A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village Read Online Free PDF

chicken enchiladas? That's a Mexican dish consisting of corn tortillas rolled around a chicken filling, covered with melted cheese and a special sauce I learned from my second-grade teacher. How does that sound?" "That sounds delicious," Violet said. "Oh, good," Hector said. "I despise picky eaters. Well, it's a pretty long walk to my house, so let's talk as we go. Here, I'll carry your suitcases and you two can carry your sister. I know you had to walk from the bus stop, so she's had more than enough exercise for a baby." Hector grabbed the Baudelaires' bags and led the way down the street, which was now empty except for a few stray crow feathers. High above their heads, the crows were taking a sharp left-hand turn, and Hector raised Klaus's suitcase to point at them. "I don't know if you're familiar with the expression 'as the crow flies,'" Hector said, "but it means 'the most direct route.' If something is a mile away as the crow flies, that means it's the shortest way to get there. It usually has nothing to do with actual crows, but in this case it does. We're about a mile away from my home as the crow flies, as all those crows fly, as a matter of fact. At night, they roost in Nevermore Tree, which is in my backyard. But it takes us longer to get there, of course, because we have to walk through V.F.D. instead of flying up in the air." "Hector," Violet said timidly, "we were wondering exactly what V.F.D. stands for." "Oh yes," Klaus said. "Please tell us." "Of course I'll tell you," Hector said, "but I don't know why you're so excited about it. It's just more nonsense from the Council of Elders." The Baudelaires looked at one another uncertainly. "What do you mean?" Klaus asked. "Well, about three hundred and six years ago," Hector said, "a group of explorers discovered the murder of crows that we just saw." "Sturo?" Sunny asked. "We didn't see any crows get killed," Violet said. "'Murder' is the word for a group of crows, like a flock of geese or a herd of cows or a convention of orthodontists. Anyway, the explorers were impressed with their patterns of migration, you know, they always fly uptown in the morning, downtown in the afternoon and over to Nevermore Tree in the evening. It's a very unusual pattern, and the explorers were so excited by it that they decided to live here. Before too long, a town sprung up, and so they named it V.F.D." "But what does V.F.D. stand for?" Violet asked. "The Village of Fowl Devotees," Hector said. "'Devotees' is a word for people who are devoted to something, and 'fowl'... " " ...means 'bird,'" Klaus finished. "That's the secret of V.F.D.? Village of Fowl Devotees?" "What do you mean, secret?" Hector asked. "It's not a secret. Everyone knows what those letters mean." The Baudelaires sighed with confusion and dismay, which is not a pleasant combination. "What my brother means," Violet explained, "is that we chose V.F.D. to become our new guardian because we'd been told of a terrible secret, a secret with the initials V.F.D." "Who told you about this secret?" Hector asked. "Some very dear friends of ours," Violet replied. "Duncan and Isadora Quagmire. They discovered something about Count Olaf, but before they could tell us anything more... " "Hold on a minute," Hector said. "Who's Count Olaf? Mrs. Morrow was talking about Count Omar. Is Olaf his brother?" "No," Klaus said, shuddering at the very thought of Olaf having a brother. "I'm afraid The Daily Punctilio got many of the facts wrong." "Well, why don't we get them right," Hector said, turning a corner. "Suppose you tell me exactly what happened." "It's sort of a long story," Violet said. "Well," Hector said, with a slight smile, "we have sort of a long walk. Why don't you begin at the beginning?" The Baudelaires looked up at Hector, sighed, and began at the beginning, which seemed such a long way off that they were surprised they could remember it so clearly. Violet told Hector about the dreadful day at the beach when she and her