The Girl Who Wore Snakes

Chapter 5: Pt1- Paltryville

     We had been riding for an interminably long time on a very bumpy road. The clouds that covered the sky were replaced with a calm blue sky, however, the fair weather did not reflect our cloudy emotions. "I hope Mr. Poe isn't too worried about us." Violet thinks aloud. I raise an eyebrow and Klaus cocks his head. "Good Point." She shrugs. Violet slightly raises her head to look over the wall of the truck bed before quickly throwing herself back down. "He saw me." Violet says, eyes wide. The truck halts to a stop and a tall, bald man walks to the back of the truck and kicks us out. "Get a job, hitchhikers!" He yells, driving away.

"Damnit, Violet." I sigh. "What now?" Klaus asks. "We walk." Violet says, simply as we all turn around to the woods behind us. We walk for a while, avoiding leaves, branches, and such. "We're almost out of the woods." Violet says as we spot a clearing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I gasp at the sight before us. It was a town, but everything was burnt down to ashes. "It looks like there was a fire here." Klaus says, stating the obvious. "Everything's gone." I say, looking through the burnt remains. "Not everything." Violet corrects, pointing at the gates of the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. The smell of smoke and fresh lumber was strong and was giving me quite the headache.

"Maybe this is where all the clues lead us. The secret safe and the strange photographs at Aunt Josephine's." Violet thinks aloud. "The secret message and the strange statue lady at Uncle Monty's." Klaus lists. "The only thing standing between us and all our parents' secrets..." Klaus continues. "Is an enormous wooden wall." I say, looking up at the large barrier. Klaus pauses for a moment. "What if we don't like what we find? Knowing can be a terrible thing." He says, looking hesitant. Violet sighs, "But not knowing, isn't that worse?" She points out. I nod.

The eldest Baudelaire reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out her hair ribbon. "I bet I could invent a catapult to get us over." She says, tying her hair back. "I read about walls. The Wall of Jericho, the Great Wall of China." Klaus says. "All I need is a lever, a counterweight and a very large spoon." Violet continues, mumbling. "The Aurelian Walls, Pink Floyd's The Wall." I unhelpfully add. "Mother wouldn't let me watch that one." Klaus recalls, chuckling. We all seem to be deep in thought when all of a sudden the gate creaks open slightly. I look down to see little Sunny who seems to have simply pushed the gate open. "Sunny?" Violet says, picking her back up. I slightly hum, that was simple.

"Does this make us trespassers?" Klaus asks as we're walking in. "Maybe it's public property." I say. "We're children." Violet shrugs. "Those aren't mutually exclusive." Klaus argues. "If we get caught, we'll just say we were on a school trip. Come on." Violet convinces us as we continue walking closer to the building. "What exactly are we looking for?" Klaus asks. Violet pauses, "It's like Father said about fine art. We'll know it when we see it." She says. "He also said that about pasta, rare pocket watches, and bad doctors." I remind her, thinking of all of Bertrand's old stories.

As we continue walking, I notice another very elongated building, next to the first one. Although it wasn't the building itself that made me freeze, rather than the symbol of an eye hanging from the sign. The same symbol that both Monty and Olaf have on their ankle. "Look." I say. The Baudelaires look at the symbol with uncertainty. "I think we're in the right place." Violet says. "Or the very, very wrong place." Klaus contradicts, which was a fair point. "It could just be a coincidence." I say with uncertainty. "It could be Count Olaf. Maybe we should leave." Klaus trails off, lightly grabbing my arm. Right as he says this, I hear the sound of footsteps behind us. All three of us turn around to see a man. Both Klaus and the man slightly yelp out of shock. I hide a slight laugh.

The man was squared faced with wide eyes and overly gelled hair. "Forgive me. I thought you might be trespassers. But now I see you're just children." He apologizes, still looking shaken. "They're not mutually-" Klaus starts but I slightly hit him. "We're on a school trip." Violet tells the man. "Right, because we're schoolchildren." Klaus stutters. "Well, this lumber mill is hardly a safe place for children. And I should know, I run it. I'm Charles." The man introduces himself. Klaus pulls the photograph out of his pocket again. "Do you recognize any of these people?" He asks, showing Charles the photo.

Charles looks at it for a moment, "I think you better come and see my partner." He tells us. As we follow him, I take another look at the slightly ajar gate. "Do you know what happened to the town over there?" I question Charles. He sighs. "Well, it's a sad story. Paltryville used to be booming. We had a world food market, two hot yoga studios, and there was even talk of a water park. The name Paltryville was a misnomer. And then one day, the whole town burned down in a terrible fire. Luckily, the lumber mill survived, and the eye-shaped building, which actually belongs to... Oh, look, here we are." Charles trails off as we walk through a large wooden door.

I think to myself for a moment. Monty had often talked about Paltryville, he spoke of it with great admiration and had always promised to take me. But now I'm here, without Monty and without the great shops and fun that he had spoken of. I look at the photograph in Klaus' hand as he shoves it back into his raincoat pocket. Monty, Beatrice, Bertrand, and every other beloved person that I knew in that photo, all gone. Thinking back to the parties that Monty used to throw, did any of the secrets surrounding my life have to do with my father and his party guests? I'm cut off in my thoughts as Violet nudges me. "Can you please hold Sunny, my arms are getting sore." She asks. I smile, taking Sunny from her arms and my mood is lightened for a moment by the smiling, happy baby in my arms.

The inside of the building was large and extravagant, and unsurprisingly, made almost completely out of wood. Charles leads us to a separate section that looks like a cabin style office room. "Children, I'd like you to meet-" He starts but is cut off. An older man with a smug face turns around in his chair. "Call me Sir. Everybody does 'cause I tell 'em to. I'm the boss. They have to do what I say, even my partner here." His gruffly voice tells us. I already don't like him. Charles shifts uncomfortably and slightly coughs.

"Doesn't partner mean equal?" Klaus asks. The two men look at each other awkwardly and seem to think for a moment. "I do all the work. He irons my clothes." Sir says, shrugging. "I also cook your omelets." Charles reminds him. I raise an eyebrow, looking back and forth at the pair. "I found them wandering unsupervised, poor dears." Charles tells his partner. "Well, you know what we do with trespassers, don't you, Charles?" Sir sharply asks, lighting an oversized cigar. "But they're only children. I thought we could take them in. Give them a loving, normative home." Charles says, smiling warmly. The disapproval was visible on Sir's face. "Nonsense. I believe you treat children like grown-ups. Put 'em to work in the mill. It'll teach them responsibility. It'll teach them the value of hard work. And it'll teach 'em how to make flat wooden boards out of trees." Sir spats. "If we work in the mill, do we get to stay here?" Violet asks. "Get to?" Klaus scoffs. "Stay here?" I ask wearily.

"This one gets it. In this economy, children are lucky to have a job at all." Sir rants. "What's your name, young lady?" He asks Violet. "Violet Baudelaire." She answers simply. I watch as Sir's smug face drops to a shocked one. "A Baudelaire." He whispers. "Wait, do you know that name?" Klaus asks, reaching for the picture again. "Every man, woman and child in Paltryville knows the name Baudelaire." He tells us, the name laced with anger. "Why? Did you know our parents?" Violet asks. Sunny babbles something from my arms but I'm not quite listening as I uncomfortably adjust myself in my green raincoat.

"I don't understand what 'ack' means, but if you want to know about your parents, they-" Before Sir can finish what he's saying, he gags and begins coughing. Klaus throws his hands up in frustration. "Every time we're about to get some answers. Seriously?" He complains. "It's these cigars. I hate these things, but I can't quit smoking 'em. I'm the boss. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. There's a reason this town will never forget your parents." Sir says after he stops coughing. There's a long, dramatic pause in the room. "They're the ones that burned it down." 

A/N: Miserable Mill is my least favorite of all the episodes and books so I might make them a little shorter, we'll see.  

<3