Baudelaires and a White

Chapter Thirty-Two

The children woke up, once again, to the sound of banging pots.

"Klaus Baudeliar." said the Foreman, using an insulting term that the Baudelaires had thankfully never been called before. "Would you like to go and chop wood?"

Klaus sat up in bed. "Yes, sir."

"And would you like to operate the difficult machinery for stamping day?" asked the Foreman.

"Yes, sir."

"What's wrong with Klaus?" asked Violet.

Rowan shrugged. "I really don't know."

"We have to go after him!" exclaimed Violet, picking up Sunny and rushing off with Rowan.

They went to the machinery to see Klaus climbing up the steps to get into the seat at the top of the machinery.

"No! Klaus!" Violet screamed to him as he turned the machine on. He pressed a button over and over again, making bright red circles appear on the wooden boards that the Lucky Smells employees had cut yesterday. Eventually, he was pressing the button so rapidly that some boards were getting stamped more than once.

"Hang on one minute, Klaus!" exclaimed Phil. "This board is broken!"

He ran over to get the broken board before it was stripped away, knocking him over. He laughed and tried to get up, but the stamper was pressed onto his leg. The stamper somehow got stuck to the board.

Workers shrieked and ran towards Phil. Klaus stared at Rowan and his siblings blankly as they ran up the stairs to see him.

"I'm okay!" shouted Phil. "It hurts a little, but having crutches should be a fun experience!"

"Your leg-" began Violet, speaking in her normal voice as there was no buzzing or banging to be yelled over.

"Don't worry about me!" said Phil.

Sir came over to check what was happening. "Get to work, everyone!" he shouted. "What happened here? This is terrible!"

"Don't worry about my leg, Sir!" called Phil as Charles led him away.

"Not your leg!" exclaimed Sir in exasperation. "The machine! The Baudelaire boy broke it! It costs an inordinate amount!"

"What does inordinate mean?" asked a female worker, raising her voice as she turned her machine on.

Klaus blinked and began to speak. He explained what the word inordinate meant, explaining its many definitions, before ending with, "But in this case, I think Sir means, 'a large amount of money'."

"Klaus!" exclaimed Rowan.

"You're back!" said Violet.

"Where was I?" asked Klaus, chuckling slightly.

"Bayu." said Sunny sadly, which meant, 'We were worried.'.

"I feel so guilty." sighed Klaus. "I hurt Phil."

Violet gave him a reassuring smile. "Phil is fine. Charles took him away. Also, surely you can't see?"

Klaus frowned and said, "You're right. I can't see anything." he reached into his pocket and his eyes widened as he pulled out his glasses. "They must have fixed them." 

"That's strange." said Rowan. "But what did Count Olaf do to you?"

Klaus blinked. "I don't think it was Count Olaf. Anyway, I once read a book about people who were forced to do things against their will." 

"What was the book called?" asked Violet.

"Encyclopedia Hypnotica." Klaus' eyes widened behind his glasses.

The two eldest children shuddered.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" asked Violet.

"If you think it means that I was hypnotised, then yes." said Klaus.

"Do you remember anything?" asked Rowan.

"I don't remember much after being tripped over, but I can remember walking to the eye-shaped building with Phil. I distantly remember a woman smiling at me. She said her name was Dr. Georgia, or something like that. And then there was a woman with blonde hair. I think she might have spoke to me."

"Anything else?" asked Rowan.

"No." Klaus shook his head. "Come on. Let's go and explain what happened."

They walked down the steps and past  the foreman, who shoved Violet slightly as she walked down the stairs.

"He- Klaus!" she exclaimed as her brother fell to the floor. His glasses fell off in the process. Rowan attempted to catch them, but it was too late.

His glasses were broken.

"It was the Foreman!" exclaimed Klaus. "Foreman Flacutono!"

But Foreman Flacutono had walked away and was examining a man's board.

"Too rough round the edges." the children heard him say.

"You have to believe me!" said Klaus, getting up.

"We believe you." said Violet firmly. "But you can't see."

"I think I'm going to have to go back to Dr. Georgia's office." said Klaus.