Chapter-by-Chapter: The Miserable Mill, Chapter 6

Please excuse any errors in today's post. I'm writing this as I battle a two day headache. I suspect that my body is gearing up for a full-blown migraine (because it's a Bank Holiday therefore I can't really be out enjoying myself). I feel like I've got an angry tomcat taken up residence in my skull at the moment. Thankfully Chapter 6 of The Miserable Mill is relatively short.

What Happens?

By dinnertime Klaus is still not back at the mill, a development which worries his sisters. They are not reassured come bedtime when Klaus still has not returned. Sunny and Violet decide to sneak out of bed to try to find Klaus just as he reenters the grounds of the mill. He seems a bit out of it, not really remembering what has happened or where he is, which leaves his sisters wondering just what has happened to him.

Thoughts as I read:

This chapter picture looks like a bowl of worms. There's steam so whatever the actual food is, even at the Miserable Mill I doubt whether they would feed them worms, appears to be hot. There's also a massive stack of plates beside the steaming bowl, so regardless of what it is, everyone is getting some!

Ah, the food is probably casserole, the traditional evening meal at the mill. The Baudelaire girls are worried as it's teatime and their brother still has not been returned to them. Violet tries to explain how they feel to Phil with Sunny agreeing ('Becer!') that they do feel that this is cause for concern.

Phil does his best to point out that 'doctors are your friends' which Snicket points out is not entirely true as doctors often do things that hurt you, like giving you injections. On the one hand, I'd usually say that an eye doctor is only going to be trying to help you, as it's the Baudelaires, who seem to attract all sorts of problems, I'm inclined to go along with Violet and Sunny here. Klaus should've been back ages ago and they have every reason to be worried. Especially when bedtime comes and he's still not back.

Phil says that the doctor must be running late which Sunny responds to with "Suski" meaning "I hope so, Phil." and soon the Baudelaire girls are lying in a dark dormitory trying to reassure each other. Eventually Sunny says "Stintamcunu" which I feel like should be almost a whole sentence, though it's not defined and I can't figure out what it might actually be intended to say.

There's a lovely little paragraph here where Snicket debates why the saying is "quiet as mice" and not "quiet as mimes" which are supposed to be entirely silent, rather than just quiet. As someone who has owned mice (in a cage with a squeaky wheel) they are not a particularly quiet pet! It is for this reason that the children are "quiet as mimes" as they sneak out of the dormitory.

Conveniently it is at this moment that Klaus returns to them, walking through the gate and towards the dormitory. He's got shiny new glasses and has no idea why he's back so late; he can't remember at all. That's not a big red flag there at all, is it?

What's worse is that he doesn't really remember where he is at the moment and Violet has to remind him that they're in the Lucky Smells Lumbermill, I'm sure it's a fairly memorable sort of place so this is even more worrying. Regardless of this Klaus is kind of out of it, he doesn't respond to them and Violet decides that he must be very tired. Sunny's not too sure and replies to this with "Libu."

As if to demonstrate Sunny's point Klaus calls Violet 'Sir' and back in the dormitory he has to be told to lie down, still calling his sister 'sir' which just gives them something else to worry about. Even though he's back in body, Klaus definitely isn't back in spirit. There's no knowing what the eye doctor has done to him... well, not in this chapter anyway.