Free Home Alone by Todd Strasser, John Hughes Page B

forehead.
    "Eeesshh!" Marv rolled away from the door, clutching his forehead. "The kid's armed!"
    "Split up," Harry said. "I'll go around the front. You go in the basement., He started limping away.
    Inside, Kevin ran toward the front door with the blowtorch. If everything went right, he wouldn't have to worry about the guy in the basement for awhile.
    Marv's forehead throbbed. He snuck around to the cellar door and started down the concrete steps. Whoops! Bang! Thud! A moment later Marv found himself lying at the bottom of the steps. They were solid ice. His back was killing him, but he got up, grabbed the crowbar and cracked the basement door open.
    It was dark inside. Marv slowly felt his way along the wall for a light switch. He saw something hanging from the ceiling. Great. A light bulb with a chain. He grabbed the chain and pulled. Crunk! The chain, bulb and socket came loose in his hand. Suddenly Marv heard a loud metallic clatter. What the . . . ? He looked up
    and thunk! An iron fell down the laundry chute and hit him right in the face.
    Meanwhile, Harry scampered toward the front porch. This is gonna be easy, he thought. Marv would go in the back and he'd go in the front. There was no way the kid could stop them.
    Harry stepped onto the porch and immediately slipped and fell on his face. "What the . . . ?"
    The whole porch was solid ice. Wait a minute, Harry thought. He'd been on this same porch just three days ago. There was no ice then and it hadn't rained since. The kid must've iced the porch!
    "Wait till I get my hands on you," Harry mumbled as he held onto a pillar for balance and slowly pulled himself up. The front doorknob was just a foot away.
    Inside Kevin held the torch on the doorknob. It was starting to glow red.
    Outside Harry grabbed the doorknob, "Aaahhhhh!" The next thing he knew he was flying backward. Thunk! He hit the porch hard again. His hand felt like it was on fire and he pressed it against the ice. Hissss! As his scorched hand cooled, leaving a five-finger impression in the ice, Harry stared at the front door. What was going on?
    Inside Kevin ran to the kitchen and placed the torch in the next booby trap. These guys hadn't seen anything yet.
    In the basement Marv slowly regained conciousness. It was the kid, he thought. The kid had set up the iron. He'd probably iced the cellar steps, too. Marv's head throbbed With pain. He slowly got up.
    He found the steps up into the house. In the dark he didn't see the roofing tar. He took a step. His foot stuck. What now? He looked down. Tar? Marv laughed. That dumb kid thought tar was going to stop him? Just watch. Marv stepped out of his right boot. On the next step he stepped out of his left boot. He left his socks on the next two steps. Big deal. That kid was gonna learn it took more than tar to stop Marv Murchens.
    There was one step left. Marv stepped . . . right on the nails Kevin had left for him.
    "Ahhhhhh!" Marv grabbed his foot and lost his balance. He fell down the stairs. Backward.
    Clutching his burned hand, Harry crawled across the icy porch to the front door and jimmied it open with the crowbar. He crawled into the house and stood up.
    "Okay, kid, this is where the tide turns," he yelled angrily. No one answered, but Harry knew the kid was there. Probably in the kitchen with the BB gun. The kitchen door was closed. Harry slowly pushed it open. The wire connected to the blowtorch pulled tight. Whoosh! A blue-and-orange flame shot out and Harry's hair burst into flames. A second later a fireball shot through the living room and out the front door. Hissss! Harry pressed his burning head onto the porch and melted some more ice.
    Kevin watched the whole thing from the top of the stairs. "See what happens to hotheads?" he yelled.
    Marv finished pulling the nails out of his foot just about the same time Harry lifted his singed head from the icy porch. This is war, they both thought furiously. If two grown crooks couldn't take a seven-year-old