Wave Forty-Nine

Jamey's eight-year-old nephew played Em Dash Hunter for the first time tonight. The leaderboard had been frozen for seventeen days. The_Doev at wave 42, Jamey at wave 44 trailing him, both scores from a different month, both haunting their respective owners.

Tonight a new name appeared above both of them. Wave 49.

He played three or four times. Sunday night, past bedtime even by lenient parent standards. The kind of energy that finds a game by accident, plays it a few times, beats his uncle by five waves, and goes to bed.

Three exclamation marks in his name. He picked those himself.

Bram and Jamey are now tied in a new way: both immortalized at one peak they cannot reproduce, watching from below as someone who was not even trying made it look easy. The two adult contenders are from a different month. The eight-year-old's score is from tonight.

Jamey has options. Grind back. Take wave 49 directly. Let it sit. The third one is the funniest, and the funniest option usually wins.