Chapter Four: An Incident in Candy Land

It was lovely and warm when Veronica woke up, and she was sweating quite a bit in the heavy pajama pants and top she had put on the night before. She slowly sat up in her bed, letting her surroundings sink in. She was in the loft of the Bucket's house, and a few feet away Charlie snored lightly on his little cot. Rubbing her eyes, Veronica looked around at the place in daylight. The walls were covered with pictures Charlie had drawn, and several wrappers off Wonka Bars. She looked curiously at them, wondering why in the world he would have those wrappers hanging up on his wall when there was an endless supply of them in the very same building. She shrugged to herself, rising to her feet, and went over to her suitcase that had become an impromptu dresser drawer until she had enough money to get one of her own. Again, her aunt and uncle had offered to buy her one, or even let her use theirs, but she had put her foot down.

Pulling out some new clothes, she snuck down the stairs and past the bed full of grandparents into the little bathroom they all shared. It was old, and the sink was coming off the wall a bit, but Alice kept it very clean and tidy. Dressing quickly and brushing her teeth, Veronica quietly hurried from the bathroom and back through the little house. She paused at the bottom of the stairs.

Well, I could just read until they all wake up, but… She took a deep breath, letting all the flavors coming from outside sink into her. Her lips spread apart in a little smile, and she slipped out the door, careful not to slam it and wake the rest of the Buckets.

Wonka had programmed the lights to come on and go off very slowly, as if to give the impression of dawn and twilight. Now they were dim, but very gently strengthening, illuminating the shining green grass and the glittering candy trees along the riverbank. The smile on Veronica's face broadened, and she jogged up the path, over the arc that made a bridge over the river of chocolate. She paused there, listening to the thunder of the falls and watching in wonder as the gallons upon gallons of chocolate crashed into the river below with a mighty roar. She paused there for a long while, and then turned, going down the other side of the arc, and trotted lightly and easily through the candy forest.

It's like in that old game I played as a kid…what was it? Candyland, yeah. This is exactly like that…

She turned slowly around, looking up at all the wonders of the strange, fantastical park, wanting so bad to just reach out and touch but somehow wary, as if it would be some sort of unforgivable sin.

"I suppose it wouldn't be right to eat anything without permission," she said to herself, "but just a little touch wouldn't hurt, would it?"

Carefully, she reached out one finger and brushed it against a candy apple tree. She started. Although the tree appeared to be made out of an amber-colored candy, it had been carefully molded to have grooves and bumps in it so that felt almost exactly like real tree bark. She touched it again in amazement, and then continued on, kneeling on the grass and brushing it with her fingertips.

It most certainly isn't real grass, but…

Again, the grass had the exact right feel to it, as if it could have been any grass in any park. But it was a little too green, a little too lovely, for that.

Curiously examining everything in her path, Veronica made her way down to the chocolate river, looking at her brown reflection on the surface that rippled and eddied with the river's flow. Probably won't mean a thing if I just dip a finger in; there's plenty to go around anyway.

Veronica leaned over the bank. It was a little above the actual river, so she had lean far over to reach. Her fingers dug into the bank a little to keep her from falling in as she reached.

Her finger had nearly touched the flow when suddenly a loud voice called out, "Wait!". Veronica, startled, lost her balance, and with a shriek, began to topple forward into the surging river of molten chocolate.

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All Wonka had done was come down for a candy apple. Was that so much to ask for? He rarely had much time to eat his own candy anyway; he was always much to busy. But today he had woken up with the undeniable craving for a candy apple, and had quickly trotted downstairs in his dressing gown (no one would be up at that time to see him in such an unflattering state) to get one. And, as soon as he walked into the 'harvesting room' as he liked to call it, there had been that…that girl. And that girl was about to touch his chocolate.

"Wait!" He called out, his heart leaping into a panic. No no no NO NO NO.

But the girl…Vatania? No, Vermillion? Whatever. The girl had not been expecting him, and with a shriek that threatened to damage his delicate ears (as he was lead to think) began to topple forward.

All that had gone through his mind was the single thought, "Oh no, not again."

With a great leap he bounded forward, grabbing for the nearest part of her body possible that would stop her from tainting his lovely chocolate.

Which, as it happened, was a fistful of her long blonde hair.

The girl let out another squeak, this time of pain, that sounded like some sort of yip, and wind-milled her arms chaotically to try and get something to grab a hold of.

Girls, Wonka thought disgustedly. He grabbed hold of a tree, and using that as leverage, pulled her back up.

Veronica's eyes were watery with pain. The nerves along her scalp were screaming in agony. After all, getting pulled up by one's hair, well…that was certainly not a bucket of fun. She gingerly rubbed her head as she turned around and glared up at the strange-looking man in his silk dressing robe and slippers.

"What was that for! You nearly made me fall in!" She cried, glaring daggers at him. He looked down his nose at her, crossing his arms. "Well, you asking for it, about to touch my chocolate like that."

"What's wrong with that? There's plenty."

He leaned over her, his face close, the expression on it extremely grave with a tint of annoyance. "Well, how in the world would I have the best chocolate ever if it was tainted with little tiny bits of people? Hello? That's sickening. It can't be the best anything if it's impure like that." He wrinkled his nose in revulsion, grimacing. "Ew. I can't even think about that. Do you know what I went through to cleanse my chocolate the last time some bumbling fool fell in?"

"I'm not a bumbling fool!" Veronica flushed furiously. The burn in her scalp had regressed into a steady ache, and she felt as if Wonka had actually gone and pulled out full handfuls of her hair rather than just grabbing it.

"Yeah, but you were about to be one if you weren't careful!"

"You were the one who made me fall in the first place!" Veronica staggered to her feet, running a hand through her disheveled hair.

"You were about to touch the chocolate. I couldn't let that happen, now could I?"

"So you'd rather pull me back up by my hair?"

A large, beaming smile spread over Wonka's face in such a way that Veronica knew that inside he was laughing at her. "Yes, that's it exactly!"

She looked stonily at him. "Right. Fine." With that, she spun on her heel and stormed away, back over the bridge and towards her cottage. Wonka watched with curiosity as she ran inside and slammed the door behind her, wondering what, exactly, she was so very upset about. He had saved her (and his chocolate), after all. He was sure that her hair would understand, anyway. He held his hand up, from which dangled a few shining strands that had come loose.

Nice. He thought, then turned and walked back toward his chambers, grabbing a candy apple on the way. His white teeth sank into the succulent red with a satisfying, juicy crunch as the doors to the glass elevator closed, and he soared back to from where he came.

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Deadlyfuzzies: Well, that was a kind of short chapter, but the next one is going to be really long, I promise! My, these two don't seem to be getting along at all, do they? Ah, well – don't worry, things will all come out in the wash eventually. Thanks again for the support and reviews!