Disclaimer: I do not own Back to the Future.
December 24, 2015
12:00 PM PST
Harmony Brown was feeling so useless, as she lay down on her bed and began to cry. She was certain she was doing a charitable deed when she took 100,000 dollars from the joint savings account that she, her sister, and her friends had set up to purchase an outdoor swimming pool. However, her act of charity had fallen through - and everyone was mad at her. As a result, she began to feel as if her friends and family - actually, everyone in Hill Valley, would be better off if she had never been born. She felt as if she simply was a nuisance who got into everyone's way.
oooooooooo
Two days earlier, she was visiting the homeless shelter. She was especially close to a girl her age named Hope Green, whom she first met at her school about a month ago. Despite the fact that her and her family had been homeless for a few months, Hope still continued to live up to her name. She had three younger sisters named Faith, Joy, and Grace. Their parents were named Todd and Holly.
Harmony had a desire to give the whole family a wonderful Christmas present. She had found a relatively nice house in Hilldale where the costs had totalled up to a little less than 100,000 dollars. Granted, Hilldale was a rather dilapidated neighbourhood - and it was often said to be a 'breeding ground for tranks, lobos and zipheads'. Still, it was a pretty decent-sized home - and, according to some of Harmony's friends who lived in that neighbourhood, the neighbourhood wasn't really as bad as it was made out to be. They were mostly just embarrassed to live in that neighbourhood.
'Well, hello, Harmony!' gushed Holly, as Harmony stepped into the homeless shelter.
'Hello there, Holly,' Harmony said, as she threw her arms around Holly. 'Where are the kids? I have a special Christmas present I would like to give you all.'
'Oh, what is that?' Holly asked, smiling. 'You are such a wonderful friend, my dear.'
'I would like to give you 100,000 dollars,' Harmony said, smiling, 'so that you and your family can move into a nice house in Hilldale. I understand that Hilldale is a neighbourhood with a rather bad reputation - but it's a really nice house for a rather reasonable price. It has three bedrooms and two baths in it. It's a pretty big house.'
'Oh, Harmony!' Holly gushed, blushing. 'It's so nice of you to think of us, but are you sure you really want to do this? I'm not so sure I could accept such a huge gift!'
'Oh, I insist,' protested Harmony. 'The least I could do for some dear friends of mine is to provide you guys with a place to live. You and your kids really do deserve it.'
'Oh, thank you so much, Harmony!' cried out Holly, as tears filled her eyes. 'It's so nice to have a wonderful friend in you. I must say, you really have a heart of gold.'
'Thank you,' whispered Harmony, as she threw her arms around Holly. 'Well, listen, Holly, I should start heading for home now - but tell the kids I said hi, okay?'
'Will do, Harmony,' Holly replied, smiling. 'Thanks once again for everything.'
As Harmony headed for home, she began to wonder if she did the right thing. She wondered how everyone else would react to the money missing from their account.
oooooooooo
Earlier that morning, Harmony was at the McFlys' home with her younger sister, Melody. Marlene had been the one to greet them at the door, and she wasn't exactly in the best of moods. Harmony did like Marlene, and considered her to be a friend. However, she was considerably closer to Marty Jr - as they had more in common..
It was Marlene's friend, Lila, who had brought up the fact that there was a considerable amount of money missing from their joint saving account.
'There is 100,000 dollars missing from our savings account,' sighed Lila. 'Does anyone know where the money went? We were saving up for a pool.'
Harmony felt very nervous, as Marty Jr and the members of his band all looked at each other and shook their heads. She knew the right thing to do was confess.
'Don't look at me,' Melody said, shrugging. 'I didn't touch the money.'
'Okay, it was me,' Harmony said, sighing. 'I gave the money to Hope Green and her family, so that they could buy a decent home in Hilldale. It was my present to them.'
'How could you do that, Harmony?' Marty Jr asked, shaking his head, dismayed.
'Yeah, Harmony,' Melody said, sighing, 'you really should have consulted us, first.'
'I'm sorry, everyone,' Harmony said, sighing. 'I really am. I just wanted to perform a good deed you know. I mean, they needed a home more than we needed a pool.'
Marlene then shouted out, 'How dare you do this to us, Harmony Clara Brown! It was our money that you stole to give to the family. You should have used your own money! What's with the false generosity?'
'I guess I'm just a disappointment, aren't I?' Harmony cried out, as tears came to her eyes. She then began to wonder if she really did do the right thing. She obviously ended up letting her friends down. 'I guess you guys all hate me, don't you? Well, I'm going home, everyone.'
'Hey, Harmony, please wait!' protested Marty Jr, as Harmony headed for the door.
'What for, Marty?' cried out Harmony. 'So that you can yell at me some more?'
Witthout bothering to wait for Marty Jr's reply, Harmony slammed the door behind her, as she headed for home. She began to feel very miserable. Then she tried to take comfort in knowing that she at least made one family happy this year.
oooooooooo
As soon as Harmony headed home, she had checked the voice mail machine for messages. Unfortunately, there was more bad news for her.
'Hello, Harmony,' said a familiar voice, 'this is Holly Green. I really appreciate your generous offer. However, I have some really bad news for you. The manager had refused to sell the home to us, once they found out we were homeless. I was wondering if we could maybe try to invest in the money for other uses.'
'Oh, this is so not fair!' Harmony cried out, with frustration. 'How could the manager be so callous as to refuse a home to a homeless family. I mean, they won't be homeless once they have a home. This is such stupid irony!'
Then, as Harmony was weeping on her bed, she began to think about how upsetting the whole situation was. It seemed like whenever she tried to perform a good deed, it would always backfire on her. She began to feel very useless.
Harmony then sobbed, 'Oh, I wish I was never born!'