Harmon, Pete and Pharon were in the barn one Saturday soon after Harmon's 18th birthday. They were supposed to be cleaning out the horse stalls. Pete was sitting on a chair. He was telling Harmon and Pharon what to do and he was eating a candy bar. Harmon was waiting for the chair to break down because it had a sticker on it that said, "weight limit, 225 lb." Pete was twice that.
"Move that manure over there," Pete shouted. Harmon looked angrily at him, but then meekly obeyed. He threw the manure bitterly on the ground.
"Move it back," yelled Largo.
Harmon had been at the breaking point all day and those words just broke him. He picked up a huge shovel full of horse discreant and hurled in in the direction of the unsuspecting big boy. It landed square in his face.
This was the first time Harmon had ever stood up to his evil brother. "Take that, you big oaf," he yelled. Pharon stood there staring in disbelief. Pet tried to yell at him to come wipe the poop off, but his mouth was to clogged up with candy bars and things. Pharon picked up a shovel full and hurled it on the pitiful boy. Then he followed Harmon out of the barn. They roared with laughter as they ran for the house to tell their mom what they did.
The big boy sat there and bawled. About 2 hours later Harmon II came and washed him off with a hose.
This event is important to our story because now that Harmon had finally gotten the courage to rebell against his slave master, he felt so good and confident he thought he could do anything.
"Nothing can stop me now," he thought as he wheeled his black escort down 340. He and Gloria were headed to Gym Night. "Tonight I'm going to talk to Arvilla" Pete wasn't along. He was at home devising a plan of revenge on Harmon.
When they finally reached the gym, Harmon was feeling very tense. His stomach was in knots. His hands were sweaty and he wasn't thinking straight. He was crazy over nothing.
Sylvester Stoltzfus was numbering everyone off into four teams when Harmon got there. He watched what number Arvilla got. She was a four, so he quickly jumped in line where he thought the next four would be. But just before Sylvester got to him; big, loud, dumb, popular, good-looking Karl Weaver jumped in right beside him and yelled at Harmon, "How are you tonight." He slapped Harmon on the shoulder and grinned. He got the four and Harmon took a one.
Harmon was so mad, he felt like whacking Karl over the head with a baseball bat. But there weren't any around so he didn't.
Then the two games started; ones v. fours and twos v. threes. Harmon was sorta happy because he could play opposite the net from Arvilla but he was more mad because he was on the worst team in the county. Willard Mast, Wilmer Lapp, Marti Zook, Sylvester Stoltzfus and , worst of all, Eager Miller. Her real name was Millie but Harmon called her Eager because she was so eager. She was so eager it made him sick. She would've liked nothing better than to go on a 500 mile trip with Harmon, by themselves. Harmon would have liked to send her 5000 miles away by herself. She was standing right beside him and she was so happy it wasn't even right.
Karl and Arvilla were on the other side of the net. Every time Harmon looked over he had to think about the way he stood Pete up so he wouldn't cry because they were talking and laughing and having a good time.
Finally Harmon and Arvilla rotated enough times that they were standing across from each other. Harmon grinned at her and grinned at her but she didn't look. One time he thought she looked so he squeaked, "Hi Arvilla." But she didn't hear him. She was to busy listening to Karl say a dumb joke. Eager was saying dumb stuff. Harmon was so happy about standing across from Arvilla, he messed up 17 times so they wouldn't have to rotate. Everyone on his team was so mad at him they screamed bad words at him. He didn't care because the other team wasn't mad at him and Arvilla was on the other team. So he went outside for a while.
The rest of the night went bad. Harmon was always on Eager's team and never on Arvilla's. Karl was always on her team. When Arvilla was ready to leave, Harmon quickly ran out to his car and started messing around. His heart was beating as she came out the door. She came closer, closer.
Now or never, son.
"Hi Arvilla," he yelled. His voice was quivering.
She jumped. "Ahh, uh Harmon, what are you doing out here?" She asked, rather perplexed.
"Oh, I was just leaving," he stuttered, "do you want...."
"Well, you have a good night," she said kindly, interupting the poor boy.
"Goodbye Arvilla," he mumbled.
She jumped into her car. He watched as she turned her key. She was so nice. She was so nice.
The engine grinded, ground, grinded, didn't start. Harmon pretended like he was leaving.
Now or never, son.
"I could help her," he thought. He jumped out of his car and ran over and banged on her window. He was feeling very confident. The brown haired girl looked up at him, very embarassed. She rolled down her window very slowly and squeaked, "Uh, I think I left my lights on and I think my battery is dead."
Strange as it may seem, this was not news to young, valient Harmon. He already knew her battery was dead because he himself, the scheming wretch that he was, sneaked out of the gym halfway through the night and disconnected her battery cable.
Very confidently Harmon said, "Why don't you pop the hood and let me have a look at it."
Arvilla looked around for the hood release, but in her embarassment and frustration she couldn't find it. So harmon eagerly reached into the car and popped the hood.. On it's way back out, his hand brushed against Arvilla's shoulder. It felt good.
Harmon opened the hood and poked around for two seconds. Actually he put the cable back on. "OK Arvilla, try it now," he called
She turned the key and the engine started. At that moment Karl came running out of the gym. He ran over to Arvilla's car and yelled, "What's wrong. Do you need help."
Very calmly and very authoritively, Harmon replied, "No, I've got everything under control here. You can just go back inside."
Arvilla chimed in, "My car wouldn't start but Harmon fixed it in two seconds." "He must be very smart."
Karl glared at him. He walked up to the hood just a Harmon slammed it shut, almost pinching his antagonistic fingers. Harmon walked back to her window and said, "Your all set."
Very happily she replied, "Thank you so much for helping me out, Harmon. I know nothing about cars and you know so much. Next time my car breaks down I'll know who to call."
"Call me," Karl yelled from behind Harmon.
"No, I'll call Harmon."
Harmon saw this as a small window of opportunity that was closing fast. "Well if you're going to call me I'd better give you my phone number," he said.
"Your what?" Oh your phone number." Sure." she said. She reached into her purse and pulled out a little, pink phone. Harmon watched her long, slender fingers as she opened it. He was picturing her sitting beside him, laughing and touching as they rolled down 340.
"Harmon, what is it?"
Her voice jolted him back to reality. He quickly gave her his phone number and then she gave called him so that he would have hers.
"Thanks again, Harmon," she said, "you're a life saver."
"I'm happy to help." Harmon said. He sounded so proud it wasn't even right.
"Good bye, Harmon."
"Bye Arvilla," he said.
Karl stood there in the darkness, glaring. Arvilla didnt' even say by to him. Harmon felt very happy as he watched Arvilla's car roll down the driveway.
Karl glared at Harmon. "You da man. You da man. You fixed her car. Wow, you're so smart," he snapped. "So you got her number." Well guess what, she calls me all the time, and she thinks you're dumb."
Harmon knew Karl was making fun of him but he didn't care what he said because he was sure it wasn't true. He was feeling very confident.
That night Harmon slept on the couch because he knew Pete would do something bad to him if he went upstairs. He wasn't scared of him as long as he stayed downstairs because Pete was to lazy to come down.
Harmon lay on the couch thinking about the night. What a wonderful evening it had been for him. He had helped Arvilla start her car. She had talked so nice to him. He got her number. She said she'd call him if her car broke down. Harmon hoped her car would break down very often. Maybe he'd have to help it break again. She was so awesome.
Sometime later Harmon was jolted awake by someone. Horrified, he jumped off the couch onto the floor. When he finally looked up, there stood his bald father looking very stern. He was holding a book in his hand. "Harmon, I've been thinking lately and I've come to the conclusion that I have been too easy on you." "I told you last week that I want you to get a girlfriend soon and you have not obeyed." "I want you to obey or move out."
Harmon was still sleeping and it was not sinking in very well.
"Move out," he muttered, "I can't move out."
"The way you treated your brother yesterday is unacceptable." "What did Pete ever do to deserve what you did?" Harmon could think of about a million things but he didn't feel like saying anything, so he didn't.
"Son, you will shape up or you will leave." "I took the liberty of asking Millie Miller's father if you could date his daughter. He said you could so we scheduled a date for next Friday night." "Be ready."
Harmon started to say something. Then he decided not to. He was sure his dad was crazy, as the man put on his hat and woke up the family with a quiet yell.
The next couple days flew by like a freight train. Harmon had to be on a constant lookout for Pete, who had not yet managed to catch him but he had lambasted Pharon. Pharon was in bed.
Harmon had a tough decision to make. Not in any way did he want to go out with Eager. She was positively the last girl he wanted to go out with. But he didn't want to move out either, so he wasn't quite ready to refuse.
He wasn't sure what his mom would say about the whole deal, but he didn't feel like telling her either. He told Gloria and she agreed with him that Harmon II was off his rocker. They had very little respect for their father. But he was a good man. He was very worried that his children would run away. That's why he acted a little twisted sometimes.
So the week went by. Harmon II said nothing about the date. On Friday he met Harmon in the barn.
"Harmon, are you all set for tonight," he asked.
"Harmon just looked the other way and walked away very fast."
At 7:00 Harmon's little black escort went rolling down 340. He was headed somewhere. by iw to be continued.
Read "Our Hero Harmon" next week to find out where Harmon was going. PLUS find out what Arvilla really thinks of Harmon