Chapter 1: A Humble Beginning

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the long awaited follow-up to the well-known "What Could Have Been"! This is a novelization of the Scott Frank script before Tim Burton and John August came on board, and is dated April 30, 2001. I must thank Turrislucidus for bringing this script to my attention! Like the last story, some more coarse language (but not all, which is why this is rated "T") will be toned down for a more Dahlesque feel. I hope that you'll enjoy it, everyone! :D

WORLD WIDE GLOBAL NEWS, PRESENTING "WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, WILLY WONKA?"

It was a freezing winter day, and several young boys could be seen running on snowy ground.

His early years were sad and lonely," an announcer said via a voice-over. "Abandoned at birth, Willy Wonka spent his childhood in an orphanage with few of the amusements and comforts other children had."

The scene on the presentation switched to a video of Willy Wonka when he was eight-years-old, and he was sitting by himself.

"His only joy," the announcer continued, "was the occasional chocolate Sister Emanuensa would give to him on his birthday."

A pretty young nun was shown, and she pulled a tiny chocolate kiss from the sleeve of her habit and sat down next to him. The presentation stopped in young Wonka's eyes as he stared straight at the camera.

"He didn't speak much," Sister Emanuensa said over the footage of her and Wonka spending time together. "And I always wondered what he was thinking. The only way to get him to smile at all was with sweets."

"Yes," the announcer agreed. "Willy Wonka has always been a mysterious character."

The camera shot in the presentation suddenly changed to Mr. Wonka, his face blurred as he was washing a candy store from the inside, which had the name "WONKA" stenciled on the glass.

"From his humble beginnings at this tiny candy store in Deluth," the announcer said during his voice-over, "his chocolate creations dazzled the imagination…"

The shot in the presentation changed again, and it showed Mr. Wonka behind a glass counter as he was showing his various creations to a crowd of children.

"These marshmallows taste like violets," Mr. Wonka explained, "and these caramels change colors every ten seconds as you suck them, and over here, these little feathery sweets melt away the minute you put them between your lips."

The children eagerly pressed their faces against the glass, and Mr. Wonka continued.

"These candy balloons blow up to enormous sizes before you pop them with a pin and gobble them up," Mr. Wonka continued, then he held up a tiny blue bird's egg with black spots.

"Put one of those in your mouth," said Mr. Wonka, "and it gradually gets smaller and smaller until suddenly there is nothing left except a tiny little pink sugary baby bird sitting on the tip of your tongue."

"How do you do it?" a child asked, amazed.

"It's a secret," smiled Mr. Wonka through the glass.

Now the scene on the presentation changed once again, this time showing a line of children waiting to get it.

"But what is it about Wonka's chocolate that makes it so special?" the announcer asked, and the news presentation showed a series of shots of different children.

"It makes you feel…happy," one child said.

"Like you can do anything," said another child. "And I mean anything."

"Gives you more than energy," said a third child. "It gives you..." and here he paused and inhaled deeply. "Verve."

"No, no, it's the quality…" said a grown-up seriously, then he smiled. "And the fact that it makes you feel so darn good…"

Again the presentation showed a different location. This time, it was a warehouse where Wonka trucks were being loaded.

"Within a few short years," the announcer continued with his story, "Wonka was making five hundred different varieties of chocolates and shipping them to the four comers of the world…"

Here the presentation showed Wonka's chocolates in stores, showing different kinds of them.

"Each week brought a new invention," said the announcer. "Like this ice cream that never melts…"

With that, the news channel showed children eating ice cream cones in the hot sun, turning them this way and that, but the ice cream refused to drip.

"Or this bubble gum that doesn't lose its taste…"

The news channel showed a group of children blowing bubbles.

And now we see a group of kids all blowing bubbles. With a flash from a camera, the screen now showed…

"Yes, people everywhere have always demanded Wonka chocolates..."

…shots of children eating Wonka Bars under the Eiffel Tower, and outside the pyramids, and inside an igloo….

"And then there was Prince Pondicherry of Alsniffistahn…"

Shaky footage of a small, dark man in royal robes appeared on the screen. He was standing beside Mr. Wonka, who was wearing a top hat and coat. Prince Pondicherry gave a quick wave to the camera, then turned and gestured to the giant sand dunes behind him.

"The Prince commissioned Wonka to build a giant palace made entirely out of chocolate…"

Footage showed Mr. Wonka working with blueprints, bulldozers, cranes, and giant blocks of chocolate...

"When completed, the structure had one-hundred rooms and was made entirely of either light or dark chocolate…"

Mr. Wonka was now seen facing the camera, and the glare from the sun was washing out his face as he was speaking.

"The bricks are chocolate," Mr. Wonka explained, "the mortar holding them together is chocolate, the windows are chocolate…"

As Mr. Wonka continued speaking, the news program showed various parts of the palace, all of it made out of the finest chocolate.

"...and all the walls and all of the ceilings are made of chocolate," the chocolatier was saying. "So are the carpets and the pictures and the furniture and the beds. And when you turn on the taps in the bathroom, hot chocolate comes pouring out."

As Global News showed footage of Prince Pondicherry shaking Mr. Wonka's hand in front of the completed palace, the chocolatier gestured towards the palace and began saying something to the excited Prince.

"Once completed," the announcer said, "Wonka warned Pondicherry that the place wouldn't last long and that he and his family should commence eating it right away. But Pondicherry didn't heed Wonka's warning…"

"Nonsense!" Prince Pondicherry beamed. "I'm not even going to nibble a staircase or lick the walls. I'm going to live in it!"

The news footage then changed to show the palace, all of it melted and Prince Pondicherry gagging and sputtering in the midst of a huge sticky brown lake of chocolate…

"The palace, while a great wonder unto itself, would not be Wonka's greatest accomplishment," said the announcer. "No, Wonka's greatest accomplishment, his most magnificent achievement, would have to be his chocolate factory."

Author's Note: Well, what did you think? As there's no equivalent to this in the book or any other adaption, this scene needs to be judged as its own thing. Personally, I really liked it. The only changes I made was changing the grown-up saying "damn good" to "darn good," and adding a few "and"s here and there to make the script more reader friendly. Other than that, it's exactly the same. I hope that you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for the next chapter, everyone!

Until then,

Gabe s. :)