Mack

Mack
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Height	Large
Relationships
Family Members	Drumstick (son)
Love Interests	Drumstick's Mother (ex-partner)
Affiliation
Interest	Meat
Profession	Freelance Butcher
Behind the Scenes
Appearances	File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents

“	I don't know you. Usually I don't like people I don't know, so why don't you skedaddle?	”
	— Mack, File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents, "Violent Butcher"

Mack is a butcher who lives in Stain'd-by-the-Sea. He appears in File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents in the seventh incident, "Violent Butcher."

Biography

Early Life

“	Drumstick! Come on out and get your punishment! I'm going to wallop you over and over, and then we'll go home and have some bone marrow for supper!	”
	— Mack, File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents, "Violent Butcher"

Mack worked as a butcher for Partial Foods, though due to lack of funds he eventually turned to freelancing. He had a son, Drumstick, with another butcher, though Drumstick's Mother eventually moved to the city. 

Drumstick was unfortunately left in Mack's custody, and Mack was abusive and uncaring towards his son, not even noticing his eye color.

Mack seems to have visited Black Cat Coffee before, as he knew about the functions of the buttons.

File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents

Violent Butcher

“	Well, he's caught now, like a cow on my workbench.	”
	— Mack, File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents, "Violent Butcher"

After one particularly bad day, Mack tells Drumstick to stay inside the house but gets angry when he keeps "getting in his way." After he yells at Drumstick for an hour, the boy tells him he intends to take a train to the city to live with his mother, takes his money and runs out the door. Mack chases his son with a rolled-up magazine, intending to hit him with it, until they reach Black Cat Coffee. Drumstick hides inside, and Mack, tired, decides to wait outside until he emerges. He hears a small crash after his son enters.

Lemony Snicket stops by Black Cat Coffee, only to find Mack waiting outside. Mack threatens Snicket into going into the shop with him with the hopes of finding and trapping Drumstick, and they enter the coffeeshop to find it as empty as it normally is. Mack looks over the counter to find an overturned trashcan, which he believes caused the crash. Snicket suggests looking in the piano, and then suggests that Drumstick may have run out the back, but the piano is empty and the door is locked.

Mack calls for his son, threatening to beat him and then feed him bone marrow for dinner, and Snicket questions him about bone marrow in an attempt to distract him. Mack then presses the A button to open the staircase to the attic, and goes upstairs, thinking that Drumstick threw the trash around to cover up the sound of the staircase.

As soon as Mack is up the stairs, Snicket presses the button again, trapping him in the attic until he can find the other button. Drumstick, who was hiding in the trashcan, manages to escape and gets a headstart to the train station.

Physical Appearance

Mack is described as being a mountainous man with peaked shoulders and a rough, scraggly beard on his chin. 

Quotes

File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents

“	Sorry, chief. I can't let anybody in here. You shouldn't drink coffee, anyway. It's bad for you.	”
	— "Violent Butcher"

“	Well, I'm looking for someone, too, and until I find who I'm looking or, I can't let you in.	”
	— "Violent Butcher"

“	Drumstick was a very bad boy today.	”
	— "Violent Butcher"

“	Now I'm just going to wait him out. He can't stay in there forever.	”
	— "Violent Butcher"

“	Say, I have an idea. Why don't you go in with me? If I go in alone, I know he'll slip away. He moves quick as a game hen. But two of us could corner him. If you help me out here, I'll give you a rack of lamb.	”
	— "Violent Butcher"

Mack: Nothing I can say to convince you?

Lemony Snicket: I'm afraid not.

Lemony Snicket: I saw a movie once where something important was hidden in a piano.

Mack: I saw that one. All those fools singing in French.

“	My son is hidden somewhere in here. I'd bet my juiciest veal chops on it.	”
	— "Violent Butcher"

Family

Mack

Mother

Drumstick

Trivia

• At some point in his life, he viewed Casablanca and missed the point of the film entirely.

Appearances

Books
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Books)
1. The Bad Beginning (1999):	Absent	7. The Vile Village (2001):	Absent
2. The Reptile Room (1999):	Absent	8. The Hostile Hospital (2001):	Absent
3. The Wide Window (2000):	Absent	9. The Carnivorous Carnival (2002):	Absent
4. The Miserable Mill (2000):	Absent	10. The Slippery Slope (2003):	Absent
5. The Austere Academy (2000):	Absent	11. The Grim Grotto (2004):	Absent
6. The Ersatz Elevator (2001):	Absent	12. The Penultimate Peril (2005):	Absent
13. The End (2006):		Absent
All the Wrong Questions
Who Could That Be at This Hour? (2012):	Absent	Shouldn't You Be in School? (2014):	Absent
When Did You See Her Last? (2013):	Absent	Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? (2015):	Absent
File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents (2014):		Debut
Snicketverse
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (2002):		Absent
The Dismal Dinner (2004):		Absent
The Beatrice Letters (2006):		Absent
29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy (2014):		Absent
The Hero of the Story (2017):		Absent
Poison for Breakfast (2021):		Absent
Other Snicket Books
The Baby in the Manger (2002):		Absent
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming (2007):		Absent
The Lump of Coal (2008):		Absent
The Composer Is Dead (2009):		Absent
13 Words (2010):		Absent
The Dark (2013):		Absent
Goldfish Ghost (2017):		Absent

Gallery

Waiting for Drumstick.