The dash back to the Wilkins household felt like a split second to Cameron. Finally he would be coming home with some good news; The family definitely needed some today. As he burst in the front door, he woke three of the four grandparents, who were previously sound asleep in their bed.

"What the-it's a ghost!", said Grandpa George.

"No, it's just Cameron!", said Grandma Josephine.

"But what's he got in his hand?", said Grandma Georgina.

"I did it! I won! I found the last Golden Ticket! Have a look for yourselves!", said Cameron as he raced over to the bedside of the four grandparents. Grandpa Joe sat there in stunned silence, mouth wide open and eyes bugging out of his head. After what seemed like an eternity, he gathered his bearings and looked at the golden rectangle that Cameron held in his hand.

"C...Cameron...did you really...I mean, is this….are you just pulling my leg?" Grandpa Joe asked. Cameron beamed and handed the ticket over to his grandpa, who took it and sat there dumbfounded for almost 30 seconds. "Cameron, this...this is the greatest news I've ever seen in my life! Congratulations, boy, you did it!"

And with that, Grandpa Joe pulled Cameron into a hug with more force than Cameron had felt from the old man in his life. This was a man who struggled to lift the spoon during dinner sometimes! At some point during the hug, the door opened and Mr. Wilkins entered the house.

"Hey, what's going on over here? Have a good morning, Cameron?", he asked his son.

"You're never gonna believe it, Dad! I did it! I found the last Golden Ticket! I get to tour Mclean's factory!", Cameron yelled as he raced over to his dad. He pointed over to Grandpa Joe, who had the ticket in a vicegrip.

Mr. Wilkins stood with an expression on his face that was quite similar to the four grandparents. "Well, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you! Wait, where did you get the money to buy another candy bar? Did you steal that candy bar?"

Cameron looked back at Grandpa Joe, who had a knowing grin on his face. Mr. Wilkins took one look at Cameron and Grandpa Joe, and he knew the truth. "Well, this calls for celebration! Congratulations, Cameron. What does that Golden Ticket say, anyway?", Mr. Wilkins asked.

"I don't know, I was too excited to read it. Let me see" Cameron said as he took the ticket from Grandpa Joe. In shiny black font, the ticket read as such:

Congratulations! You are a winner! In your hand, you hold your ticket to an all-expenses paid trip to Mclean's chocolate factory. This is your ticket to get into the factory, so please have it on you when the date of the tour arrives; I would hate to have to turn you away at the gates because you don't have your ticket (It's very bad PR). Every winner must be accompanied by an adult. This ticket may be redeemed only for the tour on DECEMBER 7 of this year at 10:00 AM, not a day earlier and not a day later. By giving this ticket to Mr. Mclean on December 7, you agree to a lifetime supply of Mclean brand candy, as well as a tour. Further details and rules will be provided to you on the day of the tour. Congratulations once more for winning this opportunity of a lifetime! I cannot wait to meet you!

Signed,

Chris Mclean.

"Wait, December 7? That's tomorrow!", Mr. Wilkins said. He was right, Cameron remembered. He had found the ticket on the last possible day. "I don't know, son. I have another interview tomorrow at 9:30...I don't think I'll be able to go with you to the factory. Matter of fact, I don't know of anyone who would be able to take you…"

Cameron and the grandparents all looked at each other with uncertainty and sadness. He was right again, Cameron realized. His grandparents were far too weak to walk, and his father had to go and provide for the family. He didn't have anyone to go with. That is, until he heard a voice speak up.

"I'll take Cameron to the chocolate factory!" Grandpa Joe piped up from his bed. Everyone else in the room stared at him quizzically. "That's right, I said it. I am taking that boy to the factory because he earned his opportunity! I'll be damned if he has to stay home because I was too weak to take him!" With that, Grandpa Joe began to squirm around in his bed, attempting to somehow make it to his feet.

"Joe, you're 93! It's been over twenty years since you last walked!" said Grandma Josephine.

"Calm down, Joe. I can see if my interviewer can reschedule or something" Mr. Wilkins said.

"Nonsense! I'm fit as a fiddle! I feel like I could run a mile if I wanted to!" Grandpa Joe continued to struggle, eventually sliding his thin legs over the edge of the bed. Tentatively, he put his feet on the ground and applied a tiny bit of pressure. He immediately fell down with a thud. Everyone gasped and Cameron went to help him up. Once Grandpa Joe had regained his balance, he was able to stand on his feet for a little bit until Cameron let go of him. After getting up once again, he was able to take some steps, albeit small ones.

"He's gonna hurt himself!" yelled Grandpa George.

"He'll fall over at any minute" replied Grandma Georgina.

"He looks fine to me!" said Cameron.

And indeed he was. Grandpa Joe had regained his ability to walk and was now doing so around the living room. Everyone looked on with a combination of excitement and horror as he did a little jig, but somehow he stayed on his feet. Everyone applauded.

"Are you sure you can go to the factory? You did just learn how to walk again, after all" Mr. Wilkins asked.

"Absolutely! Why, I could march over to that old factory right now if I wanted to!" Grandpa Joe said.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Everyone was puzzled: they seldom received visitors to their house. Cameron slowly opened up the door and was startled to find a full news crew right outside his door, with Topher Jones at the head of the pack, holding a microphone.

"Hello, world, this is Topher Jones with Channel 5 Action News, and we are just now finding out that the fifth and final Golden Ticket has been found in this...cozy little house on the outskirts of the city. Tell us son, what's your name?"

Cameron was shocked. He had never been on TV before; The closest he came was when Cody was on TV just the other day. Shyly, he sputtered out "Cameron...Cameron Wilkins."

"Well, Cameron, congratulations! You're the last Golden Ticket winner, and that means that you will be going on a tour of the Mclean chocolate factory! How does that make you feel?"

"Ummm…..really good, I guess. This is all just a little overwhelming. But yeah, it feels really good to have won. This is the first thing in my life I've ever won, so it's a little extra special for me. We don't really have a lot, so it's nice to finally be able to be a part of something this special."

"Wow, an underdog story! Everyone loves one of those. So Cameron, what is one question that you want to ask Chris Mclean when you first meet him tomorrow?"

At this point, Topher and several members of his crew had found their way into the living room with a smoothness that made everyone think they'd done it before.

"I don't know. I guess I would just like to know how he does it" replied Cameron.

"Does what?"

"Comes up with all those amazing flavors of chocolate year in and year out, without becoming boring."

"Fascinating stuff, Cameron, but what we really want to know is this: how did you find your Golden Ticket? Did it just fall out of the sky or something?" Topher asked with a patronizing tone of voice. Cameron was slightly offended by this, but chose not to address it.

"Well, actually, it's an interesting story. You see, I was-"

Grandpa Joe stepped in between Cameron and Topher. "Ok, that's quite enough. Don't ya think he's answered enough questions? Now go on and get out of here, you've had your interview! Go on, get!" he said as he shooed everyone out the door. Topher put up a little bit of resistance, but Grandpa Joe had intimidated him enough so that he exited.

"Try to rest up, Cameron. We've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, so I don't want ya tiring yourself out today."

And so the rest of the day went by without anything very interesting happening. As Cameron lay in bed that night, he could hardly sleep. The same could be said for the four other winners of the tickets, who were similarly excited. At last the blessed day arrived, and Cameron rolled out of bed with enough energy to power a small city. Grandpa Joe was similarly excited, but couldn't muster up the same kind of energy that Cameron had. However, they left the house around 9:15 and arrived at the factory around 9:30. Yes, they were early, but all the other winners were there as well. Cameron eyed them nervously. Owen Moore had a link of sausages around his neck, which he was devouring rapidly, as his mother stood next to him. He barely stopped to breathe as he wolfed down the meat. Heather Watson was yelling something at her father, who was taking it like a champ. Cameron could only make out bits and pieces of her speech, which seemed to revolve around how her bedroom was too small and how her father should build another, bigger one. Cameron was amazed at how long she could yell without tiring. Courtney Lopez also seemed to be listening to Heather's tantrum, but she seemed to be more annoyed than Cameron was by it. She was still chewing that same piece of gum that she had been chewing in the interview, and she let everyone know. She blew bubbles with it and had a smug grin on her face the whole time. Cody Jameson-Anderson was standing apart from everybody else, tapping away at his phone with his earbuds in. A man who Cameron assumed to be his father was standing near him trying to get Cody's attention, but Cody was too engrossed in his phone to pay much attention. Even when he noticed someone trying to talk to him, he rolled his eyes and turned back to it. Four bad kids, Cameron thought. Hopefully everyone else didn't think he was like the rest of them. Grandpa Joe stood next to Cameron, shaking his head at the antics of the other winners.

Nothing happened for a while, but a crowd had gathered around the five winners and their families. Hundreds of people stood with their cameras out: some were taking pictures of the five winners, but most were waiting for the moment when the legendary Chris Mclean would open the doors to his factory for the first time in decades. Both Topher Jones and Sierra Jefferson of Channel 5 Action News were present, but they looked quite upset, as they couldn't cut through the crowd to get to the front. Cameron recognized many kids from his school in the crowd, and they smiled at him and congratulated him when they saw him.

Everyone was shivering with anticipation, as well as shivering because of the cold: the snow had not melted since the day before. At long last, after what seemed like hours, someone shouted "Wait, I think the door's opening! Could it be?" Indeed it was. The door to the factory slowly creaked open; It was a big door, thus it took a bit more time to open. Everyone leaned in to get a glimpse inside of the factory before the sound of a cane hit the floor inside. A couple seconds passed before the figure of a man appeared at the doorway, and the door swung open to reveal Chris Mclean.

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay again! I promise that I am going to finish this story, classes have just been really busy lately. Thank you all for your continued support, and don't forget to leave a review if that's something you wanna do!