A/N: wow, this is getting along great. I've already thought of everything that's gonna happen, and I'm even sad about it. Just one question. Am I the only person that actually writes their story down on paper before typing it up?
C h a p t e r Eight
Ah, sorry, but as I write, and the time whizzes past, I realised I am depriving myself of food, and I had to excuse myself for a quick tea break.
But at the mention of this, Sunny stood up and took a few wobbly steps up to Klaus' suitcase.
"Poe, book!" she shrieked, pointing to the suitcase.
"That's right, Sunny!" exclaimed Violet. "Mr. Poe gave you those books, to read on the way here! Maybe they could be of some use?"
"Of course!" Klaus jumped up and ran over to his suitcase right away. Opening it, he took out the four books Mr. Poe had lent him: 'The Financial History of Mulctuary Money Management', 'How Banks Work', 'Money – How to Keep Track of Yours', and 'A Cent Can Grow Into a Dollar'.
"And they're all about finance!" Klaus said. "At last, Mr. Poe has been of some help!" he smiled, and selected two books from the pile. Walking over to Violet, who now had Sunny on her lap, he gave them the book entitled 'Money – How to Keep Track of Yours', and said, "Here, you read this with Sunny. Anything at all which you think is relevant, just shout it out. I'll be reading 'How Banks Work', and I'll let you know when I find something."
"OK," the two girls said together, and they all got down to reading their books.
There was silence for a few minutes, only broken by the occasional flicking of pages.
And the next few minutes…
The next half hour…
Then the next hour…
Until…
"Klaus, I think I've found something," said Violet after an age. "Listen to this…"
"'A parent, or a guardian acting in loco parentis, is liable to withdraw money from their child's account at will, as long as they have the sufficient documentation to prove certain information about their child.'"
"That proves your theory about the papers!" said Klaus excitedly. "But, still, I think there's no way he can get past Mr. Poe."
"Do you have anything yet, Klaus?" asked Violet.
"Well, everything in this book hasn't really been of much help. There is this one thing about being able to change your financial advisor. We could switch, but then there's a greater chance of Olaf getting our money. And I really don't see why we should change. I think that the papers and withdrawal of account money are the strongest clues we have," said Klaus mournfully. "But I've also managed to think of one thing, even though it would be quite evident by now…"
"Yes, go on," Violet said.
"You know the poem that we heard during the performance?"
"The one with the hooded figures?"
"Yes, that one."
"What about it?"
"I've been thinking about the last stanza, or verse, and the first two lines are: 'believe us, there are many more, who take pride in seeing your fear.' I'm starting to think that Uncle Marv is the person being described. He takes pride in seeing our fear."
"And our money," agreed Violet.
"Also, there's a possibility that the hooded figures may be Count Olaf's comrades, as well."
"Size!" shrieked Sunny.
"True again, Sunny," said Klaus. "They were all different sizes, and by the way the audience clapped after they heard the poem, they obviously hadn't heard it before."
They were interrupted suddenly, as someone wiggled the tent flap, the equivalent of knocking on a door.
"Whoozit?" shrieked Sunny, which meant something like, "who is it?"
"Quagmires," came the reply. "May we come in?"
"Yes, you may," said Violet.
"Hello," they all said once they had entered the tent, and the Baudelaires also greeted them.
"Well, we came to ask you if anything was wrong," said Isadora. "You've seemed rather secluded lately…"
The Baudelaires seemed rather taken aback, they had not noticed how quiet and thoughtful they had been over the past few days, when they had found out about Marv's real identity.
Violet chose the right time to crack a sarcastic joke. "Oh, it's nothing big," she said, "only that all of our lives are in danger, due to the reappearance of an arch enemy, that's all."
Sunny looked over at Violet with a grin, and then shrieked, "Olaf!"
"What Sunny means," translated Klaus, "is that Violet means that Count Olaf is here, disguised as Marvolo, the ringleader."
"I thought there was something funny about that new ringleader," said Quigley.
"Yeah, he introduced that 'one-fruit-a-day-and-nothing-else-or-you'll-chuck-it-back-out' system," said Duncan. "But now I realise he's been trying to starve us."
"There's something else we need to tell you," said Violet. "You'd better take a seat…"
The Quagmires sat down on the grassy ground, as each of the three Baudelaires told them what Olaf and his theatre troupe planned to do. There was a deathly silence in the tent, the few moments after they had finished. Apparently, the situation was made worse by the fact that all of the residents of the Fun Festival were, in fact, orphans.
"Are you sure that's what he plans to do?" asked Quigley. "How can you be certain?"
"We're not entirely certain," said Klaus.
"Guess!" shouted Sunny, which probably meant something like, "it was a good guess."
"It's the best we've got," said Violet miserably. "We're going to try and confront him tomorrow."
"Then you're going to need a lot of sleep. It takes a lot of guts to stand up to Olaf," said Duncan.
"Don't we know that well," muttered Klaus in a low voice, and everybody murmured in agreement.