We now rejoin Arvilla as she writes in her diary on a warm August night, some time after 12. She was writing about a boy who was standing beside her car as she approached.
…I stared in the dark and the boy looked like he was about ready to walk away, but as I walked closer, he turned toward me and I saw it was Karl. My heart immediately began beating wildly. I walked on up to him and he looked at me and I knew exactly what he wanted. He mumbled something and I was like, “what?”
Then he talked more clearly. “Arvilla, I want to ask you something.” I was wondering if you want to go out with me?” I immediately said yes. Maybe I shouldn’t have said yes so fast but I couldn’t contain myself. It was so funny. He was so nervous. So not like Karl until I said yes.
He asked me out! Yes. He asked me out! He said he already asked my dad and he said it was ok. We stood there for about 30 minutes and I was really nervous at first but then it got a lot better.
We are going on our first date tomorrow night. He is going to take me home from the party. I can’t wait to tell everyone. It is going to be so awesome. Karl is like the coolest guy around here. He is funny. He is hot. And he’s spiritual. What more could I want? Thank you God for bringing him to me. I can’t wait to date.
Arvilla wrote on and on. She wrote about how awesome Karl was and how great it was going to be to have a boyfriend. She smiled. As the clock struck one she finally laid her diary on the night stand, turned off the light and lay in the dark smiling. Visions of Karl were going through her mind. Not once did she think of Harmon.
And so the winds of change blew across Bird-in-Hand and the surrounding areas. Life can never stay the same and so it was for the young people in our story.
Each Sunday night the youth had a party. Now it wasn’t really a party, but they called it a party. They got together at someone’s house and played games, ate, talked, and looked at each other. The cool people acted cool and the other people wished they could be cool and some people had fun. The “party” usually lasted till about eleven and was always very well supervised by two married couples.
On the particular Sunday night when we rejoin our hero Harmon, he was sitting with Millie and several other youth. They had just finished a game of “round the table” ping pong and now they were eating chips and drinking coolade. Harmon was looking around and he was feeling pretty good about himself. Millie was mad at him because he didn’t let her win the ping pong game. At the end it was her against him, and he had spiked the ball very hard and it bounced and hit Millie square in the forehead and Harmon was the winner! He had cheered loudly and Millie looked very mad. Everyone thought he was dumb for hitting and beating his girlfriend.
Harmon was thinking about joining Willard and Henry for a game of Rook when he noticed a buzz going throughout the house. People were whispering to each other and snickering. Harmon didn’t know what was going on so he got out the Rook cards and began shuffling. How can I get Arvilla to join the game, he thought.
Then he noticed Arvilla was no longer in the room. He looked around frantically. Where is she? She was just sitting right here. Oh my. No. Where’s Karl? He noticed a few people looking out the window so he quickly ran to the nearest window and looked out. What he saw sent chills up and down his spine.
Karl Weaver was opening the door to his Blazer and Arvilla was getting in. Karl proudly shut the door, turned and looked at the house with an evil (at least Harmon thought it was evil) look on his face. Then he got into his Blazer and drove away with Arvilla.
“Didn’t you know they are dating?”
Harmon turned to see Millie standing beside him. He was too stunned to say anything. His face looked like someone had just punched him.
“What’s wrong Harmon? “Are you sick?”
“No I’m ok,” Harmon mumbled. “I’m fine, just fine.”
He turned around and looked at the other people in the room. Most of the other boys had the same stunned look on their faces because they too, were in love with Arvilla.
Harmon walked out to the kitchen, took a big handful of chips and stuffed them into his mouth. He washed them down with a cup of coolade. Willard and Henry were standing there too.
“So I guess THE couple finally started dating,” said Willard. He looked depressed.
“Yeah, I guess,” said Harmon. “How cool is that.”
“Arvilla’s pretty simple anyway,” said Henry. “She has an empty head.”
But no matter how many bad things the boys said about Arvilla, they were still jealous of Karl. They couldn’t believe that the coolest girl in the county was no longer available.
Soon Millie came over and said she wanted to go home so Harmon took her home. He always stayed late at the party so he’d have to spend as little time as possible at Millie’s house.
It was 10:59 when they reached the Miller homestead. Harmon sighed as he looked at the clock. He had 31 minutes before he could leave. They spent those 31 minutes sitting on the couch in the living room. Millie sat down in the middle of the couch and Harmon sat as far from her as possible.
Millie talked nonstop and as she talked she crept closer and closer to Harmon. Harmon crept closer and closer to the end of the couch until he was practically sitting on the arm rest. Finally Millie was sitting against him and he couldn’t do anything so he just sat there and stared at the wall.
“Well, what do you think of the new dating couple?” asked Millie, looking lovingly at her boyfriend.
“I think it’s pretty cool.”
“I think it’s awesome.” Now we can have someone to go on double dates with.”
At this Harmon flinched a little bit. Double dates! Now that was a cool idea. At least it would give him a chance to see Arvilla.
Millie talked on and on. She had so many plans and dreams. She told Harmon all about how she had started liking him when she was 15 and how she’d never doubted he would ask her out someday. She praised him and told him how cool he was. Harmon didn’t say much. He was thinking of putting his plan into action.
Eleven-thirty finally rolled around and Harmon went home. On the way home he listened to his favorite Schwartzes tape to try and drown out his sorrow. This worked somewhat and by the time he got home he’d decided that Arvilla only went out with Karl because she was trying to make him jealous. I’m sure she doesn’t really like him, he thought. Once I break up with Millie, she’ll break up with Karl too, and then everything will be fine again.
A couple weeks went by and not much changed. Arvilla and Karl were happily dating and Harmon and Millie were unhappily dating. One Friday night in September Harmon and Millie, Pete, Pharon, Rueben, and Willie were at Water’s Edge in Bird-in-Hand playing mini golf. It was a nice fall evening and Harmon was having a horrible game. A few times his shots went off the green into the bushes, and he was tired of playing golf.
A family of tourists was in front of them and the Stoltzfus children and Millie spent most of their night waiting on the tourists because they were so slow. Millie stayed close to Harmon and watched his every move. Pete was acting his usual self. He whacked his younger brothers with his golf club and belched a few times. Millie thought this was pretty funny.
When they were on the 9th hole Harmon’s phone rang. He quickly answered it and a horrified look came across his face. The others looked questioningly at him as he talked for a little bit and then came back and said, “I have to go.” That was Gloria.” She said one of the cows is having a calf and it’s not coming out right.” I have to go home right away and pull it out.”
His brothers and Millie looked at him strangely. “Isn’t dad at home?” asked Rueben.
“No, Mom and Dad are at John Kings.” I have to go right now or the calf might die, and the cow too.”
“Millie, do you want to stay here or come with me to help pull a calf out?” It will be pretty disgusting.”
Millie looked at Harmon. Then she looked at the scorecard and the other boys. She was winning and she didn’t really feel like watching her boyfriend pull a calf out of a cow. “I think I’ll just stay here.” Are you coming back?”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Harmon replied, breathing a sigh of relief. It was going exactly as he planned. He ran off the golf course, jumped into his Escort and shot away, leaving Millie and his brothers on the 9th hole behind the tourists.
Harmon quickly drove home to the barn. He went in and looked around for awhile. There was no calf being born. The cows were chewing their cuds in their stalls and looked quite content. He stayed in the barn for awhile and then went into the house. No one was home. He smiled as he went up to his room. He took a piece of paper from beneath his pillow. “THE PLAN” was scrawled at the top of the page and beneath it was a list. He crossed out the first line.
Then He got a few things, went back out side and left again. What a brilliant plan, he thought. I’m free and Millie is at Water’s Edge with my brothers. My plan is working to perfection.
Harmon drove to Intercourse where he met Willard and Henry. They were sitting outside the Intercourse Market drinking Mountain Dew. When Harmon drove up his two friends looked at each other and smiled.
Harmon walked up to them and said, “It worked.” Thank you for calling me and getting me outta there.” I was almost at the end of my rope.”
“Hey I do what I can do,” replied Willard.
“Yeah, we got your back,” Henry said taking a sip of Mountain Dew.
Harmon went into the store and bought a candy bar and some Mountain Dew. He looked angrily at the Indian behind the counter who was talking gibberish into a phone. “Stupid chinks,” he muttered to himself. “Terrorists.”
The Indian looked grimly at him and gave him his change. Then he resumed talking gibberish into his phone. Harmon thought he was probably planning a terrorist attack on Bird-in-Hand.
Harmon went back outside and joined his buddies. They sat there for awhile and watched Amish kids come into the market. This was the center of the Amish community and every Friday night Amish kids gathered here to find out where the party was.
Harmon and his friends sat apart from the Amish and looked at them. There were several silly girls cavorting around the Amish boys.
“Look at those little Amish chicks,” said Willard, looking at the girls. “Let’s go hang out with them.”
Harmon and Henry looked at the girls. “Nah,” said Henry. “They’re scared of us.”
“Yeah, I don’t think we’d get anywhere with them,” added Harmon.
The boys decided to go cruising so they got into Henry’s Ford Ranger, turned up the Gospel Express tape and shot down 340. They turned off the main road and headed down
The boys drove slowly by and up the road a little bit. The stopped beside the road and looked at each other. Henry turned the music off.
“Do you boys wanna have some fun?” Henry said quietly.
“Why not,” Harmon said.
“Yeah, I’m in,” added Willard.
So the boys put their heads together and came up with a plan.
They parked the truck a quarter mile from the Eastern gathering. Then they sneaked through the field toward the lights. When they reached the edge of the field, they peered out at the Eastern children. They were having a volleyball game and they looked weird. The girls wore weird coverings and flowery dresses and the boys’ pants were pulled up too high.
Harmon and his cronies sneaked over to the vehicles, which were parked a little ways from the volleyball game in the dark. They opened cars’ (which were all black) doors, popped the trunks, and disconnected the battery cables. A few cars were locked so they took nails and punched their tires. They worked swiftly and quietly, with great skill and care. The Easterns were playing and shouting. They were playing some serious volleyball. They had to play fast because their ten o clock curfew was approaching.
When the boys had disabled all the vehicles, they sneaked back through the cornfield and got into the Ranger. Henry was behind the wheel and Willard and Harmon were on the back armed with big sticks. They pulled bags over their heads with holes for their eyes.
Henry started the truck and drove slowly back toward the volleyball game. When he reached the driveway, he pulled in and revved the engine. The motor roared as Henry drove full speed right at the volleyball game. The Eastern children looked up in horror. Their night of hitting volleyballs and trying to chase girls and boys was quickly interrupted. The truck shot onto the court. The Easterns jumped out of the way.
Henry did a doughnut and shot toward the net. Then Harmon and Willard stood up with their sticks, yelled loudly and beat the net down. The truck shot on, dragging the net behind.
The Easterns’ initial shock now turned to anger. A few boys and one big girl ran toward the truck. Another group picked up rocks and hurled them toward the Ranger. Henry did another doughnut and the big girl managed to grab hold of the tailgate. Willard took his stick and whacked her hand and she let go with a yell.
By now 15 boys were closing in on the truck and Harmon yelled, “GET OUT OF HERE NOW.” Henry wanted to do a few more doughnuts, but he saw his time was up, so he shot threw the yard, onto the road. The volleyball net was still dragging behind.
He drove up the road and turned around. He waited a little bit and then drove back past the gathering. The boys roared with laughter when they saw the Easterns making futile attempts to start their cars. A few cars were halfway out the driveway. Angry boys were looking at the flat tires. When they saw the Ranger going by again, they yelled many things at it that Easterns don’t normally say.
Harmon, Willard and Henry laughed and laughed as they drove safely back to Intercourse with the volleyball net. They new they’d have to be swift. They threw the net off in front of the Intercourse Market and drove to Henry’s house where they drank Mountain Dew and laughed till their sides hurt.
“My was that ever fun,” said Willard.
“Yeah, that was a blast.”
“I just hope they don’t ever find out it was us,” panted Harmon. “I’d hate to fall into those Eastern hands.”
The boys drank Mountain Dew and talked for awhile and then Harmon went home. He looked at his phone and saw Millie had tried to call him. She didn’t leave a message. Harmon went to sleep thinking about what they had done to the Easterns. That was the baddest thing he had ever done.
The next morning when Harmon got to the barn he was amazed and very pleased to see that a cow had given birth to a calf the previous night. As he looked at the newborn creature he couldn’t believe his luck. Now he wouldn’t have to worry about the lie he’d told.
Pharon walked up to him and said, “I guess you pulled it out fine then.”
“Yup,” Harmon replied, “With a little help she came out fine.” Hey, how’d the golf game go after I left?”
“Oh it went good,” said Pharon, “I won, but I’m not sure what’s going on with Millie and Pete.” They seemed to be getting along a little too good.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh she was laughing at everything he did, and he was trying to impress her.” And then he bought her ice cream and they sat by themselves to eat it.”
Harmon smiled as he milked the rest of the cows. (by iw 5/20/07 to be continued).
click here to read chapter 8
Read Our Hero Harmon next week to see what happens to Karl and Arvilla.
Plus Harmon’s plan takes a hit.