The Bar was dimly lit. The stone of the cracked walls glistened as the searchers wandered through a smoky cloud that seemed to be trapped, hovering. Every woman in the crowd had at some point in the night set gaze upon the man leaning against the middle bar stool. He was tall with dark black hair, ice blue eyes and a smile that reflected what only he knew. Every good-hearted woman in the bar was game. A shoe-in, a one night or a forever if that’s what he wanted.

Don had been at this game for almost a decade. In truth, he had not had a held job in that time. To most he did nothing but for the fair few that lost themselves in that devilish smile he did all and mean everything. This is how Don survived….

It all started when he was a junior in high school. He met her in gym class. She tripped over his foot and apologized. He looked down at her, extended a hand and smiled. After their first few dates Genna had fallen, but Don never tripped. He liked her alright, she was sweet and kind and cared for him. The fourth date, Don was bored and had spent his last dollar. So they started fucking, but he was still bored. "Nice" only is redeeming for a moment. Genna noticed Don had little money and was testy so she decided that it would be best if she started paying for him. Don enjoyed living for free, partying for free until he realized what he was doing. Then he reveled in it. For years they stayed together, then the day came when Genna had to move to New York. He was lost and wandering out on the street for a night. The mist of the mid-west lake rolled over the cement up the path to a bench where he sat. The mist crawled up the bench, up Don's legs, over his arms and through the cracks of his fingers. As the fog kissed his eyelids he began to cry. His tears poured from his face mixing with dew to form two large puddles at his feet. In these, reflected the soft peach pink of morning light, and a face.

Don glanced up quickly and his iced eyes threatened to melt as they looked at the mocha eyes of the woman standing before him.

"Hon, you okay?"

"My heart was just taken from me and trampled, but besides that I’m swell. And yourself?"

You see Don could do that. In his darkest moments still he knew how to navigate a woman's heart. The road always dark but even half asleep it was as simple as driving home.

She laughed, smiled and asked him his name. They walked around the lakes that reflected the city. She asked him how he ended up on that bench. He told her a long drawn out tale about a woman he was madly in love with who ran off with ten other men. "Cheating is the worst thing you could ever do to a person." This is what got her. She confessed that she had been cheated on by her last, and coincidently only two boyfriends.

That night at dinner, which Mary had paid for, he explained that he was homeless then quickly turned the conversation back towards her. Mary loved that he cared, loved how he looked, how he looked at her. Don loved that she was so naive.

"You know I’ve been thinking," Mary began "you need a place to stay and I have a fairly comfortable couch that you can stay on for a few days."

Five months later as he woke up in the peach pink morning glow he set his feet down on Mary's blonde wood floor as  he stepped out of bed. She looked so peaceful as she slept, her face relaxed with a pinch of a smile. Don wondered if he ever looked that peaceful. He turned away from her, replaying words those peaceful lips spoke the night before. She had told him, "you are the most trustworthy man alive, no woman deserves to be treated the way you treat them. I’m not a princess, love. You shouldn’t treat me as one. But promise me baby that you honestly love me."

Fucking women.

He didn’t. He pulled his pants on, grabbed his shirt from off the floor and walked out to the living room where her cat gave a mournful goodbye as he continued out the door.

The bite of winter cold met his nose as he pulled his sweater higher. Lake Street was desolate. Not a soul was on it. Don absorbed the cold through his nose and let it pool in his lungs. Out he puffed like a smoke who has hit rock bottom. A car drove by and splashed cold wetness which crept up his jeans. He followed Hennepin down toward the highway. Passed in front of a record store and as the young teenager with blood shot eyes opened the door for that business day he heard, "I’ve had my Lake street pride for three decades…" a song he should know better.

After wandering down Franklin for a few icy blocks he was stopped as he almost ran into a young girl. Her reddish purple locks bounced in front of him as she tried to keep up with two more athletically inclined girls of her age. They ran across a one way towards the stone walls of a modern church. Why not? A quick word of God always does a man good. And Don entered the church following the small crowd into a large sanctuary. He walked up the cross and took a seat on the left-hand side next to a beautiful woman about his age.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?" Don, stunned by the woman's words, simply replied, "She certainly is." To this the woman let out a teenage giggle. They introduced themselves but the conversation was cut short by the minister taking his position. Somewhere in-between the Lord's prayer and the benediction they set up a date for that night. At dinner Don sang the same old song to the same old girl and that night Don moved into Sarah’s house.

She has been working since she was fourteen and finally put a down payment on a house two months earlier. Don stayed there for a few months, then as usual got bored and tired of her constant kindness. As she slept that night with mouth open and that little tear drop of drool threatening to fall he took the forty dollars sitting on her dresser and walked into the warmth of the spring eve. This spring came on fast and the slush on the sidewalks had almost completely diminished. Odd for this early in April. The Minnesota air sunk into his lungs and made Don realize he had to leave. There wasn’t much else for him in the cities. He used the forty dollars to buy a one way ticket to Cincinnati, Ohio. He found his seat and to his rapture a mid-twenties beauty took a seat beside him. She smiled a timid smile and he introduced himself. Her sweet demeanor was apparent from that moment on. This was another one. Easy. The rest of the train rode felt like only a few hours though Don knew it was much longer. They talked, she consoled him, and almost started to cry as he told his story.

His ex had abandoned him, locked him out of the house that he had paid for, and left him for dead. All he had was forty dollars in his pocket and now he's here.

"Well," she said in that familiar forgiving tone. "I’ll let you stay at my apartment for as long as you need."

She then looked upon his with eyes the blue of dusk in the summer time. He knew he had her as easy as all the rest. Or so he thought.

Harmony was her name, and she was not an ordinary woman. Harmony was what you would consider a witch, though she did not play it in this manner. She knew she had power and she knew how to play men's hearts. Her favorite weapon, her eyes, or her kindness. Both served her well, and both worked. Like Glinda, a distant aunt, she was a good witch. Never did she mean to harm a soul, but mistakes can happen. This boy that she had just come across on the train, obviously needed her help. Lost, a liar, and poor. A bad combination for a man of his late twenties. He’ll end up alright if her plan went accordingly.

Don let her off the train first, a true gentleman. She thanked him then led him to a taxi outside the station. The humid southern air held the taxi as it drove along the Ohio river away from the city. The hilly roads almost made Don ill, but then he looked at Harmony who was holding her hands in the air as if she was on a rollercoaster. She noticed his glance then let out a boisterous laugh. Don joined in on the game until the cab pulled into the drive way of an old brick farm house. He was amazed. Not only was this girl giving and kind, she was rich as well. He knew he would enjoy this round……{Story is unfinished}