Ten
The show must go on, a phrase commonly used in theater productions to explain the need for the story to progress despite impediments to the contrary; aptly fits the situation that the Baudelaire orphans currently found themselves in. Already two troupe members had died do to the wicked theater critic known as C. Nimodi, whom the orphans wished to expose; and their old enemy Esmé Squalor had arrived to cause further trouble among the group.
Not only that but several mysteries that needed answers plagued the thoughts of Klaus, Violet, Sunny and Beatrice as they cautiously explored the upper level of the Ned H. Rirger Theater, such as whether or not they could trust the female villain to assist them; what vile plan C. Nimodi was now hatching, how did the troupe members survive the fire at the Hotel Denouement, what the letters ERT stood for, and perhaps most importantly of all, whether or not their parents were good and noble volunteers or had they lapsed into wickedness sometime in the past as certain individuals claimed.
For the Baudelaires however, even though their life was not a theatrical production and certainly not as lively as one; they recognized that the show must go on, a phrase which here means, "Klaus, Sunny, Beatrice and Violet were going to do everything they could to stop their adversaries, find out more about their parents past and keep another location of V.F.D. from burning to the ground."
If I could tell the children how brave they were to accept this daunting challenge, which might I remind you they were in over their heads to start with; I would. But sadly, even though Violet and her younger siblings wished for the show to go on; it would not for very much longer. In fact not only would the Baudelaires fail in their attempts to stop another murder, particularly one involving the massive chandelier in the auditorium they were now exploring, but they would not find out one tantalizing secret in the very tantalizing theater they were spending time in.
Rather, Klaus and his sisters would fail miserably in all of their assignments and be forced to escape, just as they had done countless times before when pursued by Count Olaf and the only piece of information they will obtain will only lead to more questions for the orphans. So now that you know the show will not go on much longer for the Baudelaire orphans I encourage and implore you to stop reading now and to go back to your regular line of work which is probably much more fascinating, whether it be working on traffic lights or counting periods in a particularly wicked newspaper article in hopes of finding a secret code, even if there was not one to be found.
Yet if you do continue to read further in the dismal lives of Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice, I'm sure you will find yourself further depressed, crying your eyes out in the realization that I was right and you were wrong, which nowadays seems to happen more often than not even though I wish this weren't so, my darling Beatrice. So, as the Baudelaire orphans returned cautiously to the auditorium below, they also realized that if they were going to succeed in their efforts for the show to go on they had to disguise themselves differently in order to fool both Falo and the troupe members that were working diligently to prepare for the grand reopening of the Ned H. Rirger Theater. Soon Violet and her siblings discovered the costumes they'd been wearing earlier, as connoisseurs for the evil twin of Count Olaf; and put them back on.
"I hope this works," Klaus said with a sigh, knowing that since all of their previous attempts to hide their identities had failed; this one probably would as well. "Its the only thing I can think of to make certain no one recognizes us as the Baudelaires," Violet explained. "But Esmé already knew that we weren't Hope the Lion Tamer, Chabo the wolf-baby and Beverly and Elliot the two-headed freak!" Sunny pointed out as she carried the still sleeping infant.
"But how else will we uncover what C. Nimodi is trying to accomplish? We haven't much time before the grand reopening!" Violet asked in frustration. Once all four of them had finished swapping disguises and looked once again like theater attendants, Klaus and his sisters walked down the stairs toward the lobby, where they heard quite a loud commotion going on. "Do you suppose C. Nimodi has already murdered another troupe member?" Sunny asked.
"Or maybe Esmé was right and she is in trouble," Violet realized. "Let's go find out," Klaus decided as he led the way down toward the noise. As they approached the lobby, the children immediately realized that they were once again short on time because the grand reopening was not a day away, rather Falo was standing down at the ticket booth where a long line of possibly noble or wicked individuals waited to enter the Ned H. Rirger Theater. "I don't understand, I thought the grand reopening wasn't supposed to begin until tomorrow morning! The theater isn't ready for all of these guests!" Klaus proclaimed.
"Let's go talk to Falo and find out," his older sister decided and led the way across the still sticky carpet to where the evil twin of Count Olaf was trying in vain to keep the crowd calm. "I have a ticket right here to see "One Last Warning To Those Who Stand In My Way" and I am here to watch this spectacular play by Al Funcoot," one man was saying as they approached their current guardian. "I've also come here to hear the voice of the famous actress Esmé Squalor in this world famous play!" a woman proclaimed. "I'm sure this is quite true, but I'm afraid right now the theater isn't prepared for the grand reopening!" Falo insisted to which a man said, "My invitation told me to come today!"
"I'm not going back home," another stated.
"This theater has been closed for years and now you're insisting you need one more day? This is preposterous," yet another patron complained.
What was perhaps most preposterous was that all of these guests expected an immediate response from Falo and if he didn't give them what they wanted, I'm quite sure these friendly people would've become a mob. "What's going on?" Violet wondered as she approached the current impresario of the Ned H. Rirger Theater. "Ah! There you are!" the evil twin of Count proclaimed turning to the children and exclaiming, "I've been wondering when you'd get around to helping me out!" Falo pointed toward the long line of patrons and explained, "All of these people, whether noble or wicked; seem to think that the grand reopening of this theater is tonight and not tomorrow. I don't understand this! I specifically told C. Nimodi to send out the invitations for tomorrow."
Violet, Klaus and Sunny exchanged knowing glances, realizing that the wicked theater critic had no doubt tricked their guardian in order to make Falo look like a fool. "What is it you need us to do?" Violet wondered. "You, the shortest hold that infant," Falo said, choosing not to reveal Sunny's identity and then pushing her into the ticket booth and proclaiming, "Only let wicked people into the auditorium, not noble ones. Use the codes you have been taught."
And before she could object, Falo shut the door and turned to the remaining Baudelaires and stated, "Once a guest has entered the lobby, one of you should guide them to their seat and the other should stand here offering refreshments." "But-" Klaus began, trying to object to the fact that Esmé Squalor still needed their help. "I can't hear any objections right now, our schedule has been severely cut short and we'll have to make certain the show goes on no matter what!" Falo explained.
"But-" Violet began, trying to tell their current guardian about C. Nimodi's wicked plot to murder the troupe members of his good twin Count Olaf. "And make sure that nothing goes wrong during the performance of "One Last Warning To Those Who Stand In My Way". It's a very difficult play to perform and our star actress is nervous," Falo proclaimed and then added, "If you need me, you can find me up in the balcony seat along with our theater critic, I need to discuss with him the confusion about the invitations."
In a flash, Falo rushed up the stairs to the second floor of the Ned H. Rirger Theater, leaving Violet and Klaus alone in the lobby, befuddled and perplexed, words which here mean "the elder Baudelaire siblings weren't sure how they would save Esmé and stop C. Nimodi at the same time." Meanwhile, Sunny was desperately trying to understand the clamor of voices as the line of noble volunteers and wicked villains grew more agitated until at last she whistled loudly, silencing the group for a brief moment; enough for her to say, "If you'll all form an orderly line in front of the booth I can attend to each of you properly."
The former toddler only hoped that her efforts to calm the group and get them inside the rundown theater would also give her older siblings the chance to do more than she could, and make certain that the show must go on. Meanwhile, Klaus and Violet frantically prepared for the many guests they would soon be dealing with and also tried to think of some way to not be in over their heads even more. "Let's keep our eyes peeled for C. Nimodi, he's the one that is the most dangerous and up to no good," the eldest orphan suggested.
"All right, whenever you go take people to their seats, try to be as close to Esmé as possible to make certain nothing happens to her," Klaus suggested. "And whenever you give people their refreshments, see to it that no one goes upstairs to the second floor of the theater," Violet told her brother and then stood by the entrance in the large auditorium.
Sunny had no idea though how she would make certain that the show went on, especially since Falo had failed to tell her how to discern if a person was noble or wicked so as the first guest stood in front of her and passed her an invitation she wasn't sure what to say, or what code to speak. "Are you going to let me go thru or not?" the man asked in irritation and Sunny sighed in relief, figuring that this must be a wicked villain because of his rude attitude and let him inside.
As the long line grew smaller, Sunny would turn away anyone who was too pleasant, and those who acted too nice to her or offered their spots in the line to others. Whereas any patron who was rude, crude or annoyed at the long line itself, she made certain they got inside without question. Sunny only hoped that she was doing the right thing by letting these villains inside the Ned H. Rirger Theater.
But she also figured that if she was only letting wicked people inside then that meant that no noble volunteers would be hurt if something did happen. It was a small comfort, but it was enough for the former toddler to continue to do her assignment.
Klaus asked each and every villain that entered the theater whether they wanted a refreshment or popcorn, and not a one accepted his offer. He was rather thankful for this particularly because he had no drinks or food ready for them and wondered distantly whether Falo had realized that whenever he'd given the middle Baudelaire this assignment.
He also kept his eyes open for any signs of C. Nimodi or any of the other troupe members who were still living, such as the one who was neither a man nor a woman whom Beatrice had told them was working with the theater critic. Yet he saw neither him or her nor anyone trying to get upstairs.
Instead every wicked individual walked straight to the auditorium where Violet tried as fast as she could to take each one to their seats. Much to all of the Baudelaires' surprise, none of these people were any that they recognized and Violet, Klaus and Sunny were beginning to wonder if all of these villains were working alongside C. Nimodi, or were some of them only pretending to be wicked so they could get inside?
While Violet attended to her duties, she watched the stage where Esmé Squalor and some of the troupe members, particularly the mute, the tall man who was actually quite short and the short woman who was actually quite tall performed the play that Falo had worked diligently to prepare.
The female villain's acting ability in one word was atrocious, and her fellow troupe members were faring no better. Now, if you were there among the audience watching this terrible rendition of an equally horrible play I'm quite sure you would've done the proper thing and tried to leave the theater right then, especially whenever Esmé tried to sing like a canary and ended up sounding like a crow.
In short, the entire theatrical production was a mess and Violet knew there was no way if this had been merely an attempt to reopen the Ned H. Rirger Theater that Esmé or the former troupe members of Count Olaf would've been able to save the theater, were such a thing possible. Violet also wished that she didn't have to be there in the auditorium and listen to the screeches that Esmé claimed was her voice and I'm sure the eldest Baudelaire would've preferred to be in another place entirely, perhaps a better furnished theater where a better play was going on that involved a braeman and a baticeer.
As the auditorium slowly became full, Violet wondered when C. Nimodi might act in his efforts to cause more discord among the group and wondered if Esmé had been telling the truth and Klaus wondered if there was a chance that anyone might go upstairs and find some secret that they had not and Sunny wondered perhaps most importantly of all, what Mr. Poe was doing here at the Ned H. Rirger Theater.
If you've read any of the previous installments of the Baudelaire's miserable lives then I'm sure you know precisely who Mr. Poe is and why Sunny was surprised to see him there. And as the banker approached the ticket booth and passed Sunny the invitation he'd received, the former toddler realized this might be her chance to do something.
"Mister Poe!" she proclaimed as she stared up at the banker. The man coughed into his handkerchief and looked down at her before asking, "I say, how is that you know my name?" "Mister Poe, its me! Sunny Baudelaire!" she explained. "I say, you know the Baudelaires? What a small world it is! I am their banker you know," the banker explained.
"No I am one of the Baudelaires!" Sunny exclaimed. "I haven't seen them since they went off with that brother of Count Olaf quite some time ago, I do hope they are all right," he stated and then before she got a chance to say another word, he entered the theater, where Klaus offered him a drink and then realized who he was. "Mr. Poe! Its me! Klaus!" he exclaimed to the banker. The man coughed again and muttered, "Why I have a client with that exact name!"
Before Klaus could say another word to explain himself the banker walked into the auditorium as you might've guessed by now, you know precisely what is that happened whenever Violet tried to tell the man who she was and why they were there. Not only that, but once the banker had come and sat down, Violet realized that the theater itself was now full and told Klaus to tell Sunny to tell the patrons that no one else could enter.
As Sunny turned to the last guest, who had arrived terribly late; getting stuck in traffic and sopping wet from the rainstorm he'd driven thru; the former toddler told him, "I'm sorry, but the theater is now full and we can't let anyone else in." The man sighed and said, "It figures I would arrive too late."
He adjusted his hat and walked back to the taxi he'd driven in to get there, glancing back at Sunny only briefly and perhaps; shedding a tear for some faint memory in the distant past.
Once Sunny was sure that they were all gone, and Violet made certain everyone was seated and Klaus made sure that no one was hiding in the lobby, the three of them; along with Beatrice who was still asleep; gathered in the lobby. "We did it," Violet proclaimed with a smile. "Yes, but now how do we find out what C. Nimodi is planning?" Sunny wondered. "I wish I knew, the theater critic told us to search for clues everywhere; but we've not found the answers we're searching for yet!" Klaus realized.
"Baudelaires!" a voice whispered and the three of them looked around the lobby, trying to find the source of the voice and then saw a figure standing behind the stairs, where the secret passageway came out. Violet, Klaus and Sunny cautiously approached the shadow and then watched as the other powder-faced woman appeared and smiled at them, "Thank goodness! I was beginning to wonder if I could find you before it is too late!"
"You know what the wicked theater critic is planning?" Violet guessed. "That doesn't matter!" the troupe member explained and then pointed up the stairs and said, "I know where you can find the information you're looking for! But we have to hurry or we'll lose everything!" Klaus and his sisters looked at each other, and wanted to trust the troupe member but weren't sure if that was the wisest thing to do. "Baudelaires please! The show must go on! I don't want anyone to murder me like they did my poor partner," the powder-faced woman proclaimed.
"What are we looking for?" Klaus asked in confusion. "We've searched every nook and cranny up there," Sunny pointed out. "You weren't here whenever this theater was built… so you wouldn't know, but we're looking for the dressing room of a famous actor who once worked here," the powder-faced woman explained as she walked up the steps and then added, "His name was Lemony."
The Baudelaires are running out of time and the truth looms closer! Read, review and share please! :]