*Note: I got a lot of these ideas from the actual movies and TV show, so some of this may seem familiar. Chapters may be rather short. None of these characters are mine, they belong to their rightful owners! Enjoy!
It didn't take long until they were near the end on the chore list. With their knees bruised and bleeding from so much floor scrubbing, they couldn't be in happier moods.
"Dust the portraits? The dirt makes them perfect already. Why would he want to get rid of that?" Pugsley finished crossing out the chore above it but was still dumbfounded by this particular one. Wednesday only shrugged.
"Skip it. What's the last one?"
"Prepare a delicious dinner for me and my troupe by seven o' clock. It also says that there's some money on the dining room table for groceries…I guess we buy the food with it and cook it…?" Wednesday seemed rather confused but Pugsley kept his smirk.
"That'll be easy. We just need to find a bucket and we can get started!"
Thirty minutes before seven, the kitchen was filled with steaming food, smelling delectable. The meat looked absolutely scrumptious as Pugsley had managed to roast it to perfection and it was large enough for everyone to have seconds, perhaps even thirds. The only questionable part of the food was the side dish that looked rather glossy. From a distance it looked like green beans mixed with spinach but there was just no way to fully identify it. By this time, Pubert had woken up and was playing with a dinner fork.
"Is the table set? The list said that there would be a dozen people.." Wednesday finished pouring the "greenery" in a large bowl before putting it on the dinner table. So by then, Pugsley didn't need to answer her as she had clearly seen the table set neatly and ready for guests.
"I'm glad I took cooking lessons from 'mama! She said I was a natural." Pugsley was very proud of his cooking work and within a few seconds, the front door busted open.
"Orrrphaaans! Where are you?!" Once again, the children were unfazed as they merely turned their heads to the door. Pugsley seemed happy that "Uncle Knik Knak" was back but Wednesday kept her eye on the people behind him. His "troupe". Each one of them had their own unique "shape". One man was very round with a red face. Another man, who Wednesday seemed to take interest in, had hooks for hands. She approved of each one of them, except for two. Two powdery white-faced women that gave her their own judging looks. They looked down at Wednesday as if they were better than her, as if the girl was an annoyance. Wednesday could dismiss the judgment if it wasn't for their god-awful white dresses and make up! It was clear that these women expected Wednesday to be shy and turn away from them. But Wednesday only stared back and by the time she had narrowed her dark eyes, the women were the ones that eventually looked away in fear. Wednesday folded her arms and prodded her fingers as she kept her dark look. A few men behind Olaf took notice of this child's aura and had actually taken a step back or two.
"Dinner's ready." Was all she said without taking her eyes away from the concerned troupe.
"It had better be." Olaf growled back as he marched to the dining room with his troupe close behind him. His grumpy look turned to light amazement as he saw the food. Roast beef! It was his all time favorite roast beef! It didn't look cheap and greasy either. It looked rather gourmet. The best thing was, he didn't even have to specify to the children what he wanted. His actual plan was to have them pick something out so he could disapprove and humiliate them for their awful food they would end up cooking, but they guessed completely right! Even the troupe looked stunned and hungry when they saw the beef and could smell it across the room. His eager smile quickly faded to gross curiosity when he saw the mystery green food in the bowl next to the meat.
"...And what is THIS?" he demanded to know.
"It's one of the family's favorite dishes. Surely you haven't forgotten that?" Pugsley almost sounded disappointed. Almost.
"Whatever." Olaf quickly got out several bottles of red wine to go with their dinner as they were soon taking large greedy helpings of the meat and sloppy sips of their wine. Wednesday took notice of one the men who had the courage to try the mysterious green dish. He slurped it up like spaghetti and licked his dirty lips.
"Good heavens, that isn't half bad.." He almost jumped when he saw that the dark girl was suddenly next to his chair.
"Start with the eyes." Wednesday advised the disturbed man. He quickly stopped picking at the dish and went back to munching on the beef. Pugsley was next to Olaf's chair, holding one of the serving spoons.
"Do you like it?" He eagerly asked, longing for praise. Olaf had taken another large bite and began talking with his mouth full, causing bits of food to spew out. This didn't bother Pugsley in the slightest.
"Well..I must say that you two have done a fine job. Where exactly did you get this roast beef? It's the best I've ever had." Pugsley looked a little confused. He looked at Wednesday and then back at Olaf.
"Roast beef?" Olaf stopped wiping his mouth with his napkin.
"Yes. Roast beef. You know, beef that is ROASTED. This is roast beef, is it NOT?" Pugsley smiled as if he was about to laugh.
"No it's not. But I'm pretty good at my road kill, aren't I? I can make the finest meals out of the carcasses. 'Mama taught me!" Olaf dropped his napkin without moving his face, with the exception of his eyes that were nearly bulging out of their sockets.
"R-road kill?" The man with the hook hands repeated.
"Yes, road kill. Well..not all of it. Some of it was from the basement. There's a LOT of dead things down there.." With that said, one of the white-faced women dropped her dinner fork and began breathing hard as if she was hyperventilating while the information sunk in. Her face began to grow paler than her powdery make-up.
"BAH! He's joking! NO, he's lying!" Olaf shouted as he tried calming his guests.
"How rude to tell such lies! No manners, no manners indeed! These children need to be taught a lesson..They need to learn to respect their elders.." The round man with the red face yelled as his fist came down on the table, causing the silverware to clatter.
"It doesn't matter. As long as you get your hands on that fortune.." Another man said.
"Fortune?" Wednesday looked up at Olaf, who quickly changed the subject.
"Never mind that! While going to the fridge for wine, I noticed that the kitchen knives had not been put up nicely like they should've been. It was chore number 38. Explain yourselves, children!" The troupe's frightened faces soon turned to nasty smiles as they were excited to see Olaf about to punish the kids.
"We did. You wanted us to put them away in a nice decor manner. That's what we did." Wednesday calmly explained.
"Look! Another lie! These children clearly have not gotten proper raising. It's time to change that!" The round man declared but Olaf paid him no attention. He only kept his voice low as he moved his face very close to Wednesday's though she stayed still like stone, her dull expression unchanged. He finally asked slowly, "Then where are they?"
A split second after Olaf asked this, there was the sound of something slicing into thin wood. Olaf slowly looked away from Wednesday to the place where the sound came from. His sight fell upon a LARGE edged knife that had landed in front of his plate. It balanced perfectly as the sharp end had stabbed inches through the table. All of the troupe's blood-shot eyes were on the knife as well and ever so slowly, they traveled upwards and were soon looking at the ceiling, revealing the rest of the sharpened knives that were hanging on the ceiling and held by thin string. There was a large knife that was hanging over each spot where the troupe sat. Including Olaf. There was a single thread near the knife that was over Olaf's seat. It had obviously been holding the knife that nearly missed Olaf's plate.
"Oops. I'll have that fixed in a second. But do you like it?" Pugsley was the first to break the tense silence. Almost at once, everyone jumped up from their seats, knocking over a few of their own chairs as they rushed back into the hall and by the front door.
"By God, they're trying to kill us!" The round man shouted again.
"Wait, NO!" Olaf yelled, ordering his troupe to stay where they were.
"Wait, hang on!" Pugsley yelled. Everyone instinctively turned their head and looked at the plump boy.
"What do you want me to do with these leftovers?" He held up a bucket filled with crushed and decaying carcasses of dead unknown animals, however there appeared to be a large rat's tail hanging out of the side of the bucket.
"I can always freeze them for next time." The troupe of strange-looking people had seen enough as they busted through the front door and every one of them began heaving and vomiting up their dinner. Including Olaf... The only noise that wasn't painful groans was baby Pubert, who finished his round of red wine that Wednesday had put in his bottle and was now laughing happily as he shook his spiked rattle, mockingly.
