Chapter 2

"Coming Up with a Cover Plan"

There was no denying the fact that Willy Wonka was determined to find a successor. When I went home that night, I sat down in my study trying to come up with a decent cover plan. The world needed to be kept in the dark of Wonka's true intentions. Suddenly, I came up with a brilliant idea that every child, boy or girl, always desired. Something that their mother or father would never let them have. Writing down the idea, I presented it to Wonka in his office the next morning.

"This is a brilliant cover plan, Arthur," he remarked, looking down that the words that were written on it. "A lifetime supply of chocolate."

"It was the best idea that I could come up with sir," I remarked. "I had thought of other cover plans, but this was the best one on such short notice. I mean, think about it for a second, sir. You have a child who always longs for a lifetime supply of chocolate. It's our duty to provide that provision."

"Everyone trusts the word of a child, Arthur. But I think the question now is, what kind of candidates do we want? Do we want perfect children? Spoiled children? Greedy children?"

"Well, let's look at it this way, sir," I replied, taking a piece of paper from Wonka's stack of blank papers. "If there is one thing I learned from being in the candy making industry, it is that we go through a process of elimination. But we can't have every child in the world come here to the factory. We need to have a limitation."

"And what number, Arthur, of children do you propose we bring here to the factory?"

I then looked up at Wonka's wall calendar and I paid very close attention to the days marked Monday through Friday. Those were days that most people would be working with the weekends to recover. It's the days that children would be going to school with only a few days off for holidays or school breaks.

"Well sir, how about 5?"

"5? I was thinking along the lines of 10."

"10 is too much, sir, if you don't mind my saying. The last thing we want is to make things difficult for ourselves. If we did 10, we would be looking at 2 final candidates and we need one candidates. Because as you always said, 'everybody has had one and one is enough for anybody.'"

A small chuckle came out of Wonka's face upon me hearing this.

"Arthur, this is part of the reason why I hired you to work with me," he said, rising from his chair and patting me on the shoulder. "You are always the one to keep me and the Oompa Loompas in line."

"Well sir, I'm just trying to lighten our workload."

"Indeed you are," he remarked leading me back to his desk. "Now, here is a draft that I am working on for the candidates."

Wonka handed me another piece of paper, this time with a paragraph written on it. It was a paragraph that was in the form of a welcome letter.

"Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this golden ticket from Mr. Willy Wonka," I read. "Present this ticket on the first of September at 10:00 in the morning and do not be late. You may bring two members of your family, but no one else."

It was a decent paragraph, but I felt that it wasn't strong enough.

"It's not my best work, Arthur, but what is your first impression?"

"Um, sir," I replied. "I do have a couple of criticisms for you to share. Number 1, the first of September seems so…I don't know…sudden. Children need time to find the tickets and the last thing any child wants to have happen to them is be rushed. Number 2, I think perhaps bringing two members of the candidates family is a bit much. I mean, I know you want the parents or guardians of the candidates to experience where they will be living, but it would be a bit much and besides, most parents are a good/evil mentality."

"Not everyone worked for Slugworth or those two other idiots, Arthur," Wonka advised. "Still, I get your point. One or the other could be a spy for them. All right, we'll have them just bring one member of their family."

As I read back what he had written, I noticed Wonka was making markings on his desk, notes to himself on what to write in the final draft.

"If I could also make a suggestion, sir," I added. "Create a line at the bottom of the ticket where you can entice the individual, make them excited for the trip that they would be taking here to the factory. How about something like, 'In your wildest dreams, you can't imagine the wonderous surprises that await you!'"

Wonka sat there in silence for a moment and took in what I had just said. Part of me began to wonder if he was going to take my suggestion and sweep it under half of the rug he had in his office.

"You know something, Arthur?" he remarked. "I like that. I like that idea very much! We need to find some way to entice the candidate. I'll put that in, but if I could make one edit…"

"What edit, sir?" I asked, much to my surprise.

"Instead of can't, how about cannot? Can't sounds a little forceful to me."

"If you say so, sir."

With the edits in place, Wonka had his paragraph, his date for the candidates to come to the factory and the number of candidates we would be inviting to the factory.

"Now then, Arthur," Wonka said. "Have the early reports on the Everlasting Gobstopper sales come back yet?"

"Not yet, sir. Why do you ask?"

"Because I found these reports," Wonka answered, walking over to his filing cabinet and taking out a piece of paper. "That Slugworth is trying to get his hands on the formula for the Everlasting Gobstopper. I want to use this as an opportunity to trick the candidates into believing that if Slugworth gets his hands on the formula, the candidate will be rewarded by him instead of me."

"What is your point, sir?" I wondered.

"You bear a striking resemblance to him, Arthur," Wonka replied. "If there is anything a child believes it is that they will believe in the first thing they see."

I didn't know it at the time, but Wonka had plans for me to play the role of my former boss, Arthur Slugworth…