Chapter 6
Friendship is a word that is used to describe the relationship between multiple people in which one can often feel a sense of comfort and ease when in their comrades' presence. A friendship can last as long as one or both parties desire them to; they can last from the early years of childhood, all the way to old age, or can last as long as it takes for these friends to use your talents for their desired worth and then lock their doors, switch their telephone numbers, and completely change their identity in order to avoid your presence again. If you are so inclined to one day find yourself in the comfort of good friends, you must also be wary of the kinds of companions in which you have asked to accompany you during your times of sharing a hot beverage or taking in the newest picture at your nearest nickelodeon. The best types of friendships are ones that are built on trust and the sharing of common interests, for example; I myself would prefer to create a bond with people who enjoy the writings of famous Spanish Poet, Federico Garcia Lorca and prefer to spend their spare hours of the day running from the authorities and crying themselves to sleep due to the dismal circumstances that have led them to seek out my companionship. The best type of friend will also try to strategize and solve the problem to help you evade the authorities or lend a comforting shoulder to help you through the continuous weeping. The unfavourable types of comraderies are ones in which a person you consider a friend is draining the energy and happiness, remain negative and toxic even in your presence, required certain deeds in order to remain friends, vanish in the times of great need, or merely creating a façade in order to use your talents to help them avoid capture and have you take the fall for their various arson and other unspeakable crimes.
The Baudelaire children and the Quagmire triplets were beginning to understand the types of friendships they were faced with when they encountered Holly S for the first time. Prufrock Preparatory School was often known to have the more unpleasant and undesirable friendships due to the horrible and depressing environment in which the students were confined to small places and scarcely encouraged to even discuss Spanish poets or how to elude the authorities. This was especially true with the girl known as Carmelita Spats, whom would be a combination of all the unfavourable friendships and would add her own cruel desire to wear tap shoes and put on horrible performances with herself as the starring role. Neither sets of siblings ever wanted to consider this filthy, rude, and violent girl a friend but were unfortunate enough to consider her an acquaintance, a phrase which here means a person whom you might meet in passing and perhaps know their name but nothing else. However, the Baudelaires and Quagmires had taken an immediate liking to their new acquaintance, a person whom they yet to learn anything about this girl beside her first name, and last initial, as well as her well-developed talent for playing orchestral string instruments. She was not considered a close, favourable friend… yet. Despite the strange situation in which the orphans and this girl had met, both sides of this acquaintency were determined to make themselves friends, not merely just any other student they might pass in the hallways.
"So where are you from Holly?" Isadora asked as the group of children walked, or in Sunny's case crawled, down the grimy halls of Prufrock Preparatory School.
"A small-town far outside the city, down by the seashore," the young girl answered.
"Is it close to Lake Lachrymose by any chance?" Klaus asked, adjusting his glasses so they would not slide off the front of his nose. The middle Baudelaire child asked this question hopes that he and his sisters would share common interests in terms of living in the same place; despite the fact that the Baudelaires had lost their Aunt Josephine and had nearly been killed in a hurricane while living there.
"Lake what? No, I'm sorry, I've never heard of Lake Lachrymose before. I'm from the Fidelis Fjords. It's up closer towards the Mortmain Mountains."
"By the Mortmain Mountains? Wouldn't it be cold there?" Duncan inquired.
"In the winter time, yes, it is quite cold, but during the summer months when the heat is high, there is nothing more enjoyable than taking a nice cool dip in beautiful blue fjords."
"Fjords?" Sunny screeched in confusion, turning to her older brother for a form of explanation.
"A Fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by ice and or glacial erosion over thousands of years. They can often be found in any mountainous areas in places such as Norway, Sweden, Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Chile and so on. The use of the word fjord is actually a Norwegian term, but also translates into Danish and Swedish and is more general than in English and in an international scientific terminology," Klaus explained, reciting something that he'd read long ago in his father's atlas when he'd been interested in unique geographic areas. "If it's connected to the ocean, then it will likely be filled with salt water, if it's close to a lake, then it would be fresh water, if there is a river or a stream that has both, it would be a mix of both."
Holly looks at Klaus, extremely impressed with his knowledge once again. "It sounds like you have swallowed an encyclopedia Klaus, I should just call you Mr. Encyclopedia from now on."
All the children laughed, even Sunny Baudelaire who did not fully understand the meaning of the joke, shrieked with giggles as well. Several students who were passing by glared at them in confusion.
"I wish that I could be as informative as an encyclopedia," Klaus said modestly. "I just try to remember facts that I find fascinating."
"Quigley would know much more about fjords than us," Duncan said, a hint of sadness in his voice. The two triplets looked at each other for a long moment before turning back to their new acquaintance. "He was always fascinated with maps and kinds of geography."
"That sounds wonderful," Holly said sympathetically. "I'm sorry I never got to meet him."
"I'm sorry you never got to either," Duncan whispered quietly.
The children walked along in silence for a few moments in honour of the deceased Quagmire triplet, a subject that kept the remaining siblings up at night, crying for him.
The orphans' new acquaintance then cleared her throat in an attempt to change the subject at hand.
"Well, Klaus, I know that you like to research things and that Quigley loved cartography, what else do you enjoy."
Isadora Quagmire immediately whipped out her commonplace notebook and turned to a couplet in which she'd written long ago that she considered a clever way of introducing her love of poetry.
"When a person is stuck on what to say,
I believe poetry is the best way," she recited.
"Wow, I like that, so you're a poet, Isadora?"
"In a sense, yes," the female triplet nodded. "I mostly write couplets, which are only two rhyming lines."
"I love hearing poetry, it's such an interesting way to express yourself. My mother loved poetry as well, she said that they were often song lyrics that were spoken instead of sung."
The two girls smiled at one another, pleased to have found a common interest in which they could share.
"What about you, Violet?" Holly asked, pleased to know more about these children, who were becoming more like friends than acquaintances.
"I'm an inventor," the eldest Baudelaire sibling answered.
"What kind of inventions have you made?"
"Well, I have created a clock that also manages to toast bread, a device that would allow you to retrieve a rock after you have skipped in along the water, a grappling hook to get up to a high place, a lockpick to get inside a suitcase, and a teething device for Sunny when her gums were sore."
"I can imagine how sore Sunny must have been, her teeth look incredibly sharp for such a small baby… No offence Sunny."
"Dutrap," the youngest Baudelaire said, which probably meant. "No offence taken."
"Sunny has an interest in biting things," Violet said, scooping her sister up into her arms so she no longer had to crawl on the grimy floor of the hallway.
"Well, I'll be sure never to make her mad, lest I suffer at her teeth's sharpest wrath," Holly joked, which caused the children to laugh loudly once again. "And what about you Duncan?"
The male Quagmire triplet swallowed a lump in his throat and gazed into the green eyes of the group's newest companion. He especially wanted to form a friendship with this new girl due to the way in which her smile would cause his knees to weaken, his stomach to twist, and made his mind feel like it was drifting away. He cleared his throat and then attempted to speak.
"I'm… I… uh, I hope to be a journalist when I get older."
"Really?"
"Y-yes, I try to take facts on everything I learn, it's a good way to start practicing now."
"Practice certainly makes the improvement," Holly said.
All the orphans frowned at the strange and unusual saying that their new friend had just uttered.
"Isn't it usually practice makes perfect?" Klaus offered, in a meaningful way to be helpful.
"I refuse to believe because unfortunately, none of us can be perfect at anything. Both my mother and father believed in that and passed it on to me, remove of the harsh pressure and impossible standards that come with trying to be perfect. The best we can do is become better at the skills and things which we enjoy. I, personally, think that it's much better this way, wouldn't you agree."
The Baudelaires and Quagmires both smiled and nodded in great agreement. They understood that none of them would ever be perfect at anything that interested them. Even though she was a skilled inventor, Violet still made mistakes in creating her mechanical devices, Klaus would sometimes miss or forget important facts in his research, Isadora understood that her poetry skills were unlikely to ever be better than Muzahidul Reza or Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sunny knew that even her sharpest tooth could no penetrate everything that she would bite, and Duncan recognized that not all his facts and articles would be completely free of errors and inaccuracies. They knew that they were enhancing their own personal interests to the best level possible, but never tried to pressure themselves to be absolutely perfect at them.
However, the one thing all the orphans could agree on was that Holly S., as her conversation with them had shifted her from acquaintance to the near-perfect friend for them.
A/N: I'm back guys! Sorry if this chapter is shorter than most so far. Thank you for the wonderful reviews, they mean so much to me. There's also a Latin word in this chapter and I challenge my readers to find its meaning and how they think it ties into the story.