Little Wonka, Part 8

As they entered the nut-sorting room, Winston hung over the rail and pointed excitedly.

"Squirrels!" he said. Willy tried to shake off the feeling of deja vu that had somehow gotten a hold of him.

"Yeah...squirrels..." he said. "These squirrels are specially trained to get the nuts out of shells..." Winston "ooh"ed and "ah"ed as the squirrels did their work. Weldon smiled, remembering his excitement when he had first seen the squirrels.

"Please, stay on this side of the railing...the squirrels get a little crazy if someone goes to their work level." Willy added.

"Well everything seems to be checking out..." Weldon said, heading for the door.

"Seconded." Willy said.

"Come on, Winston..." Weldon said, gently tugging on Winston's shirt sleeve.

"Guys, I'm not kidding, what is it that you're hiding from me?" Winston kept asking, causing increasing irritation to Willy and Weldon.

"We're all clones!" Weldon finally said, whipping around to face his son.

"C-C-Clones?" Winston asked. "But I thought...that...you're my dad and he's grandpa...and..."

Why do I like being referred to as "grandpa" so much? Willy asked himself.

"Yes, clones..." Weldon said. "Your grandfather and I each have packets explaining the next generation's existence, or, to put it a little less ambiguously: he has a packet about me and I have a packet about you..."

"I...I don't understand..." Winston said.

"So then let's go to my office!" Willy said, the pace of his walk increasing slightly.

Weldon took the binder from the bookshelf and placed it in front of Winston.

"I knew I'd bee needing all this stuff later..." he said to himself, opening it. "Now, let me just explain something to you, Winston, I am your clone, and I am also your father, and technically speaking, I am your mother as well." Winston gave him a strange look.

"But...you're a man..." he said. Weldon pointed to the binder.

"Read it." he commanded. Winston turned to the explanatory page at the beginning and read it silently for a minute. To pass the time, Willy attacked the growing pile of paperwork on his desk. After a few minutes, Winston shut the binder, a look of shock on his face.

"So...you're saying that...I was..." his face twitched, and Weldon smiled slightly at the resemblances beginning to appear. This pleasure was spoiled by the tone of Winston's statement. "I was...I was...inside you!" Weldon sighed.

"Yes!" he said, trying to make Winston understand.

"That's...that's...creepy..." Winston said. Weldon frowned and sighed with a hint of disappointment seeping in. Willy glanced up nervously from the papers he had been filling out.

"I...I-I...well...you can't change your origins, Winston..." Weldon said.

"I would if I could..." Winston said. Weldon let out a loud sigh of exasperation and walked out.

"Nice going..." Willy said. Winston merely glared at him.

Weldon stood on the balcony of a tower, his hat in his hands, as he let the wind whip at his hair and coat. Why doesn't Winston understand? He thought to himself.

"Watch it blow my mind, it's something I am ill-prepared to remedy...but let it slow the time it takes to..." Weldon sang softly to himself, hesitant to finish the stanza. He wasn't sick of life, he was just upset at how it had suddenly changed for the worse.

"It's not the way to cross the fate of...oh, goodness, I can never understand what those Italians are saying..." he muttered to himself.

"Words like violence break the silence...come crashing in, into my little world...painful to me, pierce right through me...can't you understand, oh my little girl?" little boy, more like...he added to himself. He sighed in frustration, despair, disappointment... the full package...he was sighing a lot today. Suddenly a clanking noise could be heard behind him. He turned around to see Winston stepping out onto the balcony as well.

"Look, dad, I'm sorry...I read your journals, and when I realized how happy and excited you were...well...I realized that...yeah..." Winston stammered.

"Aw..." Weldon said. "I'm glad you understand, now..." he said as Winston hugged him.

"I'm still going to have kids the traditional way, you realize..." Winston added.

"That's fine...we need a little change in reputation, anyway..." Weldon said. Willy watched this exchange from behind the door, an iota of jealousy creeping through his thoughts.

"How old are you, anyway, dad?" Winston asked.

"Well, thanks to the Vita-Wonk, I'll be turning 26 soon..." Weldon said, heaving a happy sigh as memories came to him. "I remember when I was still pregnant..." he murmured. Winston was starting to actually buy into the idea at this point.

"What about it?" Winston asked, gently separating himself from his father. This hug had lasted long enough. Weldon sighed another happy sigh and folded his hands across his stomach, reminiscing.

"Well...there was the day when I noticed you first started moving..." he said, his eyes glazing over as he spoke. "Oh, it was the most wonderful feeling..." he continued, his voice becoming distant.

"I remember it too..." Willy said, finally coming from behind the door. "It defies description...it's just..." he sighed. "...yeah...". Weldon nodded, closing his eyes. Winston was starting to feel uneasy about these two people talking about something he had never experienced.

"I...I have never known..." Winston said.

"Depends on where your heart is set, whether you ever will, too..." Weldon said, still staring into space.

"And my heart is set with normality." Winston said. The euphoria that Willy and Weldon had been sharing had been torn to shreds, Willy's especially.

"You sound just like my father, Winston..." Willy said, appearing as if he were on the verge of tears. Winston didn't seem to care, as he simply left.

"I've heard folks say 'like father, like son...' maybe it skips every other generation..." Weldon said.

"Probably." Willy said, turning to look at the landscape below him.

"Possibly." Weldon piped, his contribution being totally irrelevant.

"Definitely nothing like me..." Willy said.

"Or anything like me..." Weldon added. "Actually...well...I dunno...he moves his face the way we do..."

"But that's where the similarity ends..." Willy said flatly. There was a long period of awkward silence.

"How are we to shake off this sense of finality?" Weldon asked.

"I...I don't know..." Willy said, turning to go back downstairs. Weldon followed him.