"I knew it! I knew it! I knew that Beatrice was their mother!" Lydia Haslett closed the book in her lap triumphantly with a short nod to nobody in particular, as nobody else was there; "I've been absolutely convinced of it ever since Book Seven, when Esme made that claim about Beatrice to the children! Now people are definitely going to believe me!" she stood from her couch and placed the hardcover book with the strangely thick, uneven pages on the end table next to where she had been sitting, then strode confidently into the kitchen of her small single apartment with a secret smile on her face that she longed to share with somebody, if only to gloat at them about it.
As she took her skillet and the ingredients for fried rice out of her cupboard, then began to heat the olive oil on the stove so that she could crack her egg in, she contemplated again on the book she had just finished reading. The end of A Series of Unfortunate Events, aptly titled "The End". Her mood changed from smug to thoughtful as she considered all the Unfortunate Events that had led up to the books' conclusion. It wasn't an ecstatically happy ending, of course. Much more bittersweet… but under the circumstances, that was the best for which she could hope, to quote Lemony Snicket, the strangest author she had ever read.
Of course, obviously there was a real author somewhere. Lemony Snicket was just a character, of course. Although it was strange that no matter how hard she tried to figure it out, there was no information anywhere about who the real author of the story was. She suspected that it might be that man who was supposedly Lemony Snicket's representative, Daniel Handler. But she had no proof of that. Well, whoever the author was, he or she definitely knew how to keep themselves out of the spotlight. That had to be awfully hard to do in today's society.
Lydia was just adding the rice to her skillet concoction when her long-haired, Maine Coon tortoiseshell-tabby cat Allie walked slowly into the room, yawning after having just woken up from her afternoon nap.
Lydia turned and smiled at her cat, "I am triumphant, Allie! I made yet another correct guess on the outcome while reading stories! Face it; you're living with a genius!"
She could never be certain exactly what the cat's feelings were about her comment. Allie simply sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor and looked up at Lydia, her curious expression meeting her owner's smug one. But of course, there was no use in dwelling on the stories of A Series of Unfortunate Events for too long. There were other series to read, other things to get involved in. And her job…
She glanced at the clock on the wall. She had just enough time to finish making her rice and eat it before she had to get to the lab. And, as usual, by the time she was finished eating she was rushing to grab her things just so that she could make it there on time.
"Sorry if I confused you, Allie," Lydia said before placing a letter she had to mail on the way into her mouth while she fished for her purse and briefcase in the pile of mess on the floor next to the end table, "Btt, I… hd to cm in late," she placed the letter into her purse and headed toward the door, careful that the cat didn't follow her out, "I have to go in late to work today, that's why I was here all morning… sorry, but I can't stay, but I'll be back later tonight, okay? Be a good girl, bye-bye!" and she had closed the door behind her and was rushing off to her car in order to mail the letter, and then get to work on time. This was her life. The same thing every day, but it was a satisfying life nonetheless. And yet, somehow she couldn't help the feeling that some kind of big change was just right around the corner…
Well, she made it on time of course.
Lydia was smug again as she marched into the shiny new building on the Michigan Underground University campus where her lab was located on the fifth floor. It was more of an office building than a lab, really. Or at least that's what it looked like. But at any rate, no matter how rushed she was she always arrived just on time to work and nobody was ever suspicious and she never got in trouble.
"I'm an expert at everything, if I do say so myself," she said softly to herself, her triumphant mood from earlier that afternoon still sticking with her as she headed into the elevator and pushed the button to floor 5.
She slapped on her, 'Lydia Haslett: Herpetology Lab Technician: MUU' nametag as she pushed open the door into her boss's office, Jim Smith, Professor and Chair of the Herpetology Department.
"Ah, Lydia!" he put down the papers he was looking at and smiled at her, "Good afternoon, sit down," she sat in the chair across from his desk as he continued, "I suppose you're wondering why I had you come in late today."
"Well, just a little bit," she confessed, slipping her purse and briefcase onto the floor next to her.
"I needed to meet with some colleagues…" he hesitated, "Have you finished reading your book?"
"Um…" his question took her aback for a moment, "Well, yes but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing," he hurriedly replied, "It's just that you were getting a bit distracted by that series for the last few days, and I want to make sure you're ready to focus again."
His reasoning was a little strange. Sure, she had been pretty into the book, but she was certain that her performance at work hadn't suffered for it… or well, at least not as much as he seemed to be implying. But she could sense something important coming, so it was best to just accept anything he said right now and stay on his good side. Not that he got angry very often, but she'd seen it on occasion, "Don't worry, I promise to be especially focused on whatever you want me to do."
"Good, because I was discussing a new assignment for you this morning, but I didn't want you to get any word of it until it was official."
"A new assignment?" if she was an animal her ears would have perked up at this. Now he definitely had her attention.
"Well, you just finished the Invasive Cane Toads project, and I was very pleased with your work," he paused and then added, almost as if he felt forced to do so, "Despite your slight distraction toward the end of it. At any rate, however, I think you're ready for a more important project this time around. It would require some travel time however. Are you all right with that?"
"That's fine," she agreed, anxious to hear what this project would be all about.
"All right, then I'll give you the details. I would like you to go to the rainforests of Florida, where a new species of snake has just been discovered."
"Ooh, really!?" now she was definitely intrigued as she leaned forward in her seat so as to hear better.
"Yes," he smiled slightly, "This species of snake is unlike any we've ever studied before in the herpetological world. Its behavior is more wormlike than anything else. That's why it has been named the "Brown Wormviper."
"The Brown Wormviper," she repeated to herself, "But why has it only just been discovered?"
"It seems they live underground and only emerge once every seventeen years or so, something like the behavior of the periodical cicada."
"Then why didn't you call it the "Brown Cicadaviper?" she grinned at her joke.
Jim laughed, "Well, I didn't name it. Regardless, this challenges many of our long-held notions about snake biology and behavior."
"And you want me to take on this project?" she was feeling more and more flattered at his decision every moment.
"Well, you'll be working with a group," he was quick to temper her excitement, "But yes, I feel that you are the best choice we have here."