Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, death by suicide, gender/transgender discrimination, and ableism.

Because Violet and Sunny did not have time to get their coats before fleeing the house, the three children take turns wearing Klaus’s coat as they trudge down the hill through the storm. When the children arrive at the dock, they discover that the ferry is not running because of the storm. They look down toward the far end of the dock and see a shack and an imposing spiked fence—it is Captain Sham’s Sailboat Rentals. They are terrified to approach a business owned by Olaf, but they know they have no other options. Through the shack’s window, they can see one of Olaf’s minions sleeping at a desk. (Note: Although Snicket does not use the name in The Wide Window, the person inside the shack is referred to in earlier books as the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender.) The children find the henchperson frightening, but Violet says that they will have to get the keys to the gate from this person and that they will have to steal a sailboat.

As Violet and Klaus discuss how to do this without waking the henchperson, Sunny slips away and enters the shack herself.