Chapter 2

Treasure

On his way home the next day, Charlie found just enough money for a single candy bar. He looked over to Bill's Candy Shop hesitantly. He should take this home to his mother, but the temptation was too great.

He stepped inside and looked around for his aunt.

"Hello, Charlie!" greeted the owner familiarly, "Here to see your Joelle? I'm paying her a little extra to make me a new sign for the front of my shop. She's out back working on it."

"Thanks, but I'm here to buy something today. And it's for my Aunt, so if you could keep it quiet."

"Of course. She does love her chocolate doesn't she? Maybe more than Wonka himself."

"Could you get me a plain Wonkabar and the largest Wonka chocolate you've got?"

"Of course. One Wonkabar and a Scrumdidliumtios bar coming right up."

Charlie passed over his recently obtained coin and received the chocolates in return. He left the shop just moments before his aunt reentered the shop, wiping her paint covered hands on a ragged towel.

He made his way over to pick up his newspapers and found the stand mobbed with a cacophony of sound and people.

"Did you hear?"

"The last ticket-"

"It was a fake!"

Charlie's eyes widened as he reached discreetly in and touched the two Wonka bars in his bag.

"Charlie!" shouted the owner of the stand,"I haven't got any more papers today! Just go on home!"

Charlie did go home. In fact, he ran there as quickly as possible, his now seemingly heavy bag banging against his side.

He waited a full hour until his aunt got home, her cocoa brown hair disheveled.

"Today was a wild day, Bucket's. That fifth golden ticket was a fake and the store was positively mobbed. There isn't an unopened Wonka chocolate bar for miles tonight."

"Aunt Jo,"said Charlie pulling out his bag, "there are at least two."

Then he pulled out the two chocolate bars he had bought earlier that day.

"When did you get those? I was in the shop all day!"

"You went to make that new sign for the shop."

"I vaguely remember doing that some time before the mob rushed in."

"Let's open them!"

The family gathered around, their heads almost touching as Charlie opened the first Wonka chocolate bar. Nothing.

Squeezing in even tighter than before, Charlie held out one end of the Wonkabar to his aunt.

"You open that end, I'll open this end. For luck."

"For luck." she agreed.

Then they peeled away the paper wrapper, and unwrapped the corners of the foil delicately.

They lifted it just a little and as they began to lift it, they revealed the golden glint of a ticket.

The shack erupted into cheers.

"It says I can bring one family member with me to the factory." Said Charlie.

"Well," said Grandpa George harshly,"It's got to be Joelle. She did open the ticket with you after all."

"No, I couldn't. Your mother deserves a day off much more than I do."

"But," said Mrs Bucket with a tone of finality, "You are far more interested in Mr. Willy Wonka and his factory than I am. So you'll be going."

"You're all going to gang up on me aren't you?"

The entire family nodded in unison.

"Oh, fine." She conceded with false grumpiness.

That night Charlie slipped out of bed and outside, to look at the towering spires of the chocolate factory. There he encountered a Mr. Arthur Slugworth, who offered him a great deal of money to get him one Everlasting Gobstopper.

Charlie ran back inside the house and woke his aunt, explaining the mysterious encounter to her with wide eyed apprehension.