Chapter 8 - Spoiled Rotten

"Without the boat, we'll have to move double-time, just to keep on schedule," Willy said, leading us down a hallway. "There's far too much to see." Willy continued pulling me along right behind him, I'm honestly not sure why he's so attracted to me. "Mr. Wonka?" Charlie asked. "Yeah?" Willy answered.

"Why did you decide to let people in?" Charlie looked at him. "Oh so they could see the factory, of course," Willy answered. "But why now, and why only five?" Charlie continued interrogating him, eyeing Willy's hand holding mine. "Charlie," I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Just be grateful that Mr. Wonka is even doing this and you get to be apart of it."

"What's the special prize, and who gets it?" Mike jumped in. "The best kind of prize is a surprise," Willy answered, laughing at the end. "Will Violet always be a blueberry?" Veruca asked, shoving Mike out of the way. "No. Maybe. I don't know. But that's what you get for chewing gum all day. It's just disgusting," Willy answered, making me giggle. 

"If you hate gum so much, why do you make it?" Mike asked. "Once again, you really shouldn't mumble, 'cause it's kind of starting to bum me out," Willy said, not skipping a beat. "Luckily, I have Lexi here to cheer me up." I blushed at his statement as Charlie asked, "Can you remember the first candy you ever ate?"

Willy stopped walking as he answered flatly, "No." He was lost in another flashback, making me look at Charlie. "Charles, what did we discuss earlier in the boat?" I placed a hand on my hip. "Not to ask about his childhood anymore. But Alex I was just curious," Charlie looked up at me. I sighed and let go of Willy's hand, bending down to Charlie's height, "Charlie, Mr. Wonka probably had a rough childhood. You shouldn't make him talk about it when he's clearly not comfortable doing so."

"Sorry, Alex," Charlie sighed, and I ruffled his hair while scrunching up my nose. "Just remember from now on," I smiled at him. I stood up straight as Willy snapped out of his memory. "I'm sorry, I was having a flashback," He said, still sounding dazed. He snapped out of his daze and looked at me. I gave him a worried look when Mr. Salt said, "I see." He pulled Veruca away from him.

"These flashbacks happen often?" Mr. Teavee asked. "Increasingly. Today," Willy said nervously, and started walking again. I grabbed his hand as he continued walking, "Willy, are you going to be okay?" He looked at me and nodded, "I'm fine, Lexi." We walked past the nut sorting room and Mr. Salt said, "Ah, this is a room I know all about. For you see, Mr. Wonka, I myself am in the nut business."

Mr. Salt handed Willy his business card and Willy tossed it over his shoulder when Mr. Salt wasn't looking, without even looking at it, making me giggle quietly. "Are you using the Havimax 4000 to do your sorting?" Mr. Salt asked. "No," Willy laughed. "You're really weird." Willy escorted us into the nut room, and we were met by the sounded of chittering squirrels. We got to the ledge, Veruca leaning against it as she excitedly said, "Squirrels!"

"Yeah, squirrels. These squirrels are specially trained to get the nuts out of the shells," Willy informed. "They're so cute," I gave a light giggle, looking at all of the squirrels. "Why use squirrels?" Mr. Salt asked, looking at Mr. Wonka. "Why not use Oompa-Loompas?" "Because only squirrels can get the whole walnut out almost every single time," Willy answered. "You see how they tab each one with their little knuckles to make sure it's not bad?" 

One squirrel in particular tried to get a nut out of the shell, and started banging it on the edge of the table when it wouldn't come out. "Oh look, look!" Willy said, and pointed to the squirrel. The squirrel listened to the shell. "I think that one's got a bad nut," Willy explained. The squirrel threw the nut over their shoulder, and the nut went rolling down a large hole. 

"Daddy, I want a squirrel. Get me one of those squirrels. I want one," Veruca told her father. "Veruca, dear, you have many marvelous pets," Mr. Salt looked down at her. "All I've got at home is one pony and two dogs and four cats and six bunny rabbits and two parakeets and three canaries and a green parrot and a turtle and a silly old hamster! I want a squirrel!" Veruca demanded. 

"Meanwhile I can't even get a dog," I mumbled to Charlie, who nodded in agreement, and I caught Willy looking at me in my peripheral vision. "All right, pet. Daddy'll get you a squirrel, just as soon as he possibly can" Mr. Salt said, giving in to his daughter's demands, making Willy furrow his eyebrows. "But I don't want any old squirrel. I want a trained squirrel," Veruca said, specifying her wants.

"Very well," Mr. Salt sighed in defeat and looked at Willy. "Mr. Wonka? How much do you want for one of these squirrels? Name your price." Willy looked at Mr. Salt as Veruca looked at Willy with a smile on her face. "Uh, they're not for sale," Willy answered glancing back and forth between Veruca and Mr. Salt. "She can't have one." Veruca's smile was instantly replaced with a harsh glare. She whipped her head around to look at her father, "Daddy!"

Mr. Salt looked at his daughter, panic rising in his face. "I'm sorry, darling. Mr. Wonka is being unreasonable," Willy spoke up, doing a perfect imitation of Mr. Salt. Mr. Salt gave Willy a weird look while Veruca glared at Willy, then at Mr. Salt, "If you won't get me a squirrel, I'll get one myself." Veruca then climbed underneath the gate, and started walking down the stairs. I furrowed my eyebrows as she walked down the stairs.

"Veruca," Mr. Salt called out to his daughter, but she ignored him. "Little girl?" Willy called out to her as well. Veruca kept walking onto the floor, looking at all of the squirrels in the room. "Veruca, come back here at once," Mr. Salt demanded. Well, now you want to be assertive all of a sudden I thought to myself. Veruca kept walking, ignoring her father's calls. She set her sights on one of the squirrels and started walking towards him. All of the squirrels stopped their work and looked at Veruca. 

"Little girl?" Willy tried to call out for her again, then held up a finger. "Don't touch that squirrel's nuts. It'll make them crazy." Veruca kept walking towards the squirrel she desperately wanted and all of the squirrels went silent, watching her every move carefully. "I'll have you!" Veruca said, and bent down to pick up the squirrel. The squirrel then squealed, and all of the squirrels started jumping on her. I gasped in shock, grabbing onto Willy's hand. "Veruca!" Mr. Salt cried out. 

Mr. Salt started shaking the gate and looked at Willy, who immediately dropped my hand and grabbed on to his huge key ring. He started digging through the keys as the squirrels kept clawing at Veruca until she fell on the ground, with squirrels pinning her down. Mr. Salt kept shaking the gate as Willy kept "trying" with numerous keys to open the gate. I looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, and he winked at me. "Daddy!" Veruca cried out for her father.

Willy tried again with another key, "Nope." He laughed and looked at Mr. Salt, his smile dropping off his face and continued looking for the right key when he saw the look Mr. Salt was giving him. The squirrels pinned down all of Veruca's limbs as Willy tried another key. "Here it is," He mumbled, and looked for another key when it didn't work. "Here it isn't." 

"Daddy, I want them to stop!" Veruca cried out. The squirrel Veruca wanted hopped onto her stomach and the squirrels went quiet again. The squirrel knocked on Veruca's head and listened to it. "What are they doing?" Charlie asked as I held him close to me. "They're testing to see if she's a bad nut," Willy answered, as he slyly put the right key into the hole. Then the squirrel let out a high pitched squeak and Willy's eyes widened, "Oh, my goodness. She is a bad nut, after all."

The squirrels started chattering again as they lifted up Veruca and carried her over to the hole in the middle. "Veruca!" Mr. Salt cried out. "Daddy!" Veruca called back. "Where are they taking her?" Mr. Salt asked, not taking his eyes off his daughter. "Where all the other bad nuts go- to the garbage chute," Willy answered. Veruca continued screaming as Mr. Salt asked, "Where does the chute go?" 

"To the incinerator," Willy answered nonchalantly. "But don't worry, we only light it on Tuesdays." I looked at Willy, concerned, "Willy, today is Tuesday." Willy gave me a look as if he was saying he knows, "Well there's always a chance they decided not to light it today." Veruca screamed again, her nails scraping against the floor as she desperately tried to fight against the squirrels. However, the squirrels over powered her, as they threw her down the garbage shoot. I let out a shocked gasp as Mr. Salt cried out, "Aah!"

Then all of the squirrels went back to their stools and resumed their work. "Now, she may be stuck in the chute just below the top. If that's the case, all you have to do is reach in and pull her out. Okay?" Willy informed Mr. Salt. Then Willy unlocked the gate and pulled it open. Mr. Salt climbed down the stairs as Willy closed the gate and locked it again, holding my hand once again. Then the Oompa-Loompas entered the room, starting a song.

https://youtu.be/gtf9nmtTC7Q

Willy stifled a laugh as Mr. Salt went down the garbage cute along with his daughter. An Oompa-Loompa tugged on Willy's coat, him crouching down so he could hear what the tiny worker was telling him. "Really? Oh, good." Willy said, and stood back up. "I've just been informed that the incinerator's broken, so there should be about three weeks worth of rotten garbage to break their fall."

I let out a sigh of relief as Mr. Teavee said, "Well, that's good news." Willy looked at him and said, "Yeah. Well, let's keep on truckin'." Willy grabbed my hand, and pulled me along with him.