Yeah shlide Stewy said spitting out more dirt I The Bulldogs cheered and high-fived each other So much for a big hit saving the day It was a stupid hope anyway Our town didn’t have its reputation for nothing All the teams lost the curling team the Old Timers Hockey League even our barbershop quartet Why should the Terriers be any different And now this Our third loss this season It didn’t sound so bad until you realized it was only the third game And it was the twenty-third consecutive loss if you started counting two years ago Stewy shoulda shlid As we got near the bench the team ran over to us laughing and thumping Stewy on the back Now that’s what I call losing with style Scott punched my arm with a big grin And you my friend got through the game with both shins intact You have to admit this was our best loss yet I tried to smile but the words stung Best loss yet Did Harmony lose often so that now we had to rank our losses If you ask me there is no place better to live than Harmony Point Me and the guys spend the better part of the summer tearing around the fields or building forts in the woods In the spring we have raft races down Bluffton I helped Stewy up I think Coach meant to say slide 10
Creek and in the winter we borrow the inner tubes off of Stewy’s dad’s tractor and whip down the hills that surround our town Only the bravest of us jump off the point that got our town its name It is a huge rock that juts out from the top of the bluffs and I’ve jumped it twice even though my stomach felt like it was up in my throat You can’t do stuff like that in the city you know The city is really called Holmesville just over the bluffs but to me it’s just one big concrete octopus spreading its giant sucker arms reaching out and trying to swallow our town It was bad enough having the city take over our police and fire departments and even exchanging our mayor for a seat on the Holmesville city council last year but to my mind losing our name was the sorest point On April Fools Day some stupid vandals had spray painted out a few key letters on our HARMONY POINT town sign so it now read ARM P I T My ears went red every time I saw it It was like we were a place that should stay tucked away or avoided Like we were an embarrassment for the nearby city I had to wonder what we would lose next I didn’t have long to wait 11
it's a Retirement party After many years of service She won’t let us say how many Mrs Jean Stanfield is retiring as postmistress of Harmony Point We are having a reception in the Post Office to celebrate and wish her well in her retirement Join us on Saturday May 16 2 pm to 4 pm Everyone welcome Refreshments courtesy of Miss Apfelbaum 12
Chapter 2 I couldn’t believe it when I heard Mrs Stanfield was retiring She had worked in the village post office forever Picking up the mail wasn’t such a chore because I always knew there was a mint waiting for me in her corked glass jar sitting on the counter And if I wasted some time and pretended to look at the notice board I heard all the juicy news Everyone told Mrs Stanfield everything She was kinda like the town shrink I would learn the most amazing things while reading about Abelson’s livestock auction or the First Aid course being offered at the Legion I overheard the news that the mystery of the vanishing laundry had finally been solved Mr Williams saw Doug Scupton’s goat running loose under Mrs Dorset’s clothesline two days earlier with something red and lacy dangling from its mouth He swore he was going to bill Doug for two pairs of long underwear that had disappeared from his own clothesline last week And Mrs Stanfield almost had to break up a riot in the post office when Mrs Danforth told Mrs Morgan that the committee wanted to move the Strawberry Social from the last week in June to the second week in July 13
