1972


My cousins were always fighting with one another. Sometimes when Harmony wasn't
around, I would go to their house and listen to them bicker. Even my youngest cousin
Roberta would throw in a few words every now and then to break balls! You know,
turn one against the other and see who wins. At which point, my Aunt Paula usually
wound up having to jump in and separate them before it got bloody. "Thanks Glor,"
I said, as I strolled out of the house with a renewed sense of confidence!

Immediately, I headed home and used a small portion of the allowance money I saved up
over the past several months. I then hurried into town to the stationary store and picked
out the most beautiful card I could possibly find. This took almost an hour, because I
had to sift through over forty cards looking for one with just the right degree of sentiment
inscribed. Not only did it have to be classy, but sensuous as well. (Not that I truly understood
what sensuous meant at that time.) Being in third grade was tough, and trying to think like an
adult before you could master basic English was even more difficult! Nevertheless, I picked
out a romantic birthday card that would have appealed to any adult female in love.



You should have seen the look I received from the cashier! Knowing I didn't have to explain
myself, I decided I would anyway. "My dad's working late tonight and my mom's birthday is
tomorrow. He always forgets." On my way out I heard the old lady say to herself, "what a
sweet little boy." I then said to a lady walking by with a stroller, "that came from a woman
who was born before there was music!" She smiled very strangely and had absolutely no
idea what the hell I was talking about!!!

As I turned and walked down the other side of the block, I paused to read the messages
spray painted on the white brick wall. "Voice of the ghetto" along with "Join the Black
Panthers" "It's time for a revolution" and "Our nation is uprising." I loved reading graffiti
on walls when it was an intended statement, and not a vile defamation meant to insult man's
integrity. Clearly, it was a sign of the times and we couldn't tell if it was slowly getting better
or slowly getting worse. Summer would arrive with a vengeance and fire hydrants would
soon be opened throughout the city. Where children less fortunate than myself could cool
their heels and try not to harbor so much animosity toward those who were born to better
households. I carefully examined the birthday card before becoming increasingly aware of the
dangers involved should anyone get wind of what I was doing. I would not write anything on
it until the appropriate time calls for me to do so. Earnestly, I searched for a good hiding spot.

This card I hid well by taping it to the underside of my bedroom chair!

Back then parents weren't worried about their children disappearing. Everyone knew
each other, and we all coexisted together in peace. Aside from that, the store which
sold greeting cards was right around the corner. I will admit, every time my mother
strolled into my room unannounced, I got this clenching feeling inside my chest that
wouldn't quit. It wasn't butterflies, it was more along the line of two bears fighting!
She never caught on to it though, that I was hiding something big!!!

Soon it was Saturday, June 10th, and I was home with my parents. The high for today
would only reach 49 degrees, breaking an all time record for this day. I kept a small
journal of weather related facts and changes that occurred in the city from this year
to that of my darkest hour, when nothing would matter anymore. I was scouring
through the yellow pages for a reputable florist and was in the process of copying
the name and number down when I heard someone making their ascent up the stairs!
"It's my father! Hide everything quick!!!" Back then we had a cute little thing called
telephone exchange names that were applied to each given district. This made it easier
to remember someone's phone number on the rotary dial phone, such as ELgin 1- o369,
(or) MUrray Hill 5-9975. When he went back downstairs, I went into my parent's room
again and inconspicuously dialed the number. "Hello," said the voice on the other line,
"how may I help you?" "Yes, I was just wondering how much a box of long stemmed
rose's costs." "You want a dozen?" "Uh-huh" "You're in luck because they're on sale
this month for twelve fifty. If you need them in a vase that'll be fourteen even."
"Thank you so much." Wow I thought, roses are expensive!!!

                                                                               Pg 179
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The time read 5:20 on my parent's bedroom alarm clock as I lay the bright red telephone
receiver back in its cradle. I then went downstairs and said I was going over to Timmy's
house. "Be careful and watch both ways," shouted Mother from the dining room table
she was cleaning. "Yeah-yeah, I know!" As I left the house gently closing the screen
door behind me, I was greeted by an old friend. It was Mugsy, a neighborhood dog I
remember since before I was even born! He was always around like a good luck charm,
and whenever he strolled by I played with him, and he licked my face. Mugsy was part
Boxer and part something else. No one ever really knew, and if they did know, they didn't
tell anyone else! "I wish I could take you in old boy, but I know you belong to someone
and I would hate for them to worry about you not coming home at night." I knew he was
being properly taken care of, or how else would one be able to explain what immaculate
condition he was in? Every time I saw him, he always looked well-groomed, as though he
had just pranced out of a showroom! I patted him gently on the head and told him to come
back tomorrow if he wanted food. He happily pranced away before stopping and turning
to look back at me. "I promise," I said and that must have dispelled any suspicion
the dog had of me telling him a fib!



As I got to the side door, I went to use my key but found the door was open.

It didn't look like anyone was home, so I walked into the living room and saw Harmony,
sound asleep on the couch. I curled up next to her, and she instinctively cradled me
in her arms. It only took a matter of minutes before I fell asleep alongside her.

She woke me at 7:30 by massaging my neck and shoulder area. From there she went
on to work out all the kinks in my back. How I loved it when she did that! She then
said that dinner was ready and escorted me into the kitchen. "Your mom called while
you were sleeping. I told her you were upstairs playing." I walked over to the table
where I sat down and waited for Harmony. In a tired manner I yawned, holding
my hand on my mouth as to not be impolite. In a way, I was still half asleep and in
somewhat of a dreamlike state. "What is that?" I asked curiously, smelling the thick rich
broth of a partially congealed amalgamation. "Mulligatawny Soup. Don't sit down, c'mere,
I want you to tell me what you think of it." As I walked over to the stove, I didn't know
what to make of it but it sure smelled good! She quickly plunked her finger into the mildly
simmering pot of thick, yellowy soup. "Ready?" "Yes." She then put her finger into my
mouth and pulled it out slowly. "How is it?" "I'm not sure what I like better, the soup
or the finger!" "Hmmm, then I guess we'll have to try it again, won't we?" She was now
smiling so exuberantly that I could see only the top row of her sparkling white teeth! She
then dipped two fingers in and took them out as the condensed liquid ran down her wrist.
This time, however, I could see by the expression Harmony exhibited that she had gotten
stung by some of that goopy broth. As she put those two hot fingers into my mouth, I took
hold of her hand and could not stop seducing them with my tongue! "Easy, you're going into
a frenzy!" she said giggling loudly as I twisted my little serpent tongue around her index finger
like it was the rod of Asclepius! I can't help it, I said in my ecstatic fervor, everything tastes so
good on you. She threw her head down hard and fast and for a moment, her long hair covered
my entire face. "That is by far the strangest thing you have ever said to me!"

                                                                               Pg 180
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before we sat down to eat, Harmony dimmed the lights and lit a candle that was situated
in the middle of the table. "Wait," she stressed, "give me your hands." She told me to
close my eyes, and together we gave thanks unto the Lord for what we had. As we ate,
Harmony spoke of all the places she wished to visit in the world. "I can wait until I'm thirty
to see them," she said with eyes piercing. As if to say, don't make me wait ten years if
you are going to have other plans then.

I realized I hadn't been saying anything for awhile and jumped in. "I would go with you tonight
if you took me." "Let's say for argument's sake I did, then what?" "Then we just go!" "We're
just going to up and leave like two animals without even saying goodbye? Then what?" "I could
call them in a week or two and let them know I'm okay." "What about school, or will you just
stop going? You didn't think of that did you?" "There's schools in every state. I'm sure we could
find one for me to go to." "You're a miss-ing per-son!" "Then you could teach me! I learn more
with you than I do with those asshole teachers anyway!" "Watch your mouth," she said calmly
while analyzing me at a respectable distance, as if trying to separate the man from the boy. "I'm
sorry, I'd just rather be with you than them." "That's not the point!" The conversation was now
becoming serious. "I don't care about them, I only care about you! Why can't you see that?"
"I do and it frightens me." "Why?" "Because if I ever did something like that - to your parents,
I would deserve to go to jail for the rest of my life!"



She spoke as though I should have kept my mouth shut from the start.
There are some things that should never be spoken aloud and this
was one of them, but I was stupid I guess for I kept riding it.

"Imagine if there was a place we could go to and everybody accepted us as we were.
We could be free there! We could kiss in public and there'd be other people like us there too!"



"There was a place like that once," she said, looking down into her bowl of soup
and getting lost in it. "What happened?" She threw her eyes at me like a locked and
loaded shotgun. "God destroyed it!!!" She then sprung up quickly and walked over
to the sink where she stood for some time. So shocked was I at the way she reacted, I
just sat there. I have to be very careful what I say from now on. How a couple of words
thrown in either too soon or not soon enough can alter a whole relationship was baffling!



She was now either dwelling upon how dumb I was to be thinking like that, or wondering
how she got herself entwined in this mess in the first place. I thought about walking over
to her and putting my arms around her waist, but was afraid she would swing around and
strike me. "I'm sorry," I said again, this time with all sincerity. There was no answer for a
while, and then she spoke to me indirectly through the window. . . "You should be."

                                                                               Pg 181
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to keep quiet for awhile until she shook whatever it was she was going through.
She then unveiled the Chicken Tikka Masala and made like the whole thing never even
happened. This was served on a bed of rice that I assume now was Basmati, but who can
really say? I'm going back a long, long time. If I tried to tell you how delicious this meal
was, I would surely fall short. It was so tender, so succulent that it practically melted in my
mouth! "Everything you cook is fantastic," I shouted in my ebullience! "You're just saying
that cause you love me." She spoke the words like she was putting on a dressing gown,
while trying not to be overly seductive.

Sunday morning, June 11th, I awoke to my mother yelling "rise and shine, I made pancakes!"
"Where's dad," I asked? "Don't know, don't care." After breakfast, I announced I was going
across the street. "You better bundle up because it's cold outside!" It turns out that today is
even colder than yesterday with a high of only 46 degrees! Now that's cold for June!!! Who
could possibly know that on this exact same day next year, the entire city would be caught in
the grip of a powerful heat wave? The temperature for this day next year would hit 95 degrees!
I knew this not only because I was a weather buff, but because me and Harmony watched the
four o'clock movie together in the comfort of the central AC. We cuddled up together on that
couch with very little clothes on until it was time for dinner. How amorous and true was
the veneration of our windswept love!

All the scribbled writings from that period of time have been
adjusted and recomposed for this book. How we used to dote
on each other hand and foot. . . God, how I adored her.



Mom preferred me being over there when the heat index, or the actual air temperature
topped out at over ninety degrees. She said I could stay there as long as I didn't wear
out my welcome and why should we all die from heat exhaustion if we don't have to?

"Thanks ma, you're the greatest!!!"

As I can barely make out on the next page, we broke a record the following day as well.
From what I could see here it was a Tuesday, June 12, 1973, and I was with Harmony after
school. We were celebrating her birthday together when her family arrived very unexpectedly.
"Oh my God, my family is here! Quick, you have to go! Out the side door and wait until they're
all inside." At first I thought she was fooling around, but when I realized the joke was on me,
I was hurt beyond words. I could not understand why she was still so ashamed of me.
So I was young, that doesn't make me a leper!

Why can't we all just live, if that is the way we are truly happy? Why should a country dictate how two
human beings choose to live their lives? Shouldn't it be their choice? Even falling in love has to come
with an age requirement. One day perhaps I will understand this, but for the time being I was distraught.

                                                                               Pg 182
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Obediently, I waited with my back pressed tightly against the sandy textured exterior of her impressive
home. (The one side that would forever remain untiled.) I could now hear them laughing inside while
speaking so fluently in another tongue. Maybe if I was Spanish or spoke Gujarati, they would embrace
me. No, they would still scorn me. As I listened to them, I could hear Harmony laughing and clapping, and
from what I could tell, she sounded happier now than when I was with her. As I forced myself across the
street that day, it felt like I had just been lobotomized. I was wrestling with the anguish that burned inside
of me, while at the same time, I was trying desperately to hold back an insatiable urge to just burst out in
tears. I'll admit, my emotions were a bit confused, but deep down I knew, men aren't supposed to cry.
A man must always be able to hold it together; even if the world is laughing at him.



As I entered in through the back door, I was met with a rush of hot air. It was stifling in there,
like I had walked into an oven. Since we lived in a duplex apartment, that whole side of the house
had no windows and because of this, the air never circulated well. I walked through the kitchen to
the bathroom which was located by the rear entrance and looked at myself in the mirror like I was
confronting a bully in the school cafeteria. I spoke in a very calm and mildly assertive tone which
among other children would have implied an immediate, almost certain danger. "If I lose Harmony
because of you, I swear to God, I will kill you." I then went up to my room where I waited in torment
for four solid hours. Trying to be a man and not cry was a lot harder than I thought, so I figured I
might as well just let it out and be done with it. No one would ever know, and so it really didn't matter
much. Being up there, alone to myself until Mother arrived at 6:30 was like being in a part of Hell
I never again wished to revisit. Not knowing that I would one day have to live in it forever.

At eight O'clock sharp her family left, and so I walked down the retro orange staircase to find my mother
watching a television program alone, as usual. She was startled to see me, and I was sweating rather
profusely. I said I had returned for some things, and mom looked at me very confused. She knew I'd been
in the house, since she got home and that something was wrong. She also knew that "getting a few things"
didn't mean leaving the house with nothing in your possession! God, I am so fucking stupid!!! As I came
out of my house, the outside air provided no relief whatsoever. I could almost feel my mother's eyes burning
a hole through my skin as I hurried across the street. I don't know how or why, but I knew she was watching me
from that living room window! She had that look of utter suspicion etched on her face, and I couldn't erase that
image from my mind! Now she was thinking, and there is nothing worse than when a mother begins to think.
Not that she was a problem solver or anything so dire as that, thank God!!! I just didn't want her to concern
herself in matters that did not welcome her concern. I checked by looking in first, just to make sure no one
stayed behind and saw Harmony alone washing dishes. Lucky for the recessed alcove and the streetlight that
had blinked off as I was coming down the stairs or the problem would be even more compounded. The door
was unlocked so I entered. As I walked in, I closed the door so she heard it. "Please forgive me for making
you leave like that but our love has to remain a secret." "It's okay," I said still feeling numb and slightly
confused. She then hugged me as tight as she could for almost five minutes. As she rubbed my
back in a slow gentle motion, I didn't think I would be able to let go.

That night as we watched the news, the weatherman said we hit 93 degrees in central park!
That whole week I was allowed to sleep over and mom drove me up to the station as she did each morning.

Not to worry, Harmony always made sure I was ready on time!

                                                                               Pg 183
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will never forget April 22nd, Easter Sunday. It was a comfortable afternoon with the
temperature peaking near or around the 80 degree mark, and I was finishing up a lamb
dinner cooked to perfection with my parents. My grandparents on both sides were
over and everybody was getting along just swell. The mint jelly that had graced the
table in a white ramekin was all but gone as I lay my utensils down beside the plate.

I was stuffed to the gills, and if my maternal grandmother dared to put that very last
sweet potato on my plate, (as she had been prone to do in the past) I would have
hurled it with all my might straight at the wall!

How I hated those fucking things!!!

Whether it be yams or sweet potatoes, that always seem to gravitate toward my side of
the table, they should be left in the ground where they belong. Luckily, Harmony never
took a liking to them. As my maternal grandfather begins puffing on his pipe, my paternal
grandmother begins to talk to my mother about a new line of clothing at Macy's. With this,
my father begins talking to his father about being the last of the Pinkerton detectives and
how close he came to being gunned down in the late 60's. Yes, it was only a few years ago,
but back then everything seemed so nostalgic. As the smell of Argosy Black encircled the
air, my mind filled with thoughts and I cease to hear any part of the conversation.

Pipes were usually reserved for winter months, but it was not unusual
to see grandfather puffing away during the summer. To forego the
Camel cigarettes, in exchange for something much more pleasant.

Just then the bell chimes and my maternal grandmother who
is closest to the door abruptly answers it. . . It's Harmony!

I had no intention of leaving the house, but how quick that changed!

"I was just wondering if you'd like to ride with me," she shouted with an enormous grin
that melted my entire heart and made me ever so weak. (((Ride meaning bike ride.)))
"Would I ever," I shouted like some delighted kid from Brooklyn in the 1950's! "Well,
you better get moving," said my dad and I got the uncomfortable feeling he knew
exactly what was moving, and where it was going. I jumped up from my chair and
bolted from the house! "Don't you say goodbye to anyone," said my mother while
grandpa shouted at the direction of the door, "go have fun!"

As I made my way to the iron shed and slid the doors open, I gently wheeled out
my Schwinn Manta Ray. It was bright orange like those yams I hated, but this bike
I absolutely adored! It had a wide orange banana seat that people of today would
call queer, and brakes that could only be activated by jamming down hard on the
pedal. With this monstrosity, I was ready to conquer the world! Harmony hopped
on her teak colored ten speed and I was ahead of her in no time flat. When she got
alongside me, I always remained next to her and would never excel further.

While we were passing Herman Street down New Dorp beach near the race track,
a dark grey car pulls up. Oh no I thought, it's the Torre brothers. Three guys who
were almost always getting laid were now fueling up with Pabst blue ribbon beer.
The other two were just neighborhood punks who smoke and drank in the vacant
lot that would later become a park.



"Hey baby, show us your stuff!" said Joey from behind the wheel of his 1969
Chevrolet Biscayne. Yeah come on, give us a little taste of Heaven!" Harmony threw up
her middle finger, and they sped in reverse to try and impress her. Thankfully, a Weissglass
milk truck came up the block to thwart their advances! A vehicle that can only be described
as something which resembled a Hornstra milk truck though a bit more narrow in size. As
we sped down the road, you could hear that Biscayne screeching off into the distance,
and I thought to myself quietly, "we've come a long way since the velocipede!"



                                                                               Pg 184
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, it was Monday and Harmony's birthday had arrived. Upon returning home from
school I made a telephone call to place the order. The flowers were delivered a block over
to room 4D in the apartment complex down the street, as not to arouse any suspicion.
Getting off the elevator I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as I waited by the narrow
brown door where tenants disposed of their garbage. Of course, I had to be seen by someone.
That was an inevitable part of life, and so I nodded to the old gent who nonchalantly carried his
bag of trash to the incinerator chute. "Can I help you with something?" he asked while closing
the narrow door to that small closet-like room. No thanks, I'm just waiting for my girlfriend to
come out. "Can't have too many of them now can we," he bolstered, before making the sign of
the pistol and going click-click! After almost thirty minutes of waiting, the deliveryman walked out
of the elevator, and I was right there to greet him. I paid for the flowers and gave him a small tip
before exiting the building. From there I shuffled over to the house of my lover and placed the long,
slender box upon the counter. By the kitchen table I sat, waiting ever so patiently for her to arrive.

Just as an added precaution, I walked around the entire block before
slithering in through the back entrance gate where no eyes could see.

As she entered, Harmony was overwhelmed by my gift! More so, that I did it all on my own.
I felt proud, but most of all honored to be cared for by someone so lovely and charming.
That the very thought just seeing her made me tremble with joy! On that night, she bestowed
me the nickname, "Little Prince." I knew it was going take years to mold me into the kind of
man her heart required, but once I put my mind to something, consider it done. Even though
time moves so slowly, it will not pass between us. . .



"I can do this baby; I just need some time to grow!"

I told her I wanted to experience everything there was to know and understand about love,
but most of all, I wanted to make out with her in the lair of the shadow dwellers; as Harmony
called it. "Please," I entreated, "take me with you when you go," but she looked at me with such
conviction and told me I had to wait. "When you become of age you will see that world, I promise.
And in there, I will be the one to show you the meaning of true paradise." However, I did not want
to wait. I wanted to experience it now, but she outright refused. "Aside from not being mentally
prepared, you are far too young to see that world, and I would be a monster if anything were to go
wrong! When you become a man, I promise to take you there and no sooner. Agreed?" "Agreed."
As I looked into those beautiful eyes, her lips gently met mine.

                                                                               Pg 185
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In my mind, I think I just wanted to bond with her more than anything else. To become that
one union of love. That rare sacred joining, which defies all logic to mesmerize the heart and
keep one locked in its hypnotic spell. An inseparable banding together of two human beings
in the most precious of ways. Any mortal who could find even a blemish of impurity in the
love we shared would have to be a sinner looking for redemption in the eyes of Almighty God.
Within the sanctity of all we embraced, I wanted to create something so fantastic, so real that it
might move even the most divine spirit and fuse our very souls together forever. Aside from this
intense craving, that would only become more prevalent as time moved on, I wanted to be able to
please her for hours upon hours on end. I needed to be her right hand man. Her personal property
so to speak. I wanted to belong to her, even if it meant becoming a slave unto her, for I could no
longer exist without seeing her. All for the one hope, that in return she would not stray from me,
but love me without end. I wanted the very thought of me leaving to produce such inner fears and
torments that she would not be able to live without me. To yearn for me as I have yearned for her for
so long. To panic when I am not there. When the very thought of me leaving becomes inconceivable.



But something went awry in the process.
An ingredient fell into the mix which changed the chemistry
of the whole equation. Now instead of creating a form of paradise,
a batch of pure madness would be concocted,
and heaven help the one who drinks from that cup.
That is the cup of anguish and bitter sorrows. . .
It was not meant for mortal man.

Something fell outside, it sounded like a rake.

What was once so pure and precious was now turning.
I could not see this however, for I was enveloped in passion.
As we kissed and hugged on the couch and on the rug, I found
two silver eyes peering in at us. So calculating in his approach
was he, ever watching our every move in fine detail.

So warm and loving was she in the heat of passion I could have almost cried.
How could something this beautiful even happen? Indeed, I had been blessed
above all men to partake in the feast of kings! As I ran my tongue along the moist
folds of her love, she writhed like an exquisite doll. I loved loving her and had
absolutely no compunction of stopping until she was at peace with her emotions.

                                                                               Pg 186
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I parted the folds of her skin and put my lips to her soft puffy flesh as if it were
a more gentle, more loving mouth. I then gave it an adoring French kiss. Halfway
through this delightfully sensuous kiss, I could taste all of my honey's sweetness!
She screamed into her hand, and it sounded like she was being murdered. Suddenly,
she quivered and bucked as I brought her to fulfillment where my cup runneth over.



In truth, I drank from that cup and I never looked back.
Therefore I never knew what had begun to take shape in the dark region known as despair.
An ill wind began brewing, and heaven help the soul left stranded by the river's edge.
It is so cold and lonely there, my eyes begin to water at the mere thought of it.
There in that wretched place of all forlornness, the mighty angels
who circle above will not circle above it.

Whereupon when all was quiet, I lifted my head from the most sacred of all human places
and placed it upon her belly. I couldn't really tell but the way her stomach was now quivering,
I thought she might very well be laughing. She cradled me in her arms and began to cry as she
talked to God in her native tongue. Why was my lover so sad and what have I done to upset her
so? I deviated from the plan. I changed something that should not have been changed. I had not
done it exactly the way she had anticipated it would be, and now I have ruined everything!

Why was I so stupid?
What the hell was wrong with me?
Never change the plan!!!

As I turned my head to look at her, she was borderline hysterical. It was my very
first time doing that, (fellating) so of course I wasn't expecting it to be perfect,
but I did somehow think she was overreacting. She is going to get rid of me, I
thought. I am a terrible lover and cannot please the only one on earth, I long to
satisfy! I hate myself! I hate myself so much, and now I don't know what to do.
I felt this abominable pain in the pit of my stomach, and it seemed to run straight
into the bowels of my very soul. I couldn't hold my sadness in, and so I began to
tremble and broke down and cried as well. I was so hurt by her disappointment,
because I believed I did so well. *That figures* Anything that comes that easy
and feels more perfect than it should be is bound to be wrong.

I didn't know what else to do, I was only nine.

Upon seeing this, she pulls me by my arms along her wet body until we were face
to face with each other. "No, baby no, you don't understand. You were wonderful.
The best I ever had." "Then why do you look so unhappy," I said sniveling, "and why
are we crying?" "I'm crying because I'm happy. Because I love you so much, and I'm
not sure what I am going to do when you grow older and tire of me." Now covering
her face and crying inconsolably. "Please don't cry! You're not going to lose me!!!"

                                                                               Pg 187
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cried hysterically for almost ten minutes and Harmony wept for almost twenty, but who
was really counting? When at last Harmony regained her composure, she said the cutest
thing I ever heard her say. With a stuffed up nose and adorable accent, she uttered the
following words, "can you please get me a tissue?" Just the way she looked as she relayed
that sentence I could not even begin to describe. When I came back with a box of Kleenex,
she smiled. I pulled out several of them and extended my hand to her. So graciously she gave
me the saddest, most sincere smile I had ever seen. She then sat up crossing her legs Indian
style. It was then I spoke. "I just need you to know that this love, I feel for you. . ." "Go on,"
she said in a gentle voice while running her sensuous brown fingers through my boyish hair.
"This love is forever," I exclaimed in an almost inaudible tone while falling into those dreamy
eyes of hers and submersing myself in that blissful lake. So enchanting was she, so divine.
"I see girls and teachers every day, and I never think of kissing them. I never think of holding
them or anything. You're the only person on the planet I want to be with. If not for you, I'd feel
nothing." Rather than speak, she held my face in her warm seductive hands and seemed to be
examining my heart. "If every man in this world had your little brain, we women would live in
paradise." Suddenly she let go of my face and erupted in laughter. "What's so funny?" I asked,
intrigued. "Men have little brains in little heads, but at least your little brain is in the right place!"

                                                    (((I didn't understand)))


Suddenly, everything in the world was perfect!
She would teach me and I would learn.
She would show me and I would do,
and in a few short years when I finally come of age
I will ask her a question and she will say yes!
After that we will wait a little longer to be
properly betrothed in a dwelling of the Lord.
As God is my witness, I promise to treasure and adore her forever!
Forever till the end of time!!!



I thought I heard the wind blowing outside and said to myself, there's a storm
brewing on the horizon. Oh you poor child, thought the winter raven to the
moon as his white eyes flickered; that is no ordinary storm. . .

That's Dark Monday.

                                                                               Pg 188
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If any image on this site is considered to be offensive, it will be removed. If it has been copied without
proper consent, please contact me immediately and the image will either be removed, or credit shall be
given unto the person or persons responsible. Whether it be an artist, photographer, cartoonist., etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PG 179) Love lights, No arguments

PG 180) Alex's Boxer by Kat Corrigan

PG 181) The tree, the cloud by Stanislav Plutenko

PG 181) Mahakali poster

PG 183) The house that Hanuman built by Michael Pucciarelli

PG 184) Burning desire by Adrian Borda

PG 184) The new velocipede by T. Fane & Co. (circa 1887) 

PG 185) Stopped moment by Vladimir Kush

PG 186) Romeo and Juliet by Sir Frank Dicksee

PG 187) Venus with Cupid the honey thief by Lucas Cranach the Elder

PG 188) Shiva sitting with Parvati