(Page 1 of 5) When Harry Met Dora by Jed MitchenerSUMMARY: When I started this, it was to be an excerpt of my novel showing our hero, Harold Hallelle, retired and working in his restaurant: Harry's Hole in the Way. It turned into something completely different...In a restaurant near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the proprietor of Harry's Hole In The Way restaurant plays witness to the many trial-and-error efforts and eventual success of the human endeavor to go from inter-stellar travel to inter-galactic travel...
This is a day in the life of Harry Hallelle, owner and operator of Harry's Hole In The Way.
You could say Harry's Hole was the most popular restaurant in the Galaxy. It was certainly the one that more space adventurers, major corporations and business entrepreneurs were trying to get to than any other. But it also had everything a successful breakfast eatery needed to stay in business: location, location, and location. These were, respectively, the three most important factors to the success of Harry's Hole. Things hadn't changed much since retail restauranteurship had become a form of business.
You could also say that Harold Hallelle was destined for success. He was near the top of his class in High School, graduating with honors and every teacher's pet. He was an only child, a favorite friend-for-our-son of all his friends' parents, and perhaps the most sought after boyfriend of every high school girl's parents. Everyone hoped that they could somehow get nearer to the Hallelle Family Fortune. And, well, Harry was just so nice – not like you would expect someone to be who stood to inherit that much money.
One thing that impressed all of Harry's teachers at a very young age was his ability to seem focused upon his own thoughts. He was never one to follow along with any crowd, nor was he one to foster a crowd of his own. It would seem to the observer that whatever business preoccupied Harry must surely be the most important business on the planet. If Harry were walking through a crowded hall, it would appear as though he would did not even notice those around him. He was so singly focused on his own plan that you had to be someone or something that somehow related to the success or failure of his plan in order to warrant any regard from Harry, at all.
One new girl admirer in Harry's 7th grade class walked nearly a mile and a half from her house to Harry's neighborhood without telling her parents where she was going after knowing of Harry for only about a week. All she wanted to do was get closer to him to see what all the ruckus was about, but when she turned the last corner before his street...there he was. Walking right towards her! This was her big opportunity!
"Where are you going?" Dora asked.
"To the dime store." he replied, not breaking stride.
She quickly recovered her composure. "Do you mind if I walk with you?"
"Not at all," he said, without even taking notice of her while walking right by.
And thus, without noticable cause, and perhaps for the first time in his then short life, Harry's grand plan was modified to allow for a partner in his life's experiment. And it was a good thing, because years later, the hero's of our stories would bug their living ancestors endlessly to recount that famous walk to the dime store in which Dora proved, to who would become the most important man in the world, that she truly was adorable.
Up until Dora and Harry were "officially" retired, Dora had always began the story.
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