It was very much uncommon for the concierge to call a tenant just to let them know someone was down in the lobby waiting for them, in fact this was the first time he had called Veruca for something other than to let her know that a large package was about to be delivered via elevator. Then again, this was the first time that the concierge had the head of one of the largest candy companies at his desk asking for his help, so every day was like an adventure for this front desk attendant. As one of the people working at the front entrance of The Stourton Block, he had a front row seat to many things, but nothing as memorable as watching Veruca leave her penthouse only to return completely bog- faced after a night out. Although sometimes, she was already chemically unbalanced when she left the apartment block and returned in an even worse condition, as was the case two nights prior when Charlie had to carry her all the way to her bed. While Veruca had needed assistance getting home after hitting the bars before, never before had the concierge seen someone help the little brute with genuine care in their heart until he saw Charlie do exactly that. For that reason, he trusted the Good Boy when he said that Veruca was expecting him so that the two could go furniture shopping, but that he needed the concierge's help to let the little brute know that he was waiting for her down in the lobby. And because protocol prohibited him from allowing the Good Boy to get in the elevator to visit a tenant who had not been cleared by the tenant prior, he found a work-around, and so the man behind the counter picked up his desk phone and dialed the little brute's phone.
It rang for a bit until the receiver answered the call, and that was when the concierge began to speak graciously to the person on the other end, saying, "Greetings, Miss Veruca, this is Herp from the concierge's desk, it's a pleasure to be speaking to you this evening."
After hearing such a name be uttered, Charlie noticed the concierge wore a name tag that claimed his name was Herp, such an odd name, he thought. Meanwhile, Herp focused on Veruca responding to his call, to which he added, "Well, a Mr. Charlie Bucket is waiting for you down here on ground floor. Will you be going furniture shopping with him this evening, or should I send him on his way?"
Veruca's voice made its way out of the phone, but it was too mumbled for Charlie to decipher what she was saying, and all he saw was Herb put on a fake smile, and gleefully respond, "Alright, I'll let him know, take care Miss Veruca."
The call was over, yet Charlie didn't know what Veruca had said, meanwhile all Herb did was rest his desk phone and responded by whispering to himself, yet still loud enough Charlie could hear him utilizing slang from his ancestral land, saying, "Yea mon, she is a mouthful."
Herb then looked up at Charlie with a much more natural pleasant expression on his face, and informed him of Veruca's decision, and even more importantly the state of the Good Boy's standing with the little brute, stating, "She said she's getting ready, it'll just be a few minutes."
"Thank you so much," Charlie replied, nervously chuckling as he was overcome with relief and joy, it seemed the heir did end up getting through to Veruca in the end.
A few minutes passed and Veruca had yet to come down from her Penthouse, but Charlie didn't want to ask Herp to call her again, he did him that one favor and he wasn't going to ask him for another one so soon after the first one. Instead, Charlie decided it would be best to try and cultivate a relationship with the concierge during this time as he did not know if he would need his help again. The Good Boy then turned to point at the concierge's chest, and said, "I see your name tag says Herp. I thought it was a typo for Herb or something, but then I heard you refer to yourself as Herp. May I know your real name, good sir?"
This was a question that the concierge hated answering because he had long grown exhausted of having to explain his full name to all of those who learned it. Nevertheless, his job meant he was at the disposal of the tenants and their guests, so he complied and answered the question. And so, Herp took a deep breath and looked around to see if anyone else was around, and when he saw that there was nobody else in the lobby, he responded directly to Charlie, "If you must know, my full name is Herpes Trout, but most people just call me Herp."
"How'd you get that name?" Charlie responded, sounding surprised; a bit too surprised as he also had difficulties regulating his emotions during small talk considering how little time he spent with people outside the factory.
Herp had told this story to people who had asked him what his full name was and obviously had follow-up questions so many times before that he essentially had a script in his head ready for times like these, and so he explained, "Well, my mother told me she wanted to name me Hermes, but when she was at hospital giving birth, she got so exhausted giving birth that she was drowsy by the end of the whole ordeal. When the nurse came in and asked my mom what name she had decided on for her newborn son, her tiredness combined with her accent cocked-up the nurse and what she wrote on the birth certificate, and well, I got Herpes."
After sharing such a fascinating story, the two men just stood there in awkward silence, Charlie then looked around the lobby as well, and then blurted out some advice, "Maybe don't say the last part like that next time someone asks why you have that name."
Standing in awkward silence was not new for Charlie, it seemed to happen every time he left the factory and interacted with someone else, so the feeling he got while spending his time at the concierge's desk with Herp was nothing new to him. The clock had struck 5 PM yet Veruca was nowhere to be seen, nor did she appear in the minutes following. Charlie even began to wonder whether she was even going to come down at all, even though Herp called her and informed her the Good Boy was waiting for her down in the lobby. That was something he could not bear to contemplate, but luckily those fears were just the result of a mind that often catastrophized the smallest of problems. Eventually, the elevator bell rang, indicating the passenger had reached the lobby, and when the doors swung wide open out came Veruca, all dolled up and ready to head out. She wore a pair of reddish-brown high-waisted pants, a black and pink vertically-striped top, white flats, and of course a fur coat; this one being a tannish-white rabbit's fur, an optimal fur when the wearer did not need that much warmth from the coat. Surprisingly, she also wore a pair of big, black sunglasses indoors, and with her curled brown hair hanging down Charlie could not make out much of her face.
As she strolled out of the elevator, clutch purse in hand while her arms swung back and forth at her waist, she walked past Charlie and marched on towards the door, telling him, "It's seven past five, you're late."
"I've been waiting for you on ground floor for the past fifteen minutes, Veruca," Charlie replied, but not in a confrontational tone, more as if he were asking for forgiveness, something he did not need to ask for as he was not the one who was running late, nor did Veruca plan on dispensing forgiveness as she continued walking towards the door without responding to the Good Boy's clarification.
"So, you showed up at my apartment building, even after I didn't dial you back?" Veruca asked, sounding sort of indignant, all the while invoking the Americanism for block of flats which had also begun to imply something more high-end in Britain. However, Charlie was surely not going to shame her for such a thing as he too had a soft spot for the Yank term candy instead of the British sweets.
As the doorman opened the door for Veruca and her guest, Charlie attempted to ease the tension by nobly responding, "Of course, I made you a promise that I'd take you furniture shopping today and I'm a man of my word."
Without turning to face him as she continued walking outside, all Veruca did was smirk at Charlie's claim of chivalry, and retorted, "I assume that's what Mohammed Jaffar said to Taylor Swift when he did the same thing."
Charlie did not get the reference, but from the sound of her tone it probably was not a compliment, yet he didn't want to get into an argument and loose this valuable opportunity to reconnect over some trivial comment. He guided her to his car where he saw her cheeks perk up, almost as if she were smiling, but without being able to see her eyes Charlie could not fully interpret her expression. However, her expression soon returned to her typical displeased smirk when she noticed Charlie getting into the driver's seat. Charlie noticed this change and watched her stand next to the passenger seat door for a bit before Veruca let out a fake cough and he realized what was going on, she was expecting him to open the door for her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, where are my manners," Charlie said as he rushed over to the left side of the car and held the door open for his guest.
With Veruca inside, he closed the door and rushed back to the driver's seat, but not before signaling to the Oompa Loompas in the red truck behind them that they were ready to go. Once inside, Charlie noticed Veruca's interests were heightened once again as she took in all the details in his car. She ran her hands across the dashboard, feeling the material through the tips of her fingers and signaling her approval by nodding her head ever so slightly. Since the moment Charlie first learned of Veruca, he knew she was the kind of girl who enjoyed the finer things in life, exactly the type of girl he knew he had to stay away from if he didn't want to have everything he earned swiped right out from under him, at least that was the narrative most people operated under. But despite her personality running contrary to what he needed in his life at first glance, Charlie was still convinced that there was some good in Veruca, even if it was buried under piles of greed and envy. After all, the Good Boy knew that not even the worst child deserved to undergo what Veruca went through in the Nut Sorting Room and so it was now up to him, as heir to the Wonka fortune, to make up such a traumatic moment in Veruca's eyes.