The Girl Who Wore Snakes

Chapter 3: Pt5- Safe

I set Sunny in an armchair and Violet and I tie our hair back. Violet told me it helps her focus so I've been trying it. "Aunt Josephine told us that all the answers we need were in her library, but she made a grammatical error." Klaus recalls. "Wait, let me get this straight. Aunt Josephine made a grammatical error?" Violet says in disbelief. "The word 'library' is singular, meaning one. But this isn't one library, it's two. The one you see here, and the one you don't." Klaus pulls back the sliding wall to reveal the safe and picture of Ike.

"Aunt Josephine might not open up, but her safe might." Klaus says. "That won't be easy. That's why people have safes." Violet points out. I bend down in front of the safe and examine the lock. "Most safes use three numbers. That means that there are millions of possible combinations." I say. "Aunt Josephine said that she and our parents developed secret codes. In some codes, numbers substitute for letters and words." Klaus recalls. "It'd have to be something she'd remember. Something she cares about." Violet says. "Grammar?" Klaus suggests. "Too many letters." I say. "What else does she care about? Cold food? Doorbell safety? Avoiding questions about anything we want to know?" Klaus lists off.

"Ike" Sunny babbles from the armchair. "That's three letters long." Violet says. "'I' is the ninth letter of the alphabet. Eleven for 'K.' And 'E,' the fifth." I say as I twist the lock. The safe flings open and reveals a few tin boxes, some paper and pictures. We each pull out an item. "Crackers?" Klaus says, looking at the opened tin box in his hands. "Very high-pitched Beethoven. This is Ike's whistling music." I say, looking at the worn down paper in my hands. "And look, Aunt Josephine wrestling with an alligator? And winning. Boxing. Skydiving." We look at all of the crazy pictures. "Who jumps out of a plane for fun?" Violet asks, looking at the skydiving picture. "She wasn't scared of anything." I think aloud. "What happened to her?" Klaus asks, sadly.

We just then notice a large book in the bottom of the safe. I pull it out and wipe the dust off of it. "The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations." I read the title. It sounded vaguely familiar. "All the answers are in here. Even if our guardian won't tell us anything, we can still find out what we're looking for." Violet says. Right as we're about to open the book, we hear the doorknob click from downstairs. We quickly shove all of the items back into the safe and close it. I grab a book on verbs and sit next to Klaus. We both flip to a random page and make it look like we're reading as Violet pretends to play with Sunny.

"Children? Children, there you are." Aunt Josephine says as she walks into the room. She's holding two large paper grocery bags that are filled to the brim with limes. "I found something very interesting at the town market and petting zoo." Josephine says. "Limes." Klaus says, looking at the bags in her hands. "I found two very interesting things at the town market and petting zoo." She corrects. "One, yes, a great deal of limes at a reasonable price. It's perfect for cold lime stew. The other is even better. Something wonderful." Josephine continues. She puts down her bags and sits next to us. "Children, I know I am a disappointment to you and to countless others. Believe it or not, I used to be a fierce and formidable woman. Your parents and I were more than friends. We were associates. We were colleagues, comrades, collaborators, allies, volunteers! But these are troubling times." She says.

"I know you miss Ike very much." Violet says, sympathetically. "And I know you all miss your parents very much. It's a curious thing, the death of a loved one. It's like climbing the stairs to your room in the dark, thinking that there's one more stair than there is. And your foot falls through the air, and there is a sickly feeling of dark surprise." Josephine describes. The room goes quiet for a moment. "That's exactly what it's like." I say quietly. "It's terrifying. But today I realized, with my hands full of limes, you can't be terrified forever. I think I am ready to be fierce and formidable again. And I think we can do it together."

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