AnnieRavenclaw707: Me too! It drives me crazy every time I see the triplets float away in that hot-air mobile home, so I decided to do something about it.
Angryfanfic: Thanks! Glad you liked it.
JustVildaPotter: Thanks for the review! The "man with a beard and hair" was originally just a man with a beard, but then I thought about the menacing duo and changed the description. Keep writing, and enjoy the next chapter!
Chapter Three
As the van rumbled through the Hinterlands, its passengers sat, smiling at the five children who had unwillingly joined their ranks.
"I think we've got the wrong V.F.D.," Isadora whispered to her brother.
"Really? What gave you that idea?" Duncan hissed back, the sarcasm clear in his voice. This earned him a sharp slap in the arm. "Ow!"
"What does V.F.D. stand for?" Violet inquired.
"I'm glad you asked, sister!" The bearded man pulled a guitar out of nowhere.
"Actually, my name is-"
But the smiling people never learned Violet's name, as they interrupted her with song.
We are volunteers fighting disease and we're cheerful all day long.
If someone said that we were sad, that person would be wrong.
Tra la la, fiddle dee dee, hope you get well soon.
Ho ho ho, hee hee hee, have a heart-shaped balloon!
The song continued for five more verses. When it finally ended, Duncan and Isadora clapped obediently, a word which here means: "out of habit from spending so much time around Vice Principal Nero and Count Olaf, two terrible performers who requested applause when they were not worthy of it."
"My name is Violet, and these are my siblings-" Violet started again.
"Oh, we don't bother with names," the bearded man interrupted. "In this organization, we call everyone 'brother' and 'sister'."
"Brothers and sisters are usually people who share parents," Klaus pointed out. "Like Duncan and Isadora."
"But we're willing to make an exception," Isadora said quickly, not wanting to start an argument with a van of overly cheery people.
"I am a violinist!" Duncan whispered to Violet. "I have no time to make exceptions!" Violet giggled.
"Duncan and Isadora?" A volunteer in the back asked. "Aren't those the names of those child murderers?"
"Did you read that in The Daily Punctilio?" asked Duncan nervously. "Because that newspaper isn't entirely trustworthy-"
"Oh, we never read the newspaper," the peppiest volunteer said. "Our motto is: No News is Good News!"
"That seems sensible," Duncan said, although anyone who knew Duncan Quagmire knew that this was not a statement an aspiring journalist would find sensible in any way.
...
If you have read Mr. Snicket's work, then you can assume that the next event in the story was the children's arrival and entrance to the finished half of Heimlich Hospital. You should already know that the children went to meet with Babs, a very nervous woman who was head of Human Resources and the Party-Planning Committee. You should already know about the children's meeting with Hal in the library of records, and his explanation of how the filing system worked, as well as his warning to only glance at the files.
So I will skip ahead in our story, to the night the Baudelaire and Quagmire orphans spent in the unfinished half of the hospital.
"I can't believe we spent a while day in a library without learning anything," Klaus lamented.
"We spent three semesters in a school without learning anything," Isadora noted.
"At least you two finally got a chance to share your notes on V.F.D.," Violet told the Quagmire triplets.
"But now we have the mystery of that film Hal recieved," Duncan said.
"I know. There has to be a way to get into the library of records after hours." Sunny babbled something. "No Sunny, we can't break in. That's a dreadful thing to do, and even if we did, I don't think I would be able to pick the lock."
"We could steal Hal's keys," Duncan suggested. "If we took small pieces of metal and attached them to your hair ribbon, it would feel just like a set of keys."
"He had a point," Isadora agreed. " And I say we go for it. Look who's coming this way."
Hal was walking across the scaffolding, unsteadily balancing six bowls of soup on a tray. The man had the balance of a blind cat.
"Hal," Klaus said, helping him walk across, " how did you know we were out here?"
"You children are just like me," Hal said. "You know how pleasant it is to sleep under the stars on a night like this."
Hal passed the children the soup bowls. The bowls were cold, and contained a few cucumber slices floating in water. The Baudelaires immediately set down their bowls, and the Quagmire triplets followed suit. Hal didn't seem to notice. He sat down next to the children.
"Tell me, how did five children such as yourselves end up in the Hinterlands?"
"We joined Volunteers Fighting Disease," Isadora lied smoothly.
"And what did your parents think about that?"
"Our parents are dead," Violet admitted.
"I'm very sorry to hear that," Hal said.
They all sat in silence for a moment, until Hal stood up. "I really must be going. Good night children, I shall file you under P for People I trust most in the world." He walked unsteadily back to the finished side of the hospital.
"It looks like we'll have to think of another way to look at that film," Violet said. "Without double-crossing a man going blind."
"You underestimate us, Violet." Duncan held up Hal's ring of keys.
Author's Note:
*puts out hand like Mona Lisa Saperstein on Parks and Rec* Reviews pleeeease!
Thanks to everyone who has followed and added this story to their favorites so far. You guys rock!
I wrote this story on paper first, and I am delighted to say I finished it last night. All I have to do now is post it here.
Happy 4th of July to all my American readers out there. Everyone else, enjoy a normal everyday day.