"Nice house," Marv said, "just no bathroom."
"But perfect for us," Harry whispered as they strolled through the rest of the toy store. "Later on today we come back and hide inside these houses. Tonight when everybody leaves, we come out and empty the cash registers."
They passed a table displaying long, furry gorilla arms with soft pink fingers. Marv stopped and slid one over his hand like a long glove.
"Hey, Harry, check this out," he said, raising his new "gorilla" hand.
"Come on, dummy," Harry said annoyed "Quit messing around."
"But, Harry," Marv said. "This could be good for picking pockets. Watch, I'll pick my own pocket."
Marv reached around behind his back with the gorilla hand and tried to take his wallet out of his pocket. Unfortunately, his aim wasn't very good and he accidentally hit the woman standing behind him.
Marv heard a gasp and felt the gorilla glove get yanked off his hand. He spun around and came face to face with the pretty woman in the short, dark coat who'd smacked him in the street.
"Hey!" Marv grinned. "What a coincid—"
Ka-Pow! The woman pulled on the gorilla hand and smashed him in the face. The next thing Marv knew, he was lying on his back, gazing up at dozens of little gorilla hands floating above.
Harry kneeled down next to him. "Can I ask you a question?"
Marv slowly nodded.
"Did you have to go to school to learn to be this stupid?"
Downstairs, Kevin dropped an armful of toys onto the cashier's counter. Since no one was going to give him any Christmas presents, he decided he'd have to give them to himself He'd picked out a pack of mini-robots, a bottle of Monster Sap Super Slippery Bath Bubbles, a jack-knife, a Game Gear, and a stack of game cartridges.
A portly, red-cheeked old man with white hair stood behind the cash register. He was wearing a blue suit with a gold watch chain strung across the vest.
"Shopping alone?" he asked Kevin as he totaled up the purchase.
"In New York, sir?" Kevin replied without missing a beat. "Frankly, I'm afraid of my own shadow."
The man smiled. "I just wanted to make sure."
"That's very responsible of you," Kevin said.
"Thank you," the man said. "The total comes to twenty-three dollars and seventy-five cents."
Kevin opened the brown travel bag, found the envelope of cash, and pulled out two $20 bills.
"Oh, my," the man said, staring at the envelope. "Where did you get all that money?"
"I have a lot of grandmothers," Kevin said. He decided it might be best to change the subject. "You know, you have a really nice store here. One of the finest toy dealerships I've ever visited."
"Thank you," the man said with a smile.
Kevin wasn't sure why, but he felt comfortable talking to him, which wasn't always the case with grown-ups. "This Mr. Duncan must be a pretty nice guy to let kids come in his store and play with the toys. Most toy stores prohibit that."
"Well, he loves kids," the man said as he placed Kevin's toys in a bag. "Actually, he's going to donate all the money the store makes today to the Children's Hospital."
"Tonight?" Kevin asked. "Like on Christmas Eve?"
"It's not possible tonight," the man said. "He'll leave the money here in the store and take it to the hospital the day after Christmas."
"That's very generous of him," Kevin said.
"Children bring him a lot of joy," the man said. "As they do for anyone who appreciates them."
The thought of sick children in the Children's Hospital really tugged at Kevin's sense of Christmas spirit. He opened the envelope again and took out another $20 bill.
"I'm not supposed to spend this money," he said, giving it to the man, "but I have twenty dollars from shoveling snow and I can pay my mother back with that. So you can give this to Mr. Duncan. The hospital needs it more than me because I'll probably just spend it on stuff that rots my teeth and my mind."
"That's very sweet of you," the man said. He turned and pointed to a miniature Christmas tree adorned with small ceramic figurines from "The Twelve Days of Christmas." "In appreciation of your generosity, I'm going to let you select an object from that tree."
"For free?" Kevin was amazed.
"Absolutely," the man said with a smile. "And may I make a suggestion?"
"Sure."
"Take the two turtledoves."
"Both of them?" Kevin was doubly surprised.
The man nodded. "I'll tell you why. You should keep one and give the other to a person who's very special to you. Turtledoves are a symbol of friendship and love. So long as the two of you have your turtledoves, you'll be friends no matter how far away you might be. Even if you never see each other again, you'll still be friends."
"Wow." Kevin took both turtledoves from the tree. "I thought they were just part of a song."
"They are," the man said. "And for good reason.
"Gee, thanks." Kevin slipped the ornaments into his pocket and picked up his bag of toys.
"Merry Christmas," the man said.
"Merry Christmas to you, too." Kevin zipped up his coat. "And be sure and bundle up when you go outside. It's a little nippy."
The man waved and Kevin turned to go. As he got to the front door, he looked up and noticed a framed portrait on the wall. The white-haired man in the portrait looked exactly like the man he'd just spoken to. Under the portrait was a small gold plaque which said: E. F. Duncan, founder. Kevin looked back at the cash register, but the man was gone.
He looked back up at the portrait in wonder. Was the man he'd just spoken to E. F. Duncan?
December 24
New York City
3:15 P.M.
As Harry and Marv pushed through the doors of Duncan's Toy Chest and out onto the sidewalk, Harry suddenly stopped and shaded his eyes from the bright mid-winter sun. "I don't believe what I'm seeing!"
"You've seen traffic before," Marv said. "They call it holiday congestion."
"No, you idiot. Him!" Harry pointed at Kevin, who was standing on the sidewalk in front of them, concentrating on his street map of the city.
"It can't be!" Marv gasped. "I must be seeing things!"
"No, you ain't," Harry said, a nasty smile growing on his lips. "I thought I saw him before. Amazing ain't it? We escape from prison and come all the way to New York and who do we run into? The kid who put us in the can in the first place."
"But what's he doin' here?"
"Let's ask him," Harry said.
Now that he'd finished his Christmas shopping, Kevin was studying his map, trying to decide where the chauffeur should take him next. Suddenly he felt someone lurking beside him.
Kevin turned around and looked up into the faces of two grungy, but familiar-looking men. One was short and stocky with squinty eyes and a slightly hooked nose. His friend was taller and had a mustache and goatee. For a second Kevin couldn't place them. Then the shorter man smiled and his silver tooth glinted in the sunlight.
"Hiya, pal," Harry said.
Kevin felt his jaw drop. "You guys are supposed to be in jail."
"The warden gave us Christmas off for good behavior," Harry said.
"Too bad we're gonna disappoint him," Marv added, reaching for Kevin's neck.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kevin screamed and started to run. Harry and Marv chased after him, but the sidewalks were crowded with holiday shoppers. Being small, Kevin could cut through the pedestrians easier than the larger men who kept bumping into people and tripping over shopping bags.
Kevin dashed down the sidewalk as fast as his legs would carry him. Ahead he saw a street vendor selling fake pearl necklaces. Skidding to a stop, Kevin reached into the travel bag, grabbed some money, and quickly bought half a dozen necklaces.
Down the block Harry and Marv were bustling through the crowd, knocking people out of their way. As Kevin started to run again, he put each necklace in his mouth and bit down hard, breaking the string that held the fake pearls. Ahead was Fifty-nin
th Street. Kevin raced across the pavement and scattered the loose pearls behind him.
A second later Harry and Marv started across the street and hit the pearls.
"Whoa!"
"Whoops!"
Both men lost their footing, flipped in the air, and crashed onto the street. Harry landed face first. Marv came down on his back. For a moment, neither man moved.
Kevin sprinted up to the Plaza Hotel. Under the portico, the concierge was waving good-bye to a couple while the bellman put their bags in a black limousine. Kevin ran up to the concierge.
"There's two guys chasing me," he gasped, pointing back down the street.
The concierge smiled maliciously and reached toward Kevin's pocket. "What's the problem? A store wouldn't take your stolen credit card?"
The next thing Kevin knew, the concierge took the card and grabbed Kevin by the collar. Suddenly Kevin remembered the guy on the TV show talking about the police cracking down on credit card fraud offenders of all ages. Oh no! he thought, they're gonna arrest me!
In a flash he twisted out of the concierge's grip and ran into the hotel.
"Stop that child!" Now the concierge and the bellman were chasing him. Ahead Kevin saw Ms. Acivedo step out from the reservations counter to block his path. Nearby, the hotel maintenance man was still buffing the floor. Just as Kevin reached Ms. Acivedo, he went into a baseball slide and slid under her legs. As he jumped up, he saw the concierge and bellman crash into her and fall into a heap. Kevin ran into the elevator and pressed the up button.
Out on Fifty-ninth Street, Marv and Harry rose stiffly from the asphalt.
"I can't believe we lost him," Marv groaned.
"We didn't," Harry said, pressing one hand into the small of his back and pointing with the other at the front of the Plaza. "He went into that hotel. And when he comes out—wham! We got him."
"What about his folks?" Marv asked as he rubbed his bruised elbows.
Harry grinned. "He ain't with his folks."
"How do you know?" Marv asked.
"How do I know?" Harry repeated irritably. "This is New York, nitwit. No parent in the world would let their kid walk around here alone."
December 24
The Plaza Hotel
4 P.M.
Kevin ran into his suite and locked the door behind him. He went into the bedroom and locked that door, too. He couldn't believe how many things had just gone wrong. The bad guys from Illinois had come out of nowhere and wanted to kill him and he'd been accused of credit card fraud. As far as he was concerned, this was the end of the vacation! It was time to go home! He opened his father's travel bag and took out the return plane ticket to Chicago. Then he took some bags of Doritos from the minibar and packed them into his backpack along with the Polaroid camera, his father's wallet, and the toys he'd bought at Duncan's Toy Chest. Finally he stuck the Talkboy in the pocket of his coat. Suddenly he heard the elevator doors open out in the hall. It was time to take evasive action!
Kevin turned on the television and the VCR, and grabbed the remote. The gangster movie started to play just as the door to the living room began to open. Kevin turned the TV's volume up high.
"Hold it right there!" the gangster on the tape shouted.
In the living room, the concierge, bellman, clerk, and two hotel security guards stopped, surprised by the tough adult voice.
"Uh, it's the concierge, sir," the concierge said nervously.
"I knew it was you—" the gangster's voice boomed. "I could smell ya gettin' off the elevator."
While the hotel employees stared wide-eyed at the door to the bedroom, Kevin pressed the "mute" button and skipped over Carlotta's reply on the tape.
"You was here last night, too, wasn't ya?" the gangster barked.
"Uh, yes, sir, I was," the concierge answered. Could this be a trick? He stepped closer to the bedroom door. It was open a few inches and he peeked in just enough to see a man's shadow on the wall. Recalling what happened the night before, the concierge quickly backed away.
He shook his head. "I'm terribly sorry. We're looking for a young man."
"All right," the gangster replied. "I believe ya, but . . . my tommy gun don't!"
At the words "tommy gun" the others looked at each other in horror.
"Get down on your knees and tell me you love me," the gangster demanded. In the bedroom Kevin hit the "pause" button on the remote and waited.
In the living room the hotel employees looked confused. Finally the concierge spoke. "Do you mean all of us, sir? Or just me?"
Kevin left the VCR on "pause." The concierge swallowed and turned to the others. "I think we better get on our knees."
They slowly sank to the floor. Then the concierge said, "I love you."
The bellman coughed. "Uh, me too."
Kevin hit "play" and the gangster barked angrily: "Ya gotta do better than that."
"We love you!" the terrified hotel employees gasped in unison.
Kevin grabbed the backpack and airline ticket and ran out the bedroom door to the hallway. From inside, he could hear the gangster on the tape say, "Maybe I'm off my hinges, but I believe you . . . That's why I'm gonna let you go. You got to the count of three to get your lousy, lyin', low-down, four-flushin' carcass out that door. One . . . two . . ."
Kevin heard a maniacal laugh and then the rapid-fire sound of the machine gun. A split second later the hotel employees dove out the living room door and landed in a pile in the hallway. Down the corridor, Kevin quickly disappeared into a stairwell.
He ran down the stairs and then out into a service corridor lined with bags of dirty linens, a couple of broken chairs, and room service carts covered with dirty dishes. Ahead were two large swinging doors. As Kevin neared them, he felt the air grow colder and realized they must lead outside.
Kevin burst through the swinging doors, and into a large garage with a truck loading dock. He ran to the edge of the dock and jumped . . .
Right into the waiting arms of Harry and Marv.
"Nice of you to drop in, kid." Harry grinned as he twisted Kevin's arm behind his back.
A few minutes later Kevin found himself walking down Fifth Avenue in the middle of a crowd of last-minute shoppers. Harry and Marv each had a firm, but discreet grip on one of his
arms.
"We spent a year in jail thinking we had the worst luck in the universe," Harry said in a low voice. "But we were wrong, little buddy."
"Yeah," Marv added. "Right now you've got the worst luck in the universe."
Kevin knew his future didn't look bright. These guys definitely planned to do something bad to him. He secretly reached into his coat pocket and pressed the "record" button on his Talkboy. Maybe someday someone would find it and learn what had happened to him.
"What are you guys doing in New York?" Kevin asked.
"We busted out of the joint, kid," Marv said proudly. "We ain't robbin' houses no more. We're robbin' toy stores. Tonight, we're hittin' Duncan's Toy Chest. Five floors of cash. Then we're gonna get us some phony passports and—"
"You wanna shut up, Marv?" Harry snapped.
"What's the difference?" Marv asked. "He ain't gonna tell nobody. Except maybe the fish."
"Let's just get him down to the subway tunnel,'' Harry said. "I'll feel a lot better when he's on ice."
Kevin reached into his pocket and felt his airline ticket. If he could get away from these guys, he'd go straight to the airport, get the first plane home, and never come back to New York again.
"Hey, what's this?" Marv suddenly grabbed Kevin's hand and pulled it out of his pocket.
"An airplane ticket?" Harry yanked the ticket out of Kevin's hand and read it. "One round trip to Miami, Florida. Hey, Marv, I think the squirt must've gotten on the wrong plane."
"So his family's probably in Florida," Marv said.
"Yeah!" Harry laughed and ripped the ticket into little pieces. "You won't be needing this no more, little dude. Know why? 'Cause American Airlines don't fly to the P
romised Land!"
The bad guys laughed and their cloudy breaths filled the cold air. Kevin bit his lip and watched the torn pieces of ticket flutter to the sidewalk. Now what was he going to do? Suddenly he saw a policeman on a horse up ahead, but even as he tried to figure out a way to get the mounted cop's attention, he felt Harry and Marv squeeze his arms.
"I got a gun in my pocket," Harry whispered tensely. "You open your mouth to that cop and you'll be able to spit gum out through your forehead."
Kevin didn't have a chance as they walked past the policeman. Back in the crowds again, he feIt the bad guys loosen their grip on his arms. This might be his last opportunity. An attractive-looking woman in a short, dark coat was walking in front of them. As they stopped at a light and the crowd pressed together on the corner, Kevin reached forward and pinched her.
At that moment Marv's head was filled with delightful thoughts—like how he was going to get rid of the kid, and how he and Harry were gonna become instant millionaires after they cleaned out Duncan's Toy Chest that night. The last thing on his mind was that pretty lady in the short, dark coat who'd decked him in the toy store that afternoon. So he was quite surprised when she suddenly spun around and faced him.
"You again?" Her eyes widened.
Marv smiled. He always knew he had an unusual affect on women. Then he noticed that she was making a fist and pulling it back. But this wasn't the affect he'd hoped for.
POW!
As Marv tumbled backward, he let go of Kevin's arm. Kevin quickly turned and socked Harry in the stomach with all his might.
"Uhhh!" The bad guy instantly grimaced and dropped to his knees. Kevin stared at his little fist in amazement. Then he grabbed his backpack and took off across the street.
The light changed and the pedestrians left the corner, leaving Marv on his back and Harry on his knees, his arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. Marv propped himself up on his elbows. "Where's the kid?"
"Headed for the park," Harry grimaced and pointed toward the trees.
"You okay?" Marv asked as he started to help Harry up.