Chapter 7
Sex rears its ugly head.
They walked for hours, stopping every time they passed something interesting that absolutely begged a second look. They saw a huge vat of simmering green goo that formed gigantic bubbles on top. Ever few minutes the bubbles exploded and coated tiny, green-garbed Oompa Loompas in another layer of gunk. It must have tasted pretty good, for the Oompa Loompas didn't look annoyed every time they got hit. They witnessed the taffy-making process, which involved 5 taffy pullers the size of eighteen-wheelers. They stopped to watch a large procession of Oompa Loompas doing a choreographed dance with umbrellas through a room that rained sprinkles down from the sky. Eventually they came to a stair case that seemed to spiral upwards forever. With a brief glance at each other they began to ascend.
"I think I need a break," Lauren said ten minutes later. Her legs were aching terribly and Charlie didn't look in any better shape. They sat down on one of the steps and Lauren gratefully set her bag down next to her. They both stretched out their legs and waited for their muscles to cease complaining before finally starting up again. Roughly four minutes later they reached the top, which turned out to be a sort of observation deck. There was a tiny royal blue shag-carpeted room. Everything, including the tables, chairs, and ceiling, had been covered in blue shag. The walls however, were made entirely of glass. On one side you could view the chasm in which colorful firework-like candies blew up in trails of sparkles, on the other was the relatively peaceful chocolate room.
Without discussing it, both Charlie and Lauren pulled up two chairs and a table facing towards the chocolate room. The view of Charlie's house was ideal and it looked almost picture-perfect against the fantasy surroundings. From their lofty vantage point they saw Mr. and Mrs. Bucket run out of the house, laughing and holding hands like happy children. Lauren grabbed her bag and opened it, pulling out two bottles of juice, two wrapped sandwiches, two bags of chips, and finally two bars of chocolate.
"Aren't you glad you have a cousin who plans ahead?" Lauren asked, tossing the surprised-looking Charlie a sandwich.
"Yes!" he said, taking a huge bite. "Otherwise I would have had to dive into the caramel vats to keep from starving."
"We wouldn't want that." Lauren took a long drink from the juice bottle and then capped it. She was reaching for her sandwich when her hand encountered something in the shag. She snatched her hand back as pain lanced through it to see a centimeter long splinter sticking out of her palm. The word was out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying and she clapped her other hand over her mouth as Charlie gasped. "Please do not repeat that to your parents," Lauren pleaded as she removed the splinter with a wince.
"What does that word mean?" Charlie asked curiously. "Grandpa George says stuff like that and Dad always covers my ears. I asked him before but he always says that I have to wait until I'm older. I just what to know the truth." He gave her an endearing look that would have been calculated on anyone else but came across as utterly sincere on Charlie.
"Well…" Lauren began, a bit hesitantly. "If I tell you, you can't tell on me," she said. Secrets bound people together, you didn't become president of a corporation without learning that. Sharing secrets with Charlie would encourage him to share in return, and what was more secret than Wonka's recipes?
"Okay," Charlie said, after thinking about it for a long moment. "I swear."
Lauren nodded slowly. "All right, then I promise to tell you nothing but the truth. I may not tell you all of the truth, but I won't lie to you. Does that sound fair?"
Charlie considered that. "I guess so."
So Lauren explained the concept of profanity and basically what each word meant to the best of her ability. She wasn't sure in the end if Charlie really understood why adults used profanity, but at least the mystery was gone and thus so was his curiosity. "Any more questions?"
The little boy seemed to hesitate. "Well…"
"Look Charlie, you can ask me anything you want. I will tell you the truth and I won't make you feel stupid for not knowing. That's what cousin's are for," Lauren said, before biting into her Wonka Whipplescrumptious Fudgemallow Delight. It really was utterly delicious and Lauren stifled a brief surge of resentment.
Charlie glanced down through the window, watching his parents reach for each other almost desperately. He had never seen his father kiss his mother like that and it made him feel very fidgety. He looked away, embarrassed, and caught his cousin's eye. "Why do they do that?"
"They're in love," Lauren said, looking a bit enviously at the man and woman. They couldn't have been much older than she was, maybe three years tops, but they already had found something in each other that Lauren suspected she never would. Of course, it couldn't have happened to two nicer people, but everyone was entitled to a bit of quiet jealousy once in awhile, right?
"Yes, but they've never done that before," he stated, turning confused eyes on Lauren.
Lauren met his gaze, pursing her lips. "How old are you, Charlie?"
"Ten."
"I suppose that's old enough for the facts of life, provided you keep it to yourself…" At his nod, she continued. "Most of the little kisses that you see are what two people in love do when they want to tell the other person that they are thinking of them. It's something that can be done in front of anyone." She motioned to where the Buckets were passionately entwined in each other. "That kind of kissing is only done in private by most people, so you wouldn't have seen them do it before. It usually leads to other things that most people also keep private."
"What sort of things?" Charlie asked.
Lauren paused, unable to believe that the boy hadn't at least heard something about this in school yet. Well, he was still pretty young, she supposed. Suppressing a blush, she refused to stutter over the word at her age, and stated bluntly, "Sex."
"Sex?" Charlie said, looking confused all over again. "Sounds like something Mr. Wonka might have found in Loompa Land."
Having recently been informed of Wonka's 'adventures' in Loompa Land, Lauren burst out laughing. "Let us hope Mr. Wonka has not been fornicating with natives during his travels," Lauren said mirthfully.
"So what is it?" he asked, a bit impatiently this time.
Sobering, Lauren sighed. "All right, I'm not going to tell you everything, just enough to get by."
"Why not? Don't you know the rest?"
Snorting a bit at the question, Lauren gave a haughty reply. "My dear boy, I know all about it. But part of the fun of the whole thing is to discover everything on your own. I myself went to the library and looked it up in the encyclopedia."
"So I have to go to the library?" Charlie asked, interest renewed.
"That's one way."
"So tell me what you can tell me," the small boy ordered imperiously.
"You're becoming more like Wonka every day," Lauren said, eying him critically. Charlie blushed and apologized. "Don't worry about it; I'm hard to offend."
"So will you tell me?" he asked.
Lauren squinted at the lighting in the chocolate room and nodded slowly. "I'll tell you on your next day off," she promised, noting his disappointed look. "So you should try and get another day off as soon as possible."
Charlie looked up at her and grinned, jumping up suddenly. "I guess we should get back."
"It's going to be a long walk," Lauren said mournfully, packing up the trash left over from their miniature feast.
They walked to the head of the stairs and a lever caught Lauren and Charlie's eyes at the same time. As one they looked at each other, then back to the lever. Noting the curious expressions on each other's faces, they did not have to consult each other before they both eagerly reached for the lever and yanked it back. With a loud crash the winding stairs abruptly turned into a long slide. Thankful that she was wearing jeans, Lauren sat down and motioned Charlie to sit in front of her.
"I don't want to get hit in the back by your shoes any more than you want to get hit by mine," she explained. "This way we stop together."
"Good thinking," Charlie agreed. "Ready?"
"Ready."
They pushed off and slid down towards the ground. It was a surprisingly pleasant ride, though friction was causing an almost unpleasant heat by the time they finally reached the ground. They both stood up, giggling and dizzy, and nearly walked into Willy Wonka as he stood in the shadows gazing at them with an indecipherable expression.
"Hello, Mr. Wonka," Charlie said, feeling slightly guilty for a reason he didn't understand.
Wonka blinked and cocked his head to one side, snapping out of it. "Charlie," he said, sounding slightly false but very happy. "I was just looking for you, how fortuitous." His high-pitched voice broke up 'fortuitous' into it's composite syllables in a truly unnerving manner.
Charlie looked interested, stepping forward. "Really?"
"Yes," Wonka said, very carefully avoiding Lauren with his eyes. "I have finally gotten the recipe for firework truffles right," he said excitedly. "You have to come and see!"
"Oh wow, did it work just like I thought?" Charlie asked, practically jumping up and down.
"Even better, I've gotten fourteen colors instead of just ten," Wonka said proudly.
Charlie looked properly awed, which seemed to please Wonka to no end. "Wow."
"Run along and take a look, the Oompa Loompas are testing it now," Wonka suggested, gesturing down the corridor.
"Ok, bye Lauren," he called over his shoulder as he rushed off.
"Bye," she said, not bothering to wave. Wonka's eyes had finally met hers, for the first time since she had arrived, and she was slightly transfixed. His gaze was beyond intense, crossing the line into disturbing. As she watched they came alight with something very familiar and annoying.
"Charlie likes me better," Wonka said, smirking smugly. Lauren had never been one for violence, believing that a well-delivered insult stung far more than any slap, but now she was extremely tempted to wipe that smile off his chalky face. It was a surprisingly childish reaction and Lauren was impressed at how in-character she was. Still, she suppressed the emotion and took the high road.
"It isn't a contest, Mr. Wonka," Lauren said airily, knowing the self-righteous tone was possibly the most grating in the world.
Wonka flicked a hand in casual dismissal. "You only say that because you aren't winning." With that he sent another smirk her way, tipped his hat in some kind of obscure mockery of the polite gesture, and disappeared down the hall. It took only a few seconds for Lauren to realize that she had absolutely no idea how to get back to the chocolate room and only a minute passed that for her to begin plotting her revenge. Even if she never acted it out, it was still immensely satisfying to imagine as she wandered the corridors waiting for someone to find her.
Some elements of this and the previous chapter, such as the gameboy, felt a little out of place to me. Even though the introduction of some American gizmos was inevitable, I'm not sure if they work. A second opinion would be appreciated. I'm also looking for a Beta Reader, since I've been noticing a few errors in my previous work. If anyone is interested, e-mail me or review here and say so.
