The hat was a staple. It not only completed the outfit but it created a character. A persona that disguised a tormented inventor. Geniuses don't wear their hearts on their sleeves or if they did, he never noticed. It probably came from the fact that he never once paid any sort of attention to the news or television. It rotted away the imagination that was necessary for invention. Today was a special day however. He was going to leave his beloved factory and venture outside into a world bombarded with media messages. Why? Well quite honestly the hot temperatures of the factory were getting annoying and he could use a break in the cold.
It was January 31st, precisely ten am sharp when he left the factory via a small door behind the hulking grey building. It was only twenty four hours until four children would enter his factory. Only four….it wasn't natural. How can this even be conceived? Wasn't there a nice girl or boy out there that could have found the ticket? He remembered he had tapped the last ticket for good luck before sending it off somewhere in this town. Somewhere in this small town, wasn't there someone who would find it? Or did children just not expect the prized object to sit under their very noses and simply not check? At any rate, he had failed in his quest. The four kids were brats and he would have to tour them around. In the end one would have to win an amazing prize.
It would have to be a house he owned in a far off country. Not his factory. He couldn't trust any of the kids with that. They didn't possess the imagination required to take over the business. He sighed and removed his hat from his head.
Inside, the hat was filled with a bunch of some things he held close to him. A picture of his mother, some elastic in assorted colours and a dollar bill. A dollar bill?
He shook it out of the purple top hat and examined it. He was sure that he put a fifty in there. Common mistake at any rate and he would be putting a crisp fifty dollar bill in there when he got home. For now he didn't need this bill. He tossed it over his shoulder, replaced the hat on his head and began to walk back to the factory.
What Willy Wonka did not know was that the dollar bill would be caught on a cold breeze, get carried off across the street and settle in the snow, near a drain. What he did not know was that bill would be found by the very person who would become his heir. What he didn't know was that he was coming around the corner, while his back was turned.