Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 4: Cruel Dinner Party

*Duncan's POV*

The four of us smiled politely as Klaus and Izzie began serving the pasta with Violet and I followed close behind with the sauce. Isadora and I had learned that they like the food on their plates as soon as possible. I heard small mutterings of "ooh"s and "this looks good"s here and there, but they tried to keep it quiet. Olaf is usually the one that gets to decide for everyone whether or not the meal we prepare is ever good enough.

"As I was saying before the help interrupted," Olaf continued his speech, "there is no 'I' in acting: no selfish urges, no arrogance, no ego, no vanity, no dangerous overabundance of inflated self-regard."

"Then what's he been doing at rehearsals?" I whispered to Violet. She snickered quietly.

"There is only what the French call a certain 'escargot.' It is the first burst of applause when the curtain rises. The second burst of applause when the leading man glides out from the wings, faces the crowd, and recites his soliloquy. It is the thrill of the fourteenth mandatory standing ovation. I give and I give to my public just as I give and I give to these orphans." He concluded, taking a sip from his wine. Isadora tried serving him a portion of pasta, but he blocked her hand. "Where is the roast beef?" he asked.

"Excuse us?" Klaus asked.

"The note was not specific as to what you wanted us to cook." I said in a polite tone. "So we don't have any. We made puttanesca sauce."

"And homemade pasta, Sir." Izzie added. Klaus lifted the bowl slightly as if to emphasize her point.

"Look at my guests!!" Olaf exclaimed. "They can hardly touch this revolting excuse of a meal."

While they were eating voraciously before, they began spitting out our meal.

"We tried really hard," Violet told him. "If it's not up to your standards, maybe you should try cooking a meal instead."

"As your guardian, orphans, I am not someone to be trifled with." Olaf snarled.

"Children need to be taught how to respect their elders," the hook handed man added.

"You asked them to prepare dinner, and all they did was slap together some disgusting sauce." One of the white faced women agreed.

The bald man with the long nose looked Violet up and down. "You're a pretty one. You might want to do better in the kitchen like a good girl before you upset Olaf and he wrecks that pretty little face."

Violet glared at him. "Careful who you're talking to. I still have plenty of hot puttanesca sauce left and your lap is looking cold." She warned.

"I DEMAND you to serve roast beef to myself and my guests!"

"We don't have roast beef!" Isadora insisted. "We made puttanesca sauce!"

"Cocoa!" Sunny shrieked.

Olaf scowled at Sunny and grabbed her from my sister's arms, grinning wickedly as we protested. Poor Sunny started crying so loudly!!

"Put her down immediately, you beast!" Klaus cried. Olaf, being the piece of absolute shit he was, instead raised her as high into the air as he could. Klaus, Isadora, even the hook handed man and I held out our arms to catch her in case if she fell. Out of the corner of my eye Violet stood stiffly in shocked silence.

He teased us, moving back and forth to imitate physical instability. "Why should I? She's just a baby." He said with a smirk towards me. I had more important things to worry about than him mocking me. I stood up for Sunny and I wouldn't regret it. Olaf looked around and grunted."This table is a mess. There's hardly a place to put down a baby!" He placed Sunny on a tray of fruit and slid it to the middle of the table. Isadora, the elder Baudelaires, and I sighed in relief now that she couldn't be dropped from such a height. "We're leaving for rehearsals." He announced to us now that he had his fun.

"But the baby said there was chocolate pudding!!" The hook handed man whined.

"You children are to clean the table and wash the dishes, and then you are to go straight to your room!" Our guardian directed.

"The one with only two beds?" Klaus asked. "There are five of us and you've only provided us with two beds!"

"If you want another bed or two," Olaf said with a fake calmness, "Tomorrow, you may go into town and purchase one."

"You know perfectly well we haven't any money!"

"Of course you do! You lucky orphans are inheriting enormous fortunes!"

"The money our parents have left behind are not to be used until Violet and the Quagmires come of age!"

For a moment, Olaf didn't speak. His face was extremely red and in one quick movement, he struck Klaus across the face, sending him to the floor with his glasses skittering across the room. "Klaus!!" Isadora, Violet, and I exclaimed.

Olaf wiped his hands on each other. "The theatre awaits." He said simply, leading his cohorts through the door. When the room was empty, Violet and I rushed to his side and Isadora went to go grab his glasses. His breathing was quickened and his eyes were wide. There was a hand-shaped mark on his face and a bruise looked like it'd be forming soon.

"My god, Klaus," I said, "Are you alright?!"

"No!!" He shouted. "This isn't better than nothing!!!" His eyes watered as he accepted his glasses from Izzie with a shaky hand.

"He's a monster." Violet agreed angrily.

"Clenu..." Sunny said from up on top of the table.

Violet stood up and let out a sigh. "Sunny's right. If we don't clean up before they get home, we could get in more trouble and he could... Yeah..."

"Klaus, you can go to bed early," Isadora told him, helping him up. "We can handle cleaning up."

"No, I should help..." Klaus replied.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Seriously you don't need to do any work."

"I don't know. I don't want to get in more trouble for not helping."

Izzie and I nodded a little bit. We can speak from experience. I let her go to Strauss' to help with organizing her books and I finished the chores without her, so she had to dust the entire west wing of the house. We let Klaus help, and we managed to clean the dining table and the kitchen, but very slowly. The sky was either mocking us or crying with us, because it began raining, and soon storming. As the rest of the night wore on, we all started silently crying as we cleaned, and as we got ready for bed, and as we slept too...