Yep, it's that time again. It's a new chapter, yay!
The following days had almost been a blessing to Charlie as flashbacks of Stevens interview continued to haunt his mind.
"What if they all turn out to be brats?" Charlie whispered to himself, for the fourth day in a row according to the Oompa Loompas.
Deciding to give Charlie some space, a few Oompa Loompas went over to the room next door.
An awkward silence filled the atmosphere for a couple of minutes until one of the Oompa Loompa became brave enough to break it.
"So, do you think Charlie is correct to question whether the children are worth the tour?" an Oompa Loompa sternly questioned.
"Maybe we should think about making some elimination songs, you know just in case." Another Oompa Loompa added, avoiding the previous question.
"But Charlie specifically said not to-"
Before they could continue their discussion they were interrupted by the sudden announcement that the fourth ticket had been found.
"Come quickly!" said an Oompa Loompa who had stayed in the room with Charlie since that very morning
"Good afternoon viewers!" The reporter began just as the Oompa Loompas had all sat down.
"Breaking news as the fourth golden ticket has just been found in the small village in Ferguslie park in Scotland, by the eleven-year-old Eleanor Mai!"
As the scenery from the studio changed to the inside of a small cottage, the Oompa Loompas couldn't help but notice the shock on Charlie's face during the following few seconds.
The house itself was quite small for the amount of people who lived there. Unlike the houses of the three previous winners, there was no expensive furniture, only a couple of shelves and a rusty set of a table and chairs filling the main room of the house. The walls were in a no better state along with the carpets of the floor peeling off and traces of mold could be detected on the ceiling and the corners of the walls.
Towards the corner of the room an armchair with an elderly man currently leaned towards his right was fast asleep, his snoring just about quiet enough for the reporters to hear the voice of the fourth ticket winner. To add to the atmosphere two cats, one tabby and the other a mixture of black and white were seen playfully running across the floor as if they too were excited about Eleanor's victory.
The fourth ticket winner Eleanor Mai had short, puffy, curly ginger hair that barely reached down to her ears. She wore light green glasses which complemented her bright blue eyes along with her pale complexion and a genuinely cute smile. For her interview she wore a white polo neck jumper with a yellow sweater vest, to match she had a yellow hair clip in a shape of a button neatly placed on her hair.
The taller woman next to her was almost identical to Eleanor accept her ginger hair ended precisely at the back of her neck. She too wore light green glasses and had a pale complexion with blue eyes, her outfit consisted of a darker green floral dress with the same hair clip but in a pale green color.
During the time Charlie spent looking at the fourth ticket winner, the Oompa Loompa noticed that a small smile was tugging at the chocolatiers lips as if he already knew what the winner would be like.
"Eleanor please, tell us about yourself!" a reporter requested, instantly snapping Charlie out of his thoughts.
Eleanor smiled as she spoke.
"Hello everybody my name's Eleanor Mai and this is my auntie Fiona," Eleanor said while directing a grin towards Fiona. "Oh and this is my uncle Albert", Eleanor introduced, pointing towards the bald man in the armchair who only mumbled in response as he regained his ability to fall back to sleep.
"I'm eleven years old and my passion is chemistry!" Eleanor added, but not in a boastful way.
"Oooh that sounds terrific, what started this interesting passion?" a female reporter asked. Eleanor was more than happy to give an answer.
"Well I first came across chemistry when I was very young, but I didn't really get passionate about it until I learned how fascinating it truly is!"
A few Oompa Loompas joined Charlie in smiling at Eleanor.
"When I grow up I would love to have my very own chemistry set, so I could learn how to be a professional chemist to help those in need."
"Well, that's marvelous Miss Mai, simply marvelous!" A reporter exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Thank you so much, after all, I believe that everyone should have the chance to follow their dreams."
During that moment a camera woman in the background could be heard whispering, "aw, she's such a sweet girl."
"Indeed she is" Charlie commented, his soft tone of voice showing how grateful he is for the kindness the three previous winners lacked.
"So, enlighten us with how you managed to find the golden ticket!" A reporter asked
Eleanor cleared her throat before speaking.
"Actually I was pleasantly surprised upon finding the ticket as our family doesn't have much money" was all Eleanor could say as she struggled to form her next sentence.
At this point, Fiona took over.
"We live in one of Scotland's poorer areas, therefore money is a sensitive issue for many families that live here. But it's not all doom and gloom, for example, we all look out for each other as in a way we are just one big family."
"We witness and feel what good deeds can do for someone, not just within the day you help them but also for their entire future," Eleanor stated, having regained her ability to speak.
Eleanor was interrupted by a soft meow as she noticed the two cats from earlier perched near her feet, she then bent down to pick up the tabby one while Fiona picked up the black and white one.
"For example, we rescued Pablo and Patch from a drain across the road when they were kittens, we couldn't bare to leave them there so we took them in and nursed them back to health," Eleanor explained as the two cats stared at the camera with a glimpse of interest.
Eleanor blushed slightly when realizing she had been rambling on about something completely irrelevant to the topic of the ticket.
"Sorry about going slightly off topic" Eleanor apologized before letting her aunt take over the conversation.
"In regards to the golden ticket, today started out like any other normal day which consisted of beginning our Wednesday morning with our weekly food shop, but on our way back we saw this group of parents and their children who were more or less Eleanor's age, slightly younger perhaps."
Charlie gave the Mai family a sympathetic look as Fiona continued to talk.
Anyway, they all came out of the shop with a Wonka bar each, which instantly put me in an awkward position as I would have done anything to be able to get Eleanor, who has been so good to me during the past few years a little treat for herself. Needless to say that, unfortunately, my purse was empty from our weekly food shop."
Eleanor looked up at her aunt with a small smile, looking as if she wanted to say, You shouldn't have to feel guilty.
"Then all of a sudden the mother of one of the children recognized Eleanor and places a one pound coin in her hand while telling her to get herself something nice. I couldn't have thanked her enough for her kindness."
"Please, may I tell the reporters the rest?" Eleanor asks in a polite manner, impressing the reporters who until now had been forced into the company of brats.
"Such good manners" Charlie whispered as if he was about to cry.
Fiona nodded in response.
"So I walk into the shop and choose a Wonka bar as they are my favorite chocolate bars, the shopkeeper along with two other customers in the shop convince me to open it. So I do and to my shock, I find the golden ticket!"
"I shall never forget that joyful moment when Eleanor squealed with glee as she held it up for all to see," Fiona commented, with a hint of moisture gathering inside her eyes.
"Soon enough the news of Eleanor's ticket spread like wildfire around the whole town, and the greatest thing was that everyone joined her in celebrating this magnificent event rather than try to grab it for themselves," Fiona added before hugging Eleanor who seemed more than happy to return it.
Charlie soon found himself tearing up once again as a single teardrop managed to sneak out from under his eye.
She's perfect!" Charlie suddenly exclaimed as soon as the interview had come to an end.
As part of his rush of enjoyment, Charlie then bounced up from his seat and started doing a victory dance, startling the Oompa Loompas in the process.
"She will definitely be my heir!" Charlie added with the same enthusiastic tone of voice, the kind of voice the Oompa Loompa had wanted to hear for days.
"I knew this day would come!" Charlie whispered as if it was something top secret.
An Oompa Loompa coughed awkwardly when saying, "I don't take any pleasure in breaking this to you but there's still one ticket left."
This Instantly put a stop to Charlie's celebrating mood.
"You cannot make any snap decisions until all five of the winners have been revealed." The same Oompa Loompa added.
Charlie slumped back into his chair, mumbling something none of the Oompa Loompas could make sense of. But what the Oompa Loompas did hear was a muffled sentence of the fifth ticket winner possibly being the worst of the lot.
"Then the choice you make shall be an easy one" the Oompa Loompa simply stated in response.
Charlie huffed before the entire room got dragged into a long painful session of silence.
For all they could do for now was wait.
I do hope this introduction of yet another ticket winner is as good as the others.
Question time, what are your thoughts on what the fifth and final ticket winner will be like?