Post by Emma “Emmz” Squalor on May 5, 2011 17:03:07 GMT -5
I wrote this last year as a birthday gift for Tiago, a few months after he completed The Fearsome Factory, I believe, and thought I'd share it with my fellow 667ers. What follows is only my second attempt at duplicating the "Snicket style". It wasn't an easy task, as I'm sure those of you who have experience in that field are well aware. But I hope that my efforts - as well as the story itself - meet your expectations, and that you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. I would also like to note that this is the first fic in which I have portrayed at least one of the Baudelaire orphans as the main character.
Author’s Disclaimer: I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events or any of its characters or places. They belong to Lemony Snicket a.k.a. Daniel Handler. Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, Cindry, Ferdinand and Victoria Fulfillment, and Foreman Ferguson all belong to Tiago Squalor.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Story-Type: One-Shot
Summary: Fearing for the future of Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, Ferdinand and Victoria request the help of Klaus.
Out[/i] of all the terms used to describe someone, one of the most famous is ‘living by the book’. It is a term my cousin and I have encountered many times in our lives—most notably during our years at the V.F.D. Training School. There the students were forced to live by the school’s rulebook, which was done beneath the watchful eyes of a strict administrative staff.
Conversely, there are others who live not by a book with words, but by a book in their minds. One such person was closely researched by my cousin not too long ago. This person was a fifteen-year-old girl going by the name of Cindry Fulfillment. Though she was a kind and likeable individual, she was known for being a little eccentric, a word which here means ‘throwing away dishes once she was finished with them’. Her behavior would have been acceptable were the dishes disposable, but the ones she was discarding were real china that could be washed if only she took the time to load a dishwasher. Unfortunately, Cindry failed to see the point of this logic. And so, wherever she went, a mountain of unwashed dishes always followed. She expected those around her to follow her example, and it was only in very rare circumstances that anyone challenged her.
One such circumstance was in the process of unraveling one afternoon at Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, the home and business of Ferdinand Fulfillment and his sister, Victoria Fulfillment. It was the start of the summer holiday, and the Fulfillments had invited their niece, Cindry, to spend her vacation with them. Though Ferdinand and Victoria had been all too happy to accommodate Cindry, they were finding it quite difficult to do the same for all the dirty dishes that Cindry insisted could not be washed. Klaus Baudelaire—who had been hired to work at the factory along with his three sisters, Violet, Sunny, and Beatrice—was hard at work in the Human Resources Library that same afternoon. He was not expecting Foreman Ferguson—who had a habit of hiding in the shadows—to drop in on him. Normally the foreman’s job was to oversee the workers’ productivity, but Klaus was about to discover that Ferguson had temporarily switched his position from foreman to messenger.
“My apologies fer botherin’ ya, lad,” announced Foreman Ferguson as he stepped out of the darkened hallway and into the slightly less darkened library. “But Mr. and Mrs. Fulfillment want to see ya right away—they say it’s urgent.”
“It certainly must be,” Klaus agreed, peering over a pile of old newspapers at the foreman-turned-messenger. “If they sent you all the way down here, I mean.”
“I must be gettin’ back to me duties now. I trust ya can find yer own way back to the dinin’ hall from here?”
Klaus nodded. “I’m sure I can. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to deliver the message to me. I know how busy things tend to get over at the factory building.”
Foreman Ferguson did not reply (“‘He is a man of few words,’” Ferdinand had pointed out to the Baudelaires the day of their arrival). But he smiled humbly at Klaus before slipping out the door and back into the shadows.
After taking a minute or two to straighten up his desk—which was barely visible beneath the piles of old newspapers and files—Klaus left the library and headed for the dining hall.
Because he and his sisters had been working at the factory for just slightly under a week, Klaus had no trouble finding his way to the dining hall. When he reached it he found waiting for him, just as Foreman Ferguson had presumed, Ferdinand and Victoria Fulfillment. As Klaus drew closer, he was a bit puzzled to see that there was desperation in both sets of eyes.
“You wanted to see me?” Klaus asked.
“Klaus!” exclaimed Ferdinand, with more enthusiasm than Klaus thought was necessary. “Thank goodness you’re here!”
“What’s going on?” The middle Baudelaire glanced briefly at Victoria, whose expression was every bit as troubled as her brother’s. “Foreman Ferguson said the matter was urgent, but didn’t extend any further—”
“It’s the workers!” Victoria interrupted brusquely. “There was another accident this morning after you and your sisters left the dining hall.”
“A falling plate nearly took off Charles’ ear,” Ferdinand explained. “Word spread like wildfire around the factory. Now, with last week’s accident still fresh on everyone’s minds, the workers are threatening to go on strike!”
“They’re afraid one of them will be next,” added Victoria. “We’ve tried talking to Cindry about taking in some of the dishes from outside to wash, but—”
“But she just won’t listen to reason!” Ferdinand blurted. “It’s terrible! She’s my niece and I love her, but she’s also the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”
“We’re thinking of sending her back to the city,” said Victoria, the regret in her voice evident. “We don’t want to, but what choice do we have when her behavior is causing problems for so many others?”
Ferdinand turned to Klaus. “That’s why we were hoping you would talk to her. I’ve been watching the two of you this past week, and it’s clear to me that my niece fancies you.”
Klaus felt himself blush just as Victoria picked up the next part of the conversation. “That’s why we need you to be the voice of reason. If anyone can get Cindry to see sense, it’s you, Klaus.”
Klaus wasn’t so sure he shared his employers’ stances, but all the same agreed to carry out their request.
“I’ll do my best,” he said.
“I still say it’s pointless,” Violet remarked, as she watched her brother finish tying the hair ribbon she had lent him around a small box wrapped in brown paper. “You saw how upset Cindry got the other day when her uncle suggested they wash some of those plates from outside. If she isn’t going to listen to him, what makes you think you’ve even got a chance?”
Laughing, Klaus shook his head. “You sound just like Uncle Monty.”
Upon hearing the name of the siblings’ late guardian, Violet tilted her head to the side. “How so?”
Klaus set the box down on the dresser by the door so that he wouldn’t forget it when he left the bedroom in a few minutes. Next, he climbed up onto one of the half dozen coffins that the occupants of Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited used in place of beds. Violet followed suit, and the two eldest Baudelaires sat side by side, letting their legs dangle off the rim of the coffin.
“He told us a story once,” Klaus went on, “remember? About our parents. It was just before Dad proposed to Mom. Uncle Monty told him it wouldn’t do a bit of good because Mom had only just recently broken off an engagement with someone else.”
Violet smiled. “Oh, yeah! And then Dad said—”
“‘One will never know until they’ve tried,’” Violet and Klaus finished in unison.
“It’s funny how easily things work out sometimes,” Klaus commented. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Violet agreed. “Especially when you can’t even remember why you ever thought they wouldn’t.”
“Well, Dad took a chance on Mom.” Climbing out of the coffin, Klaus jumped the last three feet, the bottoms of his shoes hitting the wooden planks noisily. “So there’s no reason why I shouldn’t take a chance on Cindry.”
The eldest Baudelaire watched her brother snatch the box off the dresser on his way out the door. “Break a leg, Klaus!” Violet called after him.
He’s going to need all the luck he can get.
The phrase ‘been around the block a few times’ is not a typical way to refer to someone who has circled a block more than once. Overall, it is used to describe someone who knows what they are doing or, in many cases, where they are going. Though Klaus Baudelaire had little idea of what he was doing that afternoon as he made his way through the shadowy hallways of Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, he knew exactly where he was going. Cindry Fulfillment was an aspiring actress and, as such, enjoyed spending her free time perfecting her acting skills. There was only one place in the whole of the administrative building where such skills could be perfected—and that place was in the funeral parlor.
Klaus hoped Cindry wouldn’t mind him dropping by unannounced. Additionally, he hoped that she wouldn’t kick him out when he told her the reason he had come to see her in the first place.
Not surprisingly the door to the parlor was closed and so, like the gentleman his father had been, Klaus knocked.
“Come in!” echoed a voice from behind the door.
Locking his fingers around the brass knob, Klaus pushed the door forward. There were two rows of fancy chairs for guests to sit in whenever a funeral service was held. Standing at the head of the room on a chair before a mirror that had been propped against the wall was Cindry. She was garbed in a long, Elizabethan gown made of baby blue silk. From her head flowed a matching veil that gave her the appearance of Maid Marion from Roger Lancelyn Green’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, which Klaus had read when he was six. For a moment he was unable to take his eyes off Cindry, to the point where he nearly forgot the reason he’d come.
“Oh!” Cindry exclaimed, upon catching sight of Klaus’ reflection behind her in the mirror. She turned to smile at him. “It’s you, Klaus. I thought you were my aunt or uncle coming to tell me lunch was ready. Is it ready?”
Klaus cleared his throat, which had gone quite dry between the time he had knocked on the door to when he had entered the parlor. After consulting his watch, he said, “Not for another hour and a half.”
Raising her skirts, Cindry stepped with a regal balance down from the chair. As she approached him, a memory washed over Klaus, a memory of when the four Baudelaires were still three. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny had been standing just outside the apartment building at 667 Dark Avenue, nervous because in just a few minutes they would be meeting Jerome and Esmé Squalor, their new guardians. In addition to their nervousness, all three Baudelaires had also felt particularly anxious. Their stomachs felt like the knot Violet would eventually use to tie Madam Lulu’s trailer to Count Olaf’s automobile in order to escape Caligari Carnival during the fire.
It was at that moment, as Cindry smiled sweetly, when Klaus felt the knot from long ago return to his stomach. “Then what is it you came to tell me?” Cindry asked.
Klaus glanced down at the newly wrapped box in his hand, then back up at Cindry. “To give you this.” Wrapping his freehand around his wrist to keep the attached hand from shaking, he offered her the present. “Charles had to run into town to purchase some cigars for Sir, and invited me to come along. I saw this at one of the other shops, and immediately thought of you.” Klaus stopped speaking when he felt himself on the verge of babbling. The only other girl he’d ever had any experience in talking with like this was Fiona, though their time together had been cut short. If things went well with Cindry, then maybe it would allow him to make up for lost time, a phrase which here means ‘take Cindry out on a date and perhaps even be allowed to kiss her.’
“I see you’ve used one of your sister’s hair ribbons to wrap this,” Cindry said as she examined the box she now held in her hands.
“Make that her only hair ribbon,” Klaus corrected. “I promised I’d return it to her after you opened your present.”
“You really shouldn’t have put yourself to so much trouble, Klaus.” However, Cindry’s words proved insignificant as she untied the ribbon that held the thin brown paper in place. It fell away immediately to reveal a plain white box. Handing the ribbon back to Klaus, Cindry lifted up the box’s lid.
Klaus watched anxiously as she reached inside the box and produced a pink mug with her name written on the front in large, white letters. Her jaw dropped open in surprise, and she raised her head to grin at him.
“How lovely,” Cindry exclaimed, and unexpectedly threw her arms around Klaus. “You’re so thoughtful, Klaus. Thank you!”
He returned her hug, if not a little awkwardly. “You’re welcome. I thought it would come in handy in the evenings after dinner when we have our tea.”
“Oh, no.” Strolling back across the room, Cindry set the mug on a wooden pulpit as if she was afraid someone might steal it. “I can never use this. Ever. If I did that, then I’d have to throw it away. I’ll just have to find another use for it, that’s all. One that doesn’t involve getting it dirty.”
“But using it for beverages is the whole purpose I had in mind when I bought it for you!” Klaus was practically whining, but what else could he do? If his plan failed, Ferdinand and Victoria would send Cindry away. Klaus couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Cindry again, and was determined to do everything in his power to see that it never came to pass.
“Klaus, what on Earth’s gotten into you?” the aspiring actress demanded. “Why are you so determined that I use your gift for that particular purpose?”
“Because… Because…” Klaus wasn’t entirely sure how to finish his sentence, and so he said the only other thing he could think of. “Not that it’s any of my business,” he said, his voice more at ease this time. “But why do you throw away dishes instead of just washing them? I understand the connection between the dirt on the plates and the dirt in the garbage. But surely a girl as clever as you must realize how wasteful that is.”
Cindry blushed. “I suppose I’ve just never much liked washing dishes.”
“We all have things we don’t like to do,” Klaus said patiently. “The point is we do them anyway because we have to.”
Cindry looked thoughtful, then turned her attention to the window. The mountain of dishes had obstructed most of the view, and she sighed. “But it would take a long time to wash all those dishes. It would probably require an entire army.”
“Probably. But if you, Violet, Sunny, Beatrice and I work together, I’ll bet we can get those dishes spotless in no time.”
Cindry pivoted back to Klaus, her veil flailing elegantly behind her. “Do you mean it? You and your sisters would really do that for me?”
“Of course we would. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Klaus thought back to when he, Violet, and Sunny had spent some time at Prufrock Preparatory School, and how their friends, Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, had done so much to help them. “Hasn’t anyone ever offered to help you before?”
Cindry shook her head. “Not really. I’ve always been expected to do things for myself and not rely on others for assistance.”
Klaus’ eyes traveled to the pulpit where Cindry had placed his gift to her. “We have some time before lunch. What do you say we have our tea now and then get started on those dishes?”
“But doesn’t Laverne need your help in the Human Resources Library?”
“I can afford to slip away for a few minutes,” said Klaus, who could hardly believe he was about to abandon an hour (or possibly two) of important research for the sake of one—make that one very cute—girl.
“Thank you,” Cindry said, as she laced her fingers through Klaus’.
He blushed, and for the first time was grateful for the lack of sunlight caused by the mountainous piles of china outside. “What for?”
Instead of an answer, however, the question went invalidated. Or did it? Stretching as far as she could on her tiptoes, Cindry Fulfillment planted a quick but affectionate kiss on the cheek of Klaus Baudelaire.
“For being the voice of reason.”
Klaus raised his hand and touched the spot on his face where Cindry’s lips had been. “Um…you’re…uh…welcome.”
Grinning, she seized him by the wrist and with her other hand grabbed her new mug off the pulpit. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go make that tea so I can use my present.”
Klaus was not about to refuse Cindry’s invitation—or rather, order—and together they raced out of the room. On their way to the dining hall they whizzed by Violet, who was coming down the opposite end of the hallway. Her arms were laden with two large boxes of tools, which she was taking back to the factory building to help repair a machine that had broken down. As her brother and Cindry darted past her, Violet was knocked for a loop, a term which here means ‘sent spinning and spinning until she nearly fell’.
“Hey!” Violet shouted after the two younger children. “What’s the big idea?”
“Sorry, Vi!” Klaus called back to his sister from over his shoulder. “But you’ll be happy to know that I was right.”
“Right? What do you mean you were right?”
“About Cindry. The same way Dad was right about Mom. I don’t have time now, but I promise to explain it all later. Meet us in the kitchen with Sunny and Beatrice in thirty minutes. Until then, here’s your ribbon back.” Using his freehand, Klaus reached into his pocket and pulled out Violet’s ribbon. As he sped by with Cindry, he tossed the ribbon at Violet, who watched as it landed across the toe of her boot. She grunted irritably as she was forced to set down her box of tools in order to collect her belonging.
Dad was right, Violet thought, using the ribbon to tie up her hair to keep it out of her eyes. One never does know what will happen until they’ve tried.
Voice of Reason
Author’s Disclaimer: I do not own A Series of Unfortunate Events or any of its characters or places. They belong to Lemony Snicket a.k.a. Daniel Handler. Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, Cindry, Ferdinand and Victoria Fulfillment, and Foreman Ferguson all belong to Tiago Squalor.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Story-Type: One-Shot
Summary: Fearing for the future of Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, Ferdinand and Victoria request the help of Klaus.
~
Out[/i] of all the terms used to describe someone, one of the most famous is ‘living by the book’. It is a term my cousin and I have encountered many times in our lives—most notably during our years at the V.F.D. Training School. There the students were forced to live by the school’s rulebook, which was done beneath the watchful eyes of a strict administrative staff.
Conversely, there are others who live not by a book with words, but by a book in their minds. One such person was closely researched by my cousin not too long ago. This person was a fifteen-year-old girl going by the name of Cindry Fulfillment. Though she was a kind and likeable individual, she was known for being a little eccentric, a word which here means ‘throwing away dishes once she was finished with them’. Her behavior would have been acceptable were the dishes disposable, but the ones she was discarding were real china that could be washed if only she took the time to load a dishwasher. Unfortunately, Cindry failed to see the point of this logic. And so, wherever she went, a mountain of unwashed dishes always followed. She expected those around her to follow her example, and it was only in very rare circumstances that anyone challenged her.
One such circumstance was in the process of unraveling one afternoon at Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, the home and business of Ferdinand Fulfillment and his sister, Victoria Fulfillment. It was the start of the summer holiday, and the Fulfillments had invited their niece, Cindry, to spend her vacation with them. Though Ferdinand and Victoria had been all too happy to accommodate Cindry, they were finding it quite difficult to do the same for all the dirty dishes that Cindry insisted could not be washed. Klaus Baudelaire—who had been hired to work at the factory along with his three sisters, Violet, Sunny, and Beatrice—was hard at work in the Human Resources Library that same afternoon. He was not expecting Foreman Ferguson—who had a habit of hiding in the shadows—to drop in on him. Normally the foreman’s job was to oversee the workers’ productivity, but Klaus was about to discover that Ferguson had temporarily switched his position from foreman to messenger.
“My apologies fer botherin’ ya, lad,” announced Foreman Ferguson as he stepped out of the darkened hallway and into the slightly less darkened library. “But Mr. and Mrs. Fulfillment want to see ya right away—they say it’s urgent.”
“It certainly must be,” Klaus agreed, peering over a pile of old newspapers at the foreman-turned-messenger. “If they sent you all the way down here, I mean.”
“I must be gettin’ back to me duties now. I trust ya can find yer own way back to the dinin’ hall from here?”
Klaus nodded. “I’m sure I can. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to deliver the message to me. I know how busy things tend to get over at the factory building.”
Foreman Ferguson did not reply (“‘He is a man of few words,’” Ferdinand had pointed out to the Baudelaires the day of their arrival). But he smiled humbly at Klaus before slipping out the door and back into the shadows.
After taking a minute or two to straighten up his desk—which was barely visible beneath the piles of old newspapers and files—Klaus left the library and headed for the dining hall.
Because he and his sisters had been working at the factory for just slightly under a week, Klaus had no trouble finding his way to the dining hall. When he reached it he found waiting for him, just as Foreman Ferguson had presumed, Ferdinand and Victoria Fulfillment. As Klaus drew closer, he was a bit puzzled to see that there was desperation in both sets of eyes.
“You wanted to see me?” Klaus asked.
“Klaus!” exclaimed Ferdinand, with more enthusiasm than Klaus thought was necessary. “Thank goodness you’re here!”
“What’s going on?” The middle Baudelaire glanced briefly at Victoria, whose expression was every bit as troubled as her brother’s. “Foreman Ferguson said the matter was urgent, but didn’t extend any further—”
“It’s the workers!” Victoria interrupted brusquely. “There was another accident this morning after you and your sisters left the dining hall.”
“A falling plate nearly took off Charles’ ear,” Ferdinand explained. “Word spread like wildfire around the factory. Now, with last week’s accident still fresh on everyone’s minds, the workers are threatening to go on strike!”
“They’re afraid one of them will be next,” added Victoria. “We’ve tried talking to Cindry about taking in some of the dishes from outside to wash, but—”
“But she just won’t listen to reason!” Ferdinand blurted. “It’s terrible! She’s my niece and I love her, but she’s also the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”
“We’re thinking of sending her back to the city,” said Victoria, the regret in her voice evident. “We don’t want to, but what choice do we have when her behavior is causing problems for so many others?”
Ferdinand turned to Klaus. “That’s why we were hoping you would talk to her. I’ve been watching the two of you this past week, and it’s clear to me that my niece fancies you.”
Klaus felt himself blush just as Victoria picked up the next part of the conversation. “That’s why we need you to be the voice of reason. If anyone can get Cindry to see sense, it’s you, Klaus.”
Klaus wasn’t so sure he shared his employers’ stances, but all the same agreed to carry out their request.
“I’ll do my best,” he said.
~
“I still say it’s pointless,” Violet remarked, as she watched her brother finish tying the hair ribbon she had lent him around a small box wrapped in brown paper. “You saw how upset Cindry got the other day when her uncle suggested they wash some of those plates from outside. If she isn’t going to listen to him, what makes you think you’ve even got a chance?”
Laughing, Klaus shook his head. “You sound just like Uncle Monty.”
Upon hearing the name of the siblings’ late guardian, Violet tilted her head to the side. “How so?”
Klaus set the box down on the dresser by the door so that he wouldn’t forget it when he left the bedroom in a few minutes. Next, he climbed up onto one of the half dozen coffins that the occupants of Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited used in place of beds. Violet followed suit, and the two eldest Baudelaires sat side by side, letting their legs dangle off the rim of the coffin.
“He told us a story once,” Klaus went on, “remember? About our parents. It was just before Dad proposed to Mom. Uncle Monty told him it wouldn’t do a bit of good because Mom had only just recently broken off an engagement with someone else.”
Violet smiled. “Oh, yeah! And then Dad said—”
“‘One will never know until they’ve tried,’” Violet and Klaus finished in unison.
“It’s funny how easily things work out sometimes,” Klaus commented. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is,” Violet agreed. “Especially when you can’t even remember why you ever thought they wouldn’t.”
“Well, Dad took a chance on Mom.” Climbing out of the coffin, Klaus jumped the last three feet, the bottoms of his shoes hitting the wooden planks noisily. “So there’s no reason why I shouldn’t take a chance on Cindry.”
The eldest Baudelaire watched her brother snatch the box off the dresser on his way out the door. “Break a leg, Klaus!” Violet called after him.
He’s going to need all the luck he can get.
~
The phrase ‘been around the block a few times’ is not a typical way to refer to someone who has circled a block more than once. Overall, it is used to describe someone who knows what they are doing or, in many cases, where they are going. Though Klaus Baudelaire had little idea of what he was doing that afternoon as he made his way through the shadowy hallways of Funeral Factory Fulfillment Limited, he knew exactly where he was going. Cindry Fulfillment was an aspiring actress and, as such, enjoyed spending her free time perfecting her acting skills. There was only one place in the whole of the administrative building where such skills could be perfected—and that place was in the funeral parlor.
Klaus hoped Cindry wouldn’t mind him dropping by unannounced. Additionally, he hoped that she wouldn’t kick him out when he told her the reason he had come to see her in the first place.
Not surprisingly the door to the parlor was closed and so, like the gentleman his father had been, Klaus knocked.
“Come in!” echoed a voice from behind the door.
Locking his fingers around the brass knob, Klaus pushed the door forward. There were two rows of fancy chairs for guests to sit in whenever a funeral service was held. Standing at the head of the room on a chair before a mirror that had been propped against the wall was Cindry. She was garbed in a long, Elizabethan gown made of baby blue silk. From her head flowed a matching veil that gave her the appearance of Maid Marion from Roger Lancelyn Green’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, which Klaus had read when he was six. For a moment he was unable to take his eyes off Cindry, to the point where he nearly forgot the reason he’d come.
“Oh!” Cindry exclaimed, upon catching sight of Klaus’ reflection behind her in the mirror. She turned to smile at him. “It’s you, Klaus. I thought you were my aunt or uncle coming to tell me lunch was ready. Is it ready?”
Klaus cleared his throat, which had gone quite dry between the time he had knocked on the door to when he had entered the parlor. After consulting his watch, he said, “Not for another hour and a half.”
Raising her skirts, Cindry stepped with a regal balance down from the chair. As she approached him, a memory washed over Klaus, a memory of when the four Baudelaires were still three. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny had been standing just outside the apartment building at 667 Dark Avenue, nervous because in just a few minutes they would be meeting Jerome and Esmé Squalor, their new guardians. In addition to their nervousness, all three Baudelaires had also felt particularly anxious. Their stomachs felt like the knot Violet would eventually use to tie Madam Lulu’s trailer to Count Olaf’s automobile in order to escape Caligari Carnival during the fire.
It was at that moment, as Cindry smiled sweetly, when Klaus felt the knot from long ago return to his stomach. “Then what is it you came to tell me?” Cindry asked.
Klaus glanced down at the newly wrapped box in his hand, then back up at Cindry. “To give you this.” Wrapping his freehand around his wrist to keep the attached hand from shaking, he offered her the present. “Charles had to run into town to purchase some cigars for Sir, and invited me to come along. I saw this at one of the other shops, and immediately thought of you.” Klaus stopped speaking when he felt himself on the verge of babbling. The only other girl he’d ever had any experience in talking with like this was Fiona, though their time together had been cut short. If things went well with Cindry, then maybe it would allow him to make up for lost time, a phrase which here means ‘take Cindry out on a date and perhaps even be allowed to kiss her.’
“I see you’ve used one of your sister’s hair ribbons to wrap this,” Cindry said as she examined the box she now held in her hands.
“Make that her only hair ribbon,” Klaus corrected. “I promised I’d return it to her after you opened your present.”
“You really shouldn’t have put yourself to so much trouble, Klaus.” However, Cindry’s words proved insignificant as she untied the ribbon that held the thin brown paper in place. It fell away immediately to reveal a plain white box. Handing the ribbon back to Klaus, Cindry lifted up the box’s lid.
Klaus watched anxiously as she reached inside the box and produced a pink mug with her name written on the front in large, white letters. Her jaw dropped open in surprise, and she raised her head to grin at him.
“How lovely,” Cindry exclaimed, and unexpectedly threw her arms around Klaus. “You’re so thoughtful, Klaus. Thank you!”
He returned her hug, if not a little awkwardly. “You’re welcome. I thought it would come in handy in the evenings after dinner when we have our tea.”
“Oh, no.” Strolling back across the room, Cindry set the mug on a wooden pulpit as if she was afraid someone might steal it. “I can never use this. Ever. If I did that, then I’d have to throw it away. I’ll just have to find another use for it, that’s all. One that doesn’t involve getting it dirty.”
“But using it for beverages is the whole purpose I had in mind when I bought it for you!” Klaus was practically whining, but what else could he do? If his plan failed, Ferdinand and Victoria would send Cindry away. Klaus couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Cindry again, and was determined to do everything in his power to see that it never came to pass.
“Klaus, what on Earth’s gotten into you?” the aspiring actress demanded. “Why are you so determined that I use your gift for that particular purpose?”
“Because… Because…” Klaus wasn’t entirely sure how to finish his sentence, and so he said the only other thing he could think of. “Not that it’s any of my business,” he said, his voice more at ease this time. “But why do you throw away dishes instead of just washing them? I understand the connection between the dirt on the plates and the dirt in the garbage. But surely a girl as clever as you must realize how wasteful that is.”
Cindry blushed. “I suppose I’ve just never much liked washing dishes.”
“We all have things we don’t like to do,” Klaus said patiently. “The point is we do them anyway because we have to.”
Cindry looked thoughtful, then turned her attention to the window. The mountain of dishes had obstructed most of the view, and she sighed. “But it would take a long time to wash all those dishes. It would probably require an entire army.”
“Probably. But if you, Violet, Sunny, Beatrice and I work together, I’ll bet we can get those dishes spotless in no time.”
Cindry pivoted back to Klaus, her veil flailing elegantly behind her. “Do you mean it? You and your sisters would really do that for me?”
“Of course we would. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Klaus thought back to when he, Violet, and Sunny had spent some time at Prufrock Preparatory School, and how their friends, Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, had done so much to help them. “Hasn’t anyone ever offered to help you before?”
Cindry shook her head. “Not really. I’ve always been expected to do things for myself and not rely on others for assistance.”
Klaus’ eyes traveled to the pulpit where Cindry had placed his gift to her. “We have some time before lunch. What do you say we have our tea now and then get started on those dishes?”
“But doesn’t Laverne need your help in the Human Resources Library?”
“I can afford to slip away for a few minutes,” said Klaus, who could hardly believe he was about to abandon an hour (or possibly two) of important research for the sake of one—make that one very cute—girl.
“Thank you,” Cindry said, as she laced her fingers through Klaus’.
He blushed, and for the first time was grateful for the lack of sunlight caused by the mountainous piles of china outside. “What for?”
Instead of an answer, however, the question went invalidated. Or did it? Stretching as far as she could on her tiptoes, Cindry Fulfillment planted a quick but affectionate kiss on the cheek of Klaus Baudelaire.
“For being the voice of reason.”
Klaus raised his hand and touched the spot on his face where Cindry’s lips had been. “Um…you’re…uh…welcome.”
Grinning, she seized him by the wrist and with her other hand grabbed her new mug off the pulpit. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go make that tea so I can use my present.”
Klaus was not about to refuse Cindry’s invitation—or rather, order—and together they raced out of the room. On their way to the dining hall they whizzed by Violet, who was coming down the opposite end of the hallway. Her arms were laden with two large boxes of tools, which she was taking back to the factory building to help repair a machine that had broken down. As her brother and Cindry darted past her, Violet was knocked for a loop, a term which here means ‘sent spinning and spinning until she nearly fell’.
“Hey!” Violet shouted after the two younger children. “What’s the big idea?”
“Sorry, Vi!” Klaus called back to his sister from over his shoulder. “But you’ll be happy to know that I was right.”
“Right? What do you mean you were right?”
“About Cindry. The same way Dad was right about Mom. I don’t have time now, but I promise to explain it all later. Meet us in the kitchen with Sunny and Beatrice in thirty minutes. Until then, here’s your ribbon back.” Using his freehand, Klaus reached into his pocket and pulled out Violet’s ribbon. As he sped by with Cindry, he tossed the ribbon at Violet, who watched as it landed across the toe of her boot. She grunted irritably as she was forced to set down her box of tools in order to collect her belonging.
Dad was right, Violet thought, using the ribbon to tie up her hair to keep it out of her eyes. One never does know what will happen until they’ve tried.
~The End~
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