Starshine | Willy Wonka

viii

"Without the boat, we'll have to move double time, just to keep on schedule." Mr. Wonka explained, the remaining families followed briskly behind him, "There's far too much to see." Charlie had joined Veruca and Mike at the front of the group, while Thalia trailed behind Mr. Salt, and Mr. Teevee. She couldn't say she liked them any more than she liked their children, but luckily neither tried to include them in whatever it was they were talking about.

"Mr. Wonka?" Charlie spoke up, as he managed to keep in stride with the chocolatier.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you decide to let people in?" The question had only been burning a hole in the back of his mind since this whole ordeal had started. Of course, some influence may have come from his grandfather's personal stories, but curiosity was often known to overcome the boy.

"Oh, so they could see the factory, of course."

"But why now, and why only five?" Charlie questioned further but was easily pushed to the side as Mike grew greedy.

"What's the special prize, and who gets it?"

"The best kind of prize is a surprise." Mr. Wonka laughed, as Mike was in turn physically shoved out of the way by Veruca. Were children always this rude? Thalia couldn't quite recall if they had been, but from past endeavors of the last few weeks showed that children were often prone to such unfavorable outbursts.

"Will Violet always be a blueberry?" The rich girl inquired.

"No. Maybe. I don't know, but that's what you get for chewing gum all day. It's just disgusting."

"If you hate gum so much, why do you make it?" Mike complained, Thalia thought that was just good marketing, but she didn't share her thoughts out loud.

"Once again, you really shouldn't mumble, 'cause it's starting to bum me out," Wonka stated, obviously choosing to ignore that last comment, or simply trying to refrain from having to answer it.

"Do you remember the first candy you ever ate?" Charlie asked, and as the words seemed to register with Mr. Wonka the man suddenly stopped walking. The man was simply staring into space, and no one was really sure how to go about themselves.

Eventually, he seemed to collect himself, "I'm sorry, I was having a flashback."

"I see." Mr. Salt said as he grabbed his daughter, carefully pulling her back away from the man.

"Do these flashbacks happen often?" Mr. Teevee questioned.

"Increasingly, today." He let out a small laugh, before quickly walking away. They had no other choice but to follow him. After a few more minutes of walking, they approached a door labeled 'Nut sorting room'

"Ah, this is a room I know all about, for you see, Mr. Wonka I myself am in the nut business," Mr. Salt mused, as he pulled out what Thalia assumed was a business card and handed it to the man, who quickly threw it behind him, "Are you using the Havimax 4000 to do your sorting?"

"No. You're really weird." He laughed as he moved to open the door to the room. The door opened to reveal a light blue and white interior, and as the piled in after followed Mr. Wonka to a railing that looked down on the large room. Thalia had to take a second to register what she was seeing, in a large circle formation were over what she could estimate to be around a hundred squirrels. Each sat perched on their own stools, opening and sorting through their own nuts. 

"Squirrels!" Veruca grinned, as she looked at the cute animals below her.

"Yeah, squirrels. These squirrels are specially trained to get the nuts out of their shells." Mr. Wonka boasted, as Thalia and Charlie spoke quietly amongst themselves.