Eleven
To state the obvious is something that no one likes to state, obviously. The reason is that stating the obvious is like walking across fiery coals, you know that your feet are going to get burned.
The reason that people enjoy stating the obvious however, isn't quite as obvious as you may think that it is. But whenever you understand that they have stated the obvious, and then obviously you wished that they hadn't. The Baudelaires had heard things that were obviously stated many times before or they'd said things that were obvious themselves out of sheer shock, which is usually the reason why many people state the obvious.
For example Klaus remembered a time whenever his father and he had decided to play treasure hunt in their mansion and the middle Baudelaire's father had given him a list of things which were to be part of their game.
The game, obviously, was to find the items on the list before time ran out so Klaus would go thru the various chambers of the Baudelaire mansion searching for these items and whenever he found one, he stated the obvious by saying, "I've found it!"
The reason this statement was obvious should be obvious to you just as it was obvious to Klaus then and obviously I don't need to explain how obvious it is.
Not that I have never stated the obvious before because obviously I have many times but the fact remains that each time I do I'm sure several people wish that I hadn't and I too realize that sometimes stating the obvious is the worst thing you can ever hear especially whenever it is spoken to you by someone who obviously no longer shares affection for you and then she states the obvious and tells you, "I don't love you, Lemony."
So in any context stating the obvious is something that you wish hadn't occurred and even there onboard the In-Finite Express, Beatrice, Sunny, Klaus, and Violet knew that they were trapped and outwitted by Mister Dominic. But perhaps what was most obvious of all was the drawing that had just been slipped under their cabin door. It was the third they'd received since boarding the train, but none of the orphans had any clue who was giving them directions or why.
But what they did know was that the directions they now had received seemed impossible. On the bottom of the map were three simple words, which were the point of no return as far as Violet, and her younger siblings were concerned, "Up and out" is all that it said but it was clear what their mysterious comrade wanted them to do.
"We can't climb across the roof of the train," Sunny said, stating the obvious. "But if we do nothing than Mister Dominic is going to derail the train!" Klaus declared, stating the obvious.
"But we have to warn the passengers!" Violet remind her siblings, stating the obvious, obviously.
"If we climb across the top of the In-Finite Express, we'll fall off!" Klaus declared obviously. "Maybe there is some other way to warn all of the passengers?" Sunny suggested. "They probably won't listen to us anyway," her brother lamented.
"Noisiced!" Beatrice remarked, which probably meant, "Well we can't just stay here!" or perhaps, "This noble volunteer is expecting too much out of us!" Both of which were the most obvious things of all.
Violet had grown quiet, staring at the cabin door and her brother immediately quieted the younger orphans as Violet continued to stare at the door and then remarked, "We don't have to climb that far. We're in the seventeenth passenger car, so we only need to get to the fifteenth car, where the door to the In-Finite Express is at." "How are we going to do that, Violet?" Klaus asked.
"There are four beds here in the Quiet car, maybe if we tie all four into a long rope we can use that to cautiously climb out the window and onto the top of the train?" she suggested. "That sounds very dangerous, " Sunny said nervously. "I know, and it is very risky, we might fail," Violet told them. "I think we have to try," her brother remarked and then added, "This will be like the time Count Olaf tricked us when we were traveling in the Freak caravan away from the Caligari Carnival and you employed the Devil's Tongue knot, Violet."
"All right then, the first thing we need to do is pull off all of the bed sheets," the oldest orphan told her siblings. Beatrice, Sunny and Klaus quickly performed this task and soon there was a large heap of blankets in the middle of the floor of the cabin and Violet told them, "Ok now the first thing I need to do is tie one of the ends of the blankets to the door knob."
"The door knob?" Sunny repeated.
"That's right, Sunny," Violet said as she wrapped the blanket around the door knob and then explained, "Since the door is locked its the most secure part of the room.
" Once she had successfully employed the Devil's Tongue knot on the handle, Violet turned to her siblings and explained; "All right now we need to tie the end of this blanket to the end of another one." Beatrice searched thru the heap and found another and passed it to Klaus who held it steady for his older sister. She tied the two pieces of fabric together and then did the same thing to that end of the blanket and so on and so on until at last they had tied all of the blankets together into a long rope that started at the door handle and then was gathered into another tangled heap by Beatrice and Sunny
.
"This is probably stating the obvious," Klaus stated as they finished their task and then asked, "But how are we supposed to get on the top of this exceedingly fast freight?" "I'll have to be the one to do this," Violet decided and then explained, "We don't have to all go. I can make it to the Open car on my own." "I'm not going to let you go on your own," Klaus declared bravely.
"Bmilc!" Beatrice said, which probably meant, "But I know I can't climb!" or perhaps, "Sunny and I will wait here for you to come around."
"Okay," Violet said with a nod and then using the stand that had sitting next to her bed, smashed the window out of the passenger car. "Violet! Wait!" Sunny declared before her sibling got to climb out the window. First the former toddler hugged her sister and then said, "You should tie the end of our rope to your leg."
"That's a brilliant idea, Sunny," Klaus told his sister and then did as instructed, tying the last portion of their makeshift rope onto Violet's right leg.
Before I go any farther in this story, my editor has requested that I state the obvious which here means that if you are ever onboard a train such as the one that the Baudelaires are currently traveling on, then you are NOT to stick your head out the window just as Violet did and you are NOT to climb out onto the railing and you are NOT to then lift yourself onto the top of the moving train and then
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to attempt to climb across the top of this train.
Once she had a firm grip on the top of the rails, the eldest Baudelaire then carefully helped Klaus onto the roof and together they lay there flat on their bellies so that the fierce winds wouldn't push them and cause them to fall off of the train altogether.
Klaus extended his hand to Violet, who grasped it firmly and then nodded toward her brother, signaling for him to begin to crawling across the roof. It would be pointless to tell you how frightened and scared Klaus was and would do no good for me tell you just how fierce the winds were or how jarring it was for Violet as she and her brother crossed to the next passenger car of the treacherous train.
It would be like trying to explain to a fish what it was like to a bird, which is obviously impossible, seeing as fish are fish and birds are birds and there is a distinct difference in the two which is actually rather obvious itself, so I won't even state the obviousness of how it is impossible for me to describe the differences just as it impossible for me to tell you how unnerving the journey was for Violet and Klaus across the top of the Passenger car.
I can tell you that the children were quite brave for being able to even consider crossing the top of these cars, which is something you should NOT do, and I can tell you that I am very impressed by the two eldest orphans' successful use of a blanket as a rope; which is also something that you should NOT do.
Yes, both Violet and Klaus were able to perform this feat without thinking twice, but perhaps that is because they had been thru many other perilous situations. Violet might've thought about the time that she'd used the Devil's tongue knot during Hurricane Herman in order to save the ship from Lachrymose Leeches and Klaus must've considered the occasion whenever he had figured out that his good friend Isadora Quagmire had been using couplets to tell them where she and her brother were hidden in the Village of Fowl Devotees; and it quite likely that both of them reflected on the unfortunate event which the middle Baudelaire had mentioned; whenever Count Olaf had tried to dispose of them at the Mortmain Mountains and then they'd later been assaulted by snow gnats.
All of these amazing and miserable events had prepared the children for climbing across the freight with ease, even though they were obviously still frightened at the thought of doing so. At last the two Baudelaires had arrived right above the Open car and Violet nervously peered over the edge at the door below.
"Any ideas on how to open that door?" she asked her brother. Klaus looked down over the edge as well and commented, "I think we should use the rope as a lasso, and take hold of the handle."
"Okay," she replied carefully untying her leg and then telling her brother, "Hold onto me so I don't fall." Klaus took hold of her hand and then she tied the end of their rope until a loop and slowly lowered it over the side of the fast freight.
The wind whipped thru the rope and the eldest Baudelaire nearly lost her grip on the blanket and Klaus nearly lost his grip on Violet and it might've been the end of the Baudelaire's journey right there had not the eldest orphan slid back onto the top of the train and clung to the rail. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Violet told her brother, "Maybe we should go back."
"We've made it this far," Klaus stated and then added, "This is the point of no return."
Violet nodded and then tried again, this time successfully wrapping the lasso around the handle of the door and then pulled up on it. The door to the In-Finite Express' fifteenth passenger car flung open and Klaus told his sister, "Good job! Quickly! Let's climb on down!"
Violet nodded and glanced up at the forest that the train would soon be entering and remarked, "We probably need to now before this express gets into those woods."
"I'll go first this time," Klaus decided and before his older sister could state anything obvious, the middle Baudelaire took hold of their rope and then gave Violet the other end to hold. Without a moment to lose, Klaus swung into the open Open car and fell straight onto the hard wooden floor.
Quickly he called up to Violet, "Okay, come down now!" The eldest orphan braced herself and then began to climb down as her brother waited and caught hold of her left arm. Just then, the rope that the children had successfully made snapped and Violet screamed out and began to fall toward the dangerous underside of the In-Finite Express. Klaus let out a yell too and grabbed his sister and with all his might pulled her into the fifteenth passenger car. Violet let go of the rope which flew off into their surroundings and for a moment the two older Baudelaires laid there, gasping for breathe.
The door slowly closed due to the force of the wind and the two Baudelaires congratulated themselves on surviving the dangerous dilemma.
"We've managed to break out of our room but we still have to stop Mister Dominic!" Klaus said, stating the obvious.
"Let's first get Sunny and Beatrice. I have a plan to get us to the front of the train." Klaus decided to not question his older sister but merely followed her back to the Quiet car and Violet was glad to see that their nemesis had left the key in the lock. Sunny and Beatrice embraced their older siblings, and Sunny declared, "When the rope broke we feared the worst."
"Don't worry, we're safe," Klaus assured his younger sisters and then turned to Violet and asked, "Now if we simply figure out how to alert the other passengers about Mister Dominic's vile plot." Violet, who had kept her hair tied up in a bow during the entire ordeal, replied, "I think I have a solution, but you'll have to trust me."
"Delbo," Beatrice said, which probably meant, "You managed to figure out how to climb across the top of the In-Finite Express, of course we trust you" or perhaps, "You're a brilliant inventor, Violet, of course we trust you!" Violet nodded in thanks as she lifted up her adopted sister and then started walking toward the Restaurant. "Where are you going?" Sunny asked in surprise.
"To the Bistro Smelt," Violet answered, stating the obvious. Her siblings didn't say a word as they followed her thru the already cleaned restaurant, seeing as it was already past three in the afternoon, obviously, and soon they were at the nineteenth passenger car. Violet didn't stop however, she pressed on to the Teaching passenger car and then knocked sharply on the cabin door and Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice gasped at their sister and then gasped as the door opened and Mrs. Remora gasped back at the Baudelaires and asked, "Baudelaire brats! How did you manage to break out of your room?"
"That isn't your concern," Violet bravely replied.
"That isn't your concern," Nero mimicked as he came to the door and remarked, "Meddlesome midgets! Now we have you in our clutches!"
"You're right, we've come to surrender," the oldest Baudelaire declared and then added, which sounded like the most obvious statement of all, "We're going to help you rob the In-Finite Express." Klaus, Beatrice, and Sunny felt their jaws drop; a phrase which hear means "the younger Baudelaires were quite surprised to hear their older sister say something that sounded so obvious." Violet still seemed just as fearless as before, and the three teachers standing there seemed to consider this and Mr. Bass commented, "It could be a trick. That girl has always been full of chicanery! I remember when I told her a story about a frog that she was drowsing off!"
"On the other hand having someone else do the dirty work for us isn't such a bad idea," Mrs. Remora conceded she opened the door a little wider and Nero mimicked, "Having someone else do the dirty work for us isn't such a bad idea."
"So if you're either in or out, orphans," the tall dirty haired woman remarked. Klaus pulled on his sister's shoulder and asked, "Violet what're you doing?" The eldest Baudelaire smiled and explained, "I told you I would get us to the front of the train somehow."
With that thought, Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice followed her inside the Teaching passenger car; hoping that this time Violet was not stating the obvious, obviously.