The Quagmires

Chapter 12: The Friendly Fraud

'If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives.' This is a phrase used quite commonly in the lives of the Quagmire orphans. It is a phrase which means that one is never truly ready, and never will be. Therefore, if one waits until they are ready to do something, then they'll never get the task done.

Sunny was biting two pieces of metal to form glasses for Duncan to wear. Isadora was clipping the decoration that Violet had found onto her head to create fake bangs. The rest of the children were assembling random objects. If you're confused, I'm trying to tell you that the Quagmires were disguising themselves as the Baudelaires. Isadora was disguised as Violet, Duncan as Klaus, and a bag of flour as Sunny.

When Isadora had finished wearing her fake bangs, she looked at Klaus and asked,

"How do I look?"

"Different. Which is good. I mean not that you didn't look good before. I mean that you do, you did, do look... Sunny how are those glasses coming?"

Isadora chuckled at how nervous Klaus was to answer her simple question. 

Sunny handed him the glasses and Violet felt a surge of guilt run through her. 

"You guys can still back out now," she said, "We can find another way to pass the test."

"Look, my sister and I won't sit-"

"Shhh."

Duncan and Isadora turned around to see the shadow of a hook-handed man behind the doors of the library. Luckily, he pushed the doors, closing them even tighter, and left.

"We'd better hurry," stated Violet.

"Us too," claimed Duncan, and they all got up, exchanging worried looks.

"I have this feeling we're never going to see you again," confessed the eldest Baudelaire.

'You can go back to your broom closet and forget all about this," added Klaus.

"Is that what your parents would do?" Isadora questioned.

"Our parents aren't here," Klaus clarified.

"I bet they taught you the same thing our parents taught us," announced Duncan.

"What?"

"What friends are for."

"We have to be careful sneaking out," interrupted Isadora. "So, you guys go first and we'll wait till it's clear."

The Baudelaires walked out from behind the table they were sitting at and Klaus handed Duncan the glasses Sunny had assembled. 

"Duncan...you'll need these."

Duncan put on the glasses, and although he looked ridiculous, he said,

"Perfect."

"And Isadora take this. Keep it." Klaus handed her the spyglass he had kept after they found the missing part. "If anything goes wrong, you might need a spyglass."

"I don't think anything will go wrong

We'll see you Baudelaires before long." She walked up to Klaus and gave him a light kiss on his cheek. He was shocked, but he walked away with his sister. 

The Quagmires waited until the Baudelaires had been gone for quite a while and got ready to leave themselves.

"Are you ready?" queried Isadora.

"If we wait until we're ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives," Duncan commented.

"Then let's do this. Let's run in circles to save our friends; literally."