Harmon Stoltzfus III was born in Bird in Hand, Pa on July 23, 1987. His Father was Harmon Stoltzfus II and his Grandfather was Harmon Stoltzfus I. He was named after the baseball great, Harmon Killebrew. Harmon III’s family was Amish Mennonite. Amish Mennonites are a little more modern than Amish. They have cars and electricity and are allowed to wear t-shirts. But they aren’t quite as modern as Mennonites because they can't have radios and most of them are premillennials. 
   Harmon III was the third child born to Harmon II and his wife, Annie.They had 10 children. The oldest child was Pete. He was 21 and weighed about 300 pounds. He was so lazy he never worked anything and all the stuff his Dad thought he did was actually done by Harmon III because Pete ruled him with an iron fist. Pete was the favorite child. Next was Gloria. She was 20 and quite a nice girl. At least 3 boys were after her. Harmon was next and then 16 year old Pharon. He was a clueless young man who didn't know anything and was also a slave to Pete. Then there was Rueben, William, Rosie, Elmer, Sara, and the baby, Abraham. 
   The family lived on a farm east of Bird in Hand on 340. They milked 67 cows and farmed 134 acres. The best part about growing up on a farm was working together as a family. But Harmon, Gloria and Pharon did most of the working and Pete spent most of his time eating candy bars and watching movies on his little DVD player which his dad didn't know he had. He also liked to beat up his younger siblings. 

   We join our hero on the morning of his 18th birthday. He was sleeping soundly at 4:56 am when a deafening yell ripped through the house. It was his dad. It was time to go milk. Harmon put on his glasses, ran combed his brown hair and he and Pharon stumbled downstairs by 5:00. Pete snored until 7. He claimed he had strepped throat so he stayed in bed. 
   Harmon's Dad woke up the family every morning with this method and it made them all very angry. Harmon went out to the barn and milked the cows. That morning at the breakfast table his mom said, "Happy birthday, Harmon. His dad said, "Do you have a birthday?" The family gave him a few little gifts. 
   Harmon worked in the fields all day. It was very hot and he could hardly bear seeing Pete sitting under a shade tree. Harmon felt like driving over him with the tractor. But he knew better. While he worked he thought about the thing most young men think about: girls. He was thinking about Arvilla Beiler. She was the nicest girl Harmon had ever known. She was 18 and had green eyes and brown hair and the prettiest face and at least 17 boys were after her. Some were Amish Mennonite, some were Amish, some were Mennonite and some were English. Either way Harmon knew he hardly had a chance with her. He had said about 6 words to her in his whole life. She was so nice. 
   "Tonight will be different," he said to himself. "Tonight at bible study I will talk to her." No other girls mattered to him. 
   That afternoon Harmon was in the machine shed fixing his car. He had a junky little Ford Escort. Pete had a new truck. He heard a sound, looked up and saw Harmon II walking into the shed. He walked over to Harmon and said, "Son, I have something I want to talk to you about." 
   Harmon's mind raced. "What did his father want to talk to him about? Was it the radio he had hidden under his bed? Was it about the tourist he ran over last week?" He didn't know so he got out from under the car and looked at his dad. Harmon II cleared his throat. "First off you have to work harder." Harmon III wanted to protest but he knew better. The last time he raised his voice to his Dad he had to milk all the cows by himself for 23 days and wasn't allowed to eat anything but apples and cheese. 
   Harmon II continued, "But what I really want to talk to you about is that you are now a young man and it's time you got a girlfriend." I've been watching the young ladies in church lately and I noticed that Millie Miller is quite nice. I think you should ask her out." 
   Harmon almost dropped his wrench to the ground. He was now thoroughly convinced that his dad was insane. Why in the world was he telling him to get a girlfriend and to make it worse. Why was he suggesting Millie Miller? Millie was the eagerest girl Harmon knew. Whenever Harmon was around, she was following him and laughing at everything he said and trying to look in his eyes. If there was ever a girl Harmon didn't want it was Millie. She wasn't that ugly, she was just weird.
    Harmon didn't know what to say to his dad's proposition so he just mumbled around and looked at the floor. "Ok, Dad," he said and went back under the car. 
   
   That night Harmon and Pete and Gloria went to Bible Study. It was at Elmer King's house in Intercourse and it was a beautiful summer evening. Harmon was still thinking about what his dad said as he walked into the house. The children were sitting in the living room at the King's. Since Harmon was late he had to sit at the very front of the room. He thought that was dumb. 
   As he walked to his seat he looked around for Arvilla only to be disappointed when he saw Millie batting her eyes at him. He was even more disappointed when he saw Karl Weaver sitting right beside Arvilla. Everyone knew that Karl had the best chance with Arvilla because he was the coolest guy in Bird in Hand, Intercourse and the surrounding areas. He was good looking, good at sports, and spiritual. Harmon hated him. 
   Bible study was boring. Wilmer Lapp had the topic. It was about heeding God's voice. Harmon heard a voice telling him to go grab Arvilla but he decided that probably wasn't God's voice. After the topic they had prayer requests and the usual impersonal requests were raised. The Beiler family in Africa, Willard Mast's great uncle George had cancer, and Becky Mast's cat was on the brink of death. Harmon wanted to request prayer for himself but he didn't feel like it so he just looked at Arvilla and saw her passing a note to Karl. Harmon felt like throwing a pen at him. 
   After Bible Study the children sang happy birthday for Harmon and that felt good. He looked to see if Arvilla was looking at him. She was. Millie Miller sang so loud Harmon almost had to hold his hands over his ears and she had the worst voice ever. When the singing was over everyone sat around and looked at each other for awhile. The cool people got into a group and said jokes and Karl Weaver said the most jokes and Harmon looked over and saw Arvilla laughing at him. He was angry. Harmon sat there and talked to Willard Mast and Henry Glick. Those two guys were ok and Harmon got along with them but they all wished they could go talk to the cool group. 
   Soon Millie Miller and Mandy Lapp came charging over to the boys and Millie screamed "Happy Birthday," at Harmon. They talked for awhile and Millie told Harmon and the other boys to make sure they go to gym night on Friday to play volleyball. Harmon didn't know if he could go and knew he didn't want to go if Arvilla wasn't there. 
   He watched Arvilla till she went out to the kitchen. Then he got up and shot toward the kitchen too. When he got out there Arvilla was talking to Mary Beiler about something and Harmon shuffled toward the fridge to pretend like he was getting a drink. He was waiting for his chance. It came. Arvilla walked away from Mary and came right at Harmon. He broke into a sweat. She was coming right at him. 
   Her sweet face was right there. Her green eyes fluttered and met his for a second. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out so he coughed and turned away. She walked on by. He felt like swearing. 
   Millie came charging into the kitchen and crooned, "Harmon, let's play Rook." He didn't want to play Rook but he did and then he went home and went to bed and cried himself to sleep. His plan to talk to Arvilla had failed. (by iw to be continued) 
   Read "Our Hero Harmon" next week to see what happens when Harmon goes to gym night. Plus Harmon II makes another startling demand.