When Charlie got home his mom was waiting on him with a warm smile and a loving hug. "How was your day sweetheart?" she asked him quickly, knowing he hadn't been in the best of moods when he left.
Charlie looked at her with a sad smile of his own. "It started off terrible Mom. Nothing went right." He admitted. "But then, when I was sitting in a corner, feeling sorry for myself, Wonka turned up. He made me look at things differently. Somehow the whole day brightened up and it became easier."
Ellie held his hand gently. "I'm glad Wonkanta was able to help you see things in a better light than before Charlie." She said, continuing to smile at her son. "He does have a way of brightening up a day, and chasing away the clouds. You're a lucky boy to have him care so much about you.
"Do you want to tell me what the biggest problem was?" she asked him, hoping to draw him out a little more.
With a sigh, Charlie thought about what to say. "I'd been grumpy all day, and ended up upsetting my friends. They'd gone away and left me to myself – something I'd wanted in the morning, but when I got what I wanted, it didn't seem as good. Suddenly I felt a failure. I thought I'd ruined everything.
"Mr Wonka came in and told me that people didn't give up on their friends because they were in a bad mood. He told me that sometimes an apology helped, but that friendships grew more through bad patches. Then he took me out to the park to play in the leaves. He also told me that he thought my tiredness didn't help with my believing I'd messed everything up, but that he didn't think I'd experienced enough real friendship to know either way."
Ellie continued to smile at the way her boy seemed to immediately accept Wonka's words as truth, without question. "And do you see where he's coming from Charlie?" she asked him. "Do you see why it wasn't such a great idea for you to leave the suite when you were supposed to be in bed, sleeping?"
Charlie blushed. "Yeah Mom, I'm sorry." He admitted. Remembering Wonka's suggestion of the morning, Ellie squeezed his shoulder. "Well, you've given me your word that you won't do it again Charlie, so we'll leave it at that this time." Then, as he looked up at her, uncertainty in his gaze, she allowed her look to get a little firmer. "Stick to your word, and you've got nothing to fear Charlie." She promised. "However, if I find out that you've broken your word, I'll have to talk to Mr Wonka about alarming that extra door of yours, so that you can't leave the suite without us knowing."
As Charlie started to look at her, with a shade of resentment in his eyes, Ellie's eyes softened again. "It's not that I don't trust you Charlie. You're very good at keeping your word. However, this is a big factory, and it holds things that could make it very difficult for you to stick to your word on occasion. Maybe if you know that the consequences for behaving childishly include punishments that will make you feel like a child, you will be able to resist the impulse better."
Charlie mulled this statement over. He guessed he could see where his mom was coming from, though it was still galling knowing that she had already thought about what her response would be if he were to break his promise. "Yeah, maybe." He responded, dejectedly.
Ellie drew him further into the suite's lounge. "I think you're still struggling with the effects of your short night son." She told him gently. "I'm going to suggest that you have something to eat, and then head to bed – you'll feel better in the morning." She told him comfortingly.
After Wonka's gesture the evening before, Ellie had requested that Charlie be sent some river chocolate up with his evenings meal, knowing that having some of the sweet treat would help him relax when she later sent him off to bed.
It had taken a further hour to get Charlie safely in bed, and then, with her parents sitting in the lounge in case Charlie should wake and want anything, she slowly left the suite. She needed a walk, and the chance to organise her thoughts.
As she was leaving the suite, she suddenly noticed Willy exiting the elevator, round the corner from his suite. "Wonkanta" she called on impulse. Willy looked round with a smile. "Yes Ellie Belly Bee?" he asked her. "Charlie was telling me about the help you had given him earlier on today. I wanted to thank you for it."
Wonka smiled at her. "No problem dear Lady." He commented. "Charlie bears no resemblance to a hippo! Too small for starters." The unexpected response stopped her in her tracks. Where had that come from? "I'm sorry?" she questioned. Wonka beamed at her. "Hippo's are permitted to wallow. Small boys, not so much. It's not good for their internal chemistry if those minding them don't jostle them out of it on every occasion they attempt to do so."
Ellie stood still. She hated it when Wonka was in this mood. His mind took leaps that she struggled to keep up with, and she couldn't see where he had come from, never mind where he might be going with it. "Where's James when you need him?" She lamented, apropos of nothing.
"James? At this hour? In his suite, no doubt conversing with near strangers on that new-fangled invention known as the internet. " Ellie looked at him as if he were mad. What on earth had that to do with anything? Finally she responded. "Besides the point Wonka, beyond the fact he's not here to act as translator!" she pointed out tartly.
Suddenly picking up that he had managed to irritate his apprentice's mother once again, Wonka gave her his apologies, and withdrew to his room. The three course meal gum returned to his mind. He had just about cracked the issue, he was sure of it. How custard tied into anything, he wasn't completely sure, but he knew it had some part to play.
Ellie rolled her eyes at the man, and continued on with her walk. She was so glad she didn't have to deal with him on a daily basis, she just couldn't cope with his particular brand of madness. Then she continued on her way again, slipping into the hill walking area, missing the fresh air that being in the real world would have brought with it, while admitting to herself that having daylight to walk in, despite the fact it was currently evening, was one of the boons of the place.
Ellie continued to wander up the hill for the next hour, letting her frustrations melt away, alongside her concerns. Reaching the top of the hill, she sat down and stared sightlessly over the view that met her eyes, thoughts too busy to register what she was seeing. While she found herself still occasionally struggling with the huge changes that this had brought to her family, Ellie knew that they had never had life better. Her family had been granted a rescue, and she was so thankful for it. She was also disappointed however. She had never imagined life without Jim, and when he had died she had been numb to it. She'd then plunged into the work of looking after her family.
There never seemed to be enough hours in the day. Keeping food on the table for six people was a full time job in itself. Then, the business of looking after the family home and caring for her parents and in-laws had taken up the rest of the energy she had. Any spare thoughts were spent on Charlie, who had essentially been left to fend for himself otherwise.
It had been galling seeing Wonka forming such a strong bond with Charlie. He wasn't Jim, and never would be. Seeing her son giving the place of a father to a man that Ellie couldn't understand, no matter how much she tried had hurt her. In some ways, it would have been easier for her if he were a stranger. Also, fearing that the man was taking her place, a place she'd never had the time to occupy for herself, had also woven its way into the complex mix of emotions she was experiencing.
She was getting on better with Wonka now, the obvious care and compassion he had for her son, and the various conversations they had had, clearing the air for her. She was relieved that there was a male that Charlie related to, who would be able to sympathise with him as he grew older. Little boys needed strong male figures to follow, and much as Charlie loved his grandfathers' stories, neither of them exactly fitted the bill for him.
That she could easily have hurt his young, masculine pride and sense of self without realising it had hurt. Wonka had known immediately that Charlie would be upset not to be trusted. Ellie had struggled to get past her mother's instinct to protect and keep her boy safe. That she might let him down as he struggled to grow up well hadn't occurred to her before. Now a safeguard had come into place to protect them from a danger she hadn't even realised existed.
Feeling her melancholy passing as swiftly as it arose, Ellie stood up and wandered back down the hill to the door of the room, she'd already been away far longer than she had anticipated, and it would take her another hour to get there. Though she didn't realise it, Ellie had finally taken the first tiny step towards fully accepting the new order of life. When she finally sought her bed, she would drop off quickly; to waken in the morning with a new appreciation for the factory and the gifts they had been given. The fact that they had left behind the house she had shared with Jim, with her life partner, was slowly starting to hurt a little less. She was healing.
Oh! It would never be the same as it had been before. She had lost someone who was so much a part of her, that she had lost part of herself when he had died, and she didn't believe it possible that she could care about anyone else as she had cared for Jim. She had plenty of spaces for friends, but nothing for anything more than that - regardless of how much her parents pushed, their family unit was settled. But she was healing, and that knowledge was a relief. It would make the days ahead seem that little less bleak and burdensome.
She would no doubt have to find a space to cry many times through the years - if she didn't want her buried grief to fester, but that was normal. For the moment, she decided to cling to the realisation she had had. Yes. She was healing.