Free Home Alone 2 by Todd Strasser Page A

said. "You're really good at it. You're not boring, you don't mumble or spit when you talk. You should do it more often. I think you'd just have to wear an outfit that didn't smell like pigeons."
    The pigeon lady looked down at her dirty clothes as if seeing them for the first time. "I guess I was working pretty hard at keeping people away."
    "I know what you mean," Kevin said. "I always think I'll have a lot of fun if I'm alone. But when there's no one around, it isn't fun at all. I don't care how much some people bug me, I'd rather be with somebody than by myself."
    "So why are you alone on Christmas Eve?" the pigeon lady asked. "Did you get into trouble?"
    Kevin nodded sheepishly.
    "You did something wrong?"
    "A lot of things," Kevin admitted
    The pigeon lady studied him for a moment. "Did you know that a good deed erases a bad deed?"
    "It's probably too late for that," Kevin said with a shrug. "I doubt I'd have time to do enough good deeds to erase all the bad things I did."
    "You'll be fine," the pigeon lady said with a smile. "It's Christmas Eve. Good deeds count extra tonight."
    Kevin's eyebrows rose. "They do?"
    The pigeon lady nodded. "Why don't you think of the most important thing you can do for others right now and go do it."
    Kevin wondered what that would be. It didn't seem like there was anything he could do here in New York, but maybe if he tried he could come up with something. He got up.
    "I better go see what I can do," he said. "But listen, if I don't see you again, I hope everything comes out all right. And say good-bye to your birds for me, okay?"
    "I will," the pigeon lady said.
    "And if you need somebody to trust, it can be me," Kevin added. "I promise I won't forget to remember you."
    "Don't make any promises you can't keep." The pigeon lady shook her finger at him. But then she winked.
    "Merry Christmas." Kevin waved and started to climb out the window to the fire escape.
    Back down on the dark sidewalk, Kevin tried to think of what he could do to help others. He saw an empty soda can lying on the curb and put it in a trash can, but that didn't seem like much of a good deed. He'd probably have to clean the whole city to erase all the bad stuff he'd done.
    As he walked along, a big bright plastic Christmas star on the top of a nearby roof caught his eye. Curious, Kevin walked toward it until he found himself staring at a large brick building. A sign above the entrance said NEW YORK CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL.
    Kevin stared up at the windows decorated with blinking Christmas lights. In one window a boy wearing a robe and pajamas rubbed a clear circle in the fogged pane and gazed outside. Kevin felt a pang in his heart. It was sad to think of kids his own age cooped up in a hospital on Christmas Eve, too sick to be home with their families. Of all the good deeds he could do, Kevin wished he could do something for the kids in that hospital.
    Wait a minute . . . ! The bad guys were planning to rob Duncan's Toy Chest. Hadn't that gray-haired man said all the money in the store that night was going to this hospital? Kevin's eyes widened. The bad guys were going to steal the hospital's money!
    Kevin clenched his fists in anger. It was bad to mess with sick kids, but to do it on Christmas was inexcusable! Now he knew what his good deed had to be. He had to stop those guys from robbing the toy store.

    * * *
    A little while later Kevin was walking back up Central Park West. He knew he didn't stand a chance battling the bad guys in the street. But in a house . . . that was a different story.
    By the time he got to Uncle Rob's house Kevin had started to formulate a plan. It would be called Operation Ho! Ho! Ho! and to make it work, he'd need the workmen's tools, glue, cans of paint and paint thinner, kerosene, bricks, rope . . . and Monster Sap Bath Bubbles.

Christmas Eve

    The Plaza Hotel

    9:30 P.M.
    Shortly after the plane from Miami landed at LaGuardia Airport in New York, a convoy of yellow cabs pulled up in front