If the Baudelaire Parents had Lived - Series of Unfortunate Events

The New Beginning

Klaus

"I wonder why mother and father didn't want to come with us."

"Maybe they don't like this rickety trolley," Violet said, smiling at me a little. Violet held a basket that contained her latest invention, and I held Sunny. I bounced Sunny slightly, Then reached over and shook Violet by her shoulder.

"Hey," I asked, "Why do you look so glum?"

She shook her head and replied, "I'm not upset, just... don't feel good."

Now that she said it, I did notice her face was a little green. Motion sickness was a condition all three of us shared along with allergies to peppermints, but Vi got the worst of it.

As the trolley pulled up to the beach, we walked to the exit. When we got off, the conductor gave us the spiel about the festival the people at the company probably payed him to say. We politely declined and walked away from the trolley.

Violet set the basket down and picked up a rock, offering it to Sunny. Sunny took the rock and threw it down childishly. She shrieked and whined for a moment. Clearly, she meant, This rock is bad for my teeth. Can you find a softer one?

Vi reached down and grabbed a softer rock. Sunny bit and nibbled the edges until it was smooth, then Vi dipped it into the ocean water to get the dirt and other bad things off of it. She put the rock in her left hand and prepared to skip it.

"Excuse me Violet, but why are you holding the rock in your left hand?"

"I'm curious to see if I can skip the rock as far with my left hand as I can with my right."

"I don't mean to be rude, but standard scientific method calls for stable systematics." She just looked confused. "You should use your standard right handedness. If this works, we can maybe adjust the machine to also work for left hand throws."

She smiled and switched hands before skipping the rock. It bounced far and when it went down, Vi activated the machine. A claw came out of the basket and stretched towards the sea. It plunged into the frigid water and resurfaced a few moments later with  something in its grasp. As it reeled in painfully slowly, Vi asked, "What's that thing Martin Luther King Jr. said?"

I smiled. She loved this one. "If I cannot so great things, I can do small things in a great way." She put her hand out and the smooth stone dropped into her hand. Our eyes connected for a moment, and our smiles melted.

"Why didn't mother and father come with us?" Just then, a loud ricocheting cough sounded through the beach. A figure approached through the mist.

"Hello?" Vi called out.

While the figure stumbled towards the edge of the mist, I noticed that Vi's hand was clenched around the rock she held. I reached out and touched her hand ever so slightly. My eyes told her not to throw the rock until we had more information. She let her hand unclench and she dropped the rock. As the figure emerged trough the mist, all three of us sighed in relief at the same time.

"It's Mr. Poe," Vi said, clearly glad she hadn't thrown the rock. Mr. Poe approached us and stopped a few feet in front of us.

"How do you do?" Vi said.

"How do you do?" I said.

"Oogaboogala?" Sunny asked, which meant How do you do?

"Fine, thank you, I have some terrible news for you, Baudelaires," Mr. Poe said this like it was casual conversation. "Your parents have perished in a terrible fire. A fire that destroyed your entire home."

... (BTW not a time skip just Klaus doesn't know what to think)

"Perished means killed." Mr. Poe said.

"W-we know what perished means."

Mr. Poe nodded sadly. He loaded us into his car and we started towards the ruins of our house. When we arrived, we just sat and stared at the burnt remains for a few minutes.

Then, out of nowhere, three figures stumbled from the ash. Two were our parents. Between them was a man who I did not recognize. As our parents worked their way towards us, I heard my mother calling out, "Children?"

I felt a smile break out on my face, despite the strange circumstances.

"Mother?" I called.

"Father?" Vi asked.

"Doobagroo?" Sunny asked, which meant Who is that strange man in between them?

Our parents finally reached us. Mother and father did not let go of the strange man, and we did not run to embrace them. Somehow we all knew that this man should not be taken lightly.

Mr. Poe cleared his throat and said, "Who is this strange man?"

Mother had just opened her mouth to answer but the strange man interrupted her. "I am Count Olaf, young actor, glowingly mentioned in several small magazines!"

Mother laughed without humor and said, "We caught him playing with fire."

"I did set the fire," Olaf admitted, seemingly proud of it. "I will not say I did not. I am an honest man."

Mother laughed again, and father joined her, but this time it wasn't fake. Clearly they thought even the very idea of this man being honest was ridiculous.

Mr. Poe called the police and they took the man away. He would be put straight into jail. Mr. Poe offered us a place in his house, but our parents politely declined, saying they had somewhere else planned. Mr. Poe left shortly after.

Our parents turned to us as soon as we were alone. Father slipped a small spyglass out of his pocket, and mother did the same.

"Children," Mother began, "We have some things we need to tell you, and some people we need you to meet."

"But first," Father said, "We are going to have a picnic. It is truly wonderful right now."

"What's that thing father always says?" I asked Klaus.

Klaus replied with a small smile we all shared, "The world is quiet here."