Prologue

"Yet another cold winter. It's a good thing I don't have to be outside, just the rest of the world," said Chris Mclean from his office. It was indeed cold out: the temperatures outside had dropped below zero for the third day in a row. Chris sat in his favorite armchair, the one that faced the tinted window. It had a great view of the city. Mumbling to himself, Chris said, "Man, I keep feeling like there's something I'm forgetting...Wait, the budget!" Chris frantically rushed over to his desk and pulled out a notebook. "Ok, fourth quarter profits are down...add that, carry the 1...uh oh" he said as he perused the numbers. It occurred to him that his factory was in dire straits. The rent for his factory was extravagant: even at the peak of Mclean Chocolate, LLC, he felt like he paid too much for the location. It was nice, sure, even a little large for the area, but it seemed like he could have moved anywhere else ten years and saved some money. Alas, too late for that now. Profits were down. People were still buying the candy, but years of unwise investments had made Mclean Chocolate a shell of its former self. "Chef!", Chris yelled. In a few seconds, Chef Hatchet, Chris' trusted confidant, entered the room.

"What seems to be the matter, boss?", Chef asked mundanely, as Chris always yelled for him multiple times a day.

"The problem is the company is going downhill! We're facing a crisis we haven't seen since the Slugworth days! We need a solution to make some money, and we need one fast!"

"We could start a reality show. Feels like everybody's doing that these days."

Suddenly, Chris had an idea. An awful idea. Chris had a wonderful, awful idea.

"I've got it", he said with a mischievous smile. "We put some tickets in tickets in candy bars that offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour the world-famous Mclean Chocolate Factory! People will want to win, and they'll buy boatloads of chocolate, which will send profits through the roof! They have to be kids, though. Happy kids will give us a good public image. Then, all we have to do is give a silly tour of the factory and give them a lot of chocolate, and we're set for at least the next 10 quarters! What do ya think, old buddy?"

"Chris, are you sure this is gonna work?", Chef asked. "Don't you think that's a huge risk?"

"Oh, it absolutely is. But can you imagine the rewards? I-I mean we-won't have to work for the rest of our lives! We can spend winters in the Bahamas and winters in Rome! There's no way this could go wrong!", Chris responded, raising his voice gradually until he was at a full-blown yell at the end of his spiel.

"Geez, man, lower your voice! Fine, we'll do it. But we have to take into account how many people we want to allow to visit the factory! How many tickets do you think we should print? Where should we distribute them?"

"Don't worry about the distribution, I'll take care of that," Chris told his weary friend. "But you raise a good point? How many should we print? How does 22 tickets sound?"

"Nah, that's too many. We need to keep it small. Simple is better."

Chris thought for a second and said "How about five? Not too big, not too small."

"Sounds good to me," Chef responded. "I'll start telling the workers to design the tickets right now!"

"Make sure they're golden!" Chris shouted as Chef left the office. "Five Golden Tickets, hidden in five random candy bars, unwrapped by five different kids! I can't wait!"

What did you think of the prologue? For me, at least, the suspense is terrible...I hope it'll last. Please feel free to leave comments, questions, or critiques! I promise I'll read them!