Before there was radio and television, there were two ways of telling stories: by reading books or just simply just telling them in person. But this is a story that is mostly familiar…with its difference in characters and nature.
Enniscorthy, in County Wexford, Ireland, circa mid-June 1898, was the home of the McCallister family. In their home, which was big enough to accommodate fifteen people, a festival of light and joy was concurring: the St. John's Eve Bonfire Festival. Like most of the other people in their town, the McCallisters had average needs, but the family itself was filled with love and warmth, complacent with the simple life they had led. Being together as a family was always the most important thing to them. Although they worked hard for honest wages, Kate and Peter, along with Peter's brother Frank and his wife Leslie always managed to make the holidays seem very special to their children.
There were eleven children in the McCallister household: Heather, Tracy, Rod, Sondra, Megan, Linnie, Jeff, Buzz, Rod, Fuller and Kevin, who was the second youngest in the family ahead of Fuller, for Kevin was only eight years old. Heather, on the other hand, was the eldest daughter of Peter and Frank's younger brother Rob and his wife Georgette, who stayed behind to help her aunts and uncles with earning money while the rest of her family went to America in search of gold, but ended up living in the great city of New York after their luck had been pushed too far.
During the festival, Kevin and Fuller lit their candles and recited their prayers. All of the McCallister children loved the holidays and they were looking forward to Christmas which was about six months from now. After they said their prayers, the family settled down to dinner, with bread, olives, cheese and pepperoni (pizza wasn't common back then) and when the dishes had been washed away, Peter played Irish tunes on his violin, while Frank played the trumpet. They lived for the happiness of their wives and children, as all husbands should be. The girls and boys danced until the whole room was spinning around them.
When Brooke and Fuller got tired from all that dancing, Aunt Leslie put them to bed. She still heard the instruments from their room when she called back.
"Frank! Enough already, they are never going to get to sleep."
Almost immediately, Peter and Frank put their instruments down after playing a special tune written for Kevin titled "Somewhere in my Memory" when the boy himself asked.
"What about bonfire presents?"
"What is this?" asked Frank. "Chanukah?"
"For you," said Peter. "Every night is Chanukah and Christmas or whatever holiday comes where you get presents."
When the room had stopped lurching for them, Buzz, Megan, Rod and the others sat down on the floor and waited to receive gifts. Peter pulled a red scarf from behind his back and presented it to Linnie, the scarf was brand new as it had appeared to have been bought from a flea market.
"For you, Linnie."
Linnie placed the headscarf on, admiring it.
"Oh, Dad, it's just like Megan's! Thank you!"
Megan just blushed, looking at the identical headscarf she had gotten last Christmas.
"You have only one parent?" asked Kate, coming in with Aunt Leslie.
"Thank you, Mom," said Linnie, going up to hug her.
After the others got their gifts—Buzz's being a toy spider made of silk—it was Kevin's turn. Peter presented him with a black and red hunting hat.
"For you, Kevin: a new hat. But it's not just any hat, it belonged to me, your grandfather and your great-grandfather. In fact this hat's been in the family for three generations…now it belongs to you."
Kevin ran to admire himself in the mirror, he felt very proud and very important. Then he looked back at his relatives.
"You think this will fit properly?"
"You'll grow into it when you're a man," Kate reassured him.
"And now, it is story time," said Peter, looking at his children, nieces and nephews. He felt like a rich man, despite his average wages.
Frank and Peter sat in their chairs and the children gathered around them with the women listening close by. Megan and Linnie wanted to hear about the tale of Rapunzel, Kevin and Fuller wanted to hear Sleeping Beauty, Brooke and Sondra wanted to hear about The Girl Who Got the Better of the Gentleman and Rod and Jeff to hear about Billy and the Tiny Man in the Three Cornered Hat. Heather was willing to tell The Story of Tuan mac Cairill and Buzz wanted to tell scary stories about giant tarantulas who attacked cities, but Peter and Frank seemed to take his story and turn it into their own.
"Did I ever tell you about the Giant Spider-Bird of Ballybowhill?"
"No," the children shook their heads.
"Well," Perter went on. "He was as tall as a tree and his wings were a whole mile long."
The children found this hard to believe.
"Really?" they asked.
Uncle Frank chuckled.
"I'll bet he was so big, he frightened all the dark-hearted thieves."
"Shhh!" interrupted Aunt Leslie. "Don't talk about them! Talk about something else like…where Rob and Georgette are?"
"You mean America?" Heather jumped up.
"Another fairy tale," said Kate. "I don't think it's as good as they say it is."
"Do you want to hear about America?" asked Peter.
The children nodded their heads.
"Well, in America, there is opportunity...hidden passageways in every wall, bread on every street, you can say anything you want…and this I know for a fact."
He whispered.
"In America, there are no…bandits."
"Quiet!" Kate whispered back. "Do you want to start an uprising?"
"How can they on a time like this?" asked Peter, annoyed.
Suddenly, outside the window, there were shouts of screams and demands. The sounds of horses clattered through the streets, which made wary locals tremble with fear.
"The bandits! The bandits!"
In those days, criminals were reckless and rough, destroying everything in their path before the police could intervene, plundering whatever houses they could find. In a similar kind of way, Irish nationalists, known as rebels, would race through the villages, burning and demolishing houses of those family who were not fit to see the land in their eyes. Some turned over to them, while others were killed without mercy.
From upstairs, the noise awake Brooke and Fuller. He was so scared that he nearly pissed all over the bed. Downstairs, from the safety of their home, Kate turned to Peter, saying.
"Now do you see what I mean?"
None of the McCallisters dare to move outside, valuing their own lives above everyone else's, but Kevin was brave enough to grab Uncle Frank's musket from above the fireplace and rushed outside.
"Don't worry everyone!" he shouted fearlessly. "I'll scare them off!"
"KEVIN!" was Kate's shout as he ran out the door.
"Get back with my musket, you little jerk!"
That was the last thing Kevin heard from Uncle Frank before he rushed into the street and fired two warning shots into the air, shouting.
"Go away, rebels! Go away!"
Fortunately for him, the police arrived just in time to prevent any more pilferage from the bandits and he fell to the ground after narrowly avoiding a brown stallion carrying an officer coming his way.
Neither of the McCallisters noticed until too late that the roof of their home caught fire from one of the rebels when they all rushed out to find Kevin.
"Are you all right?" Kate asked him when she found him lying on the ground, still clutching the musket.
Kevin smiled weakly.
"Yes, Mom."
Sighing with relief, Kate put her hands on her hips and scolded him.
"There are fifteen people in our house and you're the only one who has to make a fool of himself by running into the arms of danger."
"Speaking of our house…" said Sondra, turning back in fear.
"Our home!" sobbed Rod. "We're homeless!"
Sure enough, without the fire brigade to prevent its destruction, their house had burned to the ground and by the next morning, the village had been charred from smoke and many buildings lay ruined. The McCallisters stood together in silence, looking at the blacked remains of their world. At their feet lay the few possessions they had been able to drag from the flames before it had been completely destroyed.
"In America," Peter said with a strong voice. "We will be safe."
"Does this mean we have to move?" asked Kevin.
Peter smiled at his son. A new life in America with their extended family members already living there, was just around the corner.