-8-
The next day two mini-vans from the Airport arrived, right on schedule to take the McCallisters to the airport to catch their Florida flight. While the first van drew into the drive okay, the second one accidentally smashed into the statue right outside the front door, and it fell with a clunk. The statue, put as a decoration outside by the McCallisters, had long since become a joke; it was rare for anyone, a gardener, pizza delivery man, delivery driver, or a postman driving a car, to not smash into it.
There was a long-standing joke in the McCallister household that had long since stopped being funny and had just turned into a joke, that the statue was indestructible.
Meanwhile, for the rest of the street, the vans' arrival had not gone unnoticed. This street, believed by Buzz to be the most boring street in the United States of America, suffered greatly last Christmas when the Wet Bandits broke in and robbed their homes.
But that was not all they had done.
They had turned on the taps in the houses and flooded them, causing terrific damage. When word spread that young Kevin McCallister, known for being mischievous, had resorted to using homemade traps against the two burglars before Mr Marley knocked them out in the inundated Murphy household, the residents had decided not to leave for this Christmas, in case another gang decided to rob their homes.
Sadly, this common sense was lost on the McCallisters, seeing as they hadn't learnt anything. The residents were forever grateful Kevin stopped the Wet Bandits.
-8-
The doorbell rang, echoing through the house. Upstairs the sound made Kate and Peter McCallister wake up with a shot. The couple stared at each other with shock and horror.
"We did it again!" They screamed.
For the next 20 minutes or so, nobody kept track, the McCallisters rushed around, grabbing their bags, putting on their clothes and trying to get themselves organised. By the time they got out of the house, which was a relief to the frustrated drivers' who'd shown remarkable patience, the McCallisters had managed to get their clothes and their gear, even if they were tired, frustrated, and even hungry.
Outside, Kate was doing her best to get everyone organised. "Okay, our McCallisters in the first van," she called to her children and husband, "the other McCallisters there."
Frank stopped her, "I shouldn't complain about a free trip, but boy, you give the worst goddarn wake-up calls."
Kate scowled at the reminder of her brother-in-law's inability to pay for anything, but she pushed that aside when a brand new fear popped into her mind. "Frank!" She shouted urgently, "Do you have the tickets?"
"I've got them," Leslie told her, holding out a thick collection of tickets, and she handed Kate about half of them, "Here's your family's. I got mine."
Mercifully relieved, Kate took the offered bundle and silently counted through them. "How many do you have?"
"Seven," Leslie answered.
Kate nodded as she finished counting through hers, "We have seven."
"14!" They both said with a smile before they went to their respective vans. Kate clambered into her van, and she was swiftly joined by Peter, who'd just been locking the front door.
Kate began passing the tickets around to her children, "Seven," she counted down, "eight, nine, ten."
"How come none of us are sitting together?" Jeff asked.
Kate didn't bother stopping her small task, "This time, you were lucky to get on the same plane. 11, 12, 13….," She slowed down and her eyes widened.
Oh, no.
Please, not again, she begged.
"Where's Kevin?!" Kate demanded, her voice rising in a panic, her heart thudding away in her chest.
"14," Kevin suddenly appeared, looking neat and tidy instead of rumpled as they did, and he plucked the ticket out of Kate's hand, and she sighed with relief that he was there. "Good thing I have my own ticket, just in case you try to ditch me." Kevin was about to turn back in the front, but he had something else to say, "Not bothering to check the alarm clocks, was stupid, not waking up at the crack of daybreak was moronic, what's the matter? Getting up early to catch a flight too difficult for you?"
Megan, licked her lips before she opened her mouth; she'd been giving a lot of thought about what she could say to Kevin about last night. After Jeff had spoken to their mother, he had come back to herself and Linnie, and they'd chatted. The three siblings wanted to talk to Kevin, but she sighed when he turned around in his seat.
Still, she wished she could muster something to say now.
-8-
One of the benefits of having your own alarm clock was that you could set it to whatever time you wanted. Kevin…hadn't been entirely sure if something would go wrong, but given his family's past, and their history of not being able to actually make sure they woke up on time to catch a plane, but he'd decided to set the time on his clock to wake him up at around 6.30 on the dot, and being in the attic nobody had heard him.
Once he'd woken up, he'd gotten a shower, gotten a change of clothes, and he got ready for the flight. The fact he hadn't bothered to wake anybody up was mostly out of spite, more than anything else.
It hadn't surprised him in the least that when the airport people arrived in their vans, nobody was asleep.
Not bothering to check the time on the clocks was stupid, not waking up early enough was moronic.
In the end, Kevin had just about finished breakfast when they arrived. By that time he'd decided to just wake his parents up, but the doorbell had done the job for him.
Kevin had no intention of wrecking the Florida trip.
He might have wished the night before that he would really prefer a trip on his own without anyone to hold him back, a trip where he would not have any arguments with his family, where he wouldn't have to put up with the pathetic pranks of his brothers and sisters, but Kevin decided to just simply go along with the flow.
But he knew the thought had crossed the minds of his brothers and sisters and cousins he planned to wreck something, but they needn't have bothered. If he had his way, and if he played his cards right, then he would be spending a lot of his time on his own but not so alone so a repeat of last year happened again.
But when Buzz did something on this trip when he did….
As he put on his headphones to listen to some music on his Walkman, he cursed in Spanish, French, and German when he realised the batteries were running down. He also became annoyed with himself when he realised he hadn't bothered to collect any spare batteries like he usually did. His cursing earned him some looks of surprise from his parents, not to mention the driver. But his parents were even more stunned since they hadn't even known their son could speak those languages.
But he didn't notice his siblings were also looking on curiously, except Buzz, who just sneered.
Fortunately, the McCallisters had arrived at the airport by that time. As their luggage was pulled out of the vans to be loaded on the conveyor belt, Kevin had exhausted his search for batteries; he usually carried around spares for his walkman, but he couldn't find any on him, and even when he got out he couldn't find any.
Of course, it was chaos.
"Come on," Peter was saying.
"We're almost late, Peter," Frank told him as they stacked their luggage.
"I know," Peter turned to look down at Kevin. "Don't even think of losing that ticket."
"I won't," Kevin said offended still searching in his jacket for any batteries. "I need batteries."
"I'll give them to you on the plane," Peter promised impatiently, desperately trying to concentrate on what was going on around him. "Here's two more," he added, dumping his bags on the conveyor.
"Why not now?" Kevin demanded. "It's going to be a long flight."
"Not now!" Peter snapped as he turned to the airport staff. "What's the gate number?" He asked, oblivious to the fact Kevin was rifling through his bag impatiently
"H-17," one of the airport staff said.
His buddy added, "You'd better hurry," he said, "it's the last gate."
Buzz called over, "Dad, what gate is it?"
"H-17, Buzz," Peter replied, before turning impatiently down at Kevin, who was still looking for the batteries for his walkman, only he'd found them and was carrying his bag. "Come on, Kevin," he said, walking alongside his son, wishing he had the time to speak to the boy properly. "Kevin, you gonna take my bag?" He asked, to which Kevin nodded. "Take my bag. Come on. Come on."
Inside the terminal, an announcer boomed over the public address, "American Airlines flight 226 to New York is now in the final boarding process."
-8-
Megan was hanging back a bit, waiting for Kevin to make sure he didn't miss this flight. She had been keeping it in her mind ever since she remembered the events and the promise she had made last night.
She also wanted to tell him that she believed him, that he wasn't alone. It was well known in the family after last year Kevin did not like being on his own for too long.
To her surprise and slight frustration her brother was fiddling around with the walkman recorder he'd gotten for his birthday. He had fallen to a stop so he could get the stupid thing working. Honestly, where were his priorities?
She bit her lip and decided to go back for him. With how everyone in the McCallister family was running, nobody noticed.
"Kevin, what the hell are you doing?!" She demanded when she reached him.
Kevin looked up into her eyes, stunned. "Megan-?"
"Kevin, you can do that on the plane, did it never occur to you that you might miss this flight?" Megan asked without voicing her thoughts Kevin was deliberately causing problems. But then she noticed Kevin eyeing her with a glare as if he had worked out what was on her mind, but it was so fleeting she felt she'd imagined it.
This was not the time, and the last thing she wanted was to start this holiday off with an argument in public. Fortunately, Kevin had finished with the walkman, and they both ran.
To their relief, they caught sight of the brown coat their father was wearing.
"Come on," Megan panted.
"Hey, Dad, wait up!" Kevin called. "Dad, wait up!"
"Hey, wait for us!" Megan called, wondering why their father hadn't noticed their calling.
"Wait up!" Kevin panted. "Wait! Wait for us!"
The siblings were both running so fast they didn't realise another group was rushing in a different direction.
-8-
Kate McCallister was panting heavily as they reached the gate labelled H-17. She honestly had to stop doing this, she had to make sure the next time they went on a trip, they were actually on time instead of playing these games. How many times did it have to happen before they got the hint and bought more alarm clocks?
"Here we are!" She wheezed triumphantly. "Here!"
"We made it," Leslie almost collapsed with relief, and only her husband and eldest child steadied her.
"Everybody here? We made it? All right," Peter grinned.
"Ma'am, sir, please board, the plane's just about ready to leave," one of the inspectors said.
"Can you make sure everyone gets on?" Kate fretted.
"Don't worry, Ma'am, I'll make sure everyone gets on," a male inspector promised.
"Merry Christmas," the woman smiled. "Have a nice flight."
"Happy Christmas!"
"Bye."
"Bye."
"Bye-bye," the woman smiled
Linnie smiled as she passed the ticket inspector, but as she did, she noticed that Megan wasn't with her, which was odd as her sister was usually near her….
She shrugged and walked down the boarding tube.
-8-
Kevin yelled, "Hey, wait up! Hey, guys, wait for us!"
"Dad, hold up!" Megan yelled, but with the noise from the airport, their father didn't hear them.
"I hope it's not too far to go, Megan," Kevin panted.
"I know," Megan gasped as she put her cheerleader fitness to the test.
Finally, they reached the boarding gate where they saw their father was the last person going through.
"Wait!" Kevin yelled.
"Hold on!" Megan shouted.
"Wait!" Kevin shouted again, and neither he nor Megan would ever, ever really work out what happened next when they came to think about this moment; their best guess was they were panicking so much that they didn't bother slowing down until it was too late.
But whatever it was, the siblings collied accidentally with the ticket inspector, sending the boarding tickets flying all over the place.
"I'm sorry," Kevin apologised quickly as he and Megan righted themselves and found themselves looking for their tickets.
"We were going so fast," Megan panted desperately, already making a mental note to talk to her parents and get them to stop depending on a single alarm clock so they could reach this fucking airport early.
"That's okay," the woman said. "Are you on this flight?"
"Yeah. This is my sister," Kevin explained, pointing at Megan. "Our family's on the plane. I don't want to be left here."
"After last year, I'm not surprised," Megan added.
"Do you have a boarding pass?"
"Yeah," Megan said, looking desperately. "Somewhere…"
A male attendant appeared. "We have to close up here. They're ready to go." He said.
The ticket inspector pointed at Megan and Kevin. "They've dropped their boarding passes, they came running towards the gate."
"This plane can't leave just yet, we haven't gotten onboard yet," Megan shook her head.
"This happened to me last year and almost wrecked our Christmas," Kevin said.
"Are You sure your family's flying?"
"Yeah, we saw our father right here," Megan nodded.
"Our dad ran in right before we bumped into this lady," Kevin explained.
The male inspector sighed, "Okay," he said as he came to a decision. "Board them both, quick. But make sure they locate their family before you leave them."
-8-
Megan sighed with relief when they got on the plane. It was so cramped, but she looked left and right desperately, but she couldn't see anyone; she was tempted to walk up and down the length of the plane, but since it was about to leave she decided against it. In any case, she wanted to stick close to Kevin; her little brother could cause problems without even trying.
"Do you see your family?" The ticket inspector lady asked them.
Kevin pointed to the tall man with the dark hair and the coat, "There's our dad over there."
Megan nodded. "Yeah, that's him," she confirmed.
The woman nodded, "Okay, find an empty seat," she said. "Merry Christmas."
"Thanks, Merry Christmas," Megan smiled, and they hurried off to find a seat down the back.
"You too," Kevin added.
Megan, who'd been checking the seating, frowned. She couldn't see Linnie or Jeff, but right now she figured they were in another part of the plane; they could meet up later on. "I can't see any seats for two people, Kevin," she said slowly. "But I see one for you, there," she pointed.
"Okay, will you be alright?" Kevin asked as he headed for the seat.
While she was a little surprised by his concern since it was rare, Megan smiled back at him regardless, "I'll be okay," she said, charmed by his concern.
"Ladies and gentlemen! In order to push back from the gate, all passengers must have their seat belts fastened."
-8-
Kevin found himself sitting beside an older French man, but he didn't bother to speak to him; he just took out his talk boy and found a music tape and started playing it with his headphones on.
-8-
Megan found herself sitting next to an older girl.
"Are you flying by yourself?" The girl asked conversationally.
"Yeah, I'm with my family," Megan smiled.
"When I was little l used to fly myself."
"You were a pilot?" Megan asked, gobsmacked.
The college girl chuckled. "I wish," she chortled. "No. My parents were divorced. My Dad would put me on the plane in New York and send me to my mother in Portland, Oregon."
"You mean you travelled alone?" Megan wondered what was wrong with the world that someone would just put their kid on a plane all by themselves; it was bad enough her little brother was left behind the year before, but this took the cake.
"Yeah," the college girl shrugged like it wasn't any big deal. "I wasn't scared when the flight really began. Well, okay," she added with a sheepish nod, "One time it was. We had to make an emergency landing in Denver, and when we switched planes l got lost."
"For how long?"
"Overnight."
"Where'd you sleep?" Megan asked.
A haunted look crept over the girl's face. "In a phone booth, believe it or not, and it was freezing cold and scary, but I couldn't get into a motel or anything."
"Fuck," Megan gasped sympathetically as she pictured it. "The cops didn't help you?"
"Nah, I avoided them. I was afraid they'd put me in a detention centre or a foster home without paying any attention to my story," she added.
"ls that true?"
The girl nodded gravely, "They do it with runaways. They have to put them somewhere. So whatever you do, don't get lost." She put on her Walkman.
"Oh, my brother's got one of those things," Megan chuckled.
The girl held up one of the earpieces. "Wanna listen?" She asked.
"You don't mind?"
"Nope," the girl said, and they both listened to the music, "New York can be pretty tough when you're on your own.".
She pressed down on the play button.
As they listened to the music, Megan thought about what the girl said, and it stunned her with how similar she was to her brother. "I'm going to Florida," she said over the music.
The girl glanced at her and pulled her headphones off. "What, sorry?"
"Florida's real nice," Megan said, smiling.
"Yeah," the college girl replied, guessing that her new friend even if Megan was only going to be with her a short time was talking about the future. "You've ever been there?"
"No," Megan put on her headphones again, and the girl shrugged her shoulders, and the girl leaned back in her seat and enjoyed listening to the music. As such, neither Megan nor Kevin heard of the destination, New York.