The children had not had a good experience of sharing a room, but the room in Aunt Josephine's house was actually quite nice.
There were three beds set in an equal space apart from each other, and one crib for Sunny. Next to each bed was a pile of grammar books, and on the wall was a sign saying, 'Grammar is the greatest joy in life!'.
Aunt Josephine shrieked.
"What?" asked Violet, not sounding concerned.
"I have just remembered something,"
"What's that?" asked Rowan.
"What is what?" asked Aunt Josephine.
"What you have remembered?"
"Oh, Rowan, grammar!" exclaimed Aunt Josephine. "You should say, 'What have you just remembered?'."
Rowan cleared his throat. "What have you just remembered?"
"That big wooden sign could fall down and shatter, and a piece could knock one of you out!" she exclaimed.
"I don't know," shrugged Rowan. "It looks fine to me."
"If you're that worried, you could take it off of the wall," suggested Klaus.
"Oh no," shrieked Aunt Josephine. "It could fall on my head!"
The children glanced at each other.
"I'm surprised that she could even bear to put the sign up in the first place." Rowan whispered to Violet, making her chuckle.
"Anyway, hopefully the signs won't fall on my head," said Aunt Josephine, reaching for a bag on Klaus's bed. "I find it quite dangerous to put bags on beds, but I couldn't find any other place to put it."
Sunny looked at her older brother. "Oma?" she asked him, which meant, 'Is she okay?'.
Klaus smiled at her but decided it was best not to translate that.
"I have gifts for you children." said Aunt Josephine. "For Klaus, I have a model train. I hear that many young boys enjoy playing with trains."
Klaus accepted the gift with a thank you, not mentioning that he preferred reading about trains.
"For Violet, a pretty doll." said Aunt Josephine, handing the fourteen-year-old the said gift. "Isn't she lovely? Her name is Pretty Penny, and she comes with many different outfits."
Violet swallowed and took the doll. "Thank you." she murmured.
Then, Aunt Josephine took a striped red and yellow rattle out of her bag. "For Sunny, a rattle!" she said, shaking the rattle before giving it to Sunny. "It makes a lovely noise. All babies enjoy playing with rattles, don't they?"
"Yes." said Violet politely. "I'm, um, sure they do."
"Finally, for Rowan, a puzzle. I recall Mr. Poe telling me that you particularly enjoy puzzles."
"Thank you." said Rowan, taking the box. A vision popped into his mind from three years ago, when he told Mr. Poe that he found puzzles quite boring.
"Now that you have your lovely gifts," began Aunt Josephine. "I will make you some food."
Violet smiled. "Food sounds good. Thank you."
"Yes, how does soup sound?" Aunt Josephine asked.
Klaus smiled warmly, trying to be friendly to their thoughtful yet scared guardian. "Soup sounds lovely."
The children sat at the table with their gifts whilst Aunt Josephine made soup.
"I know that Aunt Josephine's gifts are.." Violet trailed off. "not to our liking, but we can always swap around."
"She was just trying her best." Rowan nodded.
"We should appreciate her efforts." finished Klaus. "Come on, let's start swapping."
Violet nodded. "Okay. Sunny, you can have Pretty Penny. She's quite hard, and you can bite her."
Violet passed the doll to her sister, who smiled and shrieked. "Vylat!" which meant, 'Violet can have my gift.'.
"That's a good idea, Sunny." Violet nodded. "I can make some sort of burglar alarm with the rattle," she lowered her voice. "to stop Aunt Josephine being scared every night."
"Rowan, you can have my model train." suggested Klaus, passing over the train. "You can make the train tracks and draw a map of it."
"Thank you." Rowan smiled, and pushed over his puzzle. "And you can have my puzzle."
"Great." Klaus said, and looked up when Aunt Josephine came over.
The dowager didn't even seem to notice that Violet now had a rattle, Sunny a doll, Klaus a puzzle, and Rowan a train. Or, at least, she didn't choose to comment. Instead, she handed over the bowls of soup.
"Cold cucumber soup." she explained. "I know it's a cold day, but I am terribly afraid of using the stove."
YOU ARE READING
Baudelaires and a White
Fanfic"I think we should do it." said Rowan quietly as the man opened the door. "Okay." said Violet. "But who are you?" gasped Isadora, sliding into the taxi. The man took a breath. "My name is Lemony Snicket, and I am here to take you away." Would the s...
