Bob Old: Tell the police. Tell them what you've heard about the Big Bad Brick Gang.
Kevin Old: Not much. Just that they're an anonymous group of vandals and other malcontents. Vandals are people who destroy property, and malcontents are people who are angry enough to do such things.
Kevin lived in Stain'd-by-the-Sea with his father, Bob Old, who owned a store selling boards, appropriately named Boards. Kevin was very interested in pirate books and forms of swordfighing, though his father discouraged this interest, thinking it foolish.
In an effort to get a sword, Kevin formed the Big Bad Brick Gang with Florence Smith, who needed wood to build a bookshelf; the two of them also shared pirate books. They began by breaking the window at Boards in the middle of the night and stealing wood. When Bob and Kevin heard the crash, Kevin "guessed" it was the Big Bad Brick Gang who was responsible.[1]
ing the vandalization of Boards. When Harvey and Mimi Mitchum do nothing but argue, and when Lemony Snicket starts asking questions, Bob calls Kevin over to explain. Kevin says that he'd heard of the vandals- the "Big Bad Brick Gang"- before, and that they were an anonymous group of vandals and other malcontents. He had been asking his father to let him get a weapon, like a sword, to defend the store.
The next night, the Big Bad Brick Gang strikes at Swords, stealing a sword for Kevin. The night after that, they throw a brick through he window of Florence's mother's store, Chrysanthemums, to throw people off the trail. Lemony Snicket figures out that the two of them are the vandals, and while he says that he hopes they will "work together to repair the windows and explain their behavior," he does not turn Kevin or Florence over to the police.
Later Life[]
Kevin Old is not mentioned by name after the events of File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents. It is possible that he was still in town when the Inhumane Society gathered up the students of Stain'd Secondary School and other children of the town and held them hostage at Wade Academy; Snicket mentions that he recognized some of the children at school "from [his] time in town," which could potentially indicate the children of the thirteen suspicious incidents.[2]
Should he have been there, he would have likely been drugged by Laudanum at Wade Academy and forced to steal honeydew melons for the Inhumane Society,[2] before the students managed to revolt and turn the society out of the school.[3]
Trivia[]
A popular speculation is that this Kevin is the same Kevin from A Series of Unfortunate Events, as they share a name and Kevin Old is described and pictured as carrying boards in both hands, meaning he may be ambidextrous. This theory has not been confirmed or refuted.
