Chapter 4
The next morning, the circus was still being set up so all the clowns, mimes, ride operators, face-painters, animal trainers, acrobats, the ringmaster and the fortune teller were given some free time to explore Librariton.
Madam Lulu agreed to come with the Baudelaires so that they wouldn't get lost. Besides, they liked Madam Lulu and wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. In two weeks they had become great friends, even if it was a little awkward when one orphan called another by their real names, instead of by the Quagmires' names.
"Which way is the library?" Klaus asked. He was so eager to try and find out things about Count Olaf's past that he couldn't stop fidgeting.
"Well, which library'r y'all int'rested in lookin' at, Duncan?" Lulu asked. "There's so many to choose from. Why, there's the smallest library, the second smallest library, the second middle-sized library, the middle sized library, the pretty big library, the big library, the huge library, the gigantic library, the enormous library, or, there's the records library."
"Minganesh!" Sunny shrieked. At this moment she meant something along the lines of "OOH! Let's try the Records Library! Then we can look at old newspapers and stuff!" and that they did.
Madam Lulu walked them the thirteen blocks to the Records Library of Librariton. It was an old looking house-type building, made out of stone, with a high roof and black shutters.
"Here y'all are. Not the most welcomin' building I ever saw, but it'll do."
The Baudelaires did not hear this, though, for they were too busy running up the stone steps.
"I just don't know what it is 'bout those three," Madam Lulu said, shaking her head. "that makes them so darn excited about goin' to that library. What are they lookin' for?" She decided that she would find out. THey always seemed to nervous whever she mentioned their past...and they had said something about living with Count Olaf for a while. Then a terrible thought struck her. What if the Baudelaire murderers, the ones who had murdered their old guardian, were after her beloved Quagmire children? She would have to do everything in her power to protect them--for an enormous price, of which she knew nothing at the time.
***
"We could check for a Baudelaire file again," Violet suggested.
"Or maybe there's a Snicket file, or even a Count Olaf file," Klaus added.
"Rettop!" Sunny shrieked.
"That's true, Sunny. We should go check for a VFD file," agreed Violet, and off they went.
"There's the V section," said Klaus, pointing to a far wall.
"Good. I wonder if this library is set up the way the Heimlich Hospital library is, with the guide words on the outside of the cabinet...?" Violet started, but at once she knew she was wrong, because she looked at one of the labels on a near filing cabinet.
"Ventriloquist...just ventriloquist, nothing else...how strange. Does that mean that this entire filing cabinet is full of things on ventriloquists?" Violet asked. Sunny opened the cabinet and looked through it.
"Phonixe!" she shrieked, which meant "From what I can read, yes. It is very difficult for me to tell, though, because I am only a baby."
"Oh no," moaned Klaus. "This will take forever!" They caught him eyeing the filing cabinet for "book."
"Well, if one of our parents is alive, Klaus, it'll all be worth it, won't it?" Violet said determinedly, and Klaus was persuaded.
"If there IS a VFD cabinet, it should be around here somewhere. After all, the letter F comes right after E," Klaus said.
"Right...it should be...right...HERE!" exclaimed Violet excitedly. She was pointing to a dusty cabinet that looked as though it had not been opened for a long time. On a yellowing piece of paper held in place by silver frames were the printed letters: VFD.
"Nofake!" Sunny whispered, meaning something like: "This cabinet probably holds the REAL meaning of VFD. The one the Quagmires told us about. Not that silly 'Very Freakish Dog' thing Madam Lulu was talking about."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's open it!" Klaus said. He pulled open the cabinet. It was very heavy, and groaned when it opened.
To the Baudelaires' dismay, the filing cabinet was full of many folders, each with a different "VFD" on top. The orphans recognized one, Volunteers Fighting Disease, from the Heimlich Hospital. But there were so many they had never heard before...
"Ventilated Four-Doors? Vain French Dukes? Vexatious Folk Dances? What is all this? I never knew there were so many VFDs," Violet said discouragedly.
"Maybe Jacques worked at the factory that made Versatile Frilly Draperies!" Klaus joked, but he stopped with a stern look from Violet.
"Categorium!" Sunny said, meaning something along the lines of, "Well, let's look for a VFD that sounds like it has something to do with our past, or Count Olaf."
"Good idea, Sunny," Violet agreed, and they all started flipping through the file cabinet, murmuring to themselves about the possibility of this particular VFD being the one that mattered to them. From the Voracious for Fried Duck club to Voluminous Finnish Dictionaries they searched and searched, until they at last came to something they thought could be of use to them: Volunteer Fire Department. Klaus excitedly opened the folder.
"Empty! Completely empty! Except for this--this list of OTHER file names..." he scanned the list, which looked like this:
RELATED FILES
-CRIMINALS, 10 MOST WANTED
-FORTUNE TELLING
-TATTOO
-SNICKET FAMILY, THE HISTORY OF
and, way down at the very bottom, scrawled in messy print instead of neatly typed, was one word. That word was "Baudelaire."
The next morning, the circus was still being set up so all the clowns, mimes, ride operators, face-painters, animal trainers, acrobats, the ringmaster and the fortune teller were given some free time to explore Librariton.
Madam Lulu agreed to come with the Baudelaires so that they wouldn't get lost. Besides, they liked Madam Lulu and wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. In two weeks they had become great friends, even if it was a little awkward when one orphan called another by their real names, instead of by the Quagmires' names.
"Which way is the library?" Klaus asked. He was so eager to try and find out things about Count Olaf's past that he couldn't stop fidgeting.
"Well, which library'r y'all int'rested in lookin' at, Duncan?" Lulu asked. "There's so many to choose from. Why, there's the smallest library, the second smallest library, the second middle-sized library, the middle sized library, the pretty big library, the big library, the huge library, the gigantic library, the enormous library, or, there's the records library."
"Minganesh!" Sunny shrieked. At this moment she meant something along the lines of "OOH! Let's try the Records Library! Then we can look at old newspapers and stuff!" and that they did.
Madam Lulu walked them the thirteen blocks to the Records Library of Librariton. It was an old looking house-type building, made out of stone, with a high roof and black shutters.
"Here y'all are. Not the most welcomin' building I ever saw, but it'll do."
The Baudelaires did not hear this, though, for they were too busy running up the stone steps.
"I just don't know what it is 'bout those three," Madam Lulu said, shaking her head. "that makes them so darn excited about goin' to that library. What are they lookin' for?" She decided that she would find out. THey always seemed to nervous whever she mentioned their past...and they had said something about living with Count Olaf for a while. Then a terrible thought struck her. What if the Baudelaire murderers, the ones who had murdered their old guardian, were after her beloved Quagmire children? She would have to do everything in her power to protect them--for an enormous price, of which she knew nothing at the time.
***
"We could check for a Baudelaire file again," Violet suggested.
"Or maybe there's a Snicket file, or even a Count Olaf file," Klaus added.
"Rettop!" Sunny shrieked.
"That's true, Sunny. We should go check for a VFD file," agreed Violet, and off they went.
"There's the V section," said Klaus, pointing to a far wall.
"Good. I wonder if this library is set up the way the Heimlich Hospital library is, with the guide words on the outside of the cabinet...?" Violet started, but at once she knew she was wrong, because she looked at one of the labels on a near filing cabinet.
"Ventriloquist...just ventriloquist, nothing else...how strange. Does that mean that this entire filing cabinet is full of things on ventriloquists?" Violet asked. Sunny opened the cabinet and looked through it.
"Phonixe!" she shrieked, which meant "From what I can read, yes. It is very difficult for me to tell, though, because I am only a baby."
"Oh no," moaned Klaus. "This will take forever!" They caught him eyeing the filing cabinet for "book."
"Well, if one of our parents is alive, Klaus, it'll all be worth it, won't it?" Violet said determinedly, and Klaus was persuaded.
"If there IS a VFD cabinet, it should be around here somewhere. After all, the letter F comes right after E," Klaus said.
"Right...it should be...right...HERE!" exclaimed Violet excitedly. She was pointing to a dusty cabinet that looked as though it had not been opened for a long time. On a yellowing piece of paper held in place by silver frames were the printed letters: VFD.
"Nofake!" Sunny whispered, meaning something like: "This cabinet probably holds the REAL meaning of VFD. The one the Quagmires told us about. Not that silly 'Very Freakish Dog' thing Madam Lulu was talking about."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's open it!" Klaus said. He pulled open the cabinet. It was very heavy, and groaned when it opened.
To the Baudelaires' dismay, the filing cabinet was full of many folders, each with a different "VFD" on top. The orphans recognized one, Volunteers Fighting Disease, from the Heimlich Hospital. But there were so many they had never heard before...
"Ventilated Four-Doors? Vain French Dukes? Vexatious Folk Dances? What is all this? I never knew there were so many VFDs," Violet said discouragedly.
"Maybe Jacques worked at the factory that made Versatile Frilly Draperies!" Klaus joked, but he stopped with a stern look from Violet.
"Categorium!" Sunny said, meaning something along the lines of, "Well, let's look for a VFD that sounds like it has something to do with our past, or Count Olaf."
"Good idea, Sunny," Violet agreed, and they all started flipping through the file cabinet, murmuring to themselves about the possibility of this particular VFD being the one that mattered to them. From the Voracious for Fried Duck club to Voluminous Finnish Dictionaries they searched and searched, until they at last came to something they thought could be of use to them: Volunteer Fire Department. Klaus excitedly opened the folder.
"Empty! Completely empty! Except for this--this list of OTHER file names..." he scanned the list, which looked like this:
RELATED FILES
-CRIMINALS, 10 MOST WANTED
-FORTUNE TELLING
-TATTOO
-SNICKET FAMILY, THE HISTORY OF
and, way down at the very bottom, scrawled in messy print instead of neatly typed, was one word. That word was "Baudelaire."