Duncan Quagmire and Violet Baudelaire: A Reunion

Chapter 4 - Violet Baudelaire

It was a long drive to the east of the City, especially since it was dark. Violet looked out of the car window for the most part of the journey because the car was silent most of the time. Sunny was sleeping in her lap, her chest gently rising up and down, and Klaus was next to Violet, reading one of his thick volumes under the night light.
    The car sped past some buildings and Violet thought to herself, why have we come so far, yet be so close to home? The Baudelaire Mansion was about thirty minutes away from where they were, at the moment. St. Valentines Road, a lively and colourful road at day time but dark and silent in the nighttime. The car went past a shop that she and Klaus has been in before, selling candy floss and the memory of her, Klaus and her parents smiling and laughing at a joke she made.
    She smoothed down her skirt. While still in the Hinterlands, the Baudelaires were able to buy some new clothes because their old stage costumes from the Caligari Carnival were ruined. Violet chose a sky blue button-down shirt and paired it with a yellow skirt and a white jacket with some colourful badges. Klaus took a plain dark red shirt and put on a black jacket and dark blue pants. Violet chose Sunny a cute outfit which consisted of a light pink dress and sunny yellow cardigan. They all sat comfortably in their new clothes, in the car despite their tight confinement.
    As the car continued go, Violet could feel Mr. Poe looking at her through the rear mirror and she looked directly at him. Mr. Poe cleared his throat, more like coughing and Klaus looked up from his book. Mr. Poe cleared his throat once more and said, "Now Baudelaires, we need to talk about your new guardians, the Hadleys."
    Violet looked confused and turned towards Klaus. He sensed her looking at him and he turned towards he as well. Violet mouthed, "V.F.D?" but Klaus shrugged. Violet knew they were definitely not their relatives so they might be part of the secret organisation. Mr. Poe continued, "they are a well respected family in this suburban area so you do not want to tarnish their high reputation, and speaking of the Hadley's, here is their house now."
    The sun was rising as the car rolled into the enourmous driveway of the Hadley household. Violet has slept a bit during the long journey so she felt quite awake. The driveway was very manicured. The trees were trimmed perfectly, the flowers sprouted perfectly and almost unnaturally and the grass were mowed exactly to the millimetre.
    The large Hadley mansion loomed before the three. They stared in awe of its size and magnificence. The stone walls were cream coloured and the large windows stood lit in the rising sun. It was much larger than the Baudelaire mansion but it looked more professional whereas the Baudelaires home had Sunny's toys in the front garden, Klaus's books scattered around house and Violet's inventions operating around the house. This house seemed very un-childlike in every way. Every square centimetre of the mansion screamed rich, superior, and perfectionist.
     The car stopped in front of the front door which looked as big as four doors all merged together. Violet continued to look at this giant house in front of her and thought to herself, this is where we are going to live. Violet exhaled and opened the car door. She got out and helped Sunny out as well. They both waited for Klaus to get out and Mr. Poe to collect a small bag for them each out of the car boot. Mr. Poe drove them back to the Caligari Carnival to collect their belongings after nearly falling off a cliff but most of their belongings were gone when they got back.
    Mr. Poe caught up with the three and reluctantly ringed the doorbell, he was clearly intimidated by the size of the house. There was a bit of shuffling behind the door by the shadows which kept on moving by the door's crack. Violet nervously looked and Klaus who was as anxious as she was and Sunny was also looking curiously at the moving shadows.
    The door opened, and out came a lady. She was tall and had a slim figure. Her fair hair was elegantly tied up in a bun and her clear skin was radiant. The woman was wearing a tight long sleeved emerald green dress and some emerald slippers to go along with it. She looked down at the three children and gave them a warm smile, "Welcome to Thistleberry manor, Baudelaires."