Jonah Havensby by Bob Bannon

bills?” He said.
    The old man had his glasses slid halfway down his nose and looked at Jonah over them. “Ummm..Yup,” the man said in a long drawl as if the two words were one.
    Jonah started pulling the various coins from his pocket and spilling them out onto the counter. The man started flicking the coins this way and that through a small square hole in the glass, at once counting and separating them. When this had concluded the old man said “Four dollars, twenty-seven?”
    “Yes, sir.” Jonah said.
    The man opened the register and scooped in each pile of coins according to what they were and scooted one quarter and two pennies back to Jonah’s side of the counter. Then he handed Jonah four dollars. Jonah put all the money back in his pocket. With a big grin he said “Thank you, sir.”
     “Ummm..Yup,” the man said in the same one-word drawl.
    Jonah left and headed up the street towards Red’s Diner.
    The very first snow began to fall in a light drift. Jonah put up his hood and stuffed his hands in his pockets, happily anticipating hot chocolate. People hurried to and fro, it looked like they wanted to be in their cars before the snow started piling up.
    He was welcomed to the diner with a blast of nice warm air. There were more people in here than the last time. There were more people working too. Two waitresses he didn’t recognize were working the booths and tables. He took an empty spot on a barstool at the corner of the counter.
    Just then he saw Jenna coming out from the double doors that led to the kitchen area. She was laughing about something. “I’ll get you later,” she said with a giggle to someone out back. Her hair was up again, as it had been last time, but it looked shorter. She had probably had a haircut since the last time he was here.
    She grabbed the coffee pot and went down the line of customers at the counter asking if they were “good or not?” Some she re-filled, others she nodded and passed.
    “Hi!” she said to Jonah with a big grin. “Hot Chocolate right?”
    “Yes!” Jonah said, a little too excited, and then blushed.
    “I never forget a guy with beautiful eyes,” she said, turning to return the coffee pot to a warmer and going to the hot chocolate machine.
    He blushed a completely different shade of red. Were his eyes beautiful?
    There was that odd sensation again that she was much older than he was. She was someone with a job and an air of confidence that he didn’t think he had and that made her seem more grown up.
    She brought the cup over and he reached for it a little too fast. “Hold it,” she said.
    He looked up at her afraid to know what the problem was. He instantly reached into his pocket and pulled out the four dollars, wondering if she was asking if he had money to pay.
    She bent underneath the counter and returned with the bag of miniature marshmallows. She saw the money in his hand and gave him a look that said that’s not what she meant. “A whole handful, right?”
    “Yep,” he said with a breath and a smile. “Please,” he added.
    Once again, she loaded the cup with marshmallows until it seemed it was almost a marshmallow with hot chocolate instead of the other way around.
    She left and went about her other duties. He put the money on the counter and started in on the cup.
    After she had made another round of the counter, gave some people plates of food, and made sure no one needed more coffee, she returned, putting her elbows on the counter and resting her chin on her hands.“So what brings you back? Do you live around here? I haven’t seen you.”
    “No ,” he said, scooping marshmallow out of the cup with a spoon. “My dad has meetings around here.” He found it was easier to lie if he concentrated on the cup.
    “Oh, that’s right,” she said. “I remember now. So any food tonight?”
    “I don’t think so. I only brought the four dollars this time. It’s from my allowance.” He wasn’t sure why he added that, but he figured