Disclaimer: I do not own Home Alone.
I would also like to thank the readers for the reviews thus far.
Harry and Marv had been awaiting for hours for one the 'gangsters' to come out of the house. According to Marv's encounter and what he had described, both of the bandits agreed that it was necessary for them to remain at the McCallister's property, in concern of them being the witnesses to the whole 'crime scene' that had 'occurred.' However, waiting for hours on end had made the bandits very tired causing Marv to lean back against his seat and Harry to slump over on the steering wheel. The bandit didn't know how long he had been asleep when a sudden noise of an object being dragged out in the snow awakened him from his nap. Lifting up his head, Harry squinted and took notice of a young boy pulling a ladder behind him and setting it up against a tree where he began to saw it down.
At first, Harry couldn't believe what he just saw. All this time and they were being scammed by a child? Harry got a better look once more at the young boy and it was that same kid that they had chased down the day before. However, this time there was no 'babysitter' in sight. Not that Harry believed that part of the story when that ginger headed teenager narrated it to them during that morning. "Marv, Marv," Harry said and shook his friend awake, "look at this."
Marv stood up from his seat and looked over to the little blond boy. His vision slowly adjusted to the sunlight and he made out the details of the small child who was beginning to pull that little tree with him and into the house. "I think we're getting scammed by a kindergarten," Marv heard Harry said and a wide smile came upon his lips.
As Kevin was preoccupied with cutting down the tree, Becky had run down into the basement and was finding as many Christmas ornaments as she could. There were plenty of Christmas baubles that her family had collected and all of different designs and colors. The stockings were also important to hang by the fireplace. Who knows? Perhaps Santa had more items to give to the family. Thinking of Santa made Becky chuckle at some memories that she had of that. When she, Linnie, Megan, Buzz, and Jeff were young, it had been a tradition that Peter and Kate would take them over to Santa's Workshop, a small place where they had to wait in a long line just to meet the jolly man and tell them what they wished for. When Kevin was born and old enough to come with them, Becky had felt that her belief for Santa had been slowly disappearing and that same feeling had been happening with her siblings. Out of all of them, Kevin was the only one who had retained that belief. Of course, Kevin was still young to believe but even when either Jeff or Buzz teased him about Santa being only a legend, Kevin didn't hesitate to defend the one and only man that bought the spirit of Christmas as well as the presents.
"Good times, good times," Becky said to herself and gathered as many decorations as she could before heading upstairs to Kevin.
While Becky was gathering the ornaments, Kevin had neatly set up the Christmas tree by the fireplace of their home. Kevin had imagined it that it was bette for when Santa dropped by in the fireplace, he wouldn't have to walk too far to place the presents under the tree and there would also be some milk and cookies set out for him to enjoy too after his long journey. "Did you get them?" Kevin asked and made his way over to the many ornaments that Becky had selected. Christmas baubles, lights, plastic candy canes to hang from the branches, and the stockings.
"Do you need any help putting them up?" Becky asked.
Kevin shook his head. "No thanks, I've seen mom do it plenty of times. How hard can it be?" he asked. Looking over at the tree, Kevin thought that it was better to start off by circling the string of lights around the tree and then decorate it with baubles and the other ornaments. He picked up a box and fished out the string of lights only to discover that he didn't know where to start on untying the lights. "Great, how did mom do this?" he mumbled and tried to work his way around the lights until he was able to untie one end which led up to the other lights falling onto the floor. Satisfied with that work, Kevin snaked the string of lights around the tree and placed the end of the cord into the power outlet where all of the different colored lights began to illuminate around the tree.
Seeing that Kevin didn't need help with anything at the moment, Becky still wanted to occupy herself with a small duty. "You know what? I'll make us some hot chocolate. Or I'll try my best."
"Careful not to let the milk spill everywhere," Kevin said and looked at his sister with a small smirk upon his lips. Knowing his sister and her lack of cooking skills, that would probably be something that might happen. After seeing Becky rolling her eyes, Kevin went back to work and this time, he picked up a small box filled with Christmas baubles and began to hang them upon the small branches of the tree. It was amazing how the decorations transformed an ordinary looking tree into something shimmering and beautiful and that's just what Christmas was. It was supposed to be shimmering and beautiful.
Suddenly Kevin looked up when he heard a rattling noise coming from the kitchen and he shook his head. It seemed that Becky was preoccupied looking for a small pot for the hot chocolate. If Kate was at home, Kevin knew that she was going to have a fit if she saw all those pots and pans disorganized. With many things at home, Kate was a perfectionist and that not only included the pots and pans, but also dinner, furniture, clothing, and many other items around the house. Perhaps Linnie took after her mother when it came to perfection.
"Ah-ha!" Becky's voice suddenly rang out of the kitchen, indicating that she had found the proper pot for the hot chocolate.
"You know you could have just used the microwave," Kevin called out into the kitchen before placing another Christmas bauble onto the tree.
"Well now you tell me!" Becky yelled from the kitchen before letting out a frustrated noise and placing the small pot onto the cold tiled surface of the kitchen island. Why didn't she think of that before? A microwave would have been a whole lot simpler than a pot. Sometimes, Becky felt like she was hopeless in many things and making hot chocolate was one of them. "Thank God I'm not being tested on this," she mumbled to herself due to her experiences with a recent cooking class. Taking a cooking class as an elective, Becky thought that it would have been a whole lot of fun that was, until she had met the teacher. Not only was the teacher an impatient woman but she would always degrade her students whenever they were given an assignment. It would have been a wise choice to heed to Megan's warning about that specific professor.
Live and learn. That's what life was about after all for the teenager.
Meanwhile out in the cold, after witnessing that little kid outside, both Harry and Marv had agreed to do a little investigation on what was going on. The two men made their way around the house to where they found a nearby window that had some faint light illuminating from it. "Stay right there," Harry directed Marv to remain out of sight while he got a better look at was going on. From within, Harry could see that there were plenty of Christmas ornaments, a tree, and there was that little kid who had been tricking them all along!
A smirk formed on the bandit's lips when he saw that child but that wasn't one of the only things that did. He had managed to hear his muffled words calling out for his father but it wasn't long until a familiar looking redheaded girl appeared into the room. The supposed babysitter Harry thought before he pulled away from window and turned his attention onto Marv. "Remember those two kids we saw yesterday?" he asked, "they live there."
Marv looked over at his partner. Those kids had been at this house all along? "Well if they're there then their parents must be too."
Harry shook his head at that. "They're home alone," he smirked, which caused his partner to reflect that same smile before Harry motioned for them over to their van.
The moment that Becky had heard Kevin say 'Dad can you come and help me' she had rushed into the kitchen only to come into full view of the bandit that was standing right by the window and looking inside. A gasp escaped from her lips and her eyes then fell upon Kevin who gently motioned with his hand for her to remain calm. He didn't want to give those bandits the satisfaction that he was afraid them.
The moment that bandit disappeared, Kevin took off on the second floor of the house and Becky rushed after him. She didn't know what her little brother was up to but one thing that she knew was that they were in danger, and she didn't want to leave her little brother's side. Becky rushed over to Kevin about to take him in her arms but the eight year old motioned her away. If Becky was there beside him, she might risk giving his presence away to the two men that he was trying to eavesdrop on.
"We'll grab a bite to eat and we'll come back when it's nine o'clock!" he heard the short man say to his partner, "that way it's dark."
Tonight. Nine o'clock. The dark. How much Kevin wished that he had his mother right by his side at this moment. He pulled the door of the window closed and then sank onto the floor.
"Kevin?" Becky said and walked over to him, finally having the opportunity to take him into an embrace.
Even though Becky was only his sister, Kevin melted into her hug and wrapped his arms around her. That moment of fright that he was feeling was temporarily replaced by Becky's presence but after hearing that man's malevolent voice, it only bought more fright to the child. "I wish mom was here," Kevin whispered as he remained by Becky's side.
Even though Becky wasn't close enough to the window to hear what those men were saying, she only assumed that it had been something terrible. Had they been talking about them? What they would do to the two siblings? Becky didn't even want to think about it! If those men were planning on anything, Becky could try and take on the short man but she knew that she would be no match with the other one. Wishful thinking, I can't even hurt a fly Becky thought to herself, immediately stopping her fantasies of kung-fu fighting against those men. "Did they say something that frightened you?" she asked and looked down to Kevin.
Kevin swallowed and nodded his head. "One of them said that they would be back tonight at nine o'clock," he answered. "They're the two men that we saw Becky before we ran into the church and the ones that we scared off yesterday with the mannequins."
Becky froze when Kevin said that, all those events suddenly coming into her mind. Looks like the 'babysitter façade' didn't work either Becky thought as she remembered telling the short bandit that she was only a babysitter. "What are we going to do?" Becky asked as she looked at her little brother with worry in her eyes. Out of the two them, Becky felt that she should be the one to remain strong but she was frightened, more than Kevin seemed to be.
As opposed to Becky, Kevin tried to keep himself calm, even though he felt that fear from within. There had to be something for both of them to do to escape these bandits and to show them with whom they were dealing with. So it was nine o'clock that they wanted to come at? Then let them come! Kevin knew that he was going to be ready for them. With this sudden wave of confidence rushing towards Kevin, he looked up at Becky. "We have many hours until nine o'clock. Get me some white paper, pencil, and markers, and I'll show you what we'll do."
