by Bob Bannon
“Oh,” was what came out of Jonah. This was new. He’d never been in this situation. He didn’t know what to say. “I’ve never been to a dance before. Is that okay? I don’t even go to your school. Is Eric going?”
It was such a random assortment of questions that Emma didn’t know which one to respond to. “I don’t know,” she said, answering his last question. Although she knew full-well that Eric M. did not go to school dances.
Just then, Eric poked his head out the door. “Dude, they’re ready. Are you coming or what?”
“Are you going to this dance?” Jonah asked him.
“What?” Eric said, looking at him like he was a crazy person. “I’m not going to any dance. Are you serious?”
Jonah looked back at Emma. “I’ll go if he goes,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”
“What?” Eric said.
“Really?” Emma said, full of delight and relief. “So you’ll go, Eric? You’ll know everyone there. Everyone goes.”
“Kind of my point.” Eric said dryly.
“He’ll go,” Jonah said to her.
“Will not,” Eric answered back.
“It’s fine.” Jonah continued.
“Really? Awesome.” She said, still energized. “Okay, we can meet there, or maybe my dad can pick you up.” She was already making plans. “He’s driving me and Courtney and Heather,” she said to Eric.
Eric slouched and blew his bangs out of his face. He didn’t know how many ways he could say no.
“We’ll meet you there,” Jonah agreed.
“Okay, cool.” She said. “Totally awesome,” she added. “It’s next week. I’m sure Eric has the flyer. So, I’ll see you there.”
“Yeah,” Jonah said with a huge grin.
“Okay, cool,” she said again. She turned around and started walking away proud of herself that she found the nerve to do that. She hadn’t counted on the Eric thing, but it was a compromise she was willing to live with. She could still say she was going to the dance with Jonah.
She turned on her heel and started walking backwards, she found that he was still smiling and watching her walk away. “Bye,” she said.
“Bye,” he said back.
She turned and walked away.
Eric cleared his throat, which snapped Jonah back to the present. Jonah turned and walked in the door of the salon.
“So are both of us going on a date with Emma Wong?” Eric asked.
“What?” Jonah said. “It’s not a date? Oh, God, is it a date? It’s just a dance, right? It’s not a date.”
“When you go to a dance with a girl, it’s a date,” Eric said.
“No it’s not, it’s just a dance. Right?” Jonah asked.
Eric shrugged.
“You’re still going,” Jonah said.
“Am not,” Eric said.
“Are too,” Jonah retorted.
The debate went back and forth until the stylists separated them.
Jonah’s stylist was a woman called Susan who had short black hair and a ring in her lip that Jonah thought was really cool. He’d never met anyone in real life that had one of those. He was also surprised when he was sat in the chair that she asked him what he wanted to do with his hair. The barbershop at the other end of the mall only had one specialty, so he had never been given a choice. “Short, I guess. But not too short,” was his answer.
There were some rapid fire questions about just how short – Over the ears? Long in back? – Things of that nature. “You want to keep some of these gorgeous curls, huh?” Susan asked with a smile while running her fingers through his hair. Jonah nodded and blushed.
He was once again surprised when he was ushered back to a row of sinks and his hair was washed and conditioned. He was starting to like La La’s Salon much more than the barbershop. As they moved to the sink, he saw Eric in a chair across the way debating with his mother about how he wanted his hair while a stylist ran a comb through it.
As Jonah got his haircut he asked every question he could think of about the ring in her lip, where she had gotten it and how much it hurt. Susan at one point said Jonah would look really cool with an earring when he got older, but Jonah just giggled. He didn’t think that was his style, and he was pretty sure a piercing would hurt a lot more than she was saying.
Mrs. MacIntyre came over to check in and generally approved of how his hair was looking.
When it was all over, Jonah was surprised to see how much of his hair was on the floor. It was much shorter, but still looked like an unruly bed-head, and not the military cut he was used to. It did look a lot better cleaned up though.
He met Eric and his mom at the cashier counter. Eric’s blonde hair was neatly trimmed with just a shade of the bangs that used to meet the top of his glasses. “It’s too short,” Eric said, and tried to mess up his hair with his hands. His mother shut him down with one look, and he stopped.
“I like mine,” Jonah said, running his fingers across the short hair over his ears. “Thanks Mrs. MacIntyre.”
“You’re welcome, Jonah,” she said as she turned from the cashier. She ran both her hands through the boys’ hair. “Now why don’t you two handsome boys escort an old lady to lunch.”
“Zabeggo’s?” Eric asked.
She considered it. Although they had just had pizza the night before, she agreed they could do something Italian.
“Yes!” Eric said.
Jonah had the ten dollars in his pocket that Eric had given him, he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to pay for his own lunch. He hoped not, but the invitation sounded like Mrs. MacIntyre was buying.
Zabeggo’s in the Promenade had a packed lunch crowd, they had to wait a few minutes for a table. The outside patio was closed for the winter. The boys both ordered spaghetti with meatballs. Although Mrs. MacIntyre changed the order to whole-wheat pasta with chicken meatballs; Jonah could barely tell the difference while he cleaned his plate. Mrs. MacIntyre had a salad with grilled chicken. When it came, she was shocked at how large it was and ended up taking half of it home.
When the bill came, Jonah half-heartedly began digging in his pocket and came out with a wad of dollar bills. He knew this was his bus money and probably his only chance to get to Clapton for a long while. Eric’s eyes went wide but it would look awkward if he said something.
“Oh, Jonah, it’s fine. I’ve got this,” Mrs. Macintyre said. “You’re so sweet,” she added.
Jonah breathed a silent sigh of relief and stuffed the dollar bills back in his pocket. Eric had a look on his face that asked what in the world Jonah was thinking. Jonah just shrugged at him.
As they got back in the car, Mrs. MacIntyre asked for Jonah’s address so she could drop him. She knew the street he lived on, but not the house number. Eric was prepared for this.
“Just take us home, mom, Jonah’s going to borrow my bike,” he said.
“Really?” She asked. “It’s really getting cold out, Jonah. Are you sure you want to do that?”
Eric turned to the backseat with a look that said ‘follow my lead’.
“Sure, Mrs. MacIntyre, It’s not far.” Jonah said “I’ll be warm enough ‘til I get home.”
“I wish you boys had decided this when we left. We could have put the bike in the trunk,” she said.
“It’s not a big deal,” Eric said.
When they got back to the house, Mrs. MacIntyre said goodbye to Jonah, telling him to be safe on the way home, and went into the house. The boys went to the garage.
“That was close,” Jonah said.
“I figured we were going to have to come up with something,” Eric said. “Just do me a favor and hide my bike behind the dumpster or something.”
“No problem,” Jonah said.
Eric gave him the combination to his bike chain and then Jonah took off.
He drove down the hill and re-traced the bike route from yesterday. Mrs. MacIntyre was right, it was really cold. Jonah bundled his hands up into the sleeves of his coat, making it a little
harder to drive and he tried to keep his head down so the wind hit his hood instead of slapping him directly in the face. By the time he was back at the warehouse, he was chilled to the bone.
He slid the bike behind the dumpster and then walked out into the alley to see if it was at all visible. He looked from different angles and was sure you couldn’t see it. He went back to the bike and pushed the dumpster out of the way just a little bit so he could wrap the chain around the center bar of the bike and chained the bike to the handle of the dumpster, then slid the dumpster back into place.
He couldn’t wait to get inside. He didn’t even stop to see if Grouchy was out and about, he bee-lined it directly up the stairs and plugged in the electric blanket, wrapping himself up in it. He took a few sips from his water bottle waiting for the thing to warm up and sat shivering and blowing on his hands for warmth. Finally, the heat started to soak in. In a few minutes, he was finally warm enough to stand up. He was just warm enough to take off his coat when Eric’s voice boomed through the office.
“Hell Kat, you there?” It was a normal tone of voice, but loudly amplified. Jonah just about jumped out of his skin, not only from the loudness of the voice, but because he thought he was very much alone.
“Hello?” Eric’s voice called loudly again.
Jonah finally realized that the voice was coming from the walkie-talkie inside his backpack. He went over to the pack and dug it out. The volume was turned up to its highest point. Jonah turned it way down and then spoke into it. “You just scared the crap out of me.”
Nothing came back over the walkie-talkie for a moment. “Hello?” Jonah said into it.
The sound that came back was Eric’s trademark cackle, the one that was reserved for when he really cracked himself up.
Jonah shook his head, “Dude, it’s not funny,” he said. “The volume was jammed all the way up.”
“Did you turn it down?” Eric asked, still giggling.
“Duh,” Jonah said.
“So you can hear me though, right?” Eric asked.
“Clear as a bell,” Jonah confirmed.
“Is the bike okay?” Eric asked. “No way you got that thing inside, did you?”
“No,” Jonah said. “It’s behind the dumpster, but you can’t see it at all. I locked it up real good.”
“Think it’ll be okay when you go to Clapton tomorrow?” Eric asked.
“Don’t know. Want me to lock it up at the mall before I go?” Jonah asked.
“That’s a great idea. I can get it after school. What time do you think you’ll be back?”
“No idea,” Jonah said.
“Buzz me when you get back.”
“You’ll be the first,” Jonah replied in a tone that clearly stated both boys knew Eric was the only one he could talk to about the trip. “Unless I run into Emma,” he added as a tease.
“Right,” Eric said. “Still all jazzed up about date night.”
“It’s not a date,” Jonah said as he sat on the floor and wrapped up in the blanket.
“Is too,” Eric said.
“Is not,” Jonah retorted. “And you’re going.”
“Am not.”
“Are too,” Jonah shot back.
“We’ll talk about it,” Eric said, breaking the stalemate. “Later, Kat.”
“Yeah. Later, Danger.”
Jonah reached up and put the walkie-talkie on the control panel. He wondered how long the battery life was on something like that. He and Eric had obviously not thought that far ahead. He considered getting back on and asking Eric if he knew, but figured it could wait.
He stood up and dug in the backpack for the tablet and turned it on, he returned to his nest as he waited for it to cycle up and connect to the internet. He checked the local news and scanned for anything interesting. Three days ago, there was a break-in at a home goods store in Masonville. It kind of sounded like the break-in at the hardware store here in town and the home improvement store in Clapton. There were some reports of a big hairy man or some kind of gorilla costume, but the surveillance cameras were all knocked out in the same way and the alarm had been disarmed. Police had little evidence to go on, but authorities in all three cities were cooperating on the investigation. They were also trying to link the investigation to the lumber yard in Masonville, since the town had been hit twice in weeks. There was no physical evidence left at any of the robberies.
The hardware store in Kensville, which was the first of these odd robberies, had no alarm system, but the other two, much larger, corporate stores did. Police were checking to see if any employees had connections to all three stores and would have known the alarm codes. Since the alarms were deactivated, the intruder, or intruders, would have had hours to take whatever they wanted and escape.
The list of items stolen included a microwave oven, some food storage bowls of various sizes, two shower curtains and two large area rugs.
Jonah felt at least some sense of relief that these break-ins couldn’t possibly have anything to do with him. Sure, someone had brought him an electric blanket and some food, but he was content in the fact that no one had dropped off a microwave.
He scanned the rest of the news for anything else of interest, read some scandals related to a couple of different sports stars and paged through the entertainment news, but got bored quickly. He considered getting Eric back on the walkie and playing ‘Kat Skratch’, but he didn’t know if the co-op would link up at this distance, so he settled on a couple rounds of ‘Bupple’, which actually got quite challenging after a while.
Finally, he settled back and watched a few episodes of a sitcom he watched pretty regularly that he found he could stream from the network’s website. It hadn’t struck him until he looked at the episode list that he probably hadn’t watched television in more than a month. He could hardly believe that it had been so long since he was forced to leave his home.
Just as he started to drift off, he remembered the digital recorder Eric gave him. He got up and dug through his pack and found it. He pushed the button for voice activation and then looked around for a good place to hide it. He decided to place it next to one of the back legs of the control panel. It would be out of sight, but would still clearly pick up noise in the room. He wondered what it might pick up. He hadn’t seemed to have any visitors since the day of the last food drop-off. He laughed at himself when he wondered if he snored. Would it pick something like that up? He didn’t know if he did, but his dad snored when he fell asleep on the couch sometimes.
When he had the recorder hidden away, he ducked back into his nest of furniture covers and covered himself with the electric blanket. He was fast asleep by nine o’clock.
He woke up just before eight in the morning, well before the big truck usually bounced past the warehouse.
Today was a good day. There was no pain. There hadn’t been pain for the last three days, since just before he spent two nights at Eric’s house. As always, on the good days, he sprang up and began his morning routine. He unpacked his backpack and took stock of the clothing. It was odd that he would usually find something that at least needed rinsing out, but Eric had washed all of his stuff. He smelled both sweaters and they both had a fresh clean scent. He checked the basketball shorts and found that the dirt stain had at least faded in the wash and was now only noticeable if you really looked for it. He was happy about that.
He took off his sweater and the t-shirt in one motion and then shivered. The sweater obviously had retained some heat and now he truly felt how cold the room was. He went into the bathroom and used the ever-shrinking bar of soap to clean himself up. He washed his hair and took notice of the fact that it was much easier to do now that it was short. He didn’t even have to mess with it much when he rinsed it out, he just ran his hands through it and it looked fine.
He kept the jeans he slept in and threw on his tan t-shirt and brown sweater. He went through his routine of packing everything back into place.
It was then that he remembered t
he recorder under the control panel. He reached to the back leg of the panel and grabbed it.
The recorder had only one minute and thirty seconds of recording. The first twenty seconds he identified as himself moving to his nest and shifting into place. The next fifteen seconds were obviously the sounds of him shifting as he fell asleep. There was another twenty seconds where he thought someone might be coming into the room, but after listening to it three times, he could make out that it was just the sound of wind rattling the broken window. The remaining time he identified as himself shifting in his sleep. At one point, he even heard himself mumble something but he couldn’t at all make out what he said, even listening to it four times. It made him laugh.
He pushed the erase button and then pushed the voice activation button again and replaced it under the control panel.
He decided to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While he was making it, he vaguely wondered when, or if, the food would go bad. It was definitely kept chilled - it certainly never exactly got hot in the office. He knew you didn’t put peanut butter in a refrigerator and you didn’t have to necessarily keep bread in one, but he wasn’t quite sure about the jelly and the lemonade. Everything still tasted normal, so he decided to put it out of his mind, at least until after he was finished eating.
It was almost nine when he had everything ready to go. He put the green gem around his neck and under his sweater, and he had Eric’s money in his pocket. He would leave everything else in the backpack in the little door under the stairs.
He was just about out the door when he heard the crackle of the walkie-talkie.
“Hey Hell Kat, you up yet?” Eric’s voice said.
Jonah threw his pack on the control panel and dug for the walkie. “Yep, just about ready to go. You at school?” He asked into it.
“Yeah, just heading inside. Is my bike okay?” Eric asked.
“Don’t know,” Jonah replied. “I haven’t been out yet. I’m sure it’s fine.”
“It better be,” Eric said, although there wasn’t really much threat behind it.
“It will be at the mall, just like we planned,” Jonah said. “You got any big plans today?”