It baffled Veruca just how loyal and devoted Charlie was to Willy Wonka, and not just because she had never been loyal to anyone else before. It truly was an enigma to her how this goodie-goodie could align himself with such a sadistic maniac, at least that is how she saw him. Even though the reason Charlie could sleep at night knowing he was locked in the same facility where horrific deformities and attacks transpired was because he did not hold Wonka accountable, even the heir had to admit that the amazing chocolatier had no remorse for what his fellow Golden Ticket winners went through. Even worse, from all she had heard from him, the little brute was starting to believe the Good Boy was as heartless as his mentor was for defending him as vehemently as he did, which was exactly the opposite of what the heir wanted her to think about him. Charlie was good, everyone knew that, he could not hurt anybody. But now he needed to convince Veruca, not just that he was trustworthy, but that he genuinely cared for her wellbeing. The only problem was that he was just not sure how he would demonstrate that to her. Sure, he could come out and tell her that he knew how she felt when she was attacked by the squirrels in the Nut Sorting Room because he had just had a dream a few nights ago where he had relived the events and experienced all the same gut-wrenching emotions that she did. But, if the Good Boy were to come out and say this, all she would hear was that this creep dreamt about her, which would immediately raise red flags and kill any chance of a relationship between the two.

On top of that, the idea that the Good Boy thought the contents of a bad dream he had were in any way comparable to a trauma she experienced in the real world would probably be enough for Veruca to wrap her hands around Charlie's neck and choke him out until he ran out of oxygen, and then some. Charlie had to make the strategic decision to keep quiet about his revelation, but now he was at a point where he had to come up with a way to ease Veruca's feelings about their history if he wanted their night out to continue. And so, he took on the herculean task of getting her to see that her beliefs about Willy Wonka were incorrect by humanizing him in her eyes. Perhaps, if the brat could let go of her rancor against humanity's greatest confectioner, then perhaps she could also open up to her fellow Golden Ticket winner and invite him into her life. Now, Veruca was not at all interested in seeing Wonka in a better light, however, she was still mystified by the reclusive candymaker. There was still so much she did not know about him that she could not look up on a search engine, but ironically the person sitting right across from her at this very moment was the best secondary source to consult on all Wonka-related matters.

One such thing that always bothered the brat was the confectioner's exotic surname as it did not sound like it originated anywhere on the British Isles, so she brought that up to the heir, and asked, "I've always wondered, what kind of name is Wonka? It's definitely not English, but it doesn't sound Gaelic either."

Charlie had asked Wonka a similar question soon after moving into the factory when they were still getting to know each other on a personal level, and he recounted to Veruca what the candymaker had told him, replying, "He told me it's Sudeten German. Interesting, but sad, fact; when Mr. Wonka's grandfather, Wilfried, immigrated to the United Kingdom in the twenties after getting a job here as a Chemical Scientist, he had to tell everyone he was Bohemian and that his native language was Czech because of all the anti-German sentiment during the interwar period. Not that Eastern Europeans were accepted with open arms either, but still better than the Huns who had just ravaged the continent in The Great War. But, in the Wonka patriarch's defense, technically he was not lying. He had immigrated to the UK from Czechoslovakia and Mr. Wonka told me his grandfather used to tell him he was also part Czech, but I would need to see the complete Wonka family tree to confirm that. Nevertheless, Wilfried started a career and a family in Britain, and after the Nazis invaded and the Communists took over his homeland he never returned as London was his new home."

As it turned out, Wonka's backstory was as complicated as his factory was wild, and what nobody outside the Wonka and Bucket families and Wonka's small circle of friends knew, Charlie was about to tell his guest in a continuing effort to humanize the man who she considered to be a monster, saying, "Wilfried eventually assimilated into British society so well that his son, Wilbur, Mr. Wonka's father, didn't stand out from the rest of society. On a superficial level, that is. But as you could probably tell from his accent, Mr. Wonka is not from Britain. His mother, Wilma, was a Yank and Mr. Wonka was actually born in Massachusetts. Both of his parents met there after Mr. Wonka's father immigrated to America to advance his career in dentistry, but the family ended up moving back to London sometime after Mr. Wonka was born. Mr. Wonka loved his mother very much, but after she died when he was very young, he was left in the care of a father he hardly saw eye to eye with and the two eventually parted ways and didn't speak for decades."

"Even though he started his business in the UK, Mr. Wonka still has close ties to his motherland. The subsidiary for international distribution of Wonka Candies, Wonka Worldwide Inc., is headquartered in New York City, and even though Mr. Wonka and I have the final say, it's mostly run by childhood friends of his," Charlie added, giving Veruca some more insight into the corporate structure of his organization, information he only realized she could not care less to know about until after speaking.

Instead of following up on Wonka, the little brute preferred to play with her hair, cupping it between her hands and then running her fingers down her golden-brown locks. Nevertheless, Charlie kept looking at her for guidance on what to speak about next, and when she realized the good boy would not take his eyes off her, she asked him about something she found interesting about his stories, "Do you visit America a lot?"

Unfortunately, he did not have all that many interesting stories about his trips to the New World, therefore the Good Boy had to focus on his most interesting story which he had saved for occasions like this, responding, "Mostly for business. But, while we're on the topic of America, I'll also mention that I've met more presidents than just Gilligrass. Mr. Wonka and I met his successor, President Opolo, once when he invited Mr. Wonka over for a roundtable discussion on Americans in international business and I accompanied him for that meeting. He's a nice chap, I actually met him twice, once in each of his terms. And you may or may not have heard about this, but yes, Mr. Wonka and I have also met President Crump."

From the brat's perspective, her fellow Golden Ticket winner was just lying to her face, and it seemed that no matter how much she pushed, Charlie just kept digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole rather than admit he was full of it. Yet, Veruca continued to head down this hole with the heir to see where it took her, and she asked with exhaust and utter disbelief in the heir's claim in her tone, "You've met Clarence Crump? Alright, what's he like?"

Now, this question was a bit more difficult to answer. Charlie leaned back in his seat and exhaled, thus bulging his blue eyes out, because unlike Gilligrass, he did not have a kind word to say. But Veruca asked him about the President, yet he was not going to make things up either. Therefore, it was best to just be honest, he reasoned, and so he replied, "To be perfectly honest, what you see on the telly is the exact same man you meet in real life, just...bigger. When I first met Crump face to face, he reminded me of an Oompa Loompa who discovered the side effects of a new candy in development the hard way. Mr. Wonka and I created what we call Warming Candies, they are these little red lozenges that are great if you are outside on a cold night and you want to stay warm. I guess they could possibly be used as a treatment against hypothermia, but I will leave that for the medical professionals to decide. However, if you eat too many of them at the same time, like that Oompa Loompa I just mentioned did, you get all red and overheated, and that is exactly what came to mind when I met Crump. He literally looked like he had been cramming mouthfuls and mouthfuls of Warming Candies into his mouth beforehand. Crump was incredibly...bloated. And his face, that colour. I do not know where in nature you can find something of that same orange hue. Well, you know, outside the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra."

It seemed to Charlie that Veruca did not catch his primatology joke, or at least she did not react to it with glee. Instead, the brat continued staring at him, making the Good Boy feel even more awkward than usual, and waited for the heir to respond, and so that is what he did, adding, "My Crump story is actually rather interesting, it's more than my description of his appearance. The reason he invited Mr. Wonka and I to the White House was that he was going to award Mr. Wonka the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the first one he ever gave out while in office if I remember correctly. Crump basically gives them out to celebrities in hopes that they will like him in return, or something like that. Not to say Mr. Wonka has not done anything that merits recognition, but Crump would have given the medal to Ronald McDonald if he could have. Anyways, we go to the ceremony and Crump puts the medal on Mr. Wonka while the press takes pictures, but then he offers to give us a tour of the White House. Now, we had taken this tour during our other visits, but to not be impolite we accepted the offer. He then gives us the tour, all the while spewing what I assume were incorrect facts about all the artifacts we passed by, but then he invites us into the Oval Office just to talk and we follow him inside and sit down opposite the Resolute Desk. The discussion was rather standard, he asked about our sales and our business goals, but then he began enquiring about our mode of transportation, the Great Glass Elevator. He said he wanted to know how it worked but Mr. Wonka would not budge. Crump then became frustrated and started saying that he had just given him a medal and that there was nothing to worry about since it was just the three of us. Mr. Wonka then thought it over, he later told he didn't think Crump would even be able to comprehend what he would say, and proceeded to explain the mechanics of the Great Glass Elevator."

"Crump just nodded his head as Mr. Wonka described the Great Glass Elevator, not taking notes or anything. But when my mentor finished talking, Crump pulled out an unhung red rotary phone from one of the drawers of the presidential desk and said into it, 'Did you get that, Yugetoff?'" Charlie remarked, speaking in a cartoonishly whiny New York accent at the end.

"And what did we hear emanating out from the phone? A single, deep 'Da,'" muttered Charlie, now in a Russian accent that sounded more like those used in movies where the stereotypical Ruskie bad guy is not even portrayed by someone from Mother Russia.

The heir then began to speak in a somber tone and stared off to the side of Veruca's shoulder as he recalled the events, adding, "That red phone was the famed line between the White House and the Kremlin and the other person on the line was Russia's President Yugetoff. The Russians eavesdropped on our conversation and now they had the knowledge to build their own Great Glass Elevator, all the while, Crump just sat there and smirked."

"Yugetoff, he's such a great guy. So much stronger than our last so-called president, O-po-lo," Charlie yapped, sounding out every syllable in the name of Crump's predecessor while mimicking his odd speech pattern, "You know, he was not even born in this country, believe me!"

While Charlie thought he was being endearing with his impersonation attempt, Veruca just looked at him from across the table with an annoyed look on her face, instantly making him regret doing his impression of the American president in public. Charlie then shifted back to his regular mode of speaking, not because he thought he was being too mean, but because he knew he was not doing it convincingly enough, and therefore explained, "I am sorry, I can't do a good Crump impersonation. But you know who can, though? Mr. Wonka, and a pretty good one at that, believe it or not."