I don't own Home Alone
Enjoy!
This morning had proven to be just slightly cold than the other couple of days when Harry and Marv had arrived in New York. After finishing the morning coffee that Marv had bought, the two bandits were down to the skating rink. Marv was enjoying himself skating on ice and stealing other people's winter accessories to keep warm while Harry was busy looking at the morning newspaper. There were a lot of houses on the market but it was a 'been there, done that' scenario. Not to mention that these expensive houses would have high security and it would take a long time for Harry to study how they worked. His eyes searched from one section to another until it fell upon one place in particular. A place that had lots of cash on the floor and where there would be easy access.
"Marv!" he yelled over at the other bandit who skated to a halt and then made his way over to Harry, but it wasn't long before he slipped onto the rink. "You want a scarf?" he asked Harry.
"You wanna forget about the scarf Marv, we gotta talk," Harry said. He didn't want to waste much time as they were now. Their conversation consisted of not wanting to pull another materialistic heist. Learning from his past experience, one heist in the past was haunting him and the other they ended up in a fun house. It needed to be a quick heist where they grabbed what they could and they got out of there as quickly as possible. After Marv threw a couple of incorrect guesses of his own, Harry gave in and turned the newspaper section that he was reading over to Marv. "This is what I had in mind."
Marv read over the headline and grinned. 'Great Christmas Sale: Duncan's Toy Chest.' "That's brilliant, Harry. Brilliant!" Marv laughed feeling very excited by the idea. After the events of last year, there weren't going to be any annoying children standing in their way on getting what they wanted. With that money from this popular store, they could do whatever they wanted and the one thing that Harry wanted was to hightail it to a foreign country and away from the states.
The limousine ride had turned out to be a fun experience for Becky and Kevin. Driving around in a comfortable vehicle, being seated in warm seats, and enjoying the movie 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' was a fun way to spend their vacation. It wasn't long before Kevin asked the driver about knowing any good toy stores and Becky thought that it would be a great way to spend the rest of their morning before they returned back to the hotel. The limousine then stopped in the front entrance of the toy store and the siblings jumped out of the car. Both were astounded at how whimsical the store looked with the moving robotic dolls. If the outside of the store was this impressive, then they couldn't imagine how it was on the inside.
"Let's go," Kevin motioned for Becky to follow and once they entered inside, it was like leaving reality and entering Toy Land. The only place where anyone could find their inner child and play with everything that was surrounding them.
Becky tried her best to be close to Kevin but she was distracted by the adorable toys that surrounded her. The plush toys were her favorite and the way they were designed were just so cute. "Oh my gosh," she cooed as she picked up a teddy wear that wore a Santa hat and held onto a large candy cane. If either of her brothers were here, they would make fun of her for being such a kid but she couldn't help it. Teddy bears were a classic toy and she just adored them. If only she had some cash with her she would buy this little bear in a heartbeat. She placed the bear back on the shelf and went over to find Kevin who was busy looking at a map of New York and held a small container of Monster Sap in his hand. "Anything you like?" she asked him.
"Just these," Kevin said to her and Becky raised an eyebrow at the Monster Sap.
"What do you need this for?" she asked him.
Kevin gave her a shrug. "I don't know, but I feel this might come in handy and I just wanted to see a map of New York."
"Anything else that caught your eye?" Becky asked him, "other than a map and...whatever this is?" she said as she looked at the container of the Monster Sap before handing it over to Kevin.
"I'm trying not to waste a lot of dad's money," Kevin said to her, "I don't want him to think that I spent it on nonsense when I could have spent it on something better."
"Well look at you being responsible with money," Becky chuckled, "why don't we go and check out these items and head back to the hotel. After eating all that pizza, I sure could use a little nap."
Unlike Becky, Kevin had a lot of energy and all he wanted to do was just explore New York. However, he knew that his sister was just trying to be responsible and take care of him until their parents found them. "Okay, we'll go back to the hotel," Kevin agreed as they walked over to the cash register to check out the items that he had.
In front of them stood an older gentleman who had a kind smile upon his lips and a joyful look like that of a child. "Are you two shopping alone?" he asked when he noticed Kevin and Becky.
"In New York" Kevin said, "sir, I'm afraid of my own shadow."
If this was a question that all adults would ask, then the two of them ought to be prepared for an answer. "Well at least you got me to scare away that shadow," Becky chuckled as she hung an arm around Kevin's shoulders and pulled him close.
"I was just checking," the older gentleman said before he rung up the price of the items, "that would be $23.75."
Kevin reached in his backpack and pulled out the required amount but it wasn't long before the older gentleman commented on how much money he had and where he was able to find it all. "I got a lot of grandmothers," Kevin lied and then tried to find a quick subject to deviate the attention on him. "This is a pretty nice store. Mr. Duncan must be a nice guy letting kids come in a play with the toys."
"Yeah," Becky agreed, "some toy stores back home won't let you play with them."
"Is that so?" the older gentleman said, "well Mr. Duncan loves kids. All the money that the store takes in today, he is donating it to the children's hospital. The day after Christmas, we empty out all the money in the cash register and Mr. Duncan takes it right down to the hospital."
Becky placed a hand over her chest upon hearing this. This was the first time she had heard of a store doing such a kind deed, especially for children in need. "That's so kind of him," she spoke up to the older gentleman, "he seems to be the perfect example of what generosity should be...and what the meaning of Christmas is. It's not about getting toys but appreciating what you have and helping those in need."
The gentleman gave her a warm and kind smile. "Children bring him a lot of joy as they do to everyone who appreciates them."
Hearing of Mr. Duncan's kind deeds, Kevin reached into the envelope where his father had stashed his cash and took out two twenty dollar bills. "I'm not supposed to be spending this money, but I have some money back home in a jar in our garage. So you can give this to Mr. Duncan. The hospital needs it more than we do."
"Oh Kevin," Becky said as she pulled her brother into a hug from the kind gesture that he showed before he slowly pulled away from her.
The gentleman looked at the two twenty dollar bills and smiled. "That's very sweet of you." He then directed their attention over to a tree that was decorated with an impressive amount of ornaments. "You see this tree over here? To show our appreciation for your generosity, you can select an object from that tree."
"For free?" Kevin asked.
"Of course," he continued, "and I would like to make a suggestion. You see these two turtledoves? You keep one and you give the other one to a very special person. These turtledoves are a symbol of friendship and love. As long as each of you have a turtledove, you will be friends forever."
Becky slightly smiled at the symbolism that the turtledoves had. "I guess this isn't one of those 'give to your special sibling' sort of thing, huh?"
The older gentleman smiled as he looked at the young girl. "I am afraid not, young lady."
"Wow, thanks," Kevin said as he delicately held onto the two turtledoves, "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," the gentleman said to them in return.
"And be sure to bundle up it's a little nippy outside," Kevin said as he adjusted his scarf and hat, "come on Becky."
"Thanks again, sir. Merry Christmas," she smiled to the older gentleman and followed her brother. She stopped in her steps and looked over at the portrait that Kevin was looking at. She squinted at the name was that written at the bottom of the picture. "E.F. Duncan...hey wait a minute," she said and both her and Kevin turned their heads and saw an empty cash register. "Where did he go?"
Strange Kevin thought. How could someone who was there not even a minute ago, disappear so quickly? "Maybe he's busy."
"And the fact that we were able to meet the man behind this genius toy store was awesome," Becky smiled brightly. Rarely did business owners appear in their stores but this man showed that he was different from the others. Not only did he care about his business but he also cared about his customers and doing better for those who were in need. "Such a kind man," Becky said before the two of them exited out of the toy store.
Starting a business from scratch had been a huge challenge for Elliot-Fox Duncan. He had suffered a great loss when the business first started but after so many years, he had been able to make up for those losses in the years to come. From the time that this store was built to right now, it had been a great investment not only for himself but for the people of New York and the children's hospital. Through his experience with money, he had learned how important the value of it was and he also knew how much damage it could cause not only economically but also within family. After finishing up with those two kids, he was in the back of the store and on instinct, he grabbed the phone on the first ring.
"Hello?" he said to the receiver.
"Elliot it's me," a familiar voice said on the other end of the line. "I can't talk too long. I have to go back to work but he called me. Robert called me."
Elliot shut his eyes but gathered his emotions at the mention of his brother. "What did he want?"
"It's like he wanted to make things right between us," Cedric explained, "he even came to the hotel and gave me a pearl necklace. I guess it's one of the items from the heist."
"It is from the heist," Elliot insisted, "but tell him that brining back a piece of jewelry is not going to make up all that money that we lost. Not to mention bring back Eileen." He let out a sigh at the mention of that name before he shook his head. "Tell him that I don't need it. If he had returned it years ago, then I may reconsider but now...I couldn't care less about it, it's not going to bring her back."
"I know," Cedric agreed, "but he is trying."
"Tell him to stop," Elliot recommended, "there's no point to it anymore."
"If you don't, he's going to keep bothering me with this. You know how he is. When he wants something, he wants to finish it."
"Oh I know," Elliot said, "just like one of his friends finish off Eileen when they burglarized our home."
"But it wasn't Robert," Cedric said, "he would never do something like that." He couldn't believe that he was defending his uncle for doing something that the family prohibited but he knew that Robert wouldn't go as far as to killing someone.
"It is better if he never showed his face around here," Elliot simply said before he looked up and noticed that the line of customers was getting longer. "I will speak with you later, Cedric. I have to go." With that, he hung up the receiver and put on a serene smile upon his lips and tried to hide the terror that had happened just years ago, but was still fresh in his mind. As he approached the cash register, he noticed two strangely dressed men walking down the stairs from the second floor and heading out the door. Whomever they were, he hoped that they would never come back.
Sitting inside those small doll houses gave both Harry and Marv a bad leg cramp. The two were glad that they were finally out of the store after Harry had explained to Marv about their heist. It was a thoroughly planned heist where they would be hiding inside those dollhouses when the store was opened until closing time. They would take the cash and then leave without anyone noticing them. "Where to next?" Harry asked Marv when they were out of the store and into the streets of New York.
"You promised to take me to the Central Park Zoo," Marv said as he looked over at Harry.
However, Harry stared in front of him and noticed two familiar children. One was a redhead with two braids and the other had a backpack with the name K. McCallister written on it. "Look who it is Marv," he smirked and pointed over to the two kids.
Marv looked over and was shocked to see someone from their past right in front of them.
"Come on, let's get them," Harry said and the two of them approached Becky and Kevin who were busy looking at a map of New York. "Hiya pals," Harry greeted them.
Kevin felt as if all feeling left his body when he noticed a shadow hovering over him and a familiar voice. Becky jumped in place and quickly turned around and look at the source of the voice. Oh no she thought. She gulped at the sight of the two bandits that had terrorized their home last year. "Kevin?" she whispered over to her brother when Marv raised his hand as he was ready to grab them.
At that moment, Kevin screamed at the top of his lungs and holding Becky's hand tightly, he pulled her with him and they both made a dash away from the bandits.
