Chapter 7 - Cyber Mike
Ticket winner number four was announced during the evening news.
Isabelle had been allowed to stay for dinner at the Wilkinson Foster home that evening, and Charlie was ecstatic.
The two of them had helped set up the large dining table and serve the food to all the children that were left in the foster home.
As always, the room was filled with noise. Isabelle was constantly surprised how so few children could possibly produce so much sound and was eternally grateful that Charlie was the quiet type.
Isabelle quickly stepped backwards as three young boys came barrelling through the doorway. Kieran yelled at them to stop; quickly following them when they refused to listen to him. Although not the eldest teenager in the home, Kieran had quickly stepped in to provide order and stability from the moment he had arrived at the home. He was a studious boy, who cared a great deal for everyone and always went out of his way to help when someone was too scared or embarrassed to bring a topic to one of the Wilkinsons attention.
Charlie had told her numerous stories about his early days in the home, when nightmares filled with flames and screams woke him up at night. Kieran never minded being woken up by a tearful Charlie.
Mr. Wilkinson had privately confided in Isabelle that he hoped the boy would decide to stay and help run the home in the future. Kieran had an excellent head for business and Wilkinson provided what support he could to further the boys studies. The pair were currently wading through the paperwork needed re-apply for government funding to ensure the future of the Wilkinson Foundation. It was a tiring and lengthy process.
As Isabelle placed the last plate on the table, she allowed her gaze to sweep around the room. Most of the children had finally been seated and Kieran was doing a headcount whilst the kitchen staff brought in the food.
Watching how Kieran handled his self-appointed duties always made Isabelle think of Charlie and what sort of future he would have. Yes, Charlie was a responsible boy and could be quite smart when he took the time and effort to learn, but Charlie mostly had his head in the clouds, dreaming of inventions of the food variety. All of his school projects, whether art, science, or economics, always somehow revolved around the chocolate factory.
His grandfather had always encouraged him to dream big, but Isabelle wasn't so sure it was a good idea to encourage Charlie's obsession anymore. Reality always crushed everything and no one ever got everything the ever wanted. This Golden Ticket contest was proof enough of that.
Yes, Charlie deserved a tour of that factory more than anyone, but he had almost zero chance of finding a winning ticket. It was a harsh truth that would leave Charlie bitterly disappointed.
Isabelle smiled softly as she spied Charlie entering the room. Charlie deserved his happiness, and she had no right to be so negative about his enthusiasm. She decided to wear a bright smile and let Charlie enjoy himself whilst he still could. Whilst there were still tickets to be found, Charlie could be happy. She wanted to keep him smiling for as long as she could. Reality to wait a little bit longer before it snatched away all of Charlies bright hopes and dreams.
Charlie was almost skipped across the room and snatched her hand. As he often did when she walked to slowly for his youthful excitement, Charlie leant his weight forwards and dragged her out of the room.
"Slow down Charlie, we're not late." Laughing, they rushed along the hallway and into a smaller side room where the two of them would be enjoying a private meal together with Mr and Mrs Wilkinson.
They made themselves comfortable as Mr. Wilkinson arrived, followed shortly afterwards by his wife Dorothy. She was a lovely woman, always ready with a kind word. Isabelle held nothing but respect for the older woman.
"You don't come here nearly often enough Isabelle." Dorothy smiled kindly at her. "Charlie always loves it when you are here."
"I agree." Jeffrey Wilkinson was looking at her sharply, which always made Isabelle feel slightly insecure, as if she had been caught stealing cookies. "Charlie has become so very much happier since he met you. It's unfortunate that you must work so much."
"Yup!" Charlie spoke up through a mouthful of rice and was scolded instantly by Dorothy.
Isabelle glanced down in embarrassment. "Well, at least it pays the bills."
"That it does, indeed." Jeffrey smiled reassuringly at her. "You have proven to be an intrepid young lady, who does not give in easily when difficulties arise. You are an excellent example to young Charlie."
"If only the adoption had worked." Dorothy sighed. "Have the courts considered your appeal?"
"They rejected me again." Isabelle shrugged her shoulders. "I have three options, get a higher income, a better home, or get married; preferably all three. According to them, I can't adopt Charlie because I can't provide a stable home environment as a single mother on poverty wages."
The quotation marks were evident in her sarcastic tone of voice.
Mr Wilkinson snorted. "We all disagree with that assessment."
Dinner continued pleasantly enough and soon Charlie and Isabelle were helping to clear the tables and wash up.
Suddenly shouting and excited chatter, even some screaming, could be heard from the children in the adjacent room where the evening news was broadcast.
"He found the fourth ticket!" Someone shouted.
Charlie, Isabelle and Dorothy all looked at each other, then rushed into the other room to watch the interview. The adults stood at the back of the room, easily able to see above the heads of the children cluttered around the screen.
Charlie grumbled as he was forced to duck and weave through the others to find a good viewing spot. He eventually found some space, and settled in to watch the interview.
A young boy, similar in age to Charlie had become the latest golden ticket winner and could only be described as the embodiment of the current generation. At least, that was Isabelles very first impression of Mike Teevee.
His interview took place inside his giant bedroom. 'It's bigger than my whole flat' thought Isabelle.
The bedroom was indeed very large, but also very impersonal. Everything from the bed to the furnishings was either blindingly white, or sleek silver grey. Collectable figurines from various movies and games were prominently displayed, and holographic posters decorated the walls. He even had the distinctive cowboy hat from the latest game craze.
Isabelle found it a bit lonely.
The boy was surrounded by gadgets, gizmos and flashing lights as he was seated in front of an enormous screen. A giant Augmented Reality Headset, which was the latest craze according to all the advertisements, covered his whole face. His clothes clearly contained the latest smart technology, as evident from the various blinking and flashing LED lights on his sleeves and collar. He even had one of those new fancy holographic smart watches on his wrist.
His hair was immaculately styled into elaborate spikes that could only just be seen above the headset.
Isabelle took an instant dislike to the kid. She found him rude and extremely condescending, as he continued to play his video game whilst he was giving his interview. Snippets of the game were shown, together with the soundtrack of gunfire and screaming.
At the moment, Mike was explaining his convoluted method of acquiring his ticket, even though he hated the sweet taste of chocolate. Mike preferred saltier snacks.
His bewildered parents hovered in the background. They were clearly out of their depth and despairing.
"He doesn't even like chocolate." Charlie was horrified at the thought. "Now there's only one ticket left to find."
Charlie pushed passed everyone and disappeared down the hallway without a word to anyone. Isabelle could only imagine how upset he was. She was torn between following him and offering comfort whilst he cried, or leaving him alone to handle the disappointment himself.
A warm hand on her shoulder and the slight shake of Mr. Wilkinsons head made the decision for her. Charlie needed to be left alone to work through his emotions.
Isabelle quietly said her goodbyes and left.
Walking down the street, she dodged the evening CleanBots as she wandered home. She gazed up at the sky, wishing she could at least see a few stars, but it was far too cloudy to see anything this night.
She sighed as the crisp, chilly evening air started to creep over her. Her boots crunched through the snow that had not yet been cleared away.
Her thoughts wandered back to Charlie. He deserved to find a ticket more than anyone, she knew that. But the real world was not a fairy tale. Bitter reality would soon set in for Charlie, and she wondered how she would be able to help him cope with the crushing disappointment that was in his future.
'Cheer up Charlie.' She thought. 'Your smile has always been my sunshine. I won't let you stay blue forever. I promise I will help you laugh again.'
...
End Notes:
Thank you to everyone for reviewing and following this story so far.
All the children have now been introduced and you may have noticed something that requires explanation.
Although this will be a Wilder Wonka story, the children will not be identical to their 1971 counterparts. For future plot reasons, I have tried to add a few elements and characters that you probably recognise from the Depp movie.
So why did I do this?
Basically, my future story needs a good old-fashioned villain and the 1971 characters didn't seem dastardly enough for my liking. Also, most of the 1971 characters are simply too dated to fit properly into the more dystopian setting of my story, especially Mike…
If you want to know more, keep reading.
I have already written the sequel to this story. Yes, that's right, the sequel is already written and is my actual story, the one I intended to publish instead of this one. However, it contained so many flashbacks to try and explain certain things that I decided to write it all out as a standalone prequel.
I admit, I never really wanted to write a factory tour story as there are hundreds of those on this site, and they can get kinda boring and repetitive after a while, but eh, that's how the cookie crumbles…
I am hoping to update this thing regularly now, so strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.
Thank you all for reading :)
Anyone is welcome to leave a review. Tell me what y'all like, love, hate or skip. I always aim to improve my story telling.