One

The air was stagnant below the awning of Stagnant Station as Hurricane Melville blew winds on either side of the decaying structure and rain pelted the rooftop and thunder clapped in the night sky and the four sitting on the bench alone all huddled together and felt like being stagnant themselves, considering the amount of travel they'd just done to get here.

The four were of course none other than the Baudelaire orphans and the reason that they were so exhausted was because of the amount of distance they had just walked from the town of Lake Lachrymose and Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice all felt like they needed to rest a bit whenever they arrived at the old train station.

The reason that they had accomplished this feat could be easily ascertained if you were sitting alongside the children and happened to notice what was in the oldest orphan's hand, but since it is quite likely that you were not there at Stagnant Station with the Baudelaires,

I shall simply tell you that the sixteen year old was keeping a tight grip on four tickets that they had recently obtained from their good friend Gustav Sebald, and she was probably thinking about the important message that the good doctor had imparted to them before he jumped onto the back of a fire truck and drove away from the Anxious Clown diner, leaving the Baudelaires completely alone and in the dark, a phrase which here means "Gustav had so many secrets relating to the history of V.F.D. that both Violet and her younger siblings felt it was unfair that he had chosen to rush off and leave them behind, just as Falo had done before supplying them with some sort of answer regarding everything that had happened lately."

If you know anything at all about the Baudelaire orphans than I'm sure you will agree that their lives have been anything but stagnant since Mister Poe came to them at Briny Beach and informed them that their parents had died in a dangerous fire, similar to the one that the children had just tried to rescue Gustav's sister, Sally Sebald from just hours earlier; but had failed in doing so. In fact, the children's lives had been rather hectic, a word which here means, "Klaus, Sunny, Violet and Beatrice had been so busy avoiding Count Olaf, trying to help their fellow volunteers and recently narrowly escaping fires that they'd not had anytime to recover".

Yes, Sunny and her siblings were tired and hungry and felt like they were completely and utterly alone in the wicked world because Falo, the evil twin of Count Olaf and the Baudelaire's current guardian had chosen to leave to somewhere known as the rendezvous; as had Gustav and a man named Lemony whom until recently the children had presumed was dead.

In a literal sense, the orphans were entirely on their own, because the Stagnant Station was empty save for the four of them and this made both Violet and her younger brother and sisters feel even more despondent. The reason that they were sitting here in this rundown train station was because sometime soon, according to the tickets that Gustav had given them; a train was supposed to arrive and there was one ticket for Violet, Klaus and Sunny and one for Gustav.

The good doctor had wisely decided to offer this boarding pass to Beatrice, the Baudelaires' adopted sister presuming and might I add correctly; that his good friend hadn't known that there was now a fourth Baudelaire especially since the articles in The Daily Punctilio couldn't be trusted.

They had no luggage to haul with them, since Sunny, Violet, Beatrice and Klaus had grown accustomed to moving from place to place and all they really had was an assortment of clues that were somehow intertwined to their parents and a dismal author and the unfortunate events they were personally experiencing.

The first Klaus was holding and examining and it was a photograph that the Baudelaires had found during their time at the Very Fine Dwelling, showing four individuals, the Baudelaires' parents, Count Olaf and the equally if not more wicked Mister Dominic.

The second Sunny was reciting to Beatrice to calm her, and it was a copy of "My Silence Knot" which the children had discovered during their stay at the Ned H. Rirger Theater and the third Violet held in her pocket and was perhaps the most significant of all, even though it was only two words that the powder-faced woman, a former member of Count Olaf's troublesome troupe that was now dead; had written for Violet and her siblings and those two words were:

Find lemony

But this note seemed to also hold the most mystery for the children, who were coming to find that whomever Lemony was he was keenly interested in their affairs and had apparently known their mother and probably conspired with her to murder Olaf's parents and also was somehow connected to the children's current enemy, the dastardly, despicable and dangerous Mister Dominic; a former counselor, critic, curator, and collector that they had first met upon their return to society at the Very Fine Dwelling. And if you don't know anything about this terrible villain then I suggest you stop reading right now because you will be much safer that way.

Violet sighed as she sat there beside her siblings and they all watched as the hurricane continued to lash against the town of Lake Lachrymose. The four children were sopping wet because they had traveled thru the rain for quite some time and they were cold because they had nothing to warm them up, and Sunny might've thought about a good recipe for soup if she could just stop shivering.

They had been sitting there for at least thirty minutes at Stagnant Station and Klaus was beginning to wonder if the train was going to be coming at all. The tickets that Gustav Sebald had given the orphans had also apparently originated with a man named Lemony and Violet and her siblings guessed that it was the same one whom they'd begun to investigate, and according to the four boarding passes; the train was supposed to arrive at 2:30 but it failed to say if this was during the day or the night.

Sadly the Baudelaires had lost all track of time since they'd left in a hurry to avoid being caught by the authorities, and with Hurricane Melville making the sky darker than usual they had no idea whether or not it was day or night or if the train had come already or wasn't there yet.

In short, they had never felt so very alone and puzzled by the many mysteries that seemed to plague them and even though Falo their former guardian had proclaimed they were now volunteers; the Baudelaires had no idea what to do now that they were.

It was obvious during the year that the children had spent on the island away from the wicked world that much had occurred during their absence, but Klaus, Sunny, Beatrice and Violet had no way to find out what had happened to their friends or to their enemies for that matter especially since they were now fugitives themselves.

Klaus wished that they had fresh clean clothes, not ones that were singed from the fire that had occurred at the Anxious Clown and Beatrice probably wished that she could crawl around because she had been tired of staying put ever since she had learned to do this.

But all four of the children wished that they were back home, with their parents in the Baudelaire mansion and that none of these unfortunate events had ever taken place and that they had never met Mister Dominic or Count Olaf or been forced to uncover secrets that would take a lifetime to discover or lead to more questions. Just then, off in the distance the middle Baudelaire thought that he heard the soft sound of a horn and declared, "I think the train is approaching."

In the downpour of Hurricane Melville it was impossible to see for certain so the orphans stayed under the awning of Stagnant Station and waited to see if their brother was right. The low rumble of something approaching from the west was enough to confirm the well-read orphan's guess, and the four of them watched as the train's front light came into view, shining thru the stagnant air as it approached Stagnant Station.

The loud horn of the express roared above any other noise that could be heard for miles around as the engine started slowing down and the children waited for it to come to a complete stop.

Because of the continuous storm all around them, Beatrice, Sunny, Klaus and Violet couldn't make out how big the train was or how long it stretched behind them but the orphans presumed that a luxury express such as this was probably the largest they'd ever seen, seeing as the only other time they'd traveled on a train had been to Paltryville ages ago, and Klaus briefly wondered if this was the same convoy that they'd traveled on.

Finally, the massive metal machine came to a complete stop and the Baudelaires gazed at the large bold emerald letters on the side of this passenger car that read:

IN-FINITE EXPRESS

"GETTING YOU FROM HERE TO THERE, WITHOUT THE MESS"

Each of the passenger cars in front and behind this one also had the logo of the train emboldened on the side below the windows; although not every car had windows and some of the emboldened letters were worn out. Klaus noted that the entire train had been built from emerald lumber, thus making it stand out among the storm that was hitting Stagnant Station and Violet presumed that the reason this was the case was because it had been built with wood from the Finite Forest.

Just then, the door to the passenger car opened and a tall man who was wearing the uniform of an attendant stepped out and yelled in a loud voice, "All aboard!"

He was wearing a uniform that matched the outside of the In-Finite Express and was tall and lanky and had dirty brown hair and clean green eyes and a slight scar on his right cheek.

The Baudelaires looked at one another in confusion whenever he called out in such a way, because they were the only people standing there stagnantly, a word which here means languorously and the four of them walked in front of the door and Violet passed him the four boarding passes.

The man looked at them for a brief moment and then nodded and stepped out of the way, allowing the Baudelaires access to the express. As they got onboard the In-Finite Express, the attendant seemed to be waiting to see if someone else would show up and then commented, "None of you are carrying any luggage?"

"We didn't have much time to pack," Sunny said hastily.

"You seem awfully familiar," the man in the emerald uniform commented as he looked one last time out toward Stagnant Station, frowned and then closed the door. The small passenger car that they were now in held absolutely nothing in it except for a booth that the attendant went to stand behind as he ripped their boarding passes in part and then dropped them into the center of the booth before commenting, "Yes I feel like I've seen you four somewhere before."

Violet, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice all felt very tense about this because they knew that it was entirely possible that the attendant had seen their pictures in articles of The Daily Punctilio and wondered if this was the case.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," the dirty brown haired man conceded as he opened the door behind him and commented, "Come along, I'll show you to your cabins. The In-Finite Express will be departing soon." Klaus and his sisters, still wet from being drenched by Hurricane Melville followed the attendant down the narrow corridor which had rooms on either side of the hallway.

The rug beneath them was embroidered with an emerald outline and had the initials L.S. on the edge of it and Beatrice paused, wondering what this meant as the children passed to the next car. The entire train seemed to jolt suddenly as they did so, and the attendant remarked, "It's quite all right, children. That just means we're heading out of here toward our next destination."

Sunny heard the distinct sound of the express' horn blaring above the storm outside and then gazed out the window toward Stagnant Station once more. She thought she caught sight of a car approaching underneath the awning but couldn't be sure as they walked thru another passenger car and her view was obscured.

Had she gotten a better look, the former infant might've realized that it was a taxi approaching and might've informed the attendant about this; but it is unlikely that the train could've stopped had she done so. As for the taxi driver who had arrived ten minutes too late, well some things are too dismal for me to write about.

"Here we are, Cabin 778; this is where your boarding passes said you would be staying," the attendant said; took out a key and gave to Violet before adding, "There are only two sets of keys to each room so please don't lose this one because it's the only one we can make a copy of."

The eldest Baudelaire wondered how that made any sense at all, but decided not to argue with the attendant and said, "Thank you for telling us that, we won't lose it."

"Good, well I hope you have a relaxing journey here onboard the In-Finite Express. If you need anything, please tell me or Monday," the attendant said and then walked back up the corridor to whatever assignment he had to do next. The Baudelaires stepped inside the small cabin that they would be sleeping in, and Klaus, Violet, Sunny and Beatrice were glad to see for once that their accommodations were almost reasonable.

If you have ever traveled around the world in eighty days, or any long period of time; than I am sure you are accustomed to sleeping in quarters fitting for you to take on such a daunting journey.

But the Baudelaires had been traveling for well over a year now since their parents had died and they were no longer children but rather orphans, and they had grown accustomed to sleeping in places that were sub par, a phrase which here means "Klaus, Violet and Sunny had learned to sleep in the backs of trunks, in a cavern, in a leaky submarine, behind a hotel desk and more recently with their adopted sister Beatrice; in a now destroyed school bus and theater basement" so whenever they entered cabin 778, the Baudelaires smiled; pleased to see that the cabin had four beds, two on each side and that they were bunk beds each with two pillows that were also green with the embroidered L.S. on them and each with small green blankets that would be the proper size for each of them.

Upon seeing what nice accommodations they had, the children smiled and realized that for the first time in a very long time they would actually get a full night's rest.

In fact, the orphans felt like their trip on the In-Finite Express might just be the most relaxing one that they'd had, and that they would finally get a chance to gather their thoughts and not have to deal with vicious villainy or uncover some mysterious secret or break a code or save a friend from a terrible fire and so the Baudelaires made a grave mistake and felt that they had finally gotten a break from the action that they had needed so desperately.

And if you were also concluding incorrectly that Klaus, Violet, Sunny and Beatrice's time onboard the In-Finite Express would be devoid of any such terrible troubles than let me assure you right away that this will not be the case and that the Baudelaire's time spent onboard the trudging train would instead be filled with coded messages, dangerous meetings, perilous jumps and stew.

So if you fill inclined to read any further whatsoever, I encourage you to reconsider this carefully and if you are traveling onboard a train of some kind and are reading this manuscript then I would recommend you hurl it out the window before you read any further because if you do so you may find yourself wanting to hurl yourself out the window instead.

Because that is what you will find yourself wanting to do whenever you discover the dangerous things that happen to Klaus, Sunny, Beatrice and Violet onboard the In-Finite Express and you will undoubtedly be depressed and find yourself miserable and also well past your designated destination and find yourself asking anyone in the area whether or not they know which way to go and wishing that you hadn't taken that wrong turn at Albuquerque.

So instead, I recommend you tend to activities that are much more pleasant such as scrubbing a bathtub or fixing an air conditioning and not read any further about Klaus as he closed the door behind them once everyone was inside and hear nothing else at all about Sunny as she climbed to one of the upper bunk beds and stop altogether about learning about Beatrice as she crawled under the covers of the lower bed and find out nothing whatsoever about Violet as she closed the window in their cabin and turned off the lights and presumed just as her siblings did that their trip onboard the In-Finite Express would be completely pleasant and not completely hectic as I have warned you it would be.

Each of the Baudelaires fell asleep in their respective beds, not realizing just as you do not; that the next day and every other day they were on the expedient express would be filled with nothing but trouble for them.

A treacherous trip is in store for the orphans! find out more soon! read and review please!