Jonah Havensby by Bob Bannon Page B

at any rate. Mister Nolan agreed with her account, to police, but refused to answer what he thought this hero may or may not be.
    Jonah was enthralled. It sounded like something out of a comic book. But he worried about Jenna. He recognized her picture immediately. He hoped she wasn’t too frightened by the experience. Maybe he’d go see her again if he could collect enough change and he’d ask her about it.
    There were no other really interesting headlines today. He doubted anything could measure up to the first one. So, he opened the “Kat Skratch” game.
    A while later, Jonah searched around for a new perch in the mall, preferably one with an electrical outlet nearby. The video game was fun, but it was certainly a battery eater.
    He found one on the first floor over near the department store at the far end of the mall. He plugged in and sat down with his legs stretched out across the entire bench. He’d been playing for about twenty minutes when he looked up and saw a boy about his age playing a video game on his phone. The boy had sandy hair that fell into his eyes, which were covered by dark-rimmed glasses. He wore a blue hoodie with a surfing logo on the sleeve and blue jeans.
    Jonah had never considered talking to anyone in the mall, mostly because the people here consisted of groups and he wasn’t quite sure how to interrupt or randomly join into their conversations. But this boy was all by himself and clearly getting frustrated by whatever he was doing.
    “C’mon!” The boy yelled. “No! Aw, c’mon!”    
    Jonah unplugged his tablet and stuffed the cord into his coat pocket. He walked over to the boy and said “Hey,” as a greeting.
    “What?’ The boy said without looking up from his game. The word came out bluntly, with a sharp tone of annoyance and maybe a twinge of anger that was clearly directed at Jonah and not misplaced by the boy’s frustration with his game.
    “I just wanted to know what you were playing,” Jonah said in a defensive tone.
    “Why?” The boy said in the same biting tone.
    “Fine,” Jonah said. “Skip it.” The boy clearly didn’t want to be bothered. Jonah started to go back to his own place across the seating area.
    With an exaggerated huff, the boy paused his game and said “I’m playing Kat Skratch, okay?”
    Jonah turned back and said “Oh my God, I love Kat Skratch! What level are you on?”
    Whatever defenses were up around the boy seemed to momentarily melt but then Jonah could see something go back up in the kid’s eyes. “Thirteen,” the boy said, as if it were more of a question, as if he were unsure whether that was okay.
    “Oh I hated thirteen!” Jonah said. “What character are you using?”
    “Danger Man,” the boy said, again, as if asking if that was right.
    Jonah sat down on the bench next to the kid. He’d unlocked Danger Man some time ago. Danger Man was all wrong for thirteen. He was a huge, hulking figure with muscular arms. He could throw things incredible distances and he could jump a long way and come down with a force that would shake the floor and throw down nearby enemies. But that’s not what you needed on thirteen, “Oh, no,” he said. “You can’t use Danger Man for thirteen.”
    “What do you mean?” The boy asked, finally turning in his seat to face Jonah. “Who are you using?”
    “Hell Kat,” Jonah said with pride. He pointed at the screen on the kid’s phone. “See. You have to get behind the guys on thirteen, they just catch everything you throw at them from the front and throw it back at you.” He was pointing out things on the screen. “If you use Hell Kat, you can bounce off the walls and get behind them and then all you have to do is scratch them three times.”
    “I like Danger Man though,” the kid said. “I’m kind of used to what he can do. I think it would be worse if I switched it up.”
    “Okay,” Jonah said. “Then try and throw things off the wall.”
    The kid considered it and then