Disclaimer: I do not own Home Alone.
The snow crunched beneath their boots as the two McCallister were making their way over to the shop to the nearest drugstore to get the toothbrush. The streets of Winnetka were quieter than the usual days of the week making it feel like it was a ghost town rather than a busy neighborhood. "It's very weird seeing how empty the streets look," Kevin broke the silence between them when they walked down a street that led them into town where a single car suddenly passed by.
"Not so silent anymore," Becky said as she pointed with a gloved hand over to the car that had passed. She slinked her hand back inside the pocket of her coat before feeling an object inside. It was the chocolate bar that stranger had given to her and she was tempted on eating it whilst walking or share it with Kevin. But do I really want to do that? she mentally asked herself. Sometimes, in life, it was better not share certain things with one's sibling and that included chocolate.
Looking at the car that passed by them Kevin turned his head to the other direction, looking both ways before both he and Becky crossed the street. One of his siblings would probably tease him ad say that he was too young to cross the street but he felt very responsible for checking the street. If his parents were ever to find out whenever they decided to appear, Becky would be a witness to back him up. "Becky," he said as he tugged on her hand and pointed before them, "I see the drugstore."
Becky turned her head forward and looked straight through the street. "Careful when crossing the street," she said as she held his hand tightly.
"Don't worry," Kevin chuckled and doing another check of the street, the eight year old too the lead and both him and his sister crossed the street.
Becky was glad when they finally reached the store. The coldness from outside was enough to sting her cheeks and once inside, the hot air wafted towards her. She was definitely going to order that hot chocolate once they went to the pancake house. "Finally," she breathed as slightly loosened her scarf around her neck and turned her attention to Kevin. "Alright Kevy, go on and pick your toothbrush. I'll just be looking around the store."
Kevin rose an eyebrow at her. "Don't call me Kevy," he said, slightly peeved by her use of the nickname towards him.
Becky chuckled as she turned her back on Kevin and went to explore around the drugstore. The amount of Christmas decorations were endless and even expensive since they were in seasons. Out of the corner of the store, there was only a little section that contained Thanksgiving decorations and they were rather cheap. Becky made her way over to the small section and curiously pawed through the Thanksgiving decorations. Her hands grabbed onto a turkey that was dressed in a traditional pilgrim costume and a small smile came upon her lips. This particular decoration was used as a centerpiece during the Thanksgiving back home where Uncle Rob and Aunt Georgette came to visit them. It had been quite the fun holiday and feast but Becky never wanted to look at another stuffed turkey until the next Thanksgiving. However, it wasn't just Becky who had suffered through the withdrawal of turkey for Kevin also had a bit too much turkey to chew on during that time. Giving the turkey decoration one last look, Becky let it drop from her hands and fall back into the shelf.
That was enough 'past holiday sight-seeing' so the teen focused her attention on the Christmas decorations. The ornaments were extremely beautiful and she could see her reflection through some of them. Becky reached over and grabbed one of the orbs, feeling the smooth surface of the object with her hand before placing it back. If only she had some decent amount of money rather than some mere allowance that she had saved, she would buy every decoration in the store.
"Hey!" a sudden voice exclaimed throughout the store as Becky's ears perked up, "Jimmy stop that boy!"
Trouble Becky thought as she tore away from the decorations and went to see what was happening. Slipping out of the door of the drugstore, Becky was hit by the cold air and she stood right next to one of the employees as he was yelling at a child across the street. Becky suddenly gasped after realizing whom that child was. "Kevin!" she breathed out but before she could run over to him, the employee had yelled his accusation towards a police officer who commenced the chase after Kevin.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Becky exclaimed and glared at the employee before her. "He's my brother," she stated and reached into her pocket where she took out a couple of bills and without counting them, she placed them in his hand. "Whatever he accidentally took, this should cover it," she said. Before the employee could say anything to her, Becky took off and tried to find where Kevin had run off to. When she had seen him, he was running through the skating rink and the fallen police officer was evident enough that Kevin had cleverly outran him.
"Great," Becky whispered and ranked her fingers through her red hair. There was no way that she was going to walk through the ice rink, let alone slip and fall. Instead, Becky took off into a run and ran around the ice rink until she came upon a couple of footprints. "Hopefully it's you Kevin," Becky said, feeling slightly irritated as she stared at those footprints. She couldn't believe that Kevin had the gall to take something from the store without even paying for it! Didn't he know that it was the wrong thing to do? What would their parents say if they were to find out about this? Becky was not going to get the blame for this one and she was going to make sure about that.
Kevin's footprints suddenly stopped and Becky found herself over a bridge where the trains passed. Running through the bridge, she noticed his footprints appearing once again and it wasn't long until she could see a figure who was walking with his head down. Becky felt relief that he was alright and that she had found him, but she was also upset after what he had done. "KEVIN!" she yelled as she noticed the figure stop and turn around to look. Becky sprinted over to Kevin and immediately took a hold of his arms and held him tightly. "What were you thinking, huh?!" she exclaimed as she looked at him, "why did you do it?!"
Given the circumstances, all Kevin could do was just look at Becky with a shattered look in his eyes and not say anything. He knew that what he did was wrong but he also had a reason as to why he suddenly ran out of that store. He shook himself free from Becky's grip and didn't say a word as he turned his back on her and continued to clutch onto the toothbrush.
"Don't you walk away from me," Becky said as she pointed and chased after Kevin. "You know that's not the right thing to do. I had to pay for that just save you!"
Kevin couldn't even speak, let alone look at Becky. He wanted to explain to her as to why he had run out of the store but he felt that she wouldn't believe him. Please just stop talking Kevin thought as he could hear his sister continuing on to lecture him about his misdeed. He quickened his pace as he tried to get away from her for the moment but the eight year old was not aware that a sudden blue van was sliding out of the driveway.
"Kevin watch out!" Becky exclaimed as Kevin suddenly looked up and came in close contact with the van. "Oh God," she breathed out in a whisper and ran over to Kevin who quickly moved away from the spot. Becky ran up to him and quickly checked him over to make sure that no harm was done to him from that surprise.
"Hey, you better watch out for traffic son you know?" Both of their attention was caught by the driver within the van.
"Sorry," Kevin said to him with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
"Santa Clause don't visit the funeral homes little buddy," the passenger in the van suddenly spoke up and looked at the two siblings.
Becky titled her head to the side at the sight of the passenger but quickly shook her thoughts away. "We're really sorry mister. We both didn't see the van coming," Becky apologized as she held Kevin close to her side and gentler this time.
Kevin remained quiet but gave the two men a nod of his head. All he wanted to do was forget about this whole day and just go home. He felt that he had caused enough trouble as it was and didn't want to get yelled at not just by Becky but two other complete strangers.
"Okay, okay," the driver of the van suddenly spoke up as he looked back at the siblings and smiled, revealing a gold tooth. "Merry Christmas."
Upon seeing that gold tooth, Kevin froze as a little gasp escaped from his mouth. As for Becky, she only gave the driver a smile and nodded her head to him. "Merry Christmas sir. Have a good afternoon. C'mon Kevin," she said as she grabbed her brother's hand and they both turned around to walk down the street and towards home.
As Kevin followed Becky, his grip upon her hand was tighter than usual and he had an uneasy feeling about that man that he had just seen in the van. He didn't know why but it was a feeling that he felt he should listen to aside from ignoring it. His ears perked up when he heard a movement behind them and he stopped immediately in his tracks. "Kevin what is it?" Becky asked but Kevin didn't answer her as he turned his head and looked that the blue van was right behind them.
I knew it Kevin thought to himself and turned around once more.
"Kevin?" Becky asked as she looked at him, "what's...what's going on with you?"
"Whatever you do," Kevin said as he slowly turned his head and looked at her, "don't turn your head around."
"Why?" she asked as she was about to turn her head only to have Kevin tug on her arm. "Hey!"
"Just follow my lead," he spoke from the side of his mouth as if those two men were close in earshot to even hear them. "Come on," he said as his pace suddenly broke out into a sprint.
Becky was completely astonished as to what Kevin was doing but she went ahead and followed his lead and tried to keep up with his pace. Whatever the situation was, she hoped that it wouldn't follow them home. She looked up to her left and noticed their house that they passed but she could hear that tires of the van that were making their way closer to them. Oh no Becky thought as her eyes widened in realization. Were they following both her and Kevin? And for what purpose?
Kevin picked up his speed as he ran and pulled Becky along with him until he was sure that they were far away from the van. All of that running led both of the siblings to the church. Becky was almost out of breath as she bent forward and placed her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. Kevin surveyed the scenery around them and he noticed the statues depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. "We'll hide over there," he pointed to the setting.
"I'm not gonna hide there!" Becky exclaimed, "if we even touch it, it'll be worse than stealing!"
"Do you want to get caught by those guys?" Kevin exclaimed and frowned at Becky.
"Why would they?" Becky asked.
"You're so naïve!" Kevin shot back and he wasn't going to waste anytime arguing problem with Becky. Thanks to her, they had lost precious time and Kevin didn't want to lose another second of it. Quickly, he took hold onto one of the drapes and threw it over his figure before bowing his head and making it look like he was looking over the Jesus Christ figure.
Becky face palmed at what Kevin was doing. Was this a game that he was playing at? "Kevin come out of there!" she said in a hushed whisper but Kevin wouldn't even budge. He took a hold of the stick that he was carrying and pounded it against the platform of the setting, hard enough to make his sister shut her mouth. Becky took a step back when he did that and held up her hands in defeat. "Fine," she mumbled and turned away from the setting.
It wasn't long until she heard the blue van pulling up by the church. Looks like those two men were following them after all but if Becky took off, she had a feeling that would rise a lot of suspicion and she'd risk being chased after. Becky was about to pull the hood of her coat over her head so as to not be recognized but before she knew it, the blue van had already pulled up over to her and one of the men peeked out.
"Where did that fella go, little lady?" the driver asked as he looked down to her.
Becky shoved her hands within the pockets of her coat and tried to think of a good lie. Having had the experience of lying especially to her parents Becky knew that when it came to it, she was not a good liar whatsoever. "I...dropped him off at his house," she answered the driver with a smile.
"Which house?" the other man in the car asked only to be elbowed by the driver. "Ow Harry!" he whispered just loud enough that Becky caught his name.
"Shut up Marv," he said to the other through gritted teeth. "Don't mind my partner," the driver said when he noticed the shocked look upon Becky's face, "we were only wondering why the little guy looked scared when he saw us."
Harry and Marv? Becky thought to herself. Why did those two names sound familiar to her but she didn't have enough time to contemplate it when the driver, who name turned out to be Harry, spoke to her. "Scared?" she asked as she looked over to Harry. "Ah, yes I think I know the reason why it is. You see, I am supposed to be looking after him until his mother comes back from working third shift and...uh...well, the thing is that I took him to a skating rink-" Becky was saying until she was interrupted by Marv.
"I have always wanted to go ice skating!" he exclaimed from within the car, "you have never taken me there!"
"Shut up!" Harry yelled and shot Marv a look, "can't you see that the little lady is speaking?"
Becky looked from one man to the other as they had their mere debacle. "Anyway, we were returning back home and that's when we bumped to you. It seemed the reason as to why he got so scared was that he realized that his mother was coming home at this hour and he wanted to return home as soon as possible. That's why we were running."
Harry frowned upon hearing this tale with Marv was nodding his head in the passenger seat. "Then why did he turn around and look at us?" Harry posed the other question to her.
"He's a very careful kid," Becky said, "look both ways when you're in the street."
"He didn't look so careful when I almost plowed him with the van," Harry stated, "doesn't make you look like the good..." he stopped as he looked at her up and down, "what? Nanny? Babysitter?"
"Answer 'b'," Becky nodded her head and that only received a look of confusion from Harry. "And yeah, it's hard when you're dealing with someone younger than yourself. One wrong move and 'whoosh!' they're gone from your sight."
Do I know Harry thought to himself for he was dealing with someone younger than himself this very moment in the car. Other than the false information that Becky had just given them, Harry didn't find it necessary to prod her on anymore. She didn't even tell them which house the kid was living in. "Thanks for reassuring us," he said and with that, he rolled up the window of the van and drove away.
Becky let out a breath of relief after the van had disappeared into the distance. Kevin shook the green drape away from his frame and ran over to Becky. "What happened?" he asked as he looked up at his sister. She looked like she had seen the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future all at the same time. "Becky? Hello?" Kevin said and waved his hand over her eyes, breaking her out of the trance.
"What?" Becky gasped and finally found herself where she was.
"What did they want?" Kevin asked, "I saw that one of them was talking to you."
"They only wanted to know why you were running away from them," Becky answered him, "and I want to know about it too."
"I told you to hide!" Kevin said to her and shook his head. "Anyway," he began before Becky had the chance to say anything else, "I noticed one of them and he has been in our house."
"How?" Becky asked, "and which one?"
"The one you were talking to," Kevin answered, "when mom was about to take me to the third floor, she was talking with a cop. He looked down and smiled at me and I noticed he had a gold tooth and that guy who was talking to you had the same shiny tooth in the same position."
"Okay, so he was the same cop and he was on his break," Becky said as she held her arms in the air, "so what?"
"No!" Kevin said, "you're not getting it. That guy is not a cop! They're the same two guys who came to steal from our house last night! They're thieves!"
It was then that Becky made the connection. When those two guys had come to their house during the night, she hadn't heard their names properly and she assumed they were named Henry and Mark but upon this confrontation, she had caught their names. Harry and Marv she thought to herself and it was then that she believed what Kevin was trying to say to her. "Thank goodness I lied to them," she said and stuffed her hands in her pockets. Feeling that candy bar in there, she pulled it out.
Kevin frowned. "You didn't steal that from the drugstore did you?" he asked her.
"What? No," Becky answered, "I think it was one of those thieves."
Kevin looked at his sister as if she had nine heads. "When?"
"I went over to the Murphy's driveway because I noticed that blue van that was chasing us parked out there and I thought they either had relatives or workers over. I was just curious to see it. One of them came out and talked to me, saying that he worked for the company...and gave me this," she said as she looked at the candy bar.
"Don't you know that you shouldn't take candy from strangers?" Kevin said in a know-it-all tone of voice and smirked at Becky when he noticed that look of annoyance upon her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Becky rolled her eyes as the two of them began to walk on their path back home. "Do you think that they'll come back?" she suddenly asked as she looked down at Kevin.
Kevin had a feeling that they would come back and if they did, he would be definitely be giving them a welcome of a lifetime. "When those guys come back, we'll be ready," he reassured Becky with his words.
