A/N: I do not own, so do not sue.
A Golden Key and A Bay Window
The story that I must relate to you, is a continuation from the voice of one such, Lemony Snicket. I am afraid that I cannot say it is a happy tale. In fact it is quite the opposite. This occurrence that I must share is another in the Baudelaire chronicles. Another that results in such horrific and catastrophic events that in all honesty I wish you would just set this book down. This does not mean, however, that events in the middle are quite as bad… But you'll just have to read to find out.
Violet Baudelaire sat in the front seat of Mr. Poe's car, fishing in his glove compartment for a set of obnoxious and jangly keys. Three times he had told her she couldn't miss them. Four times, she had gone diving into the glove box. And two times her head had connected with the hard surface as the banker screeched the car to a halt at traffic lights, fussing over the loss of the keys, the enormous amount of paperwork he had to do that day, and the large welt that was growing on the oldest Baudelaire's temple.
"Ouch!" Violet shrieked again as the car pulled to a rough stop and her hand slammed into the back of the compartment, trying to avoid head contact for a third time.
Mr. Poe was concerned, "Dear child, it cannot be THAT hard to find a set of keys. They're gold, and shiny, and good gracious, Violet, quit hurting yourself!"
Violet opened her mouth to speak, clearly annoyed at Mr. Poe's lack of driving finesse, but closed it again as she thought better of it.
Here I will pause the story, for as you all know, the further you get into any reading without the proper information, the sooner you become confused. And the sooner you become confused, the more befuddled you will end up. The word "befuddled" here means, "thoroughly discombobulated, or unaware of details like who did what, when, where and why and just how they connect". So, as it goes, this snippet of the Baudelaire orphans files comes between the sections labeled conveniently "The Wide Window" and "The Miserable Mill," or books 3 and 4, for those such movie goers. Thwarting Count Olaf's attempts to ransack their lives any further and keeping their fortune close at hand, the siblings were now headed to their new home. And everyone knows what that means, for even though Klaus, Sunny and Violet Baudelaire were the best and the brightest, their blue ribbons and their logical brains didn't keep them from fretting over this new 'relative'. So, just as the despairing car of Mr. Poe continued to putt along the street, we shall continue to trace each of the Baudelaire's steps in this newfound journey.
Peering wearily out the back window sat the middle orphan, Klaus Baudelaire. His eyes half open, he kept his bleary gaze partially focused; only snapping back to reality when the vehicle screamed to a halt or gave off a particularly loud sputter.
In the middle of the back seat sat the youngest Baudelaire, teeth gnawing impatiently away at the extra tail-strap of her seat belt, Sunny blinked worriedly up at her brother.
"Meff," she stated her concern clearly, the children understanding her to have said something along the lines of "Klaus, don't look so down. Maybe this new person won't be so terrible?"
Reaching out with a small hand to pat his arm, Sunny looked for conformation from Violet. The eldest merely sighed. She didn't know what lay ahead, and quite frankly, she was at a point of her life where one would not particularly care. Right now, her mission was to find some dratted keys without knocking herself silly. Scowling at the dash board, she slid her hand through the thoroughly messed papers, flipping them sideways and upside down.
Now, if you were in Klaus' shoes, you would probably be looking at the road and pondering what devilish fate awaited you. But, if you took the time to look up and around at the passing scenery, you would have noted that you were driving through a sandy beach area and heading towards a good sized city. When I say 'good sized' here I mean large, or larger, and probably housing many restaurants, bookshops, and many a spare parts shop. In other words, if the children had cast their gaze anywhere but the glove compartment, the road and the lower parts of the door, though Sunny could barely see anything as it was, they would have found that life had taken a slightly happy and unexpected turn. This, however, does not mean that our story will be fortunate, for it is not. It only appears that way.
"Adah," Sunny sighed, which here probably meant "Are we there yet?"
Mr. Poe glanced in his rear-view mirror, "I know it feels like forever, Baudelaires, but we'll be there soon. Minny Massey was the next closest relative that I could find for you, and she lives three hours away. Dear children, if you insist on loosing your guardians this quickly I don't know what I'll do with you!"
All three children's eyes shot up at the name of their new guardian.
"Minny?" Violet asked.
"Yes, Minny, with a 'y'. But you're to call her Ms. Massey until she says otherwise," Mr. Poe replied a hand shooting out to point at the dash board once more.
"Violet, have you found them yet? I know they're in there! I received them from Ms. Massey and I must give them to you to enter her house. She made it plain to me that she would not be at home when you children get there."
The images of their caretaker danced through the children's head. Minny Massey; a hopeless feeling washed over them as they imagined a short and stocky woman briskly informing Mr. Poe that she would not be around to be introduced to the children, much less have time to properly care for them. Violet abandoned her search for the keys, Klaus moved his eyes from the road to the floor of the car and Sunny stopped chewing on her seatbelt.
"Oh don't look so glum," Mr. Poe sniffed, exasperated. "And where are those keys?"
Giving the glove box one last glance, Violet's eyes caught on something shiny that had been jammed in the back corner by her distracted search. Picking up the car registration, a piece of paper that signifies insurance and that Mr. Poe owns the vehicle, she squinted at the glinting metal. She could have sworn she was looking for a klinky keychain full of them, the way the banker had described it, but this was the only key she had seen.
"Found it," Violet proclaimed, taking the key out of its compartment to look it over.
The gold was beautiful and glimmered in the light of day. The metal had been sculpted into a long and lanky twist, the swirls making out the initials "MM" in beautiful script that vaguely reminded Violet of her mother's handwriting.
Mr. Poe closed the opening in the dashboard before focusing once more on his driving.
"We are almost there, Baudelaires. One more turn and a quick skip down the street--, " here he burst into one of his coughing fits, and for a moment, Violet worried that the car would swerve into the oncoming traffic.
Klaus instinctively looked out the window as they turned the corner, peeling, I use the word "peeling" here because as anxious as the children were, their eyes were held wide open as they observed their surroundings, his eyes wide open for a glimpse of their new home.
The streets of the suburbs were pale and orderly, with flowers painting the street in rows under trees and below windows. The houses were mostly two-stories of good size and usually painted in white, with some pastel trim of pink, yellow or blue. Every so often you would see someone who had gotten their colors switched but it was not a recurring occurrence, and the Baudelaire orphans could not help but wonder just what kind of place Mr. Poe had moved them into.
As they drove a quick skip, Mr. Poe hurriedly gave directions, "Now children, you are not to touch anything. Wait for permission. She has a very eccentric house, which means—"
"A little odd," Klaus finished his sentence vaguely, wondering if Minny Massey was one of the color-switched, non-conformists.
And Klaus would soon find he was right, partially. Pulling to a stop in front of a particularly white and clean house, Mr. Poe gestured for the children to exit the car, opening his own door and stepping outside. Taking a deep breath, the three orphans cast their eyes to the polished home before exiting the car as well. The key still clutched in her palm, Violet led her siblings to the trunk where Mr. Poe stood, unloading their suitcases that were filled with horrid clothing they had ripped to shreds not too long ago. However, they would never tell the affair manager what they had done.
Sunny in one arm, suitcase in the other, Klaus followed instep with his sister as Mr. Poe led them… away from the house.
"We… isn't that her house back there?" the middle child asked, confused.
"Oh no! Of course not!" Mr. Poe smiled calmly and pointed to the place across the street.
A tall and rather lovely house stood before them, its walls constructed of bright red brick and a rather large glass window pane in the front draped with brilliant emerald green curtains. The grand wooden door gave it a homely appearance, and added a flare, or "a bit", of mystery. For a minute the Baudelaires stood in awe at the contrast between the buildings, glancing at the freely growing ivy on the wall of Ms. Massey's home and then back to the boxed in flowers that lined the street and puzzled. How could someone in an area like this, in a suburb like this, on a street like this get away with such a unique building?
Directing their attention back to the large brick (and did I mention limestone?) building, the three siblings ogled at the manor. One of the windows on the second floor, in the front of Minny Massey's house was what people would call a 'bay window', or a window that curves out and away from the wall in a semi-circle, specially made with gothic stain-glass windows. There was another room in the back that they could see from the front yard with glass walls, a planetarium or green house, they assumed, which reminded them sadly of the reptile room. If they looked around the other corner, they could see a magnificent garden for cooking, planted beside a side door, one that connected to the kitchen, perhaps.
"Oooo," Sunny cooed, her eyes growing wide as she took everything in, which meant something along the lines of "Wow! This is a pretty house. I like it."
Violet and Klaus smiled at each other. Yes, things did seem fairly enchanting for the moment, and if one was to tell you just what was going through their heads, they would simply say, "Maybe. Just maybe, things were looking up."- An expression that refers to the coming of better times.
"Well, Baudelaires," Mr. Poe said after they had paused in their admiration. "This is where I leave you. Violet, you have the key, please do not leave it in the lock," here he stopped to cough, "and remember do not touch, behave yourselves, and bevery polite. I do not wish to drive all the way out here to retrieve you. Again."
And with that, Mr. Poe skedaddled, a word here that means "Mr. Poe moved to his car with haste", to his car before backing out of the curving, gravelly drive.
A/N: There ya have it! The first chapter! What do ya think? Origionally, this started out as a study off Snicket's style of writing. How do you think it turned out?
