Home Alone 2 Read Free

next to him, and smiled to himself. This was going to be good.
    In front of the choir, Ms. Wickersham nodded at Kevin and winked. Kevin took a deep breath. This was it. His big solo. He began to sing:
    "Christmas time means laughter Toboggans in the snow . . ."
    Some of the audience started to smile and giggle, but Kevin tried to ignore them and kept singing:
    "Caroling together
    With faces all aglow . . ."
    No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a bunch of people burst out laughing. Kevin's ears burned with humiliation. Even Ms.
    Wickersham was grinning. Kevin forced the next lines of the song out:
    "Stockings on the mantle,
    A wreath on the door."
    By now most of the audience was howling with laughter. Even the other kids in the choir had joined in. Kevin couldn't believe how rude they were being. Could his singing really be that bad? And why did his ears feel so hot?
    "And my merriest Christmas
    Needs just one thing more . . .
    People were laughing and pointing at him. Suddenly Kevin began to suspect something and turned around. Buzz was holding two electric candles and grinning like an idiot. Now Kevin knew why his ears felt so hot. That big jerk had held the candles behind them, making Kevin's ears glow in the middle of his big solo!
    Wham! Kevin slugged Buzz in the stomach. The big dummy lost his balance and fell into the other kids. The next thing Kevin knew, the whole choir started to collapse like a bunch of bowling pins. The Christmas trees and wreaths crashed down as kids grabbed for anything that would help them keep their balance. Finally the entire chorus fell in on itself, forming a writhing mass of arms, legs, electric candles, and Christmas trees.
    In the audience Kate McCallister closed her eyes and shook her head in despair. Why was it always her children who caused the worst scenes?

December 22

    The McCallister Residence

    8:30 P.M.
    The entire clan was gathered in the living room. Buzz and Kevin sat in chairs in front of the fireplace, facing them. It was like being on trial, with Kate as the prosecutor and the rest of the family, the jury.
    "Buzz, you're the oldest so you'll go first," Kate said.
    Buzz stood up and cleared his throat. He stared down at the floor.
    "I want to apologize to all of you for whatever displeasure I caused. And I want to apologize to my brother." Buzz turned to Kevin. "I'm sorry, Kevin. My prank was immature and ill-timed."
    "Immature or not, it was pretty hilarious," Uncle Frank said. The other adults glared angrily at him and he sank down into his chair.
    "I can assure you all that there will be absolutely no more shenanigans from me," Buzz continued with the most phony apology Kevin had ever heard. "Christmas is a sacred, happy, family, together, loving, caring, getting-along-time-of-year, and everybody in the family of man should go along with that. . . . Amen."
    Kate smiled proudly. "That was very nice, Buzz."
    Kevin's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his mother had actually believed that garbage. Meanwhile, Buzz turned back to Kevin. When Buzz was certain no one else in the family could see him, he curled his lips back and grinned maliciously at Kevin, wiggling his retainer with his tongue.
    "Try to beat that, you little trout sniffer," Buzz whispered. Then he sat down in his chair, looking repentant.
    "Kevin?" Kate said. "What do you have to say?"
    Kevin rose and stared at them. He couldn't believe that they'd bought all the lies Buzz had just told. Couldn't they see that Buzz was yanking their chains? As Kevin looked into their eager, expectant faces, he could see that they'd been totally conned.
    Well, Kevin thought, I'm going to tell them the truth.
    "I'm not sorry," he said defiantly. "I did what I did because Buzz humiliated me and, since he gets away with everything, I let him have it. And since you're all so stupid to believe his lies, I don't care if your idiotic Florida trip gets wrecked. Who wants to spend Christmas in a tropical climate anyway?"
    A