Free A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket

expression which here means "focused very hard on the task at hand, but did not actually roll up her sleeves, because it was very cold on the highest peak of the Mortmain Mountains" and got to work as Count Olaf and his comrades started their day. "I'll use these blankets for a tablecloth," Sunny heard Olaf say in the tent, over the sound her own teeth were making. "Good idea," she heard Esme reply. "It's very in to dine al fresco." "What does that mean?" Olaf asked. "It means 'outside,' of course," Esme explained. "It's fashionable to eat your meals in the fresh air." "I knew what it meant," Count Olaf replied. "I was just testing you." "Hey boss," Hugo called from the next tent. "Colette won't share the dental floss." "There's no reason to use dental floss," Count Olaf said, "unless you're trying to strangle someone with a very weak neck." "Kevin, would you do me a favor?" the hook-handed man asked, as Sunny struggled to open the jug of juice. "Will you help me comb my hair? These hooks can make it difficult sometimes." "I'm jealous of your hooks," Kevin replied. "Having no hands is better than having two equally strong hands." "Don't be ridiculous," one of the white-faced women replied. "Having a white face is worse than both of your situations." "But you have a white face because you put makeup on," Colette said, as Sunny climbed back out of the trunk and knelt down in the snow. "You're putting powder on your face right now." "Must you bicker every single morning?" Count Olaf asked, and stomped back out of his tent carrying a blanket covered in images of eyes. "Somebody take this blanket and set the table over there on that flat rock." Hugo walked out of the tent and smiled at his new boss. "I'd be happy to," he said. Esme stepped outside, having changed into a bright red snowsuit, and put her arm around Olaf. "Fold the blanket into a large triangle," she said to Hugo. "That's the in way to do it." "Yes ma'am," Hugo said, "and, if you don't mind my saying so, that's a very handsome snowsuit you are wearing." The villainous girlfriend turned all the way around to show off her outfit from every angle. Sunny looked up from her cooking and noticed that the letter B was sewn onto the back of it, along with the eye insignia. "I'm glad you like it, Hugo," Esme said. "It's stolen." Count Olaf glanced at Sunny and quickly stepped in front of his girlfriend. "What are you staring at, toothy?" he asked. "Are you done making breakfast?" "Almost," Sunny replied. "That infant never makes any sense," Hugo said. "No wonder she fooled us into thinkine she was a carnival freak." Sunny sighed, but no one heard her over the scornful laughter of Olaf's troupe. One by one, the villain's wretched employees emerged from the tent and strolled over to the flat rock where Hugo was laying out the blanket. One of the white-faced women glanced at Sunny and gave her a small smile, but nobody offered to help her finish with the breakfast preparations, or even to set the table with the eye-patterned dishes. Instead, they gathered around the rock talking and laughing until Sunny carefully carried the breakfast over to them, arranged on a large eye-shaped tray that she'd found in the bottom of the picnic basket. Although she was still frightened to be in Olaf's clutches and worried about her siblings, Sunny could not help but be a little proud as Count Olaf and his comrades looked at the meal she had prepared. Sunny had kept in mind what her mother had said about presentation being as important as the food itself, and managed to put together a lovely breakfast despite the difficult circumstances. First, she had opened the jug of frozen orange juice and used a small spoon to chip away at the ice until she had a large heap of juice shavings, which she arranged into tiny piles on each plate to make orange granita, a cold and delicious concoction that is often served at fancy dinner parties and masked balls. Then, Sunny had rinsed her mouth