Chapter four: she a bit squirrelly
After the random room break through, Willy became very interested in showing her around. They had discovered that so long as they let her pick the room, they would get more than the nonchalant riddles.
They went back through the inventing room and the whipped cream room. This time, Aleera took a little more interest in some of the things. Willy was so ecstatic that she had begun to take interest that he even behaved him self. Well… until they came to the nut room.
Aleera practically stood on the gate as she tried to get closer to the squirrels. Smiling wickedly Willy said, "Why don't you take a closer look?" taking out his key ring, he placed one of the smaller ones in the lock. The gate swung smoothly open, Aleera stood motionless at the threshold of the pit. She looked at Willy who smiled encouragingly to her. "But Willy!" Charlie hissed "what if they-"
Willy spun around, "Charlie you really shouldn't mumble I can't hear a word you say when you do."
"But –"
"Mumbler!" he said a little louder.
Aleera walked hesitantly forward. One by one, the squirrels stopped what they were doing and stared at the girl as she made her way towards the center of the room. She looked down the garbage shoot and then made her way halfway between the shoot and the gate. Here she stood still as she watched the squirrels watch her.
Willy and Charlie stood at the gate holding their breath. Charlie bit his lip in apprehension while Willy bounced on the ball of his toes.
For a long moment the squirrels watched the girl before it became clear that they would have to make the first move. One of the squirrels at the end on the bench jumped off his seat and ran towards her.
Willy squeaked "hear it comes!"
Aleera noticed the squirrel. Slowly, she reached into her pockets and pulled out the few small peanut that would have been her next meal had she not come here. Crouching down, she balanced on the balls of her toes and placed one hand on her knee. The other, filled with peanuts, she put flat on the floor. The squirrel stopped, its nose twitched in confusion. A gift? It though. How odd.
Not sure if the squirrel was willing to come any closer, she placed the peanuts on the ground and backed away a few feet. The squirrel chirped and squeaked several ties and waited.
Aleera surprised them all (the squirrels included) when she mimicked the small animal almost perfectly. It ran up to the peanuts and sniffed them eagerly. Knocking on one of them, he listened to it before being satisfied. Taking a delicate nibble of it, he tossed the others behind him. Those were eagerly consumed by the few squirrels that had they courage to come forward while the lone squirrel inspected the girl.
Suddenly, there was a squirrel up roar as all of the squirrels jumped off the benches and stampeded towards her. Aleera didn't flinch when they crawled up her bare arms and legs, their claws digging into her pale skin. One of the squirrels made its way to her head and tapped vigorously on her fore head with a furry paw. A hush fell over the squirrels as the "leader squirrel" listened. After a moment, it hopped from her head into her arms where it nestled itself, quite determined to stay there.
Slowly, the other squirrels backed away and returned to their nut duties. Taking the squirrel with her, she climbed back up the stairs and looked sadly at Willy. He knew that that would happen; she was sure of it. And she knew that this was not the out come he had expected. So instead of saying any thing to him she just looked at him sadly, as if to say, "I sorry that that didn't go as planed. Turning to Charlie, she said "I think he likes me… can I keep him?"
Charlie looked at Willy, who had suddenly become very uncomfortable standing next to Aleera, who seemed so innocent in comparison to himself. Willy nodded, hoping to ease his sudden guilt by doing something nice for her.
Aleera watched the exchange of looks silently. After Willy nodded, she put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. She almost laughed at him when he flinched. Walking away, she began to talk to the squirrel. "Poor little Treeclimber," she said to him as she scratched his ears, "what do you do with no trees to climb?" Willy looked at Aleera, "you named it … Treeclimber?'' Aleera nodded as she continued to cuddle with the squirrel. Treeclimber seemed to be enjoying himself immensely and squeaked himself a storm, probably telling her all about Squirrelly things. "Why Treeclimber?" he asked "why not something like Leroy?" Aleera looked curiously at him. Her odd colored gaze making him shift uncomfortably. "Did you know a Leroy Mr. Wonka?" it was the first time she said his name and Willy blinked in surprise as she said it. "No…" he answered slowly as he rubbed his hands together, making that horrible squeaking sound. She tilted her head to the side, "then why Leroy?" Willy ignored her and continued on saying "let's keep on trucking."
Charlie and Aleera followed. Placing Treeclimber on her shoulder, she shook her head. What an odd man.