Chapter Five

The boat slowly made its way to the mouth of the tunnel. I gulped as we were swallowed into darkness. Mr. Wonka sat calmly in front of us.

All of a sudden, it was pitch black and I couldn't see Mike sitting next to me. I only knew he was there at all because I felt his elbow brushing my sleeve. The only sound was the murmuring of the water and the frightened whispers of the people around me.

The walls were suddenly illuminated with scenes more disgusting and revolting than I had imagined. I heard Mell squirm in front of me as a picture of a slug crawling over a man's nose and cheek. I gagged and clamped a hand over my eyes as a scene of a chicken's head being cut off flashed next to me.

The boat's speed was increasing and as the colors of the scenes lit up the boat, I could see Mr. Wonka's face with a crazy, insane expression through my fingers. I gasped, curling up in my chair, covering my face on my knees. The boat was going so fast, I had no idea where we were going and everything around me was spinning. I squeezed my eyes shut, dizziness was overcoming me. There were screams and Mr. Wonka's yelling voice seemed miles away. The flashes of color kept coming, it didn't feel like the boat was moving at all because it was going so fast. At any moment, I swore the boat was going to explode and we were all going to.

Just as suddenly, everything stopped. It was silent. I stopped breathing, unsure of what might come next and slowly sat up. Mell was crouched over on her seat and Sara was clutching her face. Mike was hugging his knees next to me. There was a brief silence.

"Well, we're here," Mr. Wonka smiled at us. Slowly and kind of in a trance, we got up and filed out of the boat onto a platform to the right.

"Daddy, I don't want a boat like this one," Veruca said very assuredly. Mr. Salt leaned over to Mr. Beauregarde.

"Thank Heavens for that," he muttered. Mell and I giggled. Mr. Wonka led us through a door and down a hallway a bit.

"Wait, hold on, must show you this," Mr. Wonka stopped us and pointed to the wall, "Lickable wallpaper for nursery walls. Try it. Lick a apple, it tastes like an apple. Try a banana, it tastes like a banana. The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozzberries taste like snozzberries."

"Snozzberry? Who's ever heard of a snozzberry?" Veruca spat.

"I have," the four of us answered at the same time. Mr. Wonka looked at us and winked. He turned to Veruca and stopped her midway to licking a melon. Her tongue was sticking out as she stared at him haughtily.

"We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams," Mr. Wonka stared seriously at her.

"Shall we roll on?" he continued at the rest of us who were staring uncomfortably. We walked down the rest of the hallway, stopping at a set of double doors. Mr. Wonka faced us, holding the doorknobs behind his back.

"Behind these doors is the mixing room. Some of my most secret recipes are being concocted in here and I must ask you not to repeat anything you see to anyone. Do you understand?"

The children all nodded. Mr. Wonka seemed unconvinced, but he turned and opened the doors.

Inside were the most amazing machines I've ever seen. There were whirring sounds in the corner of the room and everywhere you turned there was either an Oompa-Loompa, or stacks of boxes of ingredients, or huge strange-looking machines. Each candy-making machine was different. One had a bike attached for stirring. Another in the corner was big and round with a shelf of several large plates filled with steaming things. Oompa-Loompas were everywhere.

"This is the coolest place we've been yet," Mike muttered to Sara, Mell and me.

"I kinda preferred Baker Street myself," Sara replied.

"But what about Shrek?" I asked.

"I have one word to say: Weezer," Mell argued.

"Hey, don't we know that Oompa-Loompa?" Mike nodded to something behind me.

"What do you mean, 'do we know that Oompa'." I started, but didn't finish as I turned around. A boy dressed in an Oompa-Loompa outfit was stacking boxes in the corner and humming to himself.

"It's Frodo!" I hissed eagerly to Sara and Mell.

"He's so hot!" Mell hissed back, giggling. Sara laughed aloud. Mike just laughed at our reaction.

"What are you talking about?" he asked confused.

"Don't bother asking," I blurted out between giggles.

"Hey ladies and gentleman over there, come join us over here, I'm going to show you something," Mr. Wonka called over the crowd in front of a machine.

We walked over, sneaking glances at 'Frodo' in the back.

"This is my most secret recipe.it's still being worked on, it's called the Ever-Lasting Gobstopper."

Veruca and Violet glanced at each other. Charlie looked up at his grandpa.

"I want to try one!" Veruca spoke up. Mr. Wonka looked around.

"Does everyone want one?" he asked. Everyone nodded eagerly. Mr. Wonka handed out strange-colored candies to everyone.

"Hey, she's got two!" Veruca burst out to Violet.

"I do not, you nitwit!" she spat back.

"Shut up!" Mell shouted over them, glaring. They glared back.

"Everyone has one and one is enough for anyone!" Mr. Wonka broke the argument.

"Let's continue." and he took us walking off to another area of the room, far from 'Frodo.'