1970

As I recall, it was around three O'clock on a warm Friday afternoon, August 21st. I didn't go to school today for whatever reason and was upstairs in my room playing with my new G.I. Joe action figure. Having decided to venture downstairs, I reached into the dish drain for a glass
and pulled out the tallest one. I then opened the fridge and carefully poured myself some Hi-C. Then, something piqued my interest. I heard
a noise outside and went over to the window to see what it was. As I looked through the curtains, I saw a female figure bringing her belongings into the old Llavarano house. It was kind of hard for me to make out,
just what it was she was doing, so I put on my shoes and a
neatly folded tee shirt and went over to investigate.

As I closed the outside door, I paused to take a deep breath of fresh air from atop the steps. I then went down and across the street. Hello there, she said to me, waving politely as I came near. Hello, I replied as well before approaching her and introducing myself. It was a beautiful day and as the gentle wind touched her hair, I could tell she was unequivocally the most beautiful woman, I had ever seen in my short lifetime. Standing at a little over five feet, she had a Mediterranean complexion which seemed to intensify her jet black hair. With a red sequin blouse perfectly accentuating every part of her amber skin, I immediately noticed she had the most adorable little beauty mark right below her left eye. As I stood
before her looking up, I began to feel a bit woozy.

Now bear in mind that I was only six years old at the time,
but had several cousins who were continually changing boyfriends,
and I was always around. I struggled terribly and almost couldn't say
it, but I did and the words flowed out perfectly! Has anyone ever told
you, you have the most beautiful brown eyes? I said it as sincere as possible, but it came out sounding overly romantic. She immediately started to laugh before crouching down to where I stood, and with a
warm smile said to me in return "You have to be careful what you say
to a lady; I might fall in love with you." Upon hearing those words, I simply melted like a bar of warm butter in a roaring fire. Maybe it was
the closeness of her face or the way her lips moved, but whatever it
was it must have been too much for my brain to process, so I fainted.

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Instinctively she grabbed hold of my shoulders before I hit the
ground. As everything slowly came back into focus, I found myself looking up at her with loving adulation and said, you caught me! I then
felt very embarrassed and think I may have even blushed. There was a long pause before I denoted a hint of worry in her eyes and that alarmed me. "As long as you're okay," she said in a discerning voice. "Maybe you should go now, I have a lot of unpacking to do." Harmony spoke while averting her glance from me, and it seemed as if she was deliberately
trying to avoid making eye contact. When she peeked, I smiled graciously before waving goodbye.

The following day, I thought about going over there but could not bring myself to do it. The day after that, I didn't even have to think about it.
I told my parents I was going outside and hurried across the street.
I knocked on the wooden door but there was no answer, so I came back
a half hour later. As she answered the door, I looked up at her. There she stood in a stunning peach brocade blouse that appeared to be encrusted with gold embroidery, and a chamois satin lengha to match! It felt like all the oxygen had been removed from the air for I had never seen anything like it before in my life! So now, I completely forget what I was going to say and just stand there. All those well rehearsed lines, gone. Everything gone. "Well," she said with a half smile and two raised eyebrows. It was like looking into the eyes of a vision from Heaven and this woman needed no makeup at all for she was absolutely gorgeous. For a brief moment, I forgot how to talk as my brain must have been rebooting! I then said the worst thing I could have possibly said. Like an android without any hint
of expression whatsoever, I uttered the following words. Have I told you, how beautiful you look? She crouched down again and said "Why are you doing this to me?" I tried to speak but nothing came out. She then grabbed my arm and squeezed it tight! "Who put you up to this? Answer me!" But I could not talk. "Fine she said, be like that, and don't come back!" Wait, I yelled, you don't understand! "What don't I understand, that you're a liar?" As she was closing the door, I said in complete desperation, I'm so sorry. No one told me to come here! I could now see that she was no longer upset for her composure had returned to normal. I then said, while trying to hold back tears, I have no friends. She then apologized for becoming angry with me and said that we could be friends, only if we were completely honest with one another, and that was how it all began.

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I was awakened in the early morning to the sound of a huge moving truck. When I finally got around to getting up, I looked out my window to see two men carrying what appeared to be a large dresser into the old house. This, I could not be certain of for my view was obstructed by several tall trees. I observed them for quite some time and rapidly began to lose interest when I realized that Harmony would not be coming out. Was she even in there? It didn't matter anyway, I had to go with my mom today
for shoes.

Every six months or so she would take me up to Thom McAn or Buster Brown, and I would try on a few pairs until I found something comfortable. Sunday morning, I didn't see her either and the excitement soon faded. By the end of September, however, we had become the best of friends! My mother liked Harmony, too. Once in a while, mom would relay a message for me to give to her and when I wasn't around, the two
of them would get together and talk. One of their talks entailed me keeping her company until it was time for dinner. Another was me having dinner with her while my parents tried to resolve unresolved issues over dinner
at an unspecified restaurant of their choice. Like CIA ops, everything was
a covert mission with them. I only knew what was going on because Harmony told me everything they told her not to tell me. Even though
there was a fourteen year difference between my mother and Harmony,
they remained close. That was until March of '71 when Harmony began working with her brother that she began spending less time with my mom and more time with me. By the end of the year, my parents were fighting about everything. My father was leaving more and more often and coming back less, while mom was trying to hold it all together the best she could.

From what I can recall it was a chilly morning on Thursday, December 17th. I came back from school and stayed at my aunt's house down the block. I enjoyed spending time with my cousins, before scurrying over to see Harmony. Around four, I felt an urge to leave so I said goodbye to my cousin Patricia  and strolled over there. She quickly pulled open the front door, so I couldn't tell what she was wearing. As I entered, she gave me one of those slow provocative smiles which tended to stimulate my very creative imagination! "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, enhancing her stance; as to be strictly posing for the attention of a well-deserved compliment. If I must say, you leave me breathless.
I tried to be flamboyant with words, but wound up sounding like an
idiot. Well, she doubled over with laughter! And that was a start.

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