Of Chocolate and Toy Soldiers
Chapter One: A Letter from Across Town
Arranged marriages were occasions of the past—they no longer existed to the present, correct? Correctly wrong. In fact, some families still believe that in arranging a marriage they gain family wealth and a wonderful son or daughter in law as an heir to the family name. One perfect example of all this would be between the highly acclaimed dental practitioner and the equally acclaimed medical surgeon—both of which were fortunately wealthy.
The problem was these two families had never bothered to meet with each other's child destined to be engaged and married. Though it would be wrong to say that they couldn't be more different, it isn't inaccurate to state that they were both peculiarly strange. What with Willy Wonka's hidden obsession of candy and Zee Orman's hidden infatuation with toy making it was hard to call any of this a proper arrangement amongst families.
But plans went awry as Willy Wonka decided to run away from his father, never to return—making it extremely difficult to marry someone whom you've never met and whom has decided to take it upon himself and hitch a ride out of town. Nonetheless, they were still engaged (though neither mentioned it to anyone).
Yet so many years later here Zee Orman stood, brushing aside messy black hair accented with neon blues, oranges, greens and pinks. There were large goggles pushed up on her forehead, gluing her bangs to her face. Zee Orman was creator, founder, and president of Orman Toys—the company that never failed to make any and every toy imaginable.
The view from the enormous window on the very top of the tallest tower in her factory and personal home was amazing—breath taking even—during the winter and fall months. Still, she felt a gaping hole in her stomach, watching from afar the chocolate factory across the town. Inside she knew who lived there. She knew exactly who he was and what little connections they had socially. But with Wonka being such a recluse, she highly doubted he even knew she existed anymore. Did he even recall their engagement set so many years ago?
Zee turned, obstructing her view of the factory and sat in the large desk that appeared to be made of hats and cards stacked up on each other. Atop this was a monstrous amount of paperwork to be read and thoroughly completed. Zee hated her procrastination of doing all of this but it all seemed rather superfluous and unnecessary. All it really needed was her signature and although at some points in time she actually didn't even bother to peruse it, it was still filled and addressed back to whomever had sent her needless work in the first place.
But just as she was to dump the rest of the fan letters into a separating bin from which she'd get her toy robot workers to sort through, a peculiar envelope caught her eye. Pushing aside the stray papers she opened the letter with great delicacy and read through it three or four times, not fully comprehending or perhaps not assured that this was not forged. But then again, all of it had been a secret. Once more she pored over it and read:
Dear Ms. Zee Orman,
I would like to welcome you to my chocolate factory this Wednesday afternoon at precisely two 'o' clock sharp. Please wait outside the gates and I will personally escort you inside. I believe we have a lot to catch up on.
Sincerely,
Willy Wonka
"How did he remember?" thought aloud Zee before she realized that she had no idea what to expect or what his expectations would be at all. Would he agree with her aberrant choice of attire? Would he care for her wacky personality? It wouldn't have mattered quite so much save for the fact that this was her fiancé she was speaking about.
Frantically she jumped from her feet and burst through the double doors and down the wonky hallway and into her personal bedroom. It was red and black with the large ZOT crest across her wall, of course standing for Zee Orman Toys. But she wasn't caught up in the intricate beauty of her bedroom but more so filing through her closet for something, anything she could wear around him. There wasn't much, if only she knew something about this mysterious chocolatier destined to take her hand in marriage. If only this hadn't arisen in the first place! She openly cursed her mother and father for making such a confounded arrangement. It'd been years since she'd seen Willy and the last she remembered was of the little boy with headgear on—she felt terribly sorry for him in her childhood.
Sighing she stubbornly resisted the instinct to make a perfect first impression. Either way, they were being forced into this by both sides of the family tree and it would be useless to hide behind a cloak of girlishness that didn't at all suit her. Still, her nerves got the better of her as she stared at the calendar on the wall. Tomorrow was Wednesday! "If only the mail moved faster…" she sighed dismally and left the room, walking down the hall to survey the progression with the rest of her factory.
Charlie smiled, he had noticed the significant rise in his mentor's anxiety level, it was humorous in a strange sort of way. Willy was having an extremely hard time focusing on what was best for his candy—but he still managed to at least make it taste astoundingly delicious beyond all human standards. This was a terrible idea and he knew it perfectly well—so did his father. "What's wrong, Willy?" Charlie finally questioned of his teacher.
"What? Oh, nothing," lied Willy as he paced the room, staring at the ground and sighing. Nothing. Nothing was all right—that's the sort of nothing he was thinking of right now. How in the blazes would he ever get through with tomorrow? Better yet, how could he explain this to the Buckets? Dinnertime, that's how.
The time had approached quickly and he sat down at the table, feeling awkward and uncomfortable as the luscious appearing food was presented before him. Butterflies invaded and participated in warfare all in the confines of his stomach as he watched, his face turning paler-than-pale as everyone sat down and began passing about the plates of food—chattering lightly as they did so. Sooner or later they would realize his unusual behavior even for his unusual self and then, and only then would he offer his explanation. All of this was nothing he was looking forward to as he silently picked at his food, ignoring Charlie's persistent whisper about candy business (he would regret that eventually).
"Really, what is the problem, Mr. Wonka?" Charlie finally inquired after giving up on telling his teacher of his idea for the kites they'd been working on.
"Yes, Willy, you're acting strange today," nodded Mrs. Bucket, with everyone else agreeing.
This was it, with all the eyes set upon him he began to explain what had been set in motion so many years and ago and would be fulfilled within the next twelve months. Everyone was baffled at the thought but Willy looked rather shamed and nearly embarrassed at the fact. Charlie lightly patted him on the back, but realized that with his mentor's phobia of touch it probably only made matters worse. "Have you met her at all?" Mr. Bucket finally questioned.
"Once," Willy replied dismally and sighed.
"Well, don't worry, you two should be fine…. wait…she's Zee Orman? The toy maker across town?"
"Yes."
"Well then it won't be that hard to get along with her, will it?" Mrs. Bucket smiled and set down her silverware that had previously been forgotten in her grasp. "You'll be fine."
"Hopefully," Willy nodded and gazed around at the table and stood from his seat, already procuring from the hooks on the wall his hat and jacket which he sat upon his self once more. "Excuse me, I need to be alone." Without further ado, he left to his personal quarters in the factory, leaving the Buckets to exchange wary glances before finishing dinner without Mr. Wonka.
Tomorrow won't be good at all. Not at all.
Yes, well, this is my first attempt at a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fanfic and I hope it serves some justice to the movie. If you actually need this pointed out its based upon the Burton & Depp version—mostly all of them on here are (which is totally fine by me). So just review and thanks for your support in at least reading! (Sorry its sort of short and sorry if this appears to be some mary-sueish thing.)
Disclaimer: saying this once, and once only. I don't own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Neither the book by Dahl or the movie is mine.
Oh pretty please with a little cherry on top review! I'll even add chocolate syrup at half price!
