"Where are we going?" Charlie asked, looking down on the town below them as he and Willy sailed over it in the glass elevator. He had been surprised to say the least when Willy had announced that morning that they were going out that very day in search of his old friends. Charlie had assumed they would start with some letters and phone calls… to try and locate one of them, but Willie seemed to have another idea of how to locate them, and when Mr. Wonka had an idea, it was best to just go along with it.
"There," Willy replied, pointing off into the distance at a fast approaching building. It was a rickety structure that looked from the outside as if it might come crashing down at any moment, but Willy knew better. It had been standing for many decades and would continue to do so for as long as it was needed. As they neared it, the Elevator began to drop altitude, coming to rest in the alleyway directly next to the building, where someone would be unlikely to run into it… unless they were looking for it.
"Is this where you lived?" Charlie asked, as they stepped out of the elevator, "After you stopped living with your father?" He looked up as they passed the sign on the front of the building 'Long Road Home for Lost and Unwanted Children.' He was suddenly struck with the logic of the situation. If he'd lived here, then this was the natural place to start trying to find out where the other children had gone, especially if any of them had kept in touch with the staff.
"I was just lost," Willy replied, answering a different question than the one that was asked. 'Not unwanted,' went unsaid… but was implied in the statement. Often times that's how it was with Willy… important things went unsaid, because he didn't want to say them. Taking a deep breath, he sighed, and rang the bell next to the door. This should have been easier than going to see his father… but it wasn't shaping up that way. It would get better though… Mary was here. If anyone in the world cared, it was Mary… the closest thing to a mother Willy had ever known.
"Hello!" a 40 something blonde woman quipped, answering the door pleasantly, "Oh… " her face fell as she looked past Willy then, at Charlie. "Have you come to…"
"NO!" Willy replied quickly and perhaps a little louder than he meant to, "No… no. We're just here to visit. I'm looking for Mary. Is she here?"
"Oh… yes… she's inside," the woman replied, stepping out of the door and gesturing for the two to come in, before running her fingers thru her curls, pleased that the man had not come to drop the boy off. Much as they enjoyed getting new kids in, it was always difficult when a parent dropped their child off. It was hard for the kids… she knew that from experience. She did not turn her back on the two though… the stranger on the doorstep looked familiar. "Willy?"
Willy had started thru the door, as she gestured, but stopped at the mention of his name, causing Charlie to collide with him from behind. He didn't even register the boy's quiet apology, so busy was he trying to identify the woman who knew his name. Granted there were a lot of people who knew his name, his being Willy Wonka, but the way she had said it, was as if he were familiar. Was it one of the other kids, stayed on to help Mary? Could this curly haired blonde be the sunny girl with the ringlets he'd known all those years ago?
"Carline?" he asked, "Carline McKinnon?" he ventured, stepping into the front room. It was exactly as he remembered it, small fireplace on the left, and on the right the tables where the children ate and studied. The ceiling seemed low to him, and was, but only compared to the high ceilings of his factory. Looking around, he reflexively removed his hat… Mary had a rule against hats in the dining room. Charlie came in behind him, allowing the door to shut after him, peering around Willy at the dark, but cozy room he'd stepped into. Charley had always assumed that wherever Willy had grown up, it was grander than this.
"That IS you Willy! Oh it's been so long!" Carline was happy, but also uncertain. It seemed to her that Willy had gone on his way after he'd left the Long Road Home, without ever looking back. It didn't offend her, many of the kids from Long Road would rather not dwell in the past. She had assumes he was one of them. She did have to wonder why he'd come back though. "What… what brings you to Long Road?"
"I want to organize a reunion!" he announced, as if it was the most natural idea. "Get all the kids we grew up with back together for a day, Annabelle, Bobby, You, Samantha… Anthony… even Justin." He didn't want tin invite Justin, but Annabelle would invite him if he didn't and he didn't want anything starting over that, best to pretend he wanted Justin and his like there, so they couldn't win out just by showing up. "It was Charlie's idea…" he indicated the boy, who was hanging very close, uncomfortable with the eyeing he was getting from the other children.
"Not exactly," he murmured, trying to take the attention back off himself.
"Don't be so modest!" Willy encouraged, completely missing the point. "You're the one who asked what my friends were like… and you're the one who said we could try to find them. Oh! Carline this is Charlie Bucket." He stepped a bit to the side, having the effect of both removing any obstruction between Carline's eyes and Charlie, and also maintaining Willy's personal space. Charlie had been standing just a bit to close for comfort, especially with the boy behind him… where he couldn't see him and weather or not the boy was going to run into him again as he had coming thru the door.
"Where would we have it?" Carline asked. The hope in her voice had more to do with a desire to see the inside of the factory, than anything else, but it was an uncertain hope.
"Here of course! That way, the kids can see you know… what we all grew up to be. What they can grow up to be!"
"That's a brilliant idea Willy," Carline replied, with a smile. It was a brilliant idea, but that wasn't the only reason she said that. Carline had always adored Willy when they were children… and she rather still adored him now. He was paler than he had been before… ashen even. And he'd cut his hair, but he still had the same magnetic purple eyes, and the same perfect white smile. "All we have to do, is figure out where to send the invitations."
"Doesn't anyone stay in contact?" Charlie asked, "Some of them have to have."
"Annabelle. Annabelle and Anthony. They're married now… 3 kids."
"Well that's just super! And she's got to know where Jeremy is… and Anthony probably kept in contact with Bobby… so that's 4 already!" Willy couldn't help but grin. If Annabelle was married, and Carline was here… then that was two already he'd predicted right. They were all going to be fine.
"And unless they changed their names, we can use directory assistance to locate the rest of them."
"Telephones?" Willy, shuddered. He didn't like to use telephones. They made him nervous. There were so many rules for talking on telephones that were different than face to face, and he had enough trouble with that.
"I'll tell you what," Carline said, "I'll do the phoning, if you do the food and the decorations."
"That'd be neato!" Willy smiled. "Don't you think Charlie? We should get right on that… bright red tablecloths and multicolored streamers and balloons! Lots of balloons! Oh this is going to be great."
"We should decide who to invite, Willy. Where's the cut off?"
"Oh, how about… the day I left? Anyone after that I don't know anyhow," that would exclude the Applegate girl, without specifically excluding her. It wasn't nice to exclude someone so specifically. "Oh… but we should ask Mary if we're allowed," he asked, "We'll have to do it someplace else if we can't, and that could call for an entirely different decorating scheme, wouldn't' it Charlie?"
"Yes," he replied, more humoring Willy than anything else. It seemed the change in decorating scheme was the least of their worries if they couldn't use this as a venue. This place was closed in enough that they could control who got in and out, and familiar enough to Willy that he'd be comfortable here for a while outside the factory… if they had to rent someplace, that would be an entirely other matter.
"She's upstairs… in the second girl's ward. One of the girls has a fever," Carline interjected. It just had to be that room didn't it. Willy blew into his bangs, mildly irritated. Much as he preferred not to express his emotions, they sometimes took Willy by surprise… and at those times, like this time they showed up quite clearly. He didn't like that room… not one bit.
"Ok. Well I'll go up and see her then," he said, falling back into a cheery demeanor, "And uh… Charlie you stay here with Carline and think of some more ideas for the decorations." And with that, Willy turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. The stairs were simple… they lead many places. He could very well be going to the third floor, to his old ward… and the first floor, when he arrived was still ok: there were 3 wards on this floor. He could be going to any of them. But he froze a few feet from the door to the 2nd girls ward…
"Mary! MARY! Wendy's having a fit!"
"Oh dear!" Mary broke into a run, and Willy trailed after her. Truth be told he was more curios than concerned about the girl. What sort of fits were they talking about? Was she perhaps insane? That would explain her earlier behavior. "Willy give me a hand here!" Mary called out from inside the room, and he stepped up his pace. He froze a few feet from the door, as soon as he could see inside the ward. There on the floor, limp and prone, was the same once fiery girl who'd thrown a book at his head only hours earlier. It was a hard sight for him too look at. It made it harder to think of her as an irritable little brat who deserved whatever she got. "She's having a seizure," Mary explained, "She must have skipped breakfast AND lunch in all of the excitement."
"I can't find them!" Annabelle called, from the top of the stairs, "Did you move them?"
Taking a few steps forward, Willy stood in the doorway, not certain what to do. The girl hadn't been very nice to him at all… why should he care if she was sick. It didn't matter… did it? Mary was looking at him though, pleading with her eyes, for him to help her. But he didn't want too. Justin stepped around him, Justin Miller who was 17, who Willy hated, and who hated him. But it didn't matter, because Justin was too concerned for Wendy to care what was going on. He'd been teasing her only an hour before hand. He was one of those little brats who called her Wendy Wonka… how now could he be concerned for her health? Not to be outdone, by the likes of him, Willy finally moved, passing Justin and reaching Wendy and Mary within a few seconds.
"What can I do to help?" he asked.
"Just, hold her hold her neck and shoulders up like this… don't let her choke on her tounge… I have to go down to the kitchen for her glucose tablets," and with that, Mary tipped the girl into his arms. "I'll go down and get them myself Annabelle!" she called, heading out the door.
It was all Willy could do not to drop her right then… she was clearly sick. What if he caught whatever she had? But, glucose was sugar… if sugar could help, then maybe whatever it was wasn't contagious… of course not. It was probably just the hypoglycemia… and you can't catch that… right? It didn't look like what Willy had come to believe were seizures. She wasn't flailing around or any such… she was just, limp, and her eyes were rolled back up into her head, and she was blinking quite quickly.
"Hurry Mary!" called a young girl Willy didn't recognize from the doorway, where she was clutching a pillow, clearly frightened. "Hurry."
"It's ok Lisa… she'll be ok," Carline cooed, kneeling down to the younger girl. "This happens all the time."
"Hey, Wanda. Don't you have any candy on you?" Justin demanded. Willy blinked back at him incredulously.
"That's all glucose tablets are," Annabelle explained, "quick dissolving candy."
Holding Wendy with one arm, Willy searched his pockets with his other hand, certain that somewhere in his pockets he had some tangy treats, a quick dissolving sweet and sour candy he'd been working on. It wasn't yet on the market… he had planned to offer some to Mary, as a special Christmas Gift. Opening the end with one hand he gingerly opened the girl's mouth… trying not to actually touch any part of the inside of her mouth… ewe. Gross. He tipped the candy up on the end, dropping a few tarts into the girls mouth, under her tongue so she wouldn't choke on them. They dissolved quickly, and as they did… the blinking subsided, and her eyes fell shut.
"Wendy?" he asked quietly, tapping on her forehead with one silk gloved finger.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. This girl who'd only a few hours ago, professed undying hatred for him… but there was no hate there now. She looked up at him for only a moment, with an expression of pure gratitude, before she closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath, and relaxing back into his arms. Willy was puzzled… not sure what to do with the girl. She wasn't having a seizure anymore… could he just put her down? She might kick him again.
"Willy? Willy Wonka?" Mary had come out of the second girls ward, to meet him in the hallway. "Willy?"
"I'm sorry, I was just, thinking," he replied, still staring at that spot on the floor where the Applegate girl had fallen.
"It's so nice to see you Willy!" Mary smiled, leaning on her cane. She hoped that his return meant what she thought it did. Willy had refused to return, so many years ago, when she had pressed him to far about visiting his father. If he had returned, she could only hope, it was because he was ready to, or already had seen him. She did not want to bring this up though, lest he leave again… it was clear from his reaction last time that Wilbur Wonka was as much a sore spot for him as anything else in existence. "What brings you back to our Home?"
"I wanted to organize a reunion… and I was hoping to hold it here."
"Oh I think that would be terrific Willy!" Mary smiled. She looked much the same as she had years ago, but had shriveled over the years, like a grape that turned into a raisin. She was still sweet, but a great deal of the life had gone out of her. "The children would love a party."
"And it would give them a chance, to see, that they can grow up to do great things, even without p-p-p-"
"Parents," Mary finished for him, without a second thought. He wasn't the only child at the Long Road home to grow up with an aversion to the idea of family. It was common enough for the children to declare that they no longer had any need of mothers or fathers. They would cope by pretending that they were independent already, each enabling the others to think that way. Not all of them had speech impediments as a result… and those that did often displayed it with different words. 'Parents' was hardly the worst of them… most of the kids from Long Road would never see their parents again. They wouldn't' need that word so often. No… it could be much worse she recalled a certain girl with an aversion to the word 'Love.' Everyone needs that at some point. Another child had an involuntary gag reflex every time he saw a parent and child together on the street, so much so that he tended to avoid the windows. Willy was hardly the worst off of the Long Road children.
"Those," Willy nodded. "There's no reason not to succeed just because you haven't got any."
"That's very true," Mary replied, shuffling toward the staircase. As they reached the top of the stair, Mary steadied herself on the handrail, and started to totter down the stairs. Without a second thought Willy double-timed his steps to stand next to her rather than a few steps behind, and offered her his arm. While adverse to unexpected physical contact, especially from strangers, Willy had little trouble offering assistance to the woman who'd raised him just as long as his father had. She had nursed him thru all manner of childhood ailments, and been there for every scraped knee and bruise. Mary was special, and deserved nothing less than the best.
"I saw him," Willy told her, when they were halfway down the stairs, "Three times now, over the past 5 weeks." He smiled at Mary, looking rather pleased with himself. He knew, after the last time he'd visited, how important it was to Mary that he see his father. That's why he hadn't come back after that Christmas, and why he'd sought out not her, but Charlie when he was feeling down over his refusal to join him in the factory. He didn't think he could face her having disappointed her like that, not going to visit him. But now he'd done it… and he hoped she was pleased.
"I'm glad," Mary replied, as she continued to totter down the stairs, supporting herself on the rail, and on Willy's arm. She did not fail to notice that his silk gloves seemed to have been traded in for more sterile, latex or rubber gloves. This worried her some. She had hoped his germ phobia would have decreased rather than increased with time. It had started out small… being careful what he touched… then when he returned that Christmas, he'd had the gloves, silk ones… and now they were impenetrable rubber, a downward slide if she'd ever seen one.
When they reached the ground floor, Charlie stood from the table, where he'd been looking at the pictures drawn by some of the youngest kids. They seemed to enjoy receiving attention and compliments from an older child. Charlie was glad to see Willie was back, starting to get a little uncomfortable around the other children. He knew it was stupid, but he couldn't help feeling afraid he'd be stuck there, with the other kids, and never make it back to his parents.
"Charlie! This is Mary. Mary. Charlie Bucket," Willy smiled, introducing the two.
"She's asleep now," Mary spoke to Carline of the girl with the fever, "I expect she'll stay that way for a few hours."
"Good, Good… Would you like to stay for lunch Willie?" Carline asked, batting her eyelashes, and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Uh… no," Willy replied, wondering for a moment why Carline was acting strange. "Charlie and I have plans to make… and a factory to run… sooooooo… we've got to go. C'mon Charlie."
"Yes Mr. Wonka," Charlie replied, darting for the door, he stopped only when he'd reached, it, not wanting to leave without Willy.
"Well, I'll be in contact," Willy said, putting his hat back on and backing towards the door, "good luck with the telephoning!" And with that, he and Charley ducked out of the door. Both had their own reasons to be uncomfortable there at the end, Charlie's a growing feeling of being uncomfortable in a place where children were left when they were no longer wanted, and Willy, a but perturbed by Carline's somewhat forward behavior. "Where did we put the-" THONK.
As soon as Willy had picked himself up and dusted himself off, the two were back in the glass elevator, on their way back to the safety of the factory, to work on plans for the reunion. Mary meanwhile, had made her way to a dining room chair, and sunk into it with a sigh.
"That was really un-called-for Carline," she sighed. "You should know better."
"I know… I just, hoped he might have changed some."
"He has… did you notice the gloves? He's gotten worse."
"He cut his hair."
"I saw. Who's invited to the reunion?" Mary asked, with a tilt of her head. She was curios to see if anyone had been excluded from the list, say for example a certain boy a year younger than Willy, who's name began with 'J,' and ended with 'ustin.'
"Everyone who was here up till the day he left."
"Wendy?" she inquired, recalling that Christmas, decades ago.
"I don't think he meant her."
"Invite her," Mary said, succinctly, "Don't argue Carline," she said, before the younger woman had the chance, "It's my House. My Rules… and I'm worried about her."
Author's Note: Apologies for any grammatical errors. Haven't found a new beta yet. I've read over it as best I can on my own. If this chapter 2 looks different to you, that's because the original first two chapters, are now rolled together in the first chapter. They were too short for my standards, so I combined them.