wearing a distressed leather bomber jacket and jeans that had a rip in one of the knees. He looked mean.

  The group turned their way. It looked like they might pass right by to the other side of the mall, when the leader purposefully kicked Eric in the side of the shin.

  “Ow!” Eric yelled, bringing his leg up on the bench.

  “Oh. So sorry, Eric M.” The leader of the pack said in a dumb voice. “Did you hurt your little leg?” The three behind him snickered.

  “Shut up, Logan.” Eric said.

  “What’d you just say?” Logan shot back, leaning in with fists clenched.

  Jonah got up and in between them. “Back off, jerk.” They were almost chest to chest, but Jonah was a good three inches shorter.

  Just then a woman with frizzy red hair came out of the Vineyard clothing store marching directly at them. “Is there a problem over here boys?” She said rhetorically. Her hair was up on her head, held in place with a pen. She wore yellow cardigan sweater over a silk top. She was wearing a knee length skirt and her high heels clanked on floor as she marched. Her outfit said that she was pretty fashionable; her hair said she was pretty busy. Her face said she wasn’t at all happy at the moment.

  “No,” Logan said. “No problem here.” He turned and looked directly into Jonah’s eye. “Just an honest mistake. Right?”

  “I think you should head home now, Mister Oswald,” The woman said to Logan. “I’d hate to think of your mother worrying about you in this weather.” It was a subtle threat that said she wouldn’t hesitate to bring his mother in on this ‘honest mistake’ of his.

  “No problem, Missus MacIntyre,” Logan said, and flashed her an innocent grin, backing one step away from Jonah. “Just headed home now.”

  “Well, good.” She replied with a tight smile of her own.

  “You’re dead,” Logan mumbled to Jonah, and then shouldered him hard as he walked away.

  Mrs. MacIntyre crossed her arms and looked at Jonah. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know you.”

  “I’m Jonah,” he said, a little afraid of her defensive posture.

  “It’s okay, mom,” Eric said. “Jonah’s cool.”

  “Oh,” She said, seemingly surprised. “Really?” She added, but tried not to sound surprised. “Do you go to school together?”

  “Jonah’s home schooled.” Eric said.

  “I just come to the mall to do my homework.” Jonah blurted out. He didn’t know why.

  “So you do your school work at home and then go out to do homework?” She asked. “That’s smart. I like that. Makes sense.” Then she added pointedly, “Maybe you two could do your homework together.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Eric mumbled. He’d clearly heard speeches about homework before.

  “Well, come on now, Eric. I’m going to lock up and we can get home and have some dinner.” Mrs. MacIntyre said. “It was very nice meeting you Jonah.” She extended her hand.

  “Thank you,” Jonah said shaking her hand.

  Eric stood up and his mother wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

  “Are you going to be here tomorrow?” Eric asked.

  “Yeah,” Jonah replied. “You?”

  “Yeah, I come every day after school.” Eric said.

  “Cool,” said Jonah.

  Mrs. MacIntyre and Eric walked back into the store; Eric had clearly gone
back to the video game.

  Jonah looked at the tablet. It was seven o’clock. He’d never stayed at the mall so long. He tucked the tablet in the back of his jeans and zipped up his coat. It was time to judge which fountain he was going to pilfer. He decided to try the fountain down near the Promenade, on the opposite side of the mall than Vineyard clothing store.

  His luck was holding out. Once again, there seemed to be very few people in the mall, even though it was later than he usually tried to get away with this. He felt a little more uneasy, because he’d have to grab the change and then walk through the Promenade and then through the older part of the mall to get outside. He looked around, grabbed some change and shoved his hand in his coat pocket and then walked very fast to the nearest exit without pulling his sleeve down.

  Mrs. MacIntyre wasn’t lying when she said people might be worried about the weather. It was bitter cold out and a snow flurry had begun. The combination made it hard to see. Since it was just a flurry and not a large snowfall, the snow kicked up again in the wind. It made looking down just as difficult as looking straight ahead.

  When he got back to the warehouse, he took the backpack from the little door. It didn’t seem that it had been moved. He climbed inside the warehouse and went upstairs, not sure what he’d find. His note was still there, and nothing seemed different than how he left it.

  He immediately removed the electric blanket from the roll-top desk, unfurled it over his nest and plugged it in. He left his coat on. The wind was whipping through the broken window overlooking the warehouse.

  He dropped the pack next to the desk and rested the tablet on top of it.

  He went to the notebook and picked it up. He flipped though each page to see if anyone had answered him. He found nothing but the notes that were already there. He paged back to the note he had written, folded the cover open and left it on the control table, sure no one could miss it.

  A chill blew through him. He kicked off his boots and got under the blanket, which had begun to warm. He turned to the food that he had left at the base of the control panel, but remembered he’d packed the spoon.

  He got up and searched the backpack, shivering a little. He retrieved the spoon and dove back under the blanket. He made himself two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, slightly bothered by the fact he had only one utensil that tended to leave traces of either in both jars. He found that slightly amusing since he’d mix the two in a sandwich anyway, so what did it matter?

  He drank from the two-liter bottle of lemonade, which turned out to be quite a treat. It was like having a real meal. He decided he would only drink when he really had to, in order to conserve it.

  When he was finished, he got up and used the restroom. He rinsed off the spoon and put it back in the pack.

  The blanket was sufficiently warm that he took his coat off and put it on the roll-tip desk. He got under the blanket, but his eyes wouldn’t close. He kept sitting up and looking at the door, waiting for someone to come through it. Maybe Zombie Dad would come creeping in.

  He tossed and turned and sat up for a fourth time. This time he got up and got the tablet. He decided to listen, very quietly, to some of the songs Eric had suggested this afternoon. Eric certainly knew more hip-hop songs than he did, and Jonah liked a few of them, even though he was far more a top-forty guy.

  He found himself giggling about some of the things he and Eric laughed about this afternoon. It struck Jonah that he hadn’t realized he’d been pretty lonely. He was usually happy enough in his own company, never really having met anyone new, but conversations with his father must have quelled the need for communication. He’d never really considered it before. Eric seemed pretty lonely himself.

  Then his mind turned to Emma Wong. He wondered what her hair would look like straight down and out of the ponytail.

  He drifted off to sleep.

  The next morning passed without incident. There was no pain. He got up and rinsed some things out and left the warehouse around eleven o’clock. There wasn’t a sound from Grouchy. Jonah thought maybe he was having a good day too.

  He walked through the crisp morning air, unsure where to go. He could head to the mall, but he thought he might kill some time before he went and go around the time school let out. Maybe Eric would be there again.

  After hiding his pack, he turned and headed for the neighborhood that was over the freeway. He could do a little exploring and then walk to the mall later.

  When he turned the corner on the first street, the first thing that struck him was that all the trees were bare. There had been at least some leaves on them last time he was over here, although there had been plenty of leaves on the ground as well. Now all the trees were empty. Some of the lawns were still covered in leaves, others were neatly manicured and the grass glistened with frozen dew.

  He passed the house where he had picked up the five dollar bill and looked inside the car the business man had gotten into. It was expensive and large with a black leather interior. There was a small stick shift between the front seats. The dashboard looked like it belonged in an airplane. He didn’t realize he was doing it, but he casually made his way around the car looking for money on the ground. He thought that would be a stretch, so he moved on.

  He wondered if Eric lived over in this neighborhood. That might be weird if Eric’s mom saw him walking around, but he figured he could get away with saying he was on a break from being home-schooled and decided to get some air.

  He walked down the next block and took a left; he circled back down the next block. It looked virtually the same as the other block, large houses of different sorts, some with cars out front, some with cars in the driveway, others looked empty.

  He passed one house which had a tall, brick chimney with smoke curling up into the chilly air. Jonah thought that sounded nice. He pictured a large room full of people talking and carrying on while a fire roared in a huge fireplace. The image was nice, but he doubted the house he was looking at would accommodate the palatial proportions he was thinking of.

  He went down to the end of the block and walked down another street. More of the same. Although there were some nice cars on this block that he checked out.

  It was only twelve-thirty when he checked his watch, but he was getting bored. This wasn’t part of the routine he had developed, and it held little interest. He turned and started walking towards the mall.

  He walked down Main Street. He had started to recognize some of the people that worked in the neighborhood, certain people who would come and go at certain hours. He wondered if they recognized him too, the kid who was always walking around.

  IX

  Elm Street, which Jonah usually took, was a busy thoroughfare with more shops and restaurants, but it occurred to him he really hadn’t explored the area. He was lost in thought at all the activity going on around him and took a left up the next street just a little too fast. He walked right into Jenna Worth, who let out a small cry and held her hand out in front of her, clearly frightened.

  “Sorry,” Jonah said.

  “Oh,” she said, catching her breath. “Hi. It’s you.”

  Jonah appreciated that she had recognized him again.

  “Are you okay?” He asked. “I didn’t mean to…”

  “No, it’s not you” She explained. “I’ve just been a little jumpy lately. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, I read about that,” Jonah said.

  She tried to smile politely. “You and everyone else.” The smile seemed tense. “Everyone thinks I’m a little nuts.”

  “I can walk you to the diner,” he said. It was just a few blocks back the way he’d come. “I mean, if you’re scared.”

  “I’m not that scared,” she deflected. “But thanks.” She took him up on the offer.

  “So was it really scary?” He asked, gently.

  “It was and it wasn’t,” she said. “I mean, it’s not every day you see something like that. I mean, everyone is telling me it must have been a costume. Even Mi
ster Nolan said that to the police. But he was this close to me.” She stopped and turned toward him. She was about a nose taller than him.

  “Weird,” she said, noticing that Jonah was the same height as the Red Devil. She turned and started walking again.

  “What?” Jonah asked.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Really.” She smiled another tense smile. “I just know it wasn’t a costume. But since when do devils help people? You know?”

  Jonah shrugged.

  “He was real, and he was kind of scary looking, I guess. But he was nice. He saved my life.” She said. “But if he was real, then I have to believe in a Red Devil. That’s a lot to take.”

  She took a breath and stopped again. “I think he was flirting with me,” she added.

  He ignored this and continued. “It sounds confusing. He looks bad, but he’s actually good,”

  “That’s just it,” she agreed. “On top of the fact he shouldn’t exist.” She stopped about a block up. “You really don’t have to walk with me, I mean, unless you’re going there anyway.”

  “I wasn’t planning on it,” he said.

  “Okay. Well, thanks,” she said, and turned and walked away.

  Jonah watched after her, for a minute, then turned and resumed his walk to the mall.

  He turned on the next block, as he originally intended. This block had fewer, smaller trees. Instead of growing out of strips of grass at the curb line, these trees looked more purposefully planted. There was no grass, all the way to the curb, and there was a tree planted every several feet in piles of rocks and mulch.

  The places here were of a different type than the neighborhood Jonah walked through. They were built of brick and very tall. They looked like houses that had been split down the middle. Each side had a metal fence around its small half of the property.

  There was a park a few more blocks up. He made a mental note of it. That probably wouldn’t be a bad place to kill some time. There were picnic tables and two swings. There was a jogging track around the perimeter and a few people were running around it now. Jonah thought it would be too cold to do that.