Free Home Alone by Todd Strasser, John Hughes Page A

everything I can."
    Kate reached across the counter and grabbed the startled ticket agent by the lapels.
    "Listen to me," she yelled. "I haven't slept more than six hours in the last three days. I've gone from Chicago to Paris to Boston to Detroit, just to get home to my child, And now I'm only a few hundred miles away and you're telling me it's hopeless?"
    "It's the weather . . ." The ticket agent's eyes were darting around as he looked for help. Kate pulled him closer.
    "It's Christmas," Kate told him. "The season of perpetual hope. I don't care if I have to fly through a three-hundred-mile wall of solid snow. . . . I don't care if it costs me everything I own, or if I have to sell my soul to the devil himself. . . . I am going home to my son! "
    A hand tapped Kate on the shoulder. She turned, expecting airport security, but instead she found herself facing a curly-haired man wearing blue polyester pants and a red satin jacket with the words "Gus Polinski and the Kenosha Kickers" stitched over the pocket. Kate noticed he was carrying an accordian case.
    "Maybe I can help, lady," Gus said.
    "Thanks," Kate said, "But I really don't see how—"
    "Me and the band"—Gus pointed to half a dozen men also wearing red satin jackets and carrying instrument cases of various sizes and shapes—"just got in from a big polka festival out in Asbury Park, New Jersey, We got a Christmas gig lined up tomorrow in Milwaukee, but our flight's been cancelled so we're gonna drive. Rental car place said we got the last car left in Detroit so I figured since Chicago's on the way, maybe you'd like a lift?"
    "Would I ever!?" Kate gasped.
    "I just gotta warn you," Gus said. "This storm's headed for Chicago and the roads out there are real bad. It's gonna be a slow trip and we'll be squeezed in tight. All they had was a station wagon. And besides the boys and me, we got a tuba and a bass fiddle."
    "Then strap me to the roof," Kate said.

December 24

    Oak Park

    9 P.M.
    Kevin took a steaming container out of the microwave and put it on a place mat on the kitchen table. He'd set the table nicely, just like his mother would have. He sat down and said grace.
    "Bless this highly nutritious microwaveable macaroni-and-cheese dinner and the people who sold it on sale. Amen."
    He was just about to start eating when a church bell chimed in the distance. Kevin spun around and looked at the kitchen clock. Was it 9 P.M. already? His stomach knotted and his appetite disappeared.
    Kevin jumped up and quickly cleared off the kitchen table. Then he grabbed the BB gun. He crouched behind the kitchen curtains and felt his heart pounding.
    "This is it," he Whispered. "Don't get scared now."
    A moment later the van pulled into the driveway and Harry and Marv got out. Harry had the crowbar. In the distance the church bell chimed again.
    "How do you want to go in?" Marv asked.
    "May as well knock and see if he'll open up," Harry said. He started toward the kitchen door.
    "Yeah," said Marv. "He's a kid. Kids are stupid. I know I was."
    "You still are," said Harry.
    "Maybe, but I was a lot worse," Marv said.
    Kevin peeked though the kitchen curtains. When he saw the crooks coming, he backed away and gripped the BB gun tightly. A second later there was a knock on the kitchen door.
    "Merry Christmas, little feila," Harry called from outside. "We know you're in there and all alone."
    "Yeah, come on," said Marv. "Open up. It's Santa and his elf."
    Kevin crawled along the kitchen floor and stuck the barrel of the BB gun out though Ralphy's doggie door, Meanwhile Harry banged on the door again.
    "We ain't gonna hurt you," he said.
    "Yeah," said Marv. "We got some nice presents for you."
    "And I've got a present for you," Kevin whispered as he aimed the BB gun at Harry's knee and squeezed the trigger. Pop!
    "Yeow!" Harry grabbed his knee and jumped away. Marv bent down and stuck his face in the doggie door to see what had happened.
    Pop! Pop! Pop! Kevin shot him in the