Disclaimer: I do not own Home Alone.
The small journey to Santa Clause hadn't been as bad as Becky had expected. Never before had she not any of her siblings been out in the dark at a time like tonight, but for Kevin she knew that she had to do it for her brother's peace of mind. At a time like tonight if anyone of her siblings had been late at home, they would have been in great trouble with their parents. It reminded Becky of the time that Buzz had come home late an hour after curfew after visiting a friend of his. There wasn't anything inappropriate that Buzz was doing, but Kate and Peter took strict measures about that. In the end, Buzz wasn't very happy about his punishment and it had taken sometime for his parent's to gain trust in him. After that, Buzz always arrived home before curfew.
After visiting Santa, Kevin remained silent. The mission had been accomplished and all that he needed to do was just be patient and wait for it to happen. All Kevin hoped for was to have his Christmas wish come true. Even though it had been only two days that he and Becky had been left home alone, he really missed his family. "Becky?" Kevin suddenly said and looked up at his sister and clutched her hand with his as they walked down the street, "do you think that my wish will come true?"
It didn't take long for the teenager to reply to that. "It will," Becky said as she looked down at her brother, "it's Christmastime and I am sure that Santa will give those children who've been nice this year everything that they asked for."
Kevin remained quiet for a beat. He knew that he had been anything but nice this year and going by what Becky had said, Kevin didn't believe that he was even on the 'Nice List.' "I don't know about that, but I hope that he'll give me the chance. I don't even want toys or any presents, they are just things. Our family is the most important thing to have then just presents."
That was very deep for an eight year old Becky thought. It was a wonder on how much her little brother had matured during these past days of being without his family. Just like Kevin, she also hoped that their wish would come true. The house just seemed too quiet without their family. Kevin missed the days when he would be arguing with his siblings but then just laughing at whatever it was that they argued about. Becky missed the nights when she would be with Megan and Linnie, talking about different topics throughout the day, and she certainly missed Linnie's lectures about the types of clothes that she ought to wear. As for their parents, both siblings missed their daily doses of hugs and kisses.
"I am sure that they will Kevy," Becky smirked as she called him by the nickname that he detested, hoping that it would lighten the mood around them. "In the meantime, you have little ol' me to stick around with until your wish comes true."
"You're not old Becks," Kevin said as he didn't resist the urge to call her by a nickname that she didn't like either, "you're just annoying."
A playful gasp escaped from Becky's lips as she took a step back from her brother. Reaching towards a mound of snow, she formed a snowball in her hand and held it above her head, aiming for Kevin. "You'd better take those words back buddy."
"And if I don't?" Kevin asked in a sassy-like manner. He received his answer when Becky threw the snowball straight at him. The white ball flew through the air causing Kevin to twist in order to dodge the attack but it hit him right on the shoulder.
"I would say 'asked and answered,'" Becky answered triumphantly and wiped her hands against one another. It wasn't too long until she felt a snowball hitting her right in the face. "Very nice," she replied and wiped the side of her face with the sleeve of her coat.
Kevin shrugged. "I would have aimed for the head if I were you."
"Lucky that we both didn't. The last thing that we need is to go to a hospital," Becky said and wiped the last bit of moisture from her face.
"That's not what I meant," Kevin said, "if you want to distract someone or make them confused at least, aim for the head."
"What are you even talking about?" Becky asked, "don't tell me that you got your hands on Jeff's and Buzz's video games."
Kevin shook his head and rolled his eyes. "You'll see what I mean."
At that, Becky let out an annoyed groan. She didn't like how cryptic Kevin was being with his words but whatever it was that she was going to have to wait and see, she was not looking forward to it at all.
The siblings were almost on their way back home but to their left, a church came in their view. It was the exact church that Kevin had hidden into when those bandits had been chasing them. As Kevin looked at the church, Kevin wondered whether he should go in to at least see it since he had never been inside before. From within, there were voices that sounded like singing and it gave a wave of calmness and peace towards Kevin. Maybe its better to go inside for a bit until nine Kevin thought and took the initiative of stepping into the snow and towards the church. It may have been the disguise that had saved Kevin from the bandits, but if it wasn't for this holy building then Kevin didn't know whether the disguise would have worked or not.
Seeing her brother walk through the snow, Becky followed after him. Just like her brother, Becky had never been inside the church before but in a night like this, Becky felt that she needed some peace and reassurance before heading back home. The choir got louder and melodious when the siblings were inside the beautiful church. Even though Kevin didn't say anything he was breath taken by the beauty of the church and the peaceful atmosphere. Right beside him, he took notice of a group of lit candles as their flames lightly danced about. There had to be a meaning behind those white candles and in a church, it had to do with a prayer of something or someone. Taking one last look at one of the candles whose flame stood still, Kevin walked past them and over to the pews where he took his seat with Becky sitting right next to him. Kevin snaked his arm around his sister's and held her close to him and leaned his head into her arm.
Becky looked down at her little brother and smiled. It was rare that Kevin did something like this with any of his siblings but it felt very nice and special upon the Christmas Eve night. Taking in the atmosphere of the church, Becky leaned her head back and enjoyed the beautiful choir that filled the church. Everything was peaceful until she heard her brother gasp. "Kevin what is it?" Becky asked.
Kevin didn't have the chance to answer Becky when he noticed a tall dark figure coming their way. Becky took notice of this figure and she clutched tightly onto Kevin. It was none other than Old Man Marley! Kevin didn't know whether he ought to make a run for it or scream for help. Instead he scooted closer to Becky and held her tightly on her arm. How much he wished that he had never heard of Buzz's horror story about their old neighbor. Did he have that shovel with him? Were him and Becky going to be turned into mummies this Christmas Eve?!
Becky on the other hand never had the opportunity to get to know their neighbor. When she was young, Buzz had been the one to frighten her with such horrific tales about Old Man Marley. As she grew, she realized that these tales were false, but that realization didn't make her feel at ease in any way, especially of how Old Man Marley acted and looked like. To her, Old Man Marley seemed like the type of man who never smiled and there had to be some sort of reason to that and those glassy blue eyes seemed to hold something tragic that had happened in his past but Becky had no idea of the details behind them.
"Merry Christmas," Old Man Marley said to them as a smile appeared upon his lips. That smile not only changed his physical look but his blue eyes lit up when he greeted them.
"Huh?" Kevin frowned at the sudden and joyful greeting for Old Man Marley. Out of all the things that Kevin had expected to happen, this was one that he didn't expect at all.
"May I sit down?" the aged man asked and Kevin nodded his head. At Kevin's consent, he took his seat right next to his siblings and that smile that he had didn't leave his lips. That smile was one that made Becky relax and even forget about what Buzz had told her in the past. It was a smile that held kindness, gentleness, and even sadness. Becky couldn't imagine what Old Man Marley must've gone through the years of his life, especially of the rumors that were spread around the neighborhood.
"You're Ol-I mean," Becky cleared her throat, "Mr. Marley."
Old Man Marley gave her a courteous smile. "I am. And you must be Rebecca Anne McCallister and Kevin McCallister."
Becky lightly blushed at being called by her full name. The last time she had heard being called such a name was when she had bought home a terrible grade on one of her tests. She shivered at that memory when her mother had sternly said her name and grounded her that night. "I am. It's very nice to finally meet you, sir."
From that moment on, Kevin realized if his parents ever held any sort of friendship with Old Man Marley. Otherwise, how would he know their names? And if his parent's had, weren't they aware of the rumors that had been spreading around about him. Whatever the case was, this was an opportunity for the two McCallister siblings to get to know their old neighbor better. After all, it wasn't wise to judge a book by it's cover.
"Oh my God," Marv grunted as he stretched out in the bed that was in the guest room. The nap that he took after that small Christmas dinner had been restless for the bandit. Not only had he been cold but there had been too much noise coming from the apartment next to them. Why did kids these days have to blast the music through the radio? Couldn't they at least find some other device to keep quiet? It was all the more tempting to rob the apartment next to them and keep that radio to himself. How would they feel if he was the one who blasted the music during the night whilst they were sleeping?
Throwing the covers off him, Marv changed into the usual clothes that he wore and made his way over to the kitchen. After all of the food that he ate, he was still hungry. Opening the refrigerator, he took out any leftover meal from the dinner that they had in the afternoon and made his way over to the table. When Harry's wife was in the mood for it, she sure could whip up a delicious meal even from whatever little they had.
"Evening Marv," Harry suddenly greeted him as he appeared from the hallway and into the kitchen.
"How'd you sleep?" Marv asked.
Harry answered him with a shrug of his shoulders. Other than the fact that Amy discovered that police uniform and the music that blasted through the walls from the apartment next to them, he had slept fairly well. "Want some coffee?"
"Sure," Marv answered.
"You seem pretty quiet, Marv," Harry pointed out as he made his way over to the coffee machine to make a fresh cup of coffee. On most nights, his fellow bandit was always enthusiastic and ready to get the day or in this case, night started.
"I just got up and I'm eating," Marv motioned over to the plate of cold food that was right in front of him, "and I didn't even sleep well."
"Well start waking up," Harry ordered, "we gotta head over to that house soon."
"Which house?" Marv asked, forgetting for a mere second what house they were speaking about. Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance and resisted the urge to take a cup from the cupboard and throw it at Marv. "Oh yeah," Marv suddenly said, "that house. Do we have a plan?"
When the coffee was finished, Harry poured a cup for himself and for Marv. "What we know about that house is that it's infested with two kids. There two of 'em and two of us. If you catch one of them then that'll make it easy to catch the other, which gives us the chance to get whatever we want from that house."
"And what'll we do with them after?" Marv asked. In contrast to Harry, Marv didn't have the violent streak as his friend had.
"Well we can't have them flapping their lips to the cops now can we Marv?" Harry questioned him.
Marv certainly didn't want to land in a jail cell as a result of their robbery. "So you're saying that we lock them in the closet?"
Harry was aware that Marv had just woken up from his nap but that didn't make him any less unintelligent than he already was. "No you idiot!" he snapped a little too loudly at that, "that's not gonna make them shut up about it!"
So the closet was not part of the plan. There were only two results that could happen and both of them didn't make Marv feel comfortable. "I don't think that's a good idea Harry. They're just kids."
"Kids who deceived us," Harry added, "they gotta know who they're messin' with. We're not known as..." he stopped himself short, hating the fact that he was going to agree and say it, "we're not known as the Wet Bandits for nothing."
It had never crossed Marv's mind that Harry would agree to a name like that and he felt rather proud of that. "The dangerous ones."
"And you want to keep that title don't you?" Harry prodded him.
"Yeah I do," Marv nodded his head and grinned at the thought of it. The 'Wet Bandits' the most feared he thought.
"Then do it," Harry said, "do what you're supposed to do. Be the dangerous Wet Bandit that you're supposed to be."
Harry was quite the professional at giving his best friend some pep talk. The last thing that Harry wanted was for Marv to back out of their plan. He couldn't steal the whole house by himself against those two annoying children, not to mention that he had Marv had been doing this sort of job together for many years now and he was not going to let their partnership fall apart because of this.
"Ain't gonna let some kids stop us," Marv smirked at Harry, "at what time are we leaving?"
"About eight twenty," Harry said, "we should be there around nine sharp."
"And what about...?" Marv asked as he thumbed over to the room where Harry's wife was, at least he hoped, sleeping. He didn't want her to wake up and find them gone or worse, find them with bags over their shoulders of the items that they stole.
"Don't worry about her," Harry reassured his friend, "after I was done with her, she'll be sleeping through the whole night."
Marv gave Harry a dumbstruck look. "What?" he asked him.
"Just shut up and finish your food," Harry said wish a dismissive way of his hand, "we don't have much time."
It had been a very pleasant conversation with Old Man Marley. Not only did both of the McCallister siblings learn more about him, but they also came to the conclusion that he wasn't a bad man that others made him out to be. It had been terrible about what Buzz had said about him, but in the end, all that mattered was the friendship that had been established between them. As the siblings were making their way out of the church and back home, Kevin stopped by the candles.
"Wait," he said as he looked at Becky, "I want to light one." Taking a while candle from one of the boxes, Kevin help the wick of the candle towards one of the flames from the other candles. As the wick caught on fire, Kevin planted the candle upon the sand that was holding the others. "For Mr. Marley," he said as he looked at the candle whose flame began to lightly dance about. I hope he gets his chance to talk with his son Kevin thought.
Becky smiled at her brother's gesture. It had been a very sad story of what had happened between Marley and his son, but Becky hoped for the better between them. "That's very sweet of you Kevin," she said to him.
"Thanks. He deserves to get his Christmas wish," Kevin said, "now come on. We have some uninvited guests coming over to our house."
"Let's give them the new McCallister welcoming party," Becky winked as she and her brother ran out of the church and towards home.
A/N: I would like to thank each and every one of you for your wonderful reviews! Thank you!
