Chapter 7: Forestry

Some people are born with an innate sense of direction and can find themselves out of a giant wilderness with nothing but the clothes on their back – the Baudelaires were not as fortunate as those people.

Violet ran blindly and saw nothing that looked familiar as she made her way up a steady incline with her siblings following her. She eventually slowly came to a stop when they got far enough from the marshes for her tastes – either that or because she realized she didn't know where she was going. "Where are we?" Violet asked as she looked around and saw nothing but wilderness.

"I thought you knew where you were going!" Klaus said, "You definably seemed to have a destination in mind."

"Uh-oh," Sunny said, which probably meant something like, "Uh-oh."

"Not me," Violet said, "I had no idea how we got there – or how we got here for that matter."

"Hold on," Klaus said, "Let me think."

"Olaf!" Sunny said, which probably meant, "We can't 'hold on' right now, we have to run away and find someplace safe to hide from Count Olaf."

"Sunny's right, we don't have time."

"Letting him catch up is better then running into him," Klaus argued sensibly and sat down on a patch of moss next to a nearby tree. "I just have to remember what that forestry book I read said about this kind of situation."

"Altimm," Sunny said, which probably meant something like, "Yeah, I'm sure this type of situation was in a book because I'm sure people get lost in the wilderness while they're being chased by an evil maniac who is after their fortune all the time."

Klaus looked at his sister and said something entirely unexpected, "You'd be surprised."
Sunny was certainly surprised.

Violet gave up trying to push her brother onward – he was usually stubborn when he thought he was right. So she just sat down on the ground next to the tree across from him and leaned her head against it.

Sunny, seeing her sister give up, let loose a frustrated sigh in Klaus' direction and sat down next to her sister. Upon sitting down she sighed again, just for good measure and received no reaction from Klaus. She decided that wasn't good enough, so she sighed louder and won a Look. Happy with his discontent, she sat quietly – for the time being –and leaned her head against her sister in an attempt to get comfortable.

Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, and hours felt like years as they sat there and waited for something to come along to strike them with inspiration or a new look on their situation. Fortunately, they waited no more then five minutes before sunlight started seeping through the leaves and lighting up the area.

Inspiration suddenly launched Klaus into the air and into a standing position. "That way," he spurted out and pointed up the hill.

"Why do you think that, Klaus?" Violet asked while getting up herself. She wasn't questioning her brother's intuition or anything, she just wanted to know just in case they were in that situation again sometime. And considering the way things had been going lately, it wasn't a bad idea to learn all the basic survival instincts they could come up with.

"It's not rocket science," her brother deftly recited the cliché, "the trees are sparser over there and it's only logical that the trees will thin out near the edge of the forest."
"Ah," Violet intoned feeling stupid.

So they walked up the hill till the trees finally ended and found themselves at a road. "Which way now?" Violet wondered aloud, knowing full well that neither of her siblings knew the answer for themselves.

They were standing idly trying to come up with a good plan when a black car with a sputtering muffler came into view. The orphans tried to flag it down; they were ignored. "So much for that hope," Klaus said with disappointment.

"That way," Violet said and pointed the opposite way from where the car was heading. "I can only assume he was going to work and the closest possible town from here is Flannigan."

"If the closest town from here is Flannigan, shouldn't we be going the way he was heading?" Klaus asked.

"No, Flannigan is a small town and doesn't have very many job opportunities. So, chances are he was on his way to the city in order to get to work."

"Oh," Klaus said catching he drift, "I get it now. You're brilliant!"

"You were brilliant for getting us out of the forest, though" Violet said modestly and felt much better for not being able to get them out of the forest herself.

"Lezgo!" Sunny said, which probably meant, "We have to get somewhere safer then this! In case you haven't noticed, Olaf is still after us. You can get all sentimental later!" she said logically, although she was probably just jealous she hadn't done anything helpful yet.

Admitting she was right, the two elder Baudelaires quickly started heading up the road toward what could only be the way to their house.

After walking for what felt like a long time – my records tell me it was really only around twenty minutes – they found their way home and went inside where they were happily greeted by William Harrison.

"Hello, Willis," Klaus said as he picked him up and patted him on his head.

Willis could tell something was wrong with the three children as they held him and hugged him as if he just saved their lives from the most evil thing in the world. Willis became tense in Klaus' arms, jumped out and ran toward the back door in the kitchen where they should have entered. "OOK!" William Harrison shouted out the window.

The children had no idea what he was trying to say. "What are you talking about, Willis?" Violet asked as he kept on screeching.

He kept shouting though, useless as it was. So they came over and looked out the window to see what had sent Willis screaming in hysterics. Aunt Blaine was galumphing – a word here which means, "limping slowly in a great deal of pain" – up the hill while attempting to keep a good grip on the shoe-boxes with the frogs in them.

Klaus was the first one out the door to give Aunt Blaine his assistance.

Author Notes: Please review as always. It warms up the cold mountain wind. I don't know how but it really does. The next chapter isn't quite done yet. Normal when I post it is but I've been really busy and its been a while since I last put a chapter up. A lot happens in the next chapter and I'm having some troubles keeping Willis and Sunny in the story. They like to drop out of sight every now and then so I'm trying to rectify that situation.

Also, if any of you believed I could write this story without saying anything close to "What'chyou talking about, Willis?" you were merely kidding yourselves. And chances are, it's going to happen again next chapter. Sorry but it's been a run on joke with my cousins (father's side) for the past couple years.

By the way flames are welcome, just try to make them constructive. Does anyone else think I say "He/She said" way too much for my own good?

Next, the Baudelaires' spirits are broke
when a worry wort steals their last hope.