Daniel Handler created everything — and alas has copyright protection — please don't sue me, I just LOVE the writing.
Sight and Sound
Where could the key be? If I can't find the key, I might have to break in to my own father's drawer. Lets see, the key... The key... where would you be? In the letter it said, all the things I would need would be in the backpack so... maybe the key is in there. Might as well try, I don't have anything to lose; except my integrity. I search in all the crevices of the backpack, every nook and cranny but can't seem to find anything. Must he make me scramble to find everything, to figure out his puzzles? Even when he was alive he was cryptic and difficult to understand. In all my 16 years, never have I understood his method of living, always hiding; always on the move, as if trying to protect me from some psycho-maniac.
I sit down trying to think... What can I do? OW! I just slammed my knee on the desk, ow gosh it hurts. I really want to say bad words but I bite my tongue. I crouch down on the floor holding my knee to my chest. Low and behold an envelope is taped to the bottom of the desk. I take the envelope and it is blank yellow parchment. I peel the tape back and out falls a key, which is attached to a chain. I held in my hands, it felt like metal, and some type of engraving on it. It glints in the light from the curtain.
The inscription reads: The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. - Plutarch
What does that have anything to do with this, I unlock the desk drawer and place the key on the table. I pick up all of the books and put them in the bag. Pictures are spread out underneath everything, odd. A woman and my father both facing away from the camera are walking on a beach. You might be wondering how I can tell it is my father; well thats his style... he never lets his face be shown in a photo. I don't really understand why though. She also has an eye on her ankle, curiouser and curiouser. ( I just love that line from alice in wonderland, I thought I'd stick it in.) Underneath her picture is a scrawled word : Beatrice. Who is she?
Another Picture of a group of people, each wearing a spyglass. Each with an eye tattooed on their ankle. Is it some kind of club? I put it in the bag and find a blank timeline except for these 4 words. Everything Ends in Fire, and then it is blank; does he want me to write in the timeline? I feel like I know my father less and less as each moment passes. I put everything I have found in the bag, including the Cassette tapes. I take the pictures off the walls. I wear the key around my neck, and take the bag and exit his hidden chamber not quite sure what to expect.
The bookcase slides back into place and I leave my old life behind and start walking outside, down the street and around the corner. Someone appears to be following me. I look behind me and OH My God ITS
( By the time you read this she will have found out who the man is and is to busy fleeing to actually write anything.)