Chapter Forty Seven

By Chris Fulmer

Kevin flicked on the porch light. "I'll be waiting, Mom," he said out into the blizzard. He was realistic enough to know that his family wouldn't be back any time before morning, though. Indeed, the snow was now up to the second porch step--from the top. The road was now completely buried as well, and he knew that the airports wouldn't be opening any time soon.

"Hey Dennis the Menace, quick question," came Bender's voice behind him.

Kevin sighed. "What is it now?" he asked.

"How the hell am I supposed to sleep on a bed that's two sizes too small for me?" Bender posed.

"That was all that was available after you made that huge fuss about not wanting sleep in my sister's room because you didn't want to be in a girl's room," Kevin told him, "Jeff's room was all I had left."

"Well I'm also not sleeping on a bed that's too small," Bender said firmly, "So why don't you just kick Clark out of your brother's room?"

"He had first draw, and I can't disrespect that," Kevin said.

"Well then where the hell am I supposed to sleep!?" Bender pressed on.

"I don't know, I guess it's just the dining room floor now," Kevin said.

"The dining room floor!? Bender was steamed, "You're unreal, you know that!?"

"Thank you," Kevin said sarcastically, "Now just so you know, you will not disturb the girls here on the first floor, or else. I also know where all the valuables are, so if I find even one of them missing in the morning....."

"All right, all right already!" Bender shouted, "Jesus Christ, it's no wonder your parents leave you behind every year!"

"I'll pretend you meant that in a nice way," Kevin said, turning away from him. Bender, at a loss for what to say next, growled and stormed into the dining room. The sound of loud words from the living room next caught Kevin's ear now. He sighed again. "A man's work is never done," he said to himself as he followed it's source. In the living room, Claire had Chandra pressed up against the wall. ".....warning you for the last time," she was saying, "Keep the hell away from Brian before you ruin him!"

"I'm not hurting him!" Chandra protested, "Why can't you just accept that!?"

"Because Brian deserves better than the likes of you!" Claire growled, "He needs a person who can stay in the same zone with him at all times, and you, sweet sister, don't cut that line at all! You'd be lucky if.....!"

Kevin tugged on Claire's robe (the teens had all brought their nightwear with them in anticipation of the blizzard leaving them in detention for the night). "Excuse me," he asked her, "Do you want to sleep in the tree house for the night, because you will if you keep it up."

"Kevin, this is more than you can comprehend!" Claire tried to tell him.

"Oh I can comprehend just fine," Kevin said, "and the fact is you're not giving her a fair chance here. Just because you think people aren't meant to be together doesn't give you the right to interfere with them."

"But she's not......" Claire started to say.

"Couch," Kevin jerked his finger toward it, "And don't let me hear you causing any trouble down here, or I'll follow through with the tree house threat."

Claire sighed in resignation and slumped over to the couch. Kevin followed her over. "On a happier note," he told her, "I'd like to thank you for making Kayla look so nice. She hasn't had much to celebrate in here life, and that really made her happy. I think the two of you'd make a great pair of sisters, given a chance."

"Yeah, I kind of do like her," Claire admitted, "but unless she likes dysfunctional families, I doubt she'll enjoy living with me."

"She could stop in every now and then, I suppose," Kevin said. "You're really a good fashion designer, you know. If you haven't got a place to go after you graduate, I can ask my mom if she can set you up as her assistant or something, since she works in fashion."

"Is she anything like you, Kevin?" Claire asked.

"A little bit."

"Then I'll have to think about it," Claire rolled over. Kevin shrugged and walked back over to Chandra. "She didn't hurt you, did she?" he asked.

"Nope," Chandra shook her head, "Believe me, Kevin, I've gone through much worse than that."

"I'll bet," Kevin commented. "You are really brave, you know. A lot more than you let on."

"Well after what you told us about yourself, Kevin, I don't know about that," Chandra said, "I mean, to face down two dangerous guys two years in a row with nothing but your wits protecting you, that's courage in its purest form."

"Maybe, but in my case my enemies were too stupid to really be too big a threat, now that I look back," Kevin said, "The people who go after you are equally matched with you, and you have even less crutches than I do. And I can't think of too many people who'd openly say they believe in God nowadays, especially people your age."

"I don't know why religion's becoming so marginalized these days, but I still believe, and that's all that matters," Chandra commented, "And like I said before, I feel God has helped me in times of need, and he can for everyone else if they just look to him."

"Possibly," Kevin said, "assuming he does exist. You know, sometimes when your brother's going hard on me, I pray he gets what's coming to him soon, because quite frankly, he deserves it."

"Maybe, but God really doesn't work that way, Kevin," Chandra explained, "He only responds to non-violent prayers."

"Well, he also doesn't let the evil go on forever at their bit," Kevin said. He started to leave, then turned back and said, "And in that case, if anyone down here gives you any trouble at all tonight, just give me a call, and I'll make sure they understand that."

"You're good person, you know that Kevin?" Chandra smiled, plopping down in the recliner and pulling up a blanket.

"I do my best," Kevin said. He flicked off the hall light and headed up the stairs. "This floor is too hard, Mother!" Bender shouted up at him from the dining room.

"Just shut up and enjoy it, Son," Kevin called back. He hated to be so cruel after taking such a compliment on being nice, but Bender had been more or less getting on his nerves all night long.

There was a chuckling sound from Buzz's room as he reached the second floor landing. Kevin stuck his head in to see Andrew looking through one of Buzz's covert Playboys. "Let me guess, you only read it for the articles," he said. Andrew abruptly tossed it on the floor. "Uh, sure," he said quickly.

"Why is it that kids your age have such a fascination with seeing people with no clothes on?" Kevin inquired.

"Uh, the best thing I could say is, you'll find out when you get older, Kev," Andrew told him. His broken leg was propped up by about four pillows, and he seemed much more lively now than he had when Kevin had first come across him earlier in the evening.

"Boy I hope not," Kevin said in response to that. He walked over. "Is the padding good enough?" he said, pointing to the pillows.

"They'll do," Andrew told him.

"Good," Kevin said, "You should try being more careful when you wrestle. It's kind of hard to recover when you're being thrown around the ring at thirty miles on hour by some big hairy guy."

Andrew groaned. "Why does everybody get it wrong!?" he asked no one in particular, "Look Kev, that's not how scholastic wrestling goes. We don't fight in a ring, we don't throw each other around, we don't jump on top of each other, and we DON'T wear tights!"

"I didn't say anything about tights," Kevin said in defense. Deciding to change the subject, he said, "So, I guess you enjoyed the evening, right?"

"Oh yeah," Andrew smiled, "It's been the best night I've had in a long time. At home, I'd just have to listen to my dad say over and over again about how I really have to please him and all that. You're a delight compared to that. And how we got rid of those guys'll have me laughing for days."

"You really liked that, huh?" Kevin smiled.

"Oh yeah," Andrew said, "Mr. Vernon and Mr. Rooney have needed to be taken down a few pegs for years, and when you made them get down on their knees and tell us they loved us, you took them all the way to the bottom. Your stories were great, too."

"Really? What was your favorite trap I used on them, just for the record?"

"Well, it's a tie, really between where you put the heater on the doorknob and left the imprint in the short guy's hand, and where you greased up the floor so the tall guy slipped and slid into the shelf of paint cans," Andrew cracked up again at the thought of Harry and Marv having the living hell beaten out of them repeatedly.

"Yeah, those were pretty funny when I think about it," Kevin said, "but it's a good thing they weren't really hurt too badly by it, or else it wouldn't be."

"Right," Andrew said, "You know, you should try and sell your life's story to Hollywood. They'd eat it up."

Kevin chuckled at this thought. "Me, a Hollywood superstar? No offense, but I don't think so."

"Hey, you never know," Andrew shrugged. "Well, I'm going to hit the sack for the night, but I'd like to say thanks for saving my life again. If anything else, you're one of the bravest people I know."

"Don't mention it," Kevin said, "Sleep well." He went back out in the hall and started to turn toward Megan's room, but thought things over and decided his presence was more pressingly needed elsewhere. He climbed up the stairs to the attic, where he found Brian staring blankly at the ceiling. "You didn't have to be up here all by yourself, you know," he told him, "It's kind of lonely up here."

"I like it up here," Brian told him.

"Okay," Kevin shrugged, "So, do you want to get around to telling me what's bugging you yet?"

Kevin, have you ever felt that you've gone as far as you humanly can with your life, and that your continued existence is pointless?" Brian asked him.

"So you're tired of being smart?" Kevin asked him.

"Basically, yes."

"Do you remember, oh, I guess it was about two years ago when you got a 1520 on your S.A.T.s?" Kevin asked him.

"How'd you know about that?" Brian jerked upright.

"My teacher brought in the paper and showed it to us to try and get us more motivated to do our homework," Kevin said, "He said we should try to be like you. At that time, I couldn't have cared less since I hate school like everybody else, and still do, but later on I realized that the standards you set are great to aim for. I don't think one person in a thousand would have known anything about all that Rankin/Bass stuff you do. You should be proud that you've accomplished what you have."

"Unfortunately, it hasn't brought me any happiness, Kevin, so it's all for nothing," Brian said dismally.

"In that case, then I think you're keeping yourself miserable," Kevin told him.

"What?"

"You don't want to look at the bright side of things, and so you'll never really be happy," Kevin said, "The sun will come out, but only if you make the clouds go away. You mean a lot of things to a lot of people, including me, because you made this house a bit calmer after you tutored my sister last year. I think the people close to you would want to see you happy more than as a straight-A person. You just have to see that for yourself."

"Sure, Kevin," Brian said, somewhat convinced. Kevin gave him a reassuring smile and went back down to the second floor. Brian thought over what had been said, then put his hand to his face and groaned, "Oh come on Johnson, he's ten! He doesn't know what it's like! He's not even above average in the classroom!" As he sunk back down on the bed and pulled the blankets over his head, he said out loud, "Everything would be so much better if I'd just never been born in the first place!"

Back downstairs, Kevin made his final stop of the evening. Allison was sitting in Megan's rocking chair, drawing something. Kevin peeked over her shoulder. "The Gateway Arch?" he inquired. "My aunt lives in St. Louis; I go down once a year," Allison explained.

"All I know about St. Louis is that the Cardinals come from there, and you're a reject in school if you follow them," Kevin said, "And they say the Yankees and Red Sox have it bad." He examined the picture more carefully.

"I've seen some of your other work when your bag was open after you went the bathroom earlier, and they're really quite impressive" he told her, "I think you should consider maybe joining one of those art schools in the city."

"They'd never take me there, Kevin," Allison said with a somewhat longing smile, "They only take the best of the best."

"Well who says you aren't one of the best?" Kevin pointed out, "Looking at this, I'd say you're as good as....um.....I can't think who in the wizarding world is the standout drawer."

"I don't think anyone is, really," Allison agreed, "Figures, doesn't it? I'm the only one who isn't outright like one of them. Andy's Oliver Wood, Bender's Malfoy, Brian's Hermione, and Claire's......well, actually, I can't think of who Claire is, either."

"I'd say McGonagle would be the closest," Kevin suggested, "And Chandra's probably most like Trelawney."

"Yeah, that would be my guess," Allison said. She put the portfolio on the floor. "And I'd say your probably more like Harry than anyone else I know, Kevin," she told him, "You have his resourcefulness and courage, not to mention the compassion he has for others. I don't think anyone else could have done what you did to those guys."

"It's a gift," Kevin said. "He lay down on Megan's bed. "But do you want me to let you in on something I've never told anyone?" he asked her.

"Sure," Allison was interested.

"There's times I wish I could get some more recognition for beating those guys all the time," Kevin told her, "Sometimes I'm content with the fact that I made sure they ended up with nothing for their greed except a nice jail cell, but other times I wish I'd been in the paper or the news for doing it. Call me jealous, but I'd like to stand out a bit sometimes, and that was my chance."

"Why don't you tell someone, then?" Allison suggested.

"And have my parents slap a million restraints on me? I don't think so," Kevin said. "Andy suggested they make a movie out of my life, but that wouldn't sell in a million years. I mean, who would actually pay all the money you have to fork over at the cinema nowadays to see a kid beat the hell out of two idiots?"

"Well, given some of the stuff they put on the screen these days, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Allison said. She yawned. "Well, I guess it's time to go to bed for the night, so I suppose will talk some more in the morning, OK Kevin?"

"Works for me," Kevin said, "Enjoy." He skipped up the hall to his parent's room. The orphans were already cuddled up in bed waiting for him.

"So, I never got around to asking, what's your best Christmas memories?" he asked them.

"This," they all said. Kevin shrugged. "I had a feeling," he said. He turned out the light and climbed in bed with them. "Tomorrow we'll go see if Mr. Griffith's in," he told them, "and if he's not in, you're free to spend Christmas with me."

"The way it's going so far, I wouldn't mind that," Skylar said.

"I aim to please," Kevin said, "Good night." As they all drifted off to sleep, he thought to himself, "Mom, where are you?"

"Honey, I'm back," Peter said, stumbling back toward the road, "I got it done. I found a gas station about five miles away and made the call; they'll be here in about a half hour."

"They're not coming, Peter," Kate said, looking quite depressed.

"What do you mean? I just called in......"

"You gave them the wrong address," Kate walked over to the sign and shook all the snow off it. The road they were on was actually Old Turnpike THRUWAY. Peter let out a low moan and banged his head off the hood. "WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY!!!!" he cried out over and over again.

"I know, I know," Kate sighed, trudging back over to the car, "Let's just go to sleep and hope everything's OK with Kevin."

"Works for me," Peter said, climbing in with her, "In the morning we'll see what we can do from here. Hopefully the stormily be over then."