We rejoin our hero as he cuts weeds in Bird-in-Hand. An angry boy is walking toward him and Harmon doesn’t see him.
“Hey,” yelled the boy.
Harmon didn’t hear him.
“Hey,” he yelled louder. “Look here buddy!”
Harmon was interrupted from his world of weeds and dreams of Arvilla by the second yell. He turned around and jumped when he saw Karl right behind him. His first instinct was to attack Karl with the weed eater. Instead, he shut it off and took off his goggles. Karl was standing there with a red face. He looked furious.
“What’s up,” Harmon said.
“What’s up, what’s up, I’ll tell you what’s up!” Karl almost shouted. “I’m driving down 340 enjoying the nice day when I see you talking to my girlfriend!” He said “my girlfriend” like she was some kind of prized possession.
Harmon stood there in silence. He didn’t know what to say so he just mumbled something.
“What was that,” Karl said, “and what were yous two talking about anyways?”
Harmon looked at Karl and thought about starting the weed eater and taking care of him. But he didn’t. Finally he said, “Hey, I was just out here cutting weeds and she stopped.” It’s not my fault.” And it’s none of your business what we were talking about anyways.”
“None of my business!” Whatever!” It is too my business what my girlfriend was talking about!”
“Well maybe you could ask her then,” Harmon said calmly.
Karl was cooling off a little bit. “Well, I’ll just say, you stay away from Arvilla or you’ll be sorry!”
Harmon was trying not to chuckle at the angry boy. “Or what?” What are you gonna do?” It’s not my problem that she wanted to stop and talk to me.”
It finally started to dawn on Karl that Arvilla had stopped to talk to Harmon of her own free will. His anger toward Harmon began to subside and his anger toward Arvilla began to grow.
“Oh alright,” he said. “I guess it was partly her fault.” But you stay away from her.” I don’t want her talking to bad boys like you.” And I know you’re still after her.”
“Yeah whatever,” said Harmon. “I have a girlfriend.” What would I want with Arvilla.”
Karl finally realized it was time to go so he walked away without saying goodbye. He jumped into his Blazer and roared away. Harmon resumed cutting weeds. He chuckled as he thought of Karl. If he yells at Arvilla like that, she will surely break up with him.
Unlucky for Harmon, Karl cooled off a bit by the time he talked to Arvilla. He didn’t yell at her and just mentioned how he had seen her talking to Harmon. He told her he didn’t really think Harmon was good company, but she assured him that she was just trying to help him. She said that Harmon was truly sorry for what he had done and was trying hard to do better. She also mentioned that Millie said something about going on a double date with them. Karl agreed that maybe they could go sometime.
Arvilla thought about her meeting with Harmon a few times over the next couple days. She didn’t know why she stopped and she couldn’t figure out what she thought of Harmon. She did know that she liked Harmon a lot more than she had in the past. Just a few months ago she’d thought he was a weird little boy and now she thought different. She giggled as she thought of the boy standing there with his goggles and covered in weed clippings. But most of her time was spent thinking about Karl. She was still having second thoughts but it was going better. Karl sometimes let her talk about herself, but sometimes he made her feel so dumb.
The autumn days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and before long it was December. Harmon, Willard, and Henry’s community service at the Eastern Church passed, as did the groundings. Harmon was happy to go on only one date every two weeks and even more happy that Pete went along each time. Things didn’t change much between Harmon and Millie. She continued to be in love with him and he continued to work on his plan. Pete was enthralled by Millie. She was the one and only girl he could talk to and soon Harmon began seeing Millie pay more and more attention to Pete.
Once Pete’s chaperoning days were over, Harmon again had to be alone with Millie. He was bored by Eager and detested a lot of things about her, but he wasn’t able to break up with her. He noticed she was a little less eager and she tried to be with Pete when she could.
One day in early December Arvilla called Millie and asked if she and Harmon still wanted to go on a double date with her and Karl. The girls arranged a Friday night at a local high school Christmas concert.
When Harmon heard about these plans he was so excited he could hardly contain himself. Finally, he was going on a date with Arvilla Beiler. It didn’t matter that Millie and Karl would be there. Yes, I’m goin on a date with Arvilla, he said to himself as he got dressed. As he shaved and combed his hair, he thought about Arvilla. As he put on his shirt and shoes, he thought about her, and as he waited outside Millie’s house, he thought about her.
Millie and Harmon stopped at Arvilla’s house in Leola. There they met Karl and Arvilla. Harmon’s heart froze when he saw Arvilla walk out of the house. She looked stunning in a light blue dress and pearly white covering. She was talking and laughing to Karl and Harmon wanted to hurt him. The couple walked up to Harmon’s Escort and Karl said, “Hey, what’s up.”
“Hi, how are you,” said Harmon, looking directly at Arvilla.
She looked a little confused as she replied, “Great, and how are you?”
Millie yelled a few words but no one really listened to her.
Karl offered to drive and his Blazer was much nicer than Harmon’s Escort, so the two couples headed for the concert in the Blazer. They talked and chatted about a bunch of things. Harmon hadn’t talked to Arvilla since the day beside 340. Things were more comfortable between Karl and him. Karl had apologized for attacking him and Harmon had forgiven him.
They arrived at the concert and went in. Harmon and Millie walked in front of Karl and Arvilla. Millie sat down first, then Harmon. He looked to see where Arvilla would sit and was very glad to feel her brush against him as she sat down next to him. Great, he thought, I’m sure she sat down beside me cuz she likes me.
They watched the concert with much enjoyment. During the show, Harmon felt Millie’s hand stroking his. He looked down and quickly jerked it away, even though it felt good. He didn’t want Arvilla to see Millie touching him. He took a peek at Arvilla and noticed she was not touching Karl. He looked at her soft white hand and her pretty long fingernails. He thought of leaning closer to her, but was afraid she’d move away from him and closer to Karl.
Half way through the show Harmon was startled by a whisper in his left ear. He looked over and saw Arvilla leaning toward him. Karl was snoozing. “Hey, do you know what this song’s called?” she asked.
Harmon was amazed and excited that she’d whispered to him. Her breath smelled good. He didn’t really hear what she’d said so he leaned to her ear and whispered, “What.”
“I was just wondering if you know the name of this song.”
“Oh,” Harmon whispered back. He wracked his brain. He wasn’t much of a musician, but he’d heard the song before. Finally he thought of it and leaned back to Arvilla. “I think it’s ‘The Shepherds Prayer’ by Alex Johnson.”
“Oh thanks,” Arvilla whispered back.
And so the show continued. The choir launched into a rendition of “Mary Did You Know” and Harmon’s brain launched into uncharted waters. He looked at Millie and she was intently watching the choir. He looked at Karl and he was still snoozing. Arvilla was fidgeting and looking around. Harmon looked at her and quickly looked away again when her head turned toward him. He caught a glimpse of her green eyes. His heart beat wildly.
Finally he leaned toward Arvilla and whispered, “That tall, skinny guy in the back row looks like a giraffe.”
Arvilla looked where Harmon was looking and snickered. “You are so right,” she whispered. “And look at that girl in the second row.” She looks like a bumble bee.” Harmon immediately knew who Arvilla was talking about when he spotted the girl. He smiled.
The two children whispered back and forth for awhile. Finally an old man in front of them turned around with an angry look. Millie pinched Harmon. “Ow,” he muttered.
Arvilla giggled quietly and took a piece of paper and a pen from her purse. She wrote something on it and slipped it to Harmon.
Harmon looked at it. It said, “Where are your goggles tonight?”
Harmon took the pen from Arvilla and wrote, “Oh, shut up. I know I looked dumb but you don’t have to rub it in.” He handed the note back to her and their hands brushed. Harmon felt weird things going on inside of him.
“You looked hilarious,” Arvilla wrote back.
The two naughty children wrote notes to each other until Karl woke up and then Arvilla quickly stuffed the paper back into her purse and they watched the concert with out any further inappropriate actions. Millie was mad at Harmon because she’d seen what he was doing, but Karl was oblivious to the whole thing due to his hard day at work.
The concert was over at 9:00 and the children decided to go to Friendly’s to eat some chicken tenders and ice cream. Harmon and Millie sat in the back of the Blazer and Millie refused to say anything to Harmon. What’s going on, he thought. Is she actually mad at me? That is great. Arvilla and Karl sat in the front and she asked him why he was sleeping. He said he’d had a hard day at work.
They went into Friendly’s and sat down at a booth. Arvilla sat down first and Karl sat down beside her. Harmon quickly sat down directly across from Arvilla and peeped at her above his glasses. She looked intently at her menu and once she too, peeped at Harmon. Harmon saw this and wanted to stand up right then and there and proclaim to the whole restaurant that he had found his one true love. But he didn’t.
Conversation at the table drifted from the night’s concert to youth activities. Harmon and Arvilla talked about the man that looked like a giraffe and their partners looked dumbfounded and tried to laugh. Karl said they shouldn’t make fun of people. “Whatever,” Arvilla said, “you always make fun of people.” Karl looked mad.
When the waitress came, Arvilla ordered chicken tenders and a strawberry milkshake and Harmon ordered the same thing. Every one looked strangely at him when he did this but our hero didn’t care. He was fast losing control of himself.
Arvilla likes me. I can see she does. I know she wants me. It’s so obvious. Why does she have to be with Karl? These were some of the thoughts going through Harmon’s head as he ate his food. Millie was no longer mad at him. He saw her left hand creeping toward him under the table. Her hand rested on his leg and this time Harmon did nothing to stop her. He didn’t like it, but thought he could make Arvilla jealous.
He noticed Arvilla looking at him and Millie. Finally she said, “Where are your hands?” She had a mischievous look on her face. Harmon and Millie quickly put their four collective hands above the table.
“They’re right here,” Harmon said, laughing.
Karl had a serious look on his face. After some thought he said, “Arvilla and I have decided to go hands off until we’re married.” Do yous hold hands?”
Arvilla giggled. “Till we’re married,” she said. “We aren’t married just yet.”
Karl continued, “I think it takes so much away from a true, Godly relationship if you are involved physically.”
Harmon didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t against holding hands but he was against holding Millie’s. “Well,” he said. “I think every couple should decide for themselves.” I do think it’s dumb when couples are all over each other in public.”
“Yeah, that is dumb,” Arvilla quickly said, “and they usually don’t last either.”
“But I think it’s dumb too, when couples are hands off and then all over each other in public after their married,” Harmon said.
The other three people looked at him with eyes of confusion. “Why is that dumb?” asked Millie. “People should do that after they’re married.”
“Whatever,” said Harmon. “It’s not that important.”
“Yes it is important,” Karl said forcefully. “It’s very important.”
Arvilla saw the conversation was getting out of control so she said, “Are you all going along to
“Yes, I think we’re going,” Millie said, looking lovingly at Harmon.
Karl tried to say something else about hands off but the other three children were talking about the upcoming trip to
“Maybe we can see Bush or Cheney,” Harmon said.
Arvilla looked confused. She knew who Bush was, but had no idea who this Cheney was. “Yeah maybe we can,” she said. “Or maybe we could see Bill Clinton.”
Harmon and Karl looked at her. “Are you dumb?” said Karl. “
Arvilla looked beaten. She looked away from her boyfriend. Her eyes met Harmon’s. He had a twinkle in his eyes and Arvilla looked confused. What does this boy want from me? She thought. Surely he’s not trying to flirt with me when I have a boyfriend. But I am pretty. She looked quickly away from Harmon.
Then she felt something against her foot. It was. No it couldn’t be. It was someone else’s foot. She looked at Karl. He was studying the bill. She looked at Millie. She was slurping the last of her milk shake. Then she looked at Harmon. That same annoying twinkle was back in his eye and he was looking straight at her. The foot brushed harder against hers and she quickly pulled it away.
She gave Harmon a look he would think about for days to come. It wasn’t anger, it wasn’t embarrassment, it wasn’t disgust, and it wasn’t happiness. The look lasted for a second and then she turned her head, saying nothing. Harmon spent hours trying to figure out just what that look meant. (by iw to be continued).
click here to read chapter 10
Read Our Hero Harmon next week to find out what happens in DC. PLUS Harmon crosses a thin, dark line.