Enough about what will be happening in four months’ time though, here’s Chapter 2 of The Carnivorous Carnival.
What Happens?
We meet Madame Lulu, the fortune teller and woman behind Olaf’s
attempts to catch the Baudelaires. The children realise that they have nowhere
to go and instead set about trying to find disguises that they can wear to
conceal their identities. Before long Violet and Klaus are disguised as
conjoined twins and Sunny is part-human/part-wolf. And then they go right on and
introduce themselves to Madame Lulu.
Thoughts as I read:
One of the things I remembered about this book was that Sunny gets
disguised as a super hairy child. And the picture that opens this chapter shows
us exactly what that looks like. She looks a little like Taz the Tazmanian
Devil. She’s got a little tail and her fingers look like claws but I can’t help
but think that she looks rather cute.
And on with the chapter. It’s another long one, though I should
probably stop saying that because all of the chapters in this book are quite
long!
Eavesdropping – a word which here means “listening in on
interesting conversations you are not invited to join” – is a valuable thing to
do, and it is often an enjoyable thing to do, but it is not a polite thing to
do, and like most impolite things, you are bound to get into trouble if you are
caught doing it.
Snicket speaks the truth, and there is something quite enjoyable
about listening in to other people’s conversations… as long as they’re not
talking about you and how Olaf is going kill you. Olaf is making it easy to
listen in to the conversation since he’s not speaking too quietly.
Madame Lulu is revealed to be the inspiration behind Olaf’s role
as the auctioneer who could not speak English very well, please, and she’s
expecting a gift from Olaf in return for her crystal gazing. Sounds like she’s
got a good set up here, she tells him what he wants to hear, and he gives her
gifts for it! Esme’s not impressed with this. What do these women see in this
guy?!
Olaf and the gang have many questions for Madame Lulu, including
where the Baudelaires are, where the Snicket file is, whether either of the
Baudelaire parents survived the fire and whether or not they can have more
wine:
“So many demands you make,” Madame Lulu said in her strange
accent. “Madame Lulu remembers, please, when you would visit only for the
pleasure of my company, my Olaf.”
“There isn’t time for that tonight,” Olaf
replied quickly.
Am I the only one who thinks that maybe they’re talking about more
than just asking questions?
Now we learn that the crystal ball has certain rules. You are only
allowed to ask one question of it, at sunrise. Olaf plans to hang around until
all of his questions have been answered. This will make staying at the carnival
slightly awkward for the Baudelaires then.
Unlike most normal people, who would be horrified at the thought
of Olaf hanging around for more than a day, Madame Lulu is thrilled, because
they’ve not got many visitors. It seems to have dawned on her that maybe
building a carnival in the middle of nowhere is not the brightest of business
plans. But Olaf’s not going give Lulu any money until he’s got the Baudelaire
fortune. I wouldn’t trust him unless I had that in writing… actually, I’m not
sure I would trust him even if I did have it in writing!
Lulu gets slightly cold with Olaf when it’s revealed that Esme is
his girlfriend, hehe. Sucks to be you, Olaf. He’s obviously a little bit worried
and starts to tell the fortune teller about how he became an actor. The children
obviously can’t see any of this, but they know their former guardian well enough
to imagine what he looks like while he speaks, that’s convenient. The children
don’t care to learn just how he became an actor so they take the chance to get
away from the tent.
Klaus freaks Violet out by mentioning the risk of being eaten by
wild animals. They’re sort of stuck though, because if they do manage to find
someone then they’re likely to assume they’re murderers and hand them over to
the police. And as adults don’t listen to them chances are they’ll not listen
when the Baudelaires try to tell the truth.
Then there’s the question of Madame Lulu. Is she really getting
the information from her crystal ball? Will she be able to give them the answers
to the questions they have? Sunny, as usual, gets the deciding vote. ‘Sandover,’
she says, meaning ‘So we’re staying.’ Her siblings go along with this, but the
next question is where to spend the night. ‘Karneez?’ Sunny asks, referring to
the people who live in the caravans dotted around the carnival.
Luckily Violet’s feeling a little bit more like her normal self
and heads over to Olaf’s car boot, announcing that she’s got an idea. ‘Nuts!’ is
Sunny’s response to this, meaning ‘I don’t think that’s such a good idea,
Violet.’ But the plan isn’t to hide in the trunk again, it’s to use the things
inside to disguise themselves. Sunny is sceptical (‘Gabrowha?’), as is Klaus,
but they don’t have very much choice, or time for that matter!
While looking through the detritus in the boot the children make
some discoveries about Olaf. Violet finds a bit of a brass lamp (presumably the
one that fell out of the window) from Uncle Monty, Klaus find an In Boutique
shopping bag which must belong to Esme, and Sunny found the pantyhose covered in
sawdust Olaf wore in Paltryville. They also learn that Olaf carries quite a lot
of disguises. He might be evil, but he’s very well prepared!
This does give the Baudelaires quite a few options; clown
and judge are mooted. Sunny finds a veil which Violet is already familiar with,
announcing ‘Twicho!’ as she does. She also says ‘Ginawn!’ meaning ‘All these
clothes are too big for me’. Violet’s having the same problem, but when she says
‘I’d only look freakish’ it gives Klaus an idea. ‘Whazit?’ Sunny says in
response to his exclamation, I love that she’s almost speaking English
now.
Klaus’s plan is to make them look like contenders for Madame
Lulu’s House of Freaks, which leads to a discussion about the inappropriateness
of putting people with birth defects into tents for people to look at. John
Merrick (meaning Joseph Merrick) gets a mention from Klaus. Sunny says ‘Radev’
meaning ‘Somebody’s going to put a stop to us if we don’t disguise
ourselves soon’. The only reference to Radev I can find is a criminal, I suppose
that could be the reference that was intended.
And so Klaus and Violet don a pair of trousers and a shirt
together, making them into a two-headed person. Or as would be more politically
correct, two people with one body. Then they disguise themselves even further
with the use of a makeup kit and some fake scars, because they’ve obviously had
a hard life.
Sunny asks ‘Beriu’ (a place in Romania) which here means ‘What
about me?’ Klaus suggests Sunny just squeeze into a shoe to become a person with
a head and a foot, but that’s not going to work. ‘Chelish,’ she says, meaning
‘I’m too big to fit inside a shoe’ – apparently they’re not clown shoes. Instead
they pull out a fake beard. And just like that the three Baudelaires are turned
into conjoined twins and a hairy baby.
To make sure that they’re totally disguised Klaus has to abandon
his glasses and Violet her hair ribbon. I hope she keeps it some place safe so
she doesn’t have to try and think without it, like at the hospital! They also
disguise their voices, Sunny is instructed to growl and suddenly they’re
different people entirely. It’s not a thought that Klaus relishes
particularly.
In no time at all they’re knocking on Madame Lulu’s door and
introducing themselves as ‘freaks’. Lulu’s wearing an eye on a chain, one just
like all those other eyes we’ve seen in the last eight books. That does not bode
well.
Even worse is the fact that she invites them inside, inside to
where Olaf and all of his gang are waiting. Definitely in the belly of the beast
now!
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