Free A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket Page A

The Baudelaire orphans looked at one another and smiled at their shared secret. "Sorry about that," Violet said. "Tomorrow we'll do the vacuuming if you want." "Vacuum cleaners!" Esme said. "I knew there was something else he told me was in. Oh, and cotton balls, and anything with chocolate sprinkles on it, and ..." The Baudelaires did not want to stick around for any more of Esme's in list, so they brought their plates into the nearest kitchen, and walked down a hallway decorated with the antlers of various animals, through a sitting room, past five bathrooms, took a left at another kitchen, and eventually made their way to Violet's bedroom. "O.K., Klaus," Violet said to her brother, when the three children had found a comfortable corner for their discussion. "I know you've been thinking very hard about something, because you've been doing that unique habit of yours where you don't pay a bit of attention to your surroundings." "Unique habits like that are called idiosyncrasies," Klaus said. "Stiblo!" Sunny cried, which meant "We can improve our vocabulary later--tell us what's on your mind!" "Sorry, Sunny," Klaus said. "It's just that I think I've figured out where Gunther might be hiding, but I'm not positive. First, Violet, I need to ask you something. What do you know about elevators?" "Elevators?" Violet said. "Quite a bit, actually. My friend Ben once gave me some elevator blueprints for my birthday, and I studied them very closely. They were destroyed in the fire, of course, but I remember that an elevator is essentially a platform, surrounded by an enclosure, that moves along the vertical axis via an endlessly looped belt and a series of ropes. It's controlled by a push-button console that regulates an electromagnetic braking system so the transport sequence can be halted at any access point the passenger desires. In other words, it's a box that moves up or down, depending on where you want to go. But so what?" "Freijip?" Sunny asked, which, as you know, was her idiosyncratic way of saying "How can you think of elevators at a time like this?" "Well, it was the doorman who got me thinking about elevators," Klaus said. "Remember when he said that sometimes the solution is right under your nose? Well, he was gluing that wooden starfish to the elevator doors right when he said that." "I noticed that, too," Violet said. "It looked a little ugly." "It did look ugly," Klaus agreed. "But that's not what I mean. I got to thinking about the elevator doors. Outside the door to this penthouse, there are two pairs of elevator doors. But on every other floor, there's only one pair." "That's true," Violet said, "and that's odd, too, now that I think of it. That means one elevator can stop only on the top floor." "Yelliverc!" Sunny said, which meant "That second elevator is almost completely useless!" "I don't think it's useless," Klaus said, "because I don't think the elevator is really there." "Not really there?" Violet asked. "But that would just leave an empty elevator shaft!" "Middiow?" Sunny asked. "An elevator shaft is the path an elevator uses to move up and down," Violet explained to her sister. "It's sort of like a hallway, except it goes up and down, instead of side to side." "And a hallway," Klaus said, "could lead to a hiding place." "Aha!" Sunny cried. "Aha is right," Klaus agreed. "Just think, if he used an empty elevator shaft instead of the stairs, nobody would ever know where he was. I don't think the elevator has been shut down because it's out. I think it's where Gunther is hiding." "But why is he hiding? What is he up to?" Violet asked. "That's the part we still don't know," Klaus admitted, "but I bet you the answers can be found behind those sliding doors. Let's take a look at what's behind the second pair of elevator doors. If we see the ropes and things you were describing, then we know it's a real elevator. But if we don't--" "Then we know we're on the right track," Violet finished for him. "Let's go right