Yay! Chapter 4!
Selena led them down a hallway. "Oh, I want to show you this! These are fun. Square candies that look round." She pointed at a window. Inside were rows and rows of what looked to be oversized sugar cubes with faces on painted on them.
"They don't look round," Veruca argued.
"Yes, they do. Watch." Selena tapped on the glass.
At the sound, all the eyes on the candies quickly looked around at the noise.
"See, they look round," Selena said with a smug smile to Veruca. "And now over here we have lickable wallpaper for nursery walls. Babies love exploring the world with their mouths and this is a safe way to introduce the flavors the world has to offer: bananas, strawberries, raspberries, and snozzberries."
"Snozzberries?" Mike interrupted.
"Snozzberries," Selena confirmed. "Oranges, lemons, plums, grapes, pineapple, and maybe eventually the more exotic fruits."
"What's a snozzberry taste like?" asked Augustus.
Selena stopped and thought for a moment. "You can't really describe it. You have to experience it. I think it tastes like a combination a grape and a strawberry. Willy says it tastes like a blackberry and a pomegranate."
The group continued to move until Selena stopped them at a door.
"Check this out," she said, opening the door.
The room was circular with workstations lining it. Hoppers of walnuts were suspended from the ceiling and dropping down walnuts to the workers. There was a large hole in the middle of the room where some of the walnuts were being thrown. Perched on high stools were the workers, but they were not Oompa-Loompas.
"Squirrels!" Veruca squealed in delight.
"Uh-huh. These squirrels are specially trained to shell walnuts," said Selena.
"Why use squirrels? Not Oompa-Loompas?" asked Augustus.
"Because Oompa-Loompas can't get the whole walnut out in one piece," Selena answered. "Squirrels can. Ooh, look how they tap on it with their little knuckles! They can hear if it's a good nut or a bad nut. If it's a good nut, they shell it and it's sent off to be used. But if it's a bad nut, it goes down the garbage chute." She pointed at the hole in the floor.
"I've decided I want a squirrel!" Veruca declared. "I want one of those squirrels!"
"These are Willy's. You can't have one," said Selena.
"But I want one!" Veruca screamed, stomping her feet. "All I've got at home is two dogs and four cats and six bunny rabbits and two parakeets and three canaries and a green parrot and a turtle and bowl of goldfish and a cage of white mice and a silly old hamster! I want a squirrel! And I want a trained squirrel!"
Selena looked down her nose at the screaming child. "No. You can't have one."
"Who says I can't!" Veruca shouted. "I'm going in to grab me a squirrel this very minute!" She ran into the room.
The squirrels stopped what they were doing and turned to her. Veruca kept walking, scanning the room of squirrels. She focused in on a squirrel at the end. It stared back at her.
"I'll have you!" She reached out pick it up.
The squirrel jumped off the stool along with all the others and swarmed Veruca. They jumped and pounced and crawled all over her. She panicked and floundered and fell to the floor. The squirrels pinned her arms and legs down. The squirrel she had tried to pick up jumped onto her shoulder. It tapped on her head with its knuckles.
"What are they doing to her?" asked Violet.
"They're testing to see if she's a bad nut," Selena replied with a wide smile.
The squirrels started carrying her across the floor.
"Seems like she is a bad nut," added Selena.
Veruca kicked and screamed as the squirrels carried her off.
"Where are they taking her?" asked Charlie.
"To the garbage chute," said Selena.
"Where does that lead?" asked Charlie.
"To the incinerator."
The other children looked at her in horror.
"No worries, it's only lit on Tuesdays," Selena assured them.
"Today is Tuesday," Mike pointed out.
"Is it? Well, maybe they didn't light it today," Selena said unbothered.
They watched as Veruca was thrown down the garbage chute. The squirrels quickly went back to their stations and got back to work.
Faint vocalizations could be heard and music started playing. Oompa-Loompas came out from the service doors and began to prance around.
Veruca Salt, the little brute
Has gone down the garbage chute
And she will meet as she descends
A rather different set of friends
A rather different set of friends
A rather different set of friends
A fish head, for example, cut
This morning from a halibut
An oyster from an oyster stew
A steak that no one else would chew
And lots of other things as well
Each with a rather horrid smell
Horrid smell
These are Veruca's new found friends
That she will meet as she descends
These are Veruca's new found friends!
Who went and spoiled her
Who indeed?
Who pandered to her every need?
Who turned her into such a brat?
Who are the culprits? Who did that?
The guilty ones, now this is sad
Dear Old Mum and Loving Dad!
The Oompa-Loompas danced out of the room.
Selena clapped. "How lovely." She turned to the children. "Now there may be chance that she's stuck in the chute just below the top and if that's the case, all you have to do is reach down there and pull her out."
"I'm not climbing down there," said Mike.
"Not without a harness, I wouldn't let you," said Selena. "Use the maintenance equipment."
A door from the ceiling popped open above the garbage chute and a harness dropped down.
"We have to clean it now and then or garbage can get stuck and then it gets backed up and that isn't pretty," Selena told them. "It shouldn't be too bad. It should have been cleaned earlier this week."
The children looked at the garbage chute.
"Who wants to go down there?" asked Augustus.
"I'll go," volunteered Charlie.
Charlie went over to the garbage chute and began to put the harness on. He struggled with the straps.
"Maybe I should go," said Violet.
"I can do it," said Charlie.
"Have you ever gone rock climbing before?" Violet asked. "I've done it."
"I can do it," Charlie insisted.
Violet rolled her eyes. She started doing up the straps for him. "Let me do these. You don't want to fall out of your harness."
Charlie started at the edge and began inching his way down. For a garbage chute, it didn't smell all that bad. It mostly smelled of cleaner, meaning Selena was right and it had been cleaned recently.
The other children watched from above as he continued his descent. The chute bent and Charlie was able to walk on a steep decline around the bend. His foot slipped and he fell.
"Charlie!" Violet cried.
He slid down the chute a few feet before the rope pulled tight and he stopped suddenly.
"I'm okay!" he shouted. He got no response. He tugged on the rope and got some slack from it to continue his journey down.
"If she was down here, I would have seen her by now, right?" Charlie wondered out loud.
There was a loud snap of the rope breaking and Charlie slid down the long chute. There was a bright light and he fell out only to land on top of a pile of garbage.
"Oh, there you are," he heard Selena say. He looked up to see Selena and the other children at the foot of the pile. Veruca was absolutely covered in garbage. "Turns out the incinerator has been broken for three weeks. Good thing, too. You had something soft-ish to land on."
Charlie climbed off the garbage pile. "Why is Veruca covered in garbage and I'm not?"
"Because there was garbage sent down another part of the chute between you and her," said Violet. "Are you okay? The rope snapped, but Selena didn't seem too concerned about it."
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Charlie.
There was a loud boom and a flash. The conveyor belt with all the garbage on it began to move, feeding the incinerator.
"Huh, what do you know? Fixed," said Selena. She turned walked out of the room.
The children looked at each other, Veruca clearly horrified, before running after her.
Selena walked over to a door and pushed a button. "You know, we could have been using the elevator this entire time, but it just seemed so . . . pedestrian."
The doors opened and they got in a clear elevator. There were buttons covering the entire one wall, each labeled with an etching next to it.
"There can't be this many floors," said Mike.
"And you would know this how?" Selena asked. "And for your information, this is not the average elevator. This elevator not only goes up and down, but sideways and longways and slantways and backways and any other direction you can think up, except upside-down. We haven't figured out that one without making a mess. Now I believe we have time for a couple more places. The question is: what to go see? Laffy Taffy, Cocoa Cats, Black Box of Frogs, Brussel Sprout Ice Cream, Lickety Split Peas – choices, choices. Any suggestions?"
Violet sneered in disgust as she stood beside Veruca. "How about somewhere she smells fresher," she suggested.
"Or maybe somewhere where she isn't a blue freak," Veruca shot back.
Selena quipped back with, "Girls, don't fight. You're both messes." She looked at the list of button. "Ah, forget it." She pressed a single button.
The doors closed and the elevator jerked sideways, speeding along its track through the factory. The children were flattened against the side and then were slammed into a puddle on the floor.
Selena looked down at them. "What are you doing down there?" she asked innocently. "You're going to miss everything."
The children got up with some struggling.
"How are you not being thrown around?" asked Veruca.
Selena smirked and wiggled the hand strap she was holding on to.
The elevator slowed down to a more manageable speed and changed direction so they went the length of a room.
"If you would look out the window you will see our small batch kitchen," Selena said. "Once a product has cleared the inventing room, we make small batches of it to send to select stores and get feedback from customers. If it does well, we mass produce it and then it's sent all over the world. Right now they are making small batches of Rainbow Drops and Candy-Coated Pencils."
They left the room and started ascending.
"And here is the fudge room. You almost ended up here earlier, Augustus."
Large knives were sectioning bricks of fudge into smaller portions for packaging.
Augustus gulped.
They shifted on the track and they went down.
"And here is the administration offices," Selena announced.
The room was circular for the elevator to go vertical. The desks were arranged so the Oompa-Loompas could look at who was coming and going. The Oompa-Loompas here appeared to be all female in their pink office wear and pearl necklaces.
The elevator paused as it changed its direction on the track.
"Hello, Doris," Selena greeted.
The Oompa-Loompa looked over her glasses and waved.
They went horizontal into the next room and continued to descended, picking up speed. Oompa-Loompas were shooting colorful balls out of cannons at targets. They exploded like fireworks, sending showers of sugar through the air.
"Why is everything here completely pointless?" Mike asked snobbishly.
Selena looked down her nose at him.
Charlie turned to him. "Candy doesn't have to have a point, that's why it's candy," he said.
"It's stupid!" Mike shot back. "Candy is a waste of time."
"Says you," said Selena. "I have to wonder, you won a ticket, but you don't like candy. Why are you even here?"
Mike looked up at her with his perpetual aggravated expression. "I don't like chocolate. There is some candy I like, but it's not this stupid. And I just did it to show people I could."
Some of the other children gasped and looked at Selena. That wide smile of hers was starting to stretch across her face.
"You are a highly intelligent boy, but you're dull and imaginative," she told him. "If you think all I'm showing you right now is stupid, why not pick the next room?"
Mike looked at the different buttons. Nothing interested him until he saw . . .
"You have a television room here?" he asked in surprise.
"Mm-hmm. I thought you might like that one," said Selena. "Hit the button."
Mike didn't need any more prompting. He smacked the button and the elevator jerked to a stop before going backwards.
What do you think a Snozzberry tastes like?