(Disclaimer: I do not own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At all. So there. ))
Horray! No more Month-wait updates! MATH IS OVER! WOOO. Sorry. I'll be updateing now, every week and a half, or tri-monthy. I am so gosh-darned happy, and you no longer have to have those stupid waits. (Feels bad for making you wait so long.) Anyway... enjoy!
Warning, this Fan Fiction may contain Movie Spoilers: If you don't like them watch the movie then come back.
Chapter Nineteen Summary – Willy and Charlie are now in New York... and a smell is in the air. Is it victory or defeat. Plus, Charlie's "uh-oh" sences are tingling. What in the 'hundred levels of Wonka's factory,' is Willy Wonka up to?
Chapter 19 - An Eye for an Eye
A soft smell of something good wafted to Charlie's nose. Whatever it was, it sure smelled good. But did he want to get up? Charlie and Wonka had long since gone to bed, and morning had already come. The sleeping arrangements were easy to figure out, probably due to the fact that Wonka rigged them so that, no matter what, Charlie would have the bed and he would have the couch.
As Charlie began to wake up a little more, there was very audible crackling coming from the kitchen too, and the smell finally became recognized as bacon. For a second, as Charlie was waking from his slumber, he had half-a-mind to think that he could possibly still be at home. But he knew better once he had opened up his eyes.
The hotel's bedroom was very nice, but plain at the same time. It was just an average room, with average decorations. Nothing at all like the rooms that Wonka had in his homey part of the factory. Probably the best thing about the room was that it was decorated with soft reds, oranges, and yellows, making him feel like was waking up to a sunrise. The furniture was made of lovely cherry wood that tied the whole scheme together.
Charlie pushed off the sheets with his feet, and hopped out of bed quietly. The first thing he did was make his way towards where his clothing was stashed in the room, and he began to rifle through them. The room suddenly gave Charlie a jolt of inspiration; so he picked out a Saffron-Yellow/Orange striped shirt and red jeans. The shirt he wore underneath it all, with the collar pulled out, was a nice cream colour, and his socks were crimson.
He looked himself over in the mirror, proud of his colour coordination, and flattened his hair with his hands for a moment, removing the stray tangles and stick-ups that seemed to cover his head. He smiled for a moment, then turned to make the bed.
After a couple of moments, and another quick check in the mirror to see that everything was in order, Charlie left the bedroom behind him, and closed the door.
What he was met with when he entered the kitchen was very different than to what he would think he was expecting. Wonka was cooking. Well, he was sure that Wonka could cook, for how else could he have stayed alive in the great factory? Plus, if he couldn't cook, he wouldn't have ever been able to create such lovely candies in the first place now, could he? But, it still was rather strange sight to see.
So here was Wonka, whistling to himself, cooking away in the kitchen. There seemed to be many things going on at once, which appeared to mirror the way Wonka's mind, and factory, worked. There was bacon, eggs, toast, sausage (Charlie swore there had to be at least a couple kinds), plus, there was water boiled for what looked like tea.
The smell was wonderful, and as Charlie approached, he couldn't help but say, "Smells really good, Mr. Wonka."
Willy jumped, dropping both spoons that he was carrying, and nearly dropping the mugs. He fumbled for a few moments, trying to keep the mugs from dropping. Once he had control of the situation, and the mugs, he set them on the table, and turned to Charlie with a quaking grin.
"Thank you, Charlie," his voice was cheerful, but his face obviously showed his discomfort for being abruptly startled.
Charlie bent over and picked up the spoons, setting them into the sink. "Sorry, Mr. Wonka. I didn't mean to scare you like that."
"S'okay Charlie," Wonka said as he opened a drawer and pulled out a couple more spoons. "No harm done. Just make sure that you... um, announce yourself more soundly next time. Okie-Dokie?"
"Okie-Dokie, Mr. Wonka," Charlie responded with a grin.
"Good. Now, sit, sit!" Wonka gestured to the table that had been all set out. "I'll be there in a minute, I have to finish up the tea and put the things on the table."
Charlie nodded and sat down, now noticing and appreciating that Willy had set the table neatly, with all the cutlery, dishes, and napkins. Charlie couldn't help but feel bad that he was just sitting there after all of Wonka's hard work, but Willy had asked him to sit down, and it did seem that everything was almost done. He'd probably be in the way, because it was a very small kitchen.
Wonka placed a tea bag in each cup, hanging the string over the side nicely. He turned to the eggs and shuffled them, to keep them from sticking, then turned to the sugar bowl.
"Charlie, do you like sugar with your tea?" he asked, taking a spoonful of sugar and dumping it into his own cup.
"Yes please."
Willy smiled. "Of course you do. What a silly question." Wonka put in an equal amount of sugar in Charlie's cup. "Oh," he continued, "do you like your eggs sunny-side up?"
"Yes, please."
"Okies." Willy flipped over only one of the eggs.
After a couple of moments, Wonka came over with the eggs and dumped one on Charlie's plate.
"I wasn't exactly sure what you liked," Wonka said, "so I made a little bit of everything. So you could you try some. Today, it's gonna be a variety! That means tomorrow, you can have what you like best."
Willy then finished up by serving the bacon, the three kinds of sausage, and last, but certainly not least, the tea. Once that it all been over and done with, Wonka sat down in his chair with a sigh, then turned to Charlie.
"There. You can begin," then, happily following his own words, starting eating himself.
The first thing that Charlie did was take out the tea bag, for the tea had steeped enough, stirred it for a moment, and took a sip. He recognized its sweet taste; it seemed to give Charlie a cool breath and cleared his airways. He also seemed to be the tiniest a bit more awake than before.
"What kind of tea is this Mr. Wonka?" Charlie asked, looking at the contents with curious eyes.
"That," Willy responded, taking the tea bag out of his own cup, "is combination Mint tea. I'm pretty sure that it's Peppermint, Mint, Lemon Grass, and Spearmint. Mostly Peppermint though, that's the way I like it. I find that it is just right in the morning, wakes you up without that caffeine jolt. The moment I discovered mint teas, I have been drinking them in the morning ever since."
"It's really good Mr. Wonka." Charlie took another sip.
Willy gave a grin. "Good. Now, eat up quickly, we've got a lot of things to do today."
"Like what, Mr. Wonka?"
Wonka looked up, and repeated his earlier command with a sly grin. "Eat up, Charlie."
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Charlie was busy in the kitchen now, clearing up all of the dishes. He insisted, seeing how it was Wonka who cooked the breakfast, and brewed the tea. He had only a slight amount of trouble reaching the sink, for he was just a couple of inches too short to reach properly. But, he insisted on doing it anyway, so he did.
Willy, on the other hand, was getting changed. Charlie hadn't noticed at first, but Wonka had been wearing his pajamas; they were so formal that he really didn't notice that they were not in fact the clothes that he wore underneath his usual attire. Charlie wondered for a vague moment what exactly Wonka was going to wear.
Wonka came into the kitchen, fixing up his gloves. He was wearing something a little more unusual that normal. Instead of the black pants and vest he traditionally wore; his pants were a heavy, almost black, purple, and his vest was a deep indigo. His shirt that was underneath was navy, and his gloves were blue. Willy was the epitome of twilight, which contrasted nicely with Charlie's sunrise.
"Ah. Much better. A chocolatier always feels better once he has his chocolatier clothes on."
"Quite," Charlie said, then he approached Willy. "Do you need help with your clip, Mr. Wonka?"
Willy gave a sheepish grin. "Uh, sure." He pulled it out of his pocked with his left hand, "I can write, I can make candies, but I just can't put this on quite right. Silly, eh?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Wonka," Charlie said while he pinned the pin onto Wonka's shirt. "I can help you put it on until your arm gets better."
Willy straightened up. "Thank you." He turned, and walked into the living room area, and plopped onto the couch gracefully, one of his legs hanging off the edge. "Now then. On to business..."
"But I thought that, since we were here, we wouldn't be doing any work," Charlie stated, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch.
Willy chuckled. "No, silly. When I say 'business', I mean, what we are going to do today. So, I say again, 'on to business'."
Charlie nodded. "Oh, I get it now. I see. What are we going to do today?"
Willy turned himself on the couch, so he was facing the ceiling. He rubbed his chin absent-mindedly as he thought. "Hmm." After a couple of moments of thinking, he abruptly turned to Charlie, "I don't know."
"I thought that you had something planned."
"Well, I did. Or... I do. Whatever. It's just, I don't know if you want to or not."
Charlie straightened up a little bit. "Well, let's hear it."
Willy took a breath. "Well, you see, I was at first wondering if we could walk around New York. But then I realized that New York has people in it."
Charlie thought for a moment. He knew for sure that he didn't want to stay inside all day. The hotel was not very interesting, he didn't like to watch TV much, and there just wasn't much to do.
"Well, how about we do go around outside? We'll just-" Charlie paused, thinking, "I dunno. Keep Quiet."
"Keep Quiet?"
"Well, don't mention that you are Mr. Wonka unless someone asks. Um... don't -er- draw attention to yourself." Though, Charlie was sure that the last thing was going to be pretty hard for Wonka to do.
"I don't want attention drawn to myself! I don't try to make people figure out who I am. I don't know, but people just seem to know who I am!" Willy exclaimed with frustration.
Charlie thought, He's right; no matter what... people recognize him, even though they haven't -seen- him in awhile. I remember! I was thinking about this earlier... It has to be his clothing.
With the idea a-new in his mind, Charlie asked, "Mr. Wonka, how about just for today, you wear something different than your normal coats?" Charlie remembered a past thought he had before they left.
"Why...?"
"Well, people really seem recognize you for what you wear. You know, your coat, and hat, and…sunglasses." Charlie tried to think of any other defining features of his companion's wardrobe. "It's fairly easy to see who you are. How about something a little different?"
Wonka looked at Charlie with interest, obviously thinking it over. "Okay," he finally said, "go on. Like what?"
Charlie searched his head mentally. "How about, a normal coat, that stops only just below your waist. And, um, a grey hat," he motioned with his hand, "like the ones they used to wear a while ago. They have the dip in the top..."
"Yea... I know what you are saying, a Fedora, right?-"
"-and no sunglasses," Charlie quickly interrupted.
Wonka turned to Charlie sharply. "What?"
"Well, they are expecting you wear them. So, if you don't, they won't notice you right away," reasoned Charlie.
Wonka looked back up at the ceiling. Hmn... Well, it does include a hat and coat... It doesn't seem too bad. But, where in the hundred levels of my factory will I get them?
Willy turned to Charlie, "Okay, Mr. Smarty-pants, I'll do it, but, where do I get them?"
Charlie made to respond, then stopped. "I don't know." He remembered asking several Oompa-Loompas if they knew what they could do about the sure-to-occur dilemma. They didn't respond, so Charlie was left seemingly clueless.
Well, the plan seemed good while it lasted, and Willy didn't seem to be rejecting the idea either. In fact, he seemed all for it. Wonka just sighed.
"Well, now what?" He said with disappointment, resting his arm across his forehead in bafflement.
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Charlie and Wonka had stayed inside for the majority of the morning, and they still couldn't come up to a solution, so they decided to raid the wardrobe that Wonka had brought. At least they could try to do something to 'normalize' Willy's clothing for the day.
As he sifted through the various coats, Charlie said, "Maybe you don't need to change your outfit, Mr. Wonka. I hear that there are a lot of people who dress not as normal as other people, and they still blend into the crowd. Maybe that'll be the same with you." He was trying to see the lighter side of the position they were in.
"I doubt it, Charlie," Willy said. He was standing on a stool, and looking down at the shirts he had neatly folded. "Now that I think of it, not very many people dress like I do. Let's see what the Oompa-Loompa's think."
Charlie stopped and looked up at Wonka, "What do you mean, 'What do the Oompa-Loompa's think'?"
Willy teetered for a moment, holding the suitcase firmly with his left hand, but having no support from his right. Once he regained his balance, he responded, "Yeah. Just before we left, an Oompa-Loompa added a suitcase to mine. So, I suppose I either forgot something, or they were thinking ahead. Oh, I do so wish and hope they thought ahead."
Wonka stepped down, walked over to the bed and sat on it. Charlie had good feelings about this suitcase. Maybe the Oompa-Loompa's knew after all...
"Now, let's see what we have here."
Click. Click. The locks opened and Willy opened up the case.
"Well, I'll be!" Wonka half-exclaimed.
Charlie came over, letting go of the bright-red tail-coat that he was examining, and went to look at what the Oompa-Loompa's had packed for Willy Wonka.
"What is it, Mr. Wonka?"
"A coat, and a cane," he said happily, pulling up the coat. "These Oompa-Loompa's always keep you on your tail. Always have tricks up their sleeves. They seem to know everything."
Charlie just grinned at the 'knowing everything' statement and asked, "How did they keep a cane in there?"
"It's one of those canes that comes in two parts... I think."
Willy pulled out the coat fully, and Charlie noted that it was not all too dissimilar to the coat that Wonka usually wore. It seemed to be a neat mixture between his coat and a trench coat. Instead of a mass of buttons, it had a belt with a few buttons near the top, and it was a moderate gray, instead of his usual florescent fashions. The cane was ebony black, and was ringed with silver at the head and at the end.
"Neat-o. I have never seen these before. They must be new." Wonka looked up thoughtfully for a moment. "I wonder when they got it."
Charlie smiled. He had an idea when. He knew that the Oompa-Loompas were always up to something. Willy was right to say to watch out for them, they did tend to play jokes or pleasantly surprise people at most unexpected moments.
Charlie recalled that one day, when he was out visiting his favorite green sheep Lily, that the Oompa-Loompas seemed very driven looking over papers. Of course, Charlie had been curious over what they were murmuring about, and had assuming that it was about candy. Though when Wonka entered the room, they stuffed the papers behind their backs and shuffled out of the room quickly, giggling the whole way, which only made Charlie curiouser.
The only thing that Wonka did was give them an odd look, then murmur, "Cacao Beans do the strangest things to little bodies..." Just before he went to greet Charlie, Lily and Sunny.
Now Charlie knew what they had been doing. He just chuckled. "Go on, put it on."
Wonka nodded, then stood up and tried on the coat. He decided that, rather than have the right sleeve hang loosely, he'd fit it over his cast, then put the sling on. That way, it wouldn't look so foolish. Charlie helped him with the belt and the putting-together of the cane.
Just as Willy made to reach for his hat, Charlie stopped him.
"No," Charlie said, "I don't think you need it for this. I think you look good without it."
Wonka gave him a funny look, then turned to look in the mirror. Well, it would work at least for the day. It's always good to try new things, at least... that's what Charlie's mother always said.
"Well..." Wonka said slowly, running his hand over his head, "I'll try it for just today. That's it. As long as I get to wear the same stuff underneath."
"Of course," Charlie responded with a grin, "You can wear what you'd like. I was just making a suggestion Mr. Wonka; so are the Oompa-Loompas"
Willy was silent for a few minutes, straightening out the coat, and seeing what it looked like from behind. Then, through the reflection of the mirror, he saw Wonka pull a mischievous grin. Willy turned around, and Charlie couldn't help but worry.
"An eye for an eye," Wonka quoted, still looking at Charlie with the strange look.
Charlie definitely knew that Wonka was up to something. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, since you got me in this strange get up, I might as well..." Wonka grinned an almost evil grin, "Dress you up."
Charlie gulped. He knew that Willy would get his own form of revenge.
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Both Charlie and Wonka prowled the streets of New York. Charlie had won the battle of keeping off Wonka's hat and sunglasses. But Willy kept the glasses in his pocket, never the less. All Charlie had to worry about now was the fact that Wonka was going to dress him up. He couldn't help but worry; come on, this is Wonka we're talking about here!
"Now, let's see," Willy said, looking at the different shops. "What clothing stores sell clothes for eleven-year old boys?"
Charlie glanced over his shoulder. "I don't know, Mr. Wonka. What if they don't sell clothes for eleven-year old boys?"
Wonka grinned and turned to Charlie, "Ah ha! No getting yourself out of this one, my dear Charlie. Nuh-uh, no-way!" Willy turned back to looking for shops, giving a light giggle. "Anyway, I reserved a store for us. I'm just trying to remember where the silly thing is!"
Charlie scoffed in a pretend manner, then grinned. He was glad that he was having so much fun with one of his favorite people. It was much better than those other times. But he was sure that he wouldn't be haven't another one of those for a while. At least, he hoped. All he could do was wait, and make sure that Willy didn't feel too over-whelmed with all the people in New York. Most important of all, he had to make sure that Wonka didn't faint.
But by the looks of how bent on getting his revenge on Charlie Wonka was, he seemed to have forgotten all about the fact they were in a city filled with people. Charlie didn't know whether to be happy of the fact or afraid.
"Now," Willy said, pulling out a piece of paper from one of his coat pockets, "it says here that it is near Main Street, and it's that shop near a bunch of specialty shops."
"Specialty shops?" Charlie asked, curious.
"Shops that have specific merchandise either from a single company, or similar themes," Willy replied, still looking down at the paper in his hands.
"Oh, so like Ficklegruber, Prodnose and Slugwor-"
"Yes," Willy responded acidly.
Charlie looked up at Wonka, "Do you have a specialty shop, Mr. Wonka? I know you used to have one, on Cherry Street; it's closed. But do you have one anymore?"
Wonka looked up from the paper and glanced at Charlie, then the shops. "Yes, in fact, I do. It's around here actually. I think it just might be near the store we're going to."
Charlie face lit up. This was fantastic; he had never seen a Wonka Shop before. He wondered what it would be like, and if it was anything like the factory. You see, Charlie hadn't seen all of the merchandise that Wonka sold, mostly because Charlie still hadn't seen the entire factory by that time. Plus, the only Wonka candies that seemed to be sold in his small town were Wonka Bars. He wondered if they sold the more exotic Wonka candies in the New York shop.
Willy saw Charlie look suddenly excited, and he couldn't gather why. He had been living in a chocolate factory for a good while now. How would a Wonka Shop measure up to get that kind of reaction?
"Why are you so excited?"
"Well, I think it would be neat to see one of your shops. I haven't ever seen one, except for the one that is closed down near home."
"Well, we do have the factory," Willy pointed out. "Why would you be so excited by a specialty shop?"
"We've left the factory, so... wouldn't it be a little bit like home? You know, like a little bit of the factory in New York so you don't get homesick."
Willy turned to Charlie with a grin. "I never thought of it like that." He looked up in a thinking manner, scratching his chin with his left hand. "Hmm. Maybe we should go there later on today."
"Really?"
"Yea… but only when I have finished with my revenge, Kay?"
Charlie ignored the 'revenge' bit and said, "Good! I'd love to see one of your shops, Mr. Wonka."
Wonka just nodded, looking across the street. Then, with a wild grin, he turned to his younger companion.
"Ah ha! Here it is! The shop we're looking for."
Charlie looked, "Ropa and Kleding's Clothing Shop". What an interesting name, he thought. When he looked down from the sign, Wonka grabbed his arm and begun to drag Charlie inside of it. Just as he was being pulled inside, Charlie read a sign that was posted on a door that said, "Closed for rent."
The moment they entered a large round man, who bore a handlebar moustache, met them at the door. He was holding one hand behind his back, the other twirling the end of his moustache with care.
He had a relatively smug air about him, and he gave both Charlie and Wonka a grin before leaning forward to say, "Ah, Bonjour! Bonjour Monsieur Wonka!"
Willy didn't look at all taken a-back with the sudden French. He responded as calmly as if he were speaking to Charlie, "Bonjour Monsieur Vete."
The large man smiled and took Wonka's hand with his own and shook it vigorously. "Comment ca va?"
Charlie couldn't even guess what they were saying. But he now knew that Willy could speak another language other than English... French. Well, at least Wonka had a good understanding of it. So, he pulled all of his attention to try and understand.
"Ca va bien, Monsieur," He responded calmly and fluently, with a slight glance towards Charlie, noting his confusion. Then, in English, "I am sorry, Monsieur, but my younger companion cannot speak French as fluently as you or I. So, if we could, speak in English?"
Mr. Vete grinned, "Oh, but of course! I can speak English, and I can speak to your young friend, no?"
Charlie wasn't even sure if English was much better. The man's English was so heavily accented, it almost sounded like French. But, he was thankful that they were no longer speaking in a language only he could not understand, and he felt that he could manage.
"Now," said Mr. Vete, "you have called me here to find some clothing for your young boy here?" He gestured to Charlie. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well," Willy pulled a grin and gave another, much more sly, glance towards Charlie, before looking at Mr. Vete again. "I dunno. Maybe something a little colorful, or something formal. Hmn... something that he could wear on T.V, and something he could wear just around. Ya'know, something hip and jazzy that the young children seem to be walkin' around in now-a-days."
Hip... Jazzy..? Uh oh. Charlie wondering what those two where going to put on him. Charlie suddenly knew how a puppy felt when he was owned by a little girl who insisted that it wore dresses and went to tea parties. He had a feeling that this experience was not so far from that. This was Wonka and not a little girl, and it was Charlie, not a puppy. Not much of a difference.
"Tres Bien! I will see what I can do for you, Monsieur."
"Oh good."
Authors Thoughts – Haha! I loved typing him cooking, and yes, Willy can speek french. I suppose, why not? He had a lot of free time during his life-time, and if he could learn Loompa-ish, he could learn, squirellish and french... mabye more. If it the french is wrong, blame me and my friend. (I wrote it, she corrected it). Anyways... I shalt be updating tri-montly again! Yay!
Wonka-Land Info – More stuff will be in the next chap.
The number thing - Ya'know those number things I did in the previous Chapters? I'll stop now... sorry. But, you were all smart.. so, YAY for smart peoples.
Willy's Clothing - If Willy were to, without his coat, hold his hands above his
head, he would blend just like a twilight sky; ranging from blue, to dark purple. He has a keen sense of style, eh?
He is recognisable - I was sure, that on Halloween, not very many people would know who I was. But, most of the student body did, and I wasn't even wearing his exact cloths and I knew that not everyone had seen the movie. It goes to show that Willy is just a very recognisable man. Clothing wise at least.
Shop on Cherry St - If you look carefully at the normal time-line of the movie (not the flashbacks or the story telling), Willy's shop exists on Cherry St, you can see the large 'w' of the sign. For purposes in the comic, it has long closed down. (Since the factory had opened.)
Ropa and Kelding's Cloths Shop - Ropa is Spanish for clothing and Kleding is Norwegian for clothing. Ha! And a French store owner... Hehe...
Chapter Twenty Preview – What did Willy do to Charlie...? What are these letters? It just seems that Wonka can never get away from work... even if he is away from his factory...About the Reviews – Merci pour les reviews mes amies!
My Beta-Reader – I thank my beta-er so much, plus, I thank her for saying that this was one of her top favorites too.
Important Note: Please Review. I want to know if any of you liked it. Plus, I may feel like updating faster if I know that people actually read what I write. (No flames... I'll only feed them to my Whizzing Wangdoodles.).