Here's your long chapter for you! You'll see a lot of imagination from Mary in this one... Hehehe. Please read and review very kindly!

Disclaimer: Willy Wonka/ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (c) Their respective owners. No lawsuit!

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A Snowy Day and the…Factory?

Mary jumped when she saw the first snowflake fall in front of the window. She froze… Holding her breath… Waiting for—YES!

A second snowflake!

"It's snowing, it's snowing!" Mary announced at the dinner table, her fork infected with the nasty green known as the brussels sprout.

Big Sis looked up, finishing the last of her greens with a disgusted scowl. She swallowed it down and stared out the window is disbelief, "Where, Mary?" She asked, "I don't see a single snowflake…?"

The frustrated child huffed and scuttled to the window, pointing at the sky, "There, there! You don't see it?" She turned around, looking at Big Sis as if there was something terribly wrong with her.

Maria paused, waiting for the snow, narrowing her emerald-eyes, "I don't see anything… OH!" Maria shot from her seat as soon as she saw a few flakes fall down then many of them began to rain down in a gentle shower, "It is snowing!" She said excitedly with a smile.

"Told ya so!" Mary giggled and ran towards the door with an extended hand—

"Hold it!" Their Father exclaimed, pointing at Mary whom instantly froze on the spot.

James E. Connor was wearing his grey vest with a white shirt and black trousers. He had his reading glasses on, his hazel eyes behind them, and with dirty-blond hair on his head. Father had lowered down his paper with a raised brow, staring at Mary like a down-right hawk.

"Mary, you haven't finished your food—mainly your vegetables. Now sit back at the table until you cleaned your plate," He commanded sternly yet fairly. "Then you may leave..."

Mary looked back out the window and saw the ground was being covered by the lovely, white snow. It was freedom compared to this! Slowly, she walked back to the table and sat down, staring at the three pieces of sprouts that were left. Mary glared at them angrily, as if to burn them with heat-vision-eyes or to make them somehow vanish into thin air…. Or at least make them taste better! Mary stuck out her tongue, and then looked down, to her horror, there was another brussels sprout!

Somehow (she has faint fragments of it though) Mary had finished her dinner without passing out from the sheer disgusting taste of the stuff. She had quickly helped her older sister with the dishes and she had once again resumed her order to run to the door, reach for the handle with the snow just calling to her--

"Freeze!" Maria suddenly called out.

Mary groaned out-loud looking annoyed and pouting, "Big Sis! I've finished my food! I cleaned up the dishes and stuff like that—what is it?" She whined sadly, drooping her shoulders forward with a sighing mouth.

Big Sis walked up to Mary with a huge smile, holding a thick jacket, a scarf, mittens, pants, and rubber boots. The jacket was black and the mittens were white, the scarf was a dark-blue and cherry-red color stripes, the pants were dark and the boots were bright-yellow as if she were about to walk in the rain of some sort, "Mary, sweetheart, you're going to catch you're death outside… Put these on! You'll stay warmer." Big Sis said importantly.

Mary groaned again: the Winter Straightjacket.

Families just love to stuff their children or younger siblings into thick, winter clothing to where the point the poor things could hardly move in the snow, looked like bowling balls (some people actually witnessed them rolling down the road!). Some of the kids could hardly see where they were even going, bumping into each other clumsily like bumper cars and toppling over like beetles on their backs, unable to move except their arms and legs, helplessly. The real sad thing here, you see, Mary was convinced it was some sort of preparation of the 'Winter Olympic Games' thing.

'Human Bowling-Ball Tournament' or something like, 'Human Bumper Cars Tournament'. The goal is you have to dress your child with the thickest, itchiest, woolliest, most uncomfortable and embarrassing wear you can possibly find. Layers upon lays of the stuff, and it took hours to try and find the poor creatures because somewhere within the wooly mass was a human child—somewhere anyway—and the more the better. You actually get bonus points if the child can't see in front of his or her face, making it even more humiliating as they crash against each other like furry Sumo Wrestlers.

Mary huffed, scrunching her face at the bundle of wear in her sisters arms, "I don't want to wear all that, please…," she said quietly, "It's really itchy, feels like I have bugs crawling around me and it's really, really hot in there! I can't even mov--FFF!"

Big Sis had cut of her whining but wrapping the scarf around her neck about a dozen times like a mummy. Maria was pretty quick at doing this, she's pretty much use to her younger sisters complaining about not getting her way—and also she just loved to see Mary struggle under the "straightjacket", "I've been there myself, Little Sis, and I lived through it… So can you," Big Sis fitted the jacket around Mary and pulled the mittens on her hands, pulled the pants up the squirming child and her yellow boots and finally—finally—Maria had completed her little wooly Frankenstein and set her on the floor, "There you are!" She said happily, "You're all ready to go!"

This had to be the most humiliating moment in Mary A. Connor's life. Her arms were about a foot away from her body, her hands about five-times the normal size (along with her legs) and large, yellow rain boots. Her mouth and nose was muffled by the thick scarf, which was the only thing that didn't itch, and because it was the other clothing that made her squirm with itchiness. Mary was glaring needling at Big Sis.

Maria grinned and snorted, trying not to laugh, "O-Oh! I almost forgot--!" Maria ran off for a minute, giggling with laughter and came back with a winter hat complete with ear-flaps and—Oh no.

A large, pink fuzz-ball on top of it.

Maria tied the hat on top of her sisters with a snickering face, trying oh so hard not to laugh.

Correction: this is the most humiliating moment in her life.

"Alrighty!" Maria said with a teasing smile, watching her seething sister with amusement, "Now you're ready to go!" She opened the door and lightly pushed Mary outside, "Have fun!" Big Sis closed the door behind Mary, leaving her standing out in the snow.

……When am I supposed to have 'fun'…? Mary thought since speaking was useless to her. Ok, now we have to start moving! She moved one foot forward like a giant monster. Mary was sure that if there were such thing as Snow Pixies, they'd all run at the sight if her, screaming, 'Godzilla!' Wait, no…,'Woolyzilla!' That sounds a bit more correct, considering the child's itchy situation.

This was so embarrassing. Walking down—no—waddling down the road like some sort of…abominable snow creature. Mary couldn't even see nor feel the fresh snow! The only thing she could do is breath; actually she had a difficult time with that one as well.

Mary growled, pulling the scarf down from her face and gasping for air, feeling the cool, fresh snow on her face, "That's better!" She gasped, "I can breathe again…" Suddenly, Mary looked up and saw smoke in the clouds. It was coming from one great mass. She walked—well, she tried anyway—towards the smoke as if there was a fire, instead of running from it, she just walked towards it.

"Hang on… That's where the Factory is!" A huge smile went across her face as she began to run forward--

SPLAT!

Unfortunately, the small girl tripped on the snow, falling face-first into an icy mush. Oh, of course, instead of being a beetle on its back, she was a beetle stuck in tar, unable to move. Mary laid there, looking thoroughly annoyed by all of this mess.

"Mmmmeeee….," Mary's voice was muffled, being sarcastic saying 'Wheee', kicking her feet slowly. I can't stand it anymore! She thought angrily, I'm hot and cold, miserable and stuck! This isn't a snow day! It's a Grey Day! And the factory is just up-ahead--! Mary began to struggle.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A man's voice came from behind her, rather jolly of the sort.

Mary froze. She was taught never to speak to strangers, she just moved her head to the side to try and get a better look at the man.

A tall, round man wearing a long-coat jacket, grey trousers, boots, and a top hat with his hands in his pockets staring down at Mary, "What is wrong, dear child?" He asked.

Mary blinked then frantically and hysterically began to kick her legs and whine, "Em smock!" She muffled, thrashing her arms and legs.

"I beg your pardon m'dear? Here, let me help you up so you can speak better…" The kind man gently grabbed Mary's arms and pulled her up from the snow and batted the ice away from her torso, "My goodness, you're a mess!"

"Thank you!" Mary gasped, rubbing her face to get rid of the bitter ice, "Thank you very much, sir!" She looked up at him with a glowing smile.

The man chuckled, "Please, little girl, call me Doctor Alan Brown—at you're service!" Dr. Brown bowed lowly, removing his top hat and throwing an arm, "I couldn't let you freeze down there, now could I?"

Mary giggled, "No, I guess not mister Brown!" She watched Dr. Brown stand up, towering over her.

"Now then, what's a young child like you doing in such weather? Where is you're family? You're not here alone, are you?" Dr. Brown asked, looking very concerned.

The child blinked and thought carefully. You're not going to give out every bit of information, "I…Uh… The Factory!" She suddenly shouted excitedly, pointing towards the smoke, "I'm going to the Factory--" As soon as she stepped forward, she once again fell in the ice.

The sound of Dr. Brown's jolly laughter echoed in her ears, "Well now! Aren't we the adventurous one, eh?" He once again plucked her from her icy tomb and dusted her off, "That's not going to do, with all of these clothes weighing you down! ...So, what are you going to do…?" Dr. Brown raised a brow, looking down at Mary as if he knew what she was thinking.

Grown-up's have a way of reading your thoughts… It was just down-right creepy!

Mary thought again, and then began to squirm around in her suit, trying to remove her straightjacket, "I need ta get this off--!" She growled.

"Goodness, child, you're going to freeze to death!" Dr. Brown exclaimed, watching Mary to The Twist in the middle of the snow.

"Nuh-uh!" Mary miffed, pulled the jacket over her head and feeling the breath of freezing air around her bare arms. It felt wondrous! She was so hot under all of that fuzzy, itchy wool that she also fell over from the relief, "Ahhh… That feels soooo much better…" Mary lazily leaned her shoulders and head back with a long sigh, watching a thick cloud of steam flow from her mouth. She tightened her scarf, starting to feel the cold now, "Yeow, it is a bit cold here…"

Dr. Brown nodded, "I am quite impressed. But you do know… That factory has been closed up for about four months now…?" He informed.

Mary felt her heart sink. What a terrible thing to say to such a child! The factory? Closed? No way! Impossible…!

"…What…?" Mary croaked, "I-It's closed…?" She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling her chest become tighter and tighter…

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Hmmm... Well? Any good, was it? I'll try and get the next chapter up here pretty soon! Don't fret! I'm working as fast as I can, since I'm moving on Saturday...

Thank you.