Jonah Havensby by Bob Bannon Page B

belongings into his backpack and took off down the stairs, leaving only the new food, the electric blanket and the nest he had made from the furniture covers.
    In what felt like seconds, he was down the stairs and out the window.
    When he reached the ramp outside, he had to stop. He doubled over in pain again. It was like a sharp stick was poking his left eye from the inside. His quick pace to get outside wasn’t helping. It felt like he’d never catch his breath.
    As the pain in his eye ebbed, he stood straight up. ‘Not to worry,’ that’s what the note had said. Not to worry is what his father always said. His father would never say ‘Don’t worry,’ or ‘no worries,’ he always said ‘Not to worry.’
    He spun around toward the dumpster, blinking the rest of the pain away. Then he spun back toward the alley. He looked up the alley and down and saw no evidence anyone had been there. Was it his father? How could anyone have survived that explosion?
    “Dad!?” He yelled up the alley. He yelled again in the opposite direction.
    He thought about going inside again to look around, but he was almost certain he would have noticed someone inside on his way out, even if he was in a hurry. And if someone was there, wouldn’t they have stopped him?
    He had this horrible little daydream that his father was now a horribly disfigured zombie and he probably thought that if Jonah saw what he looked like now, he might scare the boy, so sometime in the middle of the night he bought groceries and an electric blanket and crept in so quietly Jonah would never know he was there.
    None of that made any sense at all, so Jonah shook it off almost the moment he came up with it.
    Even if his father was a horribly disfigured zombie, Jonah was pretty sure he was better off with him than without him, and he knew his father would feel the same.
    It had to be someone else, but to Jonah’s knowledge, no one had ever even seen him in the alley, much less going inside the warehouse.
    In the light of day, and feeling at least a little more clear-headed, Jonah looked around once more. Nothing seemed out of place, and the only things that had mysteriously appeared were actually a great deal of help. And the office door was re-locked behind them. Didn’t that mean they wanted him to stay safe?
    There were too many questions.
    He didn’t necessarily want to go back inside just yet, so he decided he would leave for as long as he could today and if it appeared safe, he might try just one more night in the nest.  After all, he didn’t have anywhere else to go.
    With some effort, Jonah managed to smash the entire backpack into the small door under the stairs. He took only the tablet and the gem with him. He decided he would debate the situation back and forth and stay away as long as he could.
    That meant he was finally going to go to the mall.
    He zipped up his coat and made his way around the corner to the street, making sure to look to see if he could spot someone watching him. He checked the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. He tried to see inside the farthest windows. He spun around and around to see if anyone was following. Once on the street in front, he continued scanning the area until he was sufficiently assured he was alone. He put the tablet under his arm, jammed his hands in his pockets and began to walk toward Main Street.
    A while later, walking down the street full of people crossing this way and that, he began to feel a little more anonymous. No one seemed to be looking at him in any particular way, if they acknowledged him at all.
    Window shopping took on an entirely new meaning. This time when he looked in the windows, he wasn’t looking inside. He was looking at the reflection of anyone nearby.
    He finally came to the road he knew would take him down toward the mall and he walked across the street at the crosswalk. As he made his way, he looked down the street one final time and came to the conclusion that he wasn’t