The little brute had warmed up enough to Charlie that she decided she would take the initiative and choose the place they would visit together the next time around. It took her a while to find something that sparked her interest, but when she learned about a carnival going on north of the city, she contacted the Good Boy and asked him if he had come up with something to do over the weekend. He hadn't had time to think of somewhere to go out as he'd spent the last few days bogged down in the office with Wonka wrapping up the brainstorming phase of a new candy, so he casually agreed to visit a carnival since he loved the attractions and needed some time to unwind from all the thinking he'd done. Saturday came and Charlie arrived at Stourton to pick Veruca up, and from there it was about an hour's long drive through the east and north of London until they reached the town of Waltham Abbey in the neighboring county of Essex. The carnival was a tad bit west of the country town, and once they arrived, they were greeted to a packed fairground, full of both locals and outsiders like the two former Golden Ticket winners who made a daytrip up from the city. While the crowds were far from optimal for Charlie's personality, the joyful vibe made all the people pushing their way past him and the constant sound of people chattering and screaming bearable. The joy carnivals brought to people was in many ways the same joy Wonka's candies brought to people, if not for a second, a person could forget all their problems and simply have fun, and that was something Charlie planned on continuing when it came for him to manage the entire factory on his own.
Now, instead of preoccupying himself on the day Wonka would no longer be with him to guide him through the candy making process or the massive stress he would have to endure when he became the company's top boss, he preferred to focus on his environment, and uttered, "I do love a funfair, Veruca."
"Well, you better, I don't know why but I thought this place would be a bit more...refined," the little brute chided back, literally sticking her nose at all the common folk congregating at the carnival.
When she had originally gotten the idea of spending a Saturday at a carnival, Veruca thought it would be a nice day outside where she could get on some rides, but instead she found her dreams crushed as she had to share her day with the unrefined masses she was raised to feel superior to. Due to her severe lack of self-awareness, she often forgot the rest of the world was incredibly less rich than her family was, something she preferred to ignore, which was why she loved to create her own private spaces where she could regulate reality to fit her needs. Now, that would be a cake walk when you could lock yourself up in your penthouse that overlooked London, all the while having nonstop shipments of alcohol delivered up there to numb the pain of the sheer loneliness caused by the self-seclusion, but it was also much more difficult when you congregated with an assortment of people from all walks of life.
However, as Veruca began to regret her decision, an entirely different sentiment had taken root inside her guest. Unsurprisingly, because of a significantly different upbringing, Charlie had associated quite the opposite feelings to carnivals, and to an extent, their attendees, which he explained to his fellow Golden Ticket winner, "I always wanted to go to a funfair as a kid, but I never had any money to go on the rides. I finally had enough money to go after moving in with Mr. Wonka, but a roundabout just doesn't seem like that much fun after you've taken a boat ride down a windy maze of a chocolate river."
Not to be outdone, Veruca shared a childhood memory of her own revolving around carnivals, saying, "I had my own personal funfair in the back garden as a kid. I saw one on the telly one day and told Daddy I wanted one, so he had one built. I had every ride, a big wheel, a Waltzer, a little big dipper, you name it."
Even though she described such an encounter in such civil terms, knowing how she acted during the tour of the factory, the heir knew the brat probably burst into hours-long fits until she got her own little amusement park. The mental image of a young Veruca throwing one of her temper tantrums because her own personal playground wasn't ready to be used at that particular moment was enough to put a smirk on Charlie's face, in fact, he rolled his eyes at the ridiculous image, and replied, "So, I guess we both have interesting funfair stories."
Carnivals had many spine-wrenching rides, infuriating games, a colorful collection of patrons in attendance, but the thing that everyone seemed to like was the great selection of food vendors. For the most part, vendors sold local fare, although there was a noticeable amount of stands selling food from around the world, mostly Indian, Polish and, of course, American favorites. And while it was important to sell real food to keep the visitors from completely spoiling their appetites, people didn't go to a carnival to have a meal, they came to enjoy themselves, and what better way to have fun than to stuff your face with tons and tons of candy. There were many vendors who catered to the kids and the kids-at-heart in attendance, but one stand in particular caught the attention of the former Golden Ticket winners with its façade stacked to the brim with different candies. The stand was called The Sweet Stuff and even candy-expert Charlie had to admit it had everything for someone with a sweet tooth; chocolates, oversized lollypops, bags of assorted sweets, candy apples, and of course, you couldn't have a carnival without cotton candy. The only catch was that this cotton candy came from an all too familiar source.
Both Charlie and Veruca stopped to browse through the merchandise, and when the little brute spotted the pre-packaged, pink cotton candy on display, she picked up one of the bags, and said to her guest, "Hey, look, candy floss. And check it out, it's Wonka brand."
While the presence of his and Wonka's products at any vending location was a testament to how far and wide the brand reached, this product in particular had so many secrets around it that the heir would prefer to keep them under wraps. Instead of getting elated and going deep into a story about the time he and his mentor made a batch of cotton candy, Charlie simply nodded nervously, and replied, "Then it's best we let it be."
"Why's that? You don't have confidence in your own product?" Veruca quipped, as what could be so shocking about something as benign as cotton candy that Charlie didn't want to talk about it?
The thing was that the heir did his best at biting his tongue, but even he had to let something out to alleviate the pressure that was building inside of him, which led him to respond, "Well, like a wise man once told me, I'd rather not talk about this one."
If the heir kept his mouth shut, no one would know the truth and people would keep on buying the product, such as the man who approached the stand with his little girl by his side as she begged him for a bag of cotton candy. And, in an almost Mr. Salt-esque fashion, the man immediately catered to his daughter's wish and summoned the vendor with a cotton candy bag in hand as he proclaimed, "I'll take this bag of candy floss."
"Two pounds," the vendor replied before the customer pulled out his wallet and handed the vendor a two-pound coin.
Despite the fact every sale was beneficial to expanding the company's customer base, Charlie still couldn't accept the fact people kept on buying their cotton candy. As he watched that customer share a bag of cotton candy with his daughter, he put on a face that almost looked like Wonka's face right before one of the other Golden Ticket winners did something that would put them on the path to their elimination from the contest. The little brute was blissfully unaware why the sight of someone consuming Wonka-brand cotton candy bothered Charlie so much, all the while, the Good Boy wished his fellow Golden Ticket winner could have accompanied him on the tour for even an extra hour longer all those years ago. If only Veruca hadn't been such a Bad Nut and gotten thrown down the garbage chute, she could've accompanied the remaining group on a rapid tour of the factory via the Great Glass Elevator and seen for herself what got him so on edge now, the heir thought.