despite being the friendliest person in the world, and having one of the best memories for names and faces, harold had never enjoyed fame or fortune or even modest success in life.
but he never gave up, and kept on keeping on, spreading sunshine wherever he went.
harold and his identical twin had been born under a bad sign, and separated at birth, just like in the old days.
harold was brought up by mrs claudette brown - which was why he was called harold brown - and her husband bradley brown, who did not have much to say for himself.
claudette baked the best walnut brownies in the world, and when she was not baking her brownies or singing in the church choir or practicing singing in the church choir, enjoyed speculating on the mystery of harold’s birth.
harold liked listening to claudette’s speculations on the subject of his birth, and developed many suppositions of his own on the subject, each one of which might have been considered more outlandish than the last, by anyone who might have happened to pay attention to them.
when he reached the age of five years, harold went to school, not to the large public school filled with violent and unruly children, but to a small church school run with an iron hand and no velvet glove by mrs melody mason, the wife of the reverend matthew mason.
mrs melody mason was the best friend of mrs claudette brown. mrs mason was amused by harold’s stories. and he became her pet.
harold was not kindly taken to by many of his fellow students, but a few of them found him amusing.and often laughed both with and at him.
harold’s best friend and supporter was clyde hooper, a clumsy boy who was big for his age, and somewhat intimidating to the other students, despite his slow and easygoing manner, which he had inherited from a long line of easygoing folks, from both his father and his mother.
harold’s most vocal adversary was daisy dempster, who took exception to harold’s varying accounts of his life and ancestry.
harold is a liar! daisy would protest vociferously to both children and adults. he lies his stupid head off all day every day!
harold has imagination, mrs mason would reply placidly but with a twinkle in her eye.
so what? they are still lies, daisy would insist defiantly.
how can you tell? clyde hooper would ask.
perhaps the world is divided into harolds, daisys, mrs masons, and clydes.
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