Chapter Two
After a long walk, it is often recommended to stop for a cool drink - or a hot beverage, depending on the season - and a bite, a stretch, a rest, or even a nap, but the Baudelaires could not do any of those things. They had been walking for half a day and they were incredibly tired and starving. After crossing the bridge - which was dangerously unkempt - the Baudelaires walked on a paved road covered in fallen leaves, as they could barely see the pavement beneath the thick layer of leaves. Autumn was the Baudelaires' favorite season, mostly because they knew that Halloween was around the corner - an expression which here means 'very close to happening' - which was their favorite Holiday. But Halloween was the last thing on their minds right now. Their only concern was how to get in the Orphanage, who to talk to, where to dig - both literally and figuratively - for information. Their concerned, anxious state lied in the fact that they weren't being chased by Esmé Squalor; they were
chasing her, even at a slower pace. This time, they knew they would meet Esmé Squalor
very soon.
'Mode' Little Beatrice uttered. Sunny translated the baby girl's speech to her siblings - as Violet and Klaus could no longer understand her - by which Beatrice probably meant 'I wonder what sort of crazy costume Esmé will wear this time.' Violet frowned. 'Something crazy, of course.' She answered. Violet would be the last to admit, but Esmé exerted a kind of fascination; it was hard not to be amazed by the notorious villainess that was Esmé Squalor. Violet absolutely abhorred Esmé, as did Klaus, Sunny and Beatrice. But it was true that they knew there was
much more to the fashion-obsessed villainess than she let other people know. There is a saying that goes 'Know thine enemy.' Well, to defeat her, the Baudelaires would have to really get to know their enemy, Esmé Squalor, albeit indirectly. They just didn't imagine that Esmé's secrets were far more surprising they could ever had imagined.
'Violet, look!' Klaus pointed towards the direction they were headed. They had arrived at a
cul-de-sac, a french expression that here means 'a dead end'. The road ended abruptly, and there were nothing but trees ahead. The fog was
very thick now, almost like it had gotten at Addams Asylum, if not thicker. They could barely see ten feet away, but they could see the end of the road. However, they noticed that a cobblestone wall with black spikes on top ran alongside the road, hidden by a series of very old oaks. The trees hid the wall almost completely, but it was there. And it could only mean one thing. 'We've arrived.' Violet said. The Baudelaires then approached the end of the series of oak trees, and they saw a gate. It was very large and of a black metal with swirly shapes, and the words Old Oaks Orphanage on a bronze plaque on the gate wall. Unlike the gate at Addams Asylum there was no intercom device. Violet tried to open the gate, but couldn't. 'Oh, shoot. It's locked.' Violet then pushed the gate in frustration, and it opened. Again, I cannot say that the Baudelaires were
fortunate, because if they were fortunate indeed, they would still be back at home in the city living peacefully, and would have never received that fateful letter with which these new series of unfortunate events began.
'Well, let's not stand out here in the cold, shall we not?' Violet said. She further opened the gate, and Klaus, Beatrice and Sunny entered the Orphanage's grounds. Violet entered and closed the heavy gate behind her. They had arrived at a cobblestone path, also buried in fallen leaves, with a series of trees alongside the path, in what seemed like perfect symmetry. The trees were very large, and looked almost exactly like each other, and as the Baudelaires walked on the narrow path, they felt as if they had entered a mirrored world. Ahead, the sillhouette of a dark building emerged from the fog. The Orphanage.
It was four stories tall, and the dark stone and rooftop was partially covered in withered vines and moss, the sad windows, all dark, made the building seem that much more ominous, as if it was a place where only bad things could - and would - happen. It reminded them of the gravestone-shaped buildings of Prufrock Prep, and the only thing the Baudelaires thought was any place that reminded them of the hellish boarding school they were once forced to attend was no good at all, something they had felt quite often in these new unfortunate events in their lives. The Baudelaires soon saw themselves before the dark, large, double doors of the Orphanage, painted in black. The porch in which they were standing in was also all painted black, the floor made of black wood.
Violet Baudelaire knocked four times on the door. It wasn't long until it opened, and they saw a pale, slender hand emerge out of the darkness inside. The hand was accompanied by a feminine, soft voice, that sounded distracted, as if the person, the woman, was in the middle of a conversation when Violet knocked. '...I've told him, Oliver, but he just won't quit! Quick, come in!' The woman said to the Baudelaires, barely looking at them, and opening the door. The Baudelaires entered, and saw themselves inside what they thought was the gloomiestly decorated room they ever had ventured in, and they
had just come from Addams Asylum, which wasn't the most cheerful of places. Nearly everything in the hall they were standing in was black. The wallpaper, however, was a very, very dark blue. It gave the place an oppressive, overpowering gloom, increased by cold and the fog that could be seen through the windows. The diffuse light of a cloudy day was all that illuminated the entrance hall, and they couldn't see the woman who had opened the door for them. However, when she went to the window, calling them with a hand gesture to approach the window with her, they felt an overwhelming sense of déjà-vú. The woman looked
so much like Isadora Quagmire they wouldn't have believed if they had been told about her. She looked like what the Baudelaires would imagine Isadora would look in her mid twenties, if she kept her short length of her, and took a preference for hairbands as opposed to the tiny bows she used to sport, but the facial features of the woman before them were so similar to Isadora's they were bewitched immediately.
'Oliver, I've just opened the door to four kids. Well, two kids and two teenagers. Well, one young woman and a young man and two little girls.' She stopped to listen. She was talking on the telephone, which was also black. 'Oh, don't be silly. How on earth would any of them have any experience in teaching?' She rolled her green eyes, annoyed by whatever she was hearing. 'My brother wants to know if any of you have experience on teaching?'
'Well, I taught my brother and sister how to make an emergency escape rope to get out of a hospital fire, but I'd hardly call that teaching experi-' Violet was then interrupted. 'My brother had heard, he says you're hired, and I'm supposed to assign you to your teaching subjects. I'm Olive, by the way. Olive Oakley.' She smiled. Olive's smile brightned up the place, or so it seemed, at least to Klaus, who was generally not as affected by feminine beauty because of his feelings for Cindry, but Olive was
different. 'My brother, Oliver, wants to know your names.' She held the phone in front of the Baudelaires. They each introduced themselves, although Oliver didn't understand when Beatrice said 'Soybeatriz!' with which she probably meant 'I am Beatrice Baudelaire.' and Sunny had to translate it for him.
'My brother tells me to tell you; Welcome to Old Oaks Orphanage.' Olive said. 'Okay, say hello to Otto for me - Otto is my
other brother - will you?' Olive then said her goodbye to her brother and hung up the phone. 'Phew. My brothers drive me nuts, even from a distance. They're away on an errand.' Olive said. She wore an olive green sweater and a long, black skirt with black stockings and high heels. She wasn't too tall, just a bit taller than Violet.
'I trust you have read
The Daily Owl, and came here looking for the teacher, cook and seamstress positions. Well, you're the only ones who responded to our ad, so you've got the job. We are in dire need of two teachers, a cook, and a seamstress, as ours just recently quit.' Olive shruddered when she said it. 'Well, let's talk in the study, shall we?'
Olive led the Baudelaires to an adjacent study with enormous bookshelves with dark colored leather bound books. Klaus was particularly marvelled. Also, much to the likeness of Dr. Arthur's office at Addams Asylum, a painting was at the center of the room above the fireplace, behind the desk. Only this paiting was that of a man and a woman. The man had dark hair and green eyes, and the woman had long brown hair and wore a beautiful white dress.
'Those are my parents. Osborne Oakley and Ophelia Oakley.' Olive said, when she noticed the Baudelaires' looking at the painting. Hearing the name Ophelia, however, snapped the Baudelaires out of their daze. 'I'm sorry, have you said Ophelia?' Olive sat at the desk before the fireplace and invited the Baudelaires to sit in the two armchairs in front of it with a hand gesture. 'Yes, my mother's name was Ophelia. She was the daughter of the mayor of this town, and he did not approve of her marriage to my father. Many women in my father's lineage were named Ophelia. My grandmother, my grandmother's grandmother, and so on, and so forth.'
'And the river...The sign?' Klaus felt compelled to inquire. 'Oh, that. Yes. My mother drowned in the river. And so did other women in her family. All the women who were named Ophelia drowned in that river. People in town say it's a curse. My father wanted to name me Ophelia, but my mother believed in the curse. She had him name me Olive, because of my eyes.' Olive smiled. 'I'm sorry, I get carried away when I start talking about my family. Forgive me.' Olive then opened a drawer and removed a large, heavy, leather-bound book. It had three interconnected, golden O's on the cover. 'This is our registry were we register new teachers and other staff members. I need to know your specialties, so I can assign you each to a different class subject.'
'Well, I'm an inventor, my brother is a researcher, and my sister Sunny, despite her age, is a skilled cook. Beatrice is also a good seamstress.' Violet said. 'Oh, what a talented bunch! Me and my brothers have a few talents, you know.' Olive said. 'Oliver is good at teaching History, while Otto is good at teaching Math. However, I'm stepping in as History teacher for Oliver while he and Otto are away. This is why I can't stop babbling about things like my own family's history.' Olive laughed. She opened the large book and wrote the Baudelaires' names, each in a different page.
'Violet, you will teach Science, while Klaus will teach Literature. Sunny can help in the kitchen, and Beatrice can fix ripped uniforms. You see, here at this Orphanage we have the orphans wear uniforms, for their sake. I'm personally against it, but Miss Hannigan is adamant about it. You'll meet her, and you will not like her.' Olive laughed again.
'Actually, Olive, we were wondering...Do you have any record of having an orphan here, a girl...Named Esmé Squalor?' Klaus asked, before he forgot. 'Esmé Squalor? No, I don't think so. I'd remember such a name. If this orphanage has had an Esmé Squalor, it must have been ages ago. This Orphanage is a two century old endeavor by the Oakley family, dating back to the foundation of Ophelia. I can look, but I doubt I'll find anything. What, is she a friend of yours?' Olive asked. 'No, certainly not a friend.' Sunny was the first to speak. Being friends with Esmé Squalor was, at the very least, unthinkable, for the Baudelaires.
'Well, we came here looking for
any piece of information on her, not because of the job openings. But, how about this. We work here, teaching, and instead of paying us with money, you can pay our work by letting us go through the Orphanage's archives. I'm sure my researching skills will come in handy in finding anything on Esmé Squalor.' Klaus bargained. Olive seemed intrigued, yet suspicious. 'I don't know. Those archives are property of the Oakley family. I'd have to consult my brothers. We make decisions together, never apart. I can ask my brother when he calls me next week.'
'Next week?' Violet was a bit startled. 'Yes. My brothers are on an errand, a very important errand, I must say, and they have very few time on their hands. They only call me once a week. Well, Oliver does. Otto rarely ever uses telephones.'
'Delmo?' Beatrice asked. By 'Delmo?' Beatrice here meant something like 'Is he afraid of telephones?' which Sunny promptly translated to Olive. 'No, not afraid of them. Otto is just old fashioned. He prefers sending me postcards, letters and telegrams. Sometimes he sends me pictures of places he and Oliver visit. He sent me this amazing photograph of Dark Avenue. I've never been there. Have you?'
'It's not all that it is cracked up to be, if you ask us.' Violet said. 'Yeah, we have bad memories from that place.' Klaus added. 'Oh. Bad memories. I know. I have bad memories of the river. Sometimes I go near it, but the noise of the running water makes me sad. I only get near it during winter, when the river is frozen. I walk up to the middle of the ice, and I lay down, and think about my mother.'
'Winter here must be very cold.' Violet commented. 'Oh, very. It's the time of the year we all dread. I can already feel the winter coming, even though autumn has just begun.' Olive said. Then, she looked towards the door, as someone had arrived and entered the study. Turning their heads, the Baudelaires saw four girls of different ages, standing near the entrance of the study. One of them was short and seemed to be eight years old, with perfect, golden curls of blonde hair and two innocent blue eyes. A tall girl, this one with short red hair and freckles on her face and a sassy expression was next to her, appearing to be in her mid teens. A bespectacled girl with a concerned expression was a bit behind them, eyeing the Baudelaires nervously. A fourth girl, this one with raven black hair and grayish green eyes and a serious expression observed the Baudelaires. The four girls wore identical sailor-type school uniforms; they looked like the uniform the Baudelaires first saw Cindry Fulfillment in, only black and navy blue with black stockings and black shoes, and long sleeves.
'Who are they?' The red haired girl asked. 'These, Pepper, are your new Science and Literature teachers, Violet and Klaus Baudelaire. The two little ones are Sunny and Beatrice Baudelaire, or new cook and seamstress.' Olive arose from her chair and walked up to the four girls, and stood behind them. 'These are our four girls, Baudelaires. Annie, Pepper, Molly and Esther.' Annie was the blonde girl, Pepper, the red head, Molly, the bespectacled one, and Esther, the serious brunette.
'We've been excused from Mr. Flounder's class,
again.' Said Pepper. She then sat in Olive's armchair and put her two feet on the desk. Olive quickly approached Pepper and slapped Pepper with a pencil on her shoe, and Pepper laughed. 'Sorry, Olive. I just really like this chair, you know!' Said the laughing, sassy Pepper. The other three girls however weren't as comfortable with the newcomers as Pepper seemed to be. 'Do they know of my parents?' Annie asked. 'Your parents? Aren't you an orph-' Klaus was interrupted by Olive, who reprehended him with a look. 'No, sweetie, they don't know about your parents' whereabouts, we'll let you know as soon as we hear anything, okay? Now go to your room, go play with Molly. Go, Molly, take Annie upstairs. Molly, the bespectacled girl, took Annie, the blonde girl in had and the two exited the study, leaving only Esther and Pepper.
'Annie doesn't know she's an orphan.' Esther said. 'We are trying to figure out how to tell her.' Pepper added. 'What about you, Baudelaires? Where are your parents?' Olive asked. The Baudelaires were suddenly embarrassed. They were
orphans who had just been hired to teach...at an
orphanage. They now wondered what would have happened if they had been sent to an orphanage like other orphans. Were it not for the Baudelaire fortune and Mr. Poe, perhaps the Baudelaires would be now living in an orphanage not unlike Old Oaks Orphanage themselves. 'Well, you see, Miss Oakley...' Klaus began to explain, but Violet took over. 'We don't have parents. They died.'
'So you are orphans...teaching orphans?' Pepper asked. 'That's
very ironic.' The Baudelaires were
really uncomfortable. 'Oh, I'm sorry, I had no clue.' Olive apologized. 'Olive, why don't you lock them in here instead of make them teach us stuff?' Pepper jokingly asked. Olive frowned. 'Stop sassing me, Pepper, and call me Miss Oakley during school hours, please. And you're not
locked in here, Pepper. This is not a prison.'
'Of course it is. You're an orphan too!' Pepper said, being sassy one more time, and quickly storming out of the room, laughing, before the piece of chalk Olive had thrown at her could hit her. 'Pepper! Am I going to have to talk about this with Miss Hannigan?' Olive shouted. 'Don't mind her, Baudelaires. Pepper is a smartmouth, but she means no harm.' Olive said, straightening her clothes. She noticed Esther standing in the room, her arms crossed. Esther looked about twelve years old, but she looked older with such a serious expression and stance and her crossed arms. 'Esther, go study. Don't you have work to do?' Esther nodded affirmatively, and taking one last look at the Baudelaires, she exited the room. 'Are those all the orphans here?' Violet asked.
'No, we have more. We have four boys, too. We had more, but some were adopted weeks ago. I miss them, but they have families now.' Olive said. 'Let's go to the teacher's lounge. I want to introduce you to the rest of our staff.' Said Olive extending her arm. The Baudelaires arose from the armchairs and accompanied Olive Oakley down the hall, oblivious to the fact that once more, they were about to run - or more appropriately, walk - into three people they
never would have suspected to have been working at the Orphanage.