Chapter 2
Last you read of the Baudelaire orphans they had narrowly escaped an inevitably miserable fate. Unfortunately, escaping is the last thing they would succeed in doing for a very long time. Even as Mr. Poe drove them away from Count Olaf's terrible grasp, Sunny, who could not yet even utter an intelligible sentence, felt as though they were merely exchanging one horrible fate for another.
"Roodab!" she said, which meant something like "I feel as if we're merely exchanging one horrible fate for another!"
"I feel that way, too." said Violet as she starred out the small car window and held Sunny close.
"Me too." agreed Klaus. "Maybe we all feel that way because where we're heading is literally quite dark."
Klaus was right. As the children looked out at the hilly country road they traveled, they could see that it grew dark and ominous (a word which here means threatening) not too far ahead.
Nobody spoke for a few moments. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, couldn't speak because they missed their parents very much. As Klaus rested his forehead against the cold window, he thought of his mother and how she used to read to him. Not only did Mrs. Baudelaire read to Klaus at night when he was snuggled in bed, but she also read to him nearly everywhere they went. She read to him in the grocery store, in doctor's waiting rooms, and when Klaus was an infant and sleeping in his crib. Those were the moments Klaus missed most, and as he thought of them now, a tear ran down his face. As Violet stared out the window, she thought mostly of her father. She could almost hear his voice as if he were close by, calling her by the special nickname he'd invented for her. Forcing back tears, she wondered if Sunny could or would remember their parents, since she was only an infant. Even Violet found it sometimes difficult to remember her father's face. Violet looked over at Klaus, and Klaus looked back at Violet. Then, they both looked at Sunny.
"I'm terribly sorry, children." said Mr. Poe. "I know that your stay with Count Olaf didn't quite meet your expectations. It seems as if he was really a sheep in wolf's clothing."
Klaus saw Mr. Poe's eyes in the rear view mirror.
"You mean a wolf in sheep's clothing." Klaus said.
"Yes, oh whatever." Said Mr. Poe, his agitation (which here means embarrassment) sending him into a furious but short coughing fit.
"I was disappointed in him, that's all." he said, holding his handkerchief over his mouth and then stuffing it back into his pocket. "Use it as a lesson, children. You do not want to pretend to be something you're not."
The hills they were driving over began to make the children feel sick, and they all hoped they would reach their destination soon.
"Where are we going, Mr. Poe?" Violet asked.
"Sussex, where your mother's childhood friend…" Mr. Poe paused and pulled a piece of paper from his left pocket. "… Anita lives. She will be your guardian."
None of the children could remember this friend, but they all liked the name Anita, and had a vague idea that she would be kind to them. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope after all.