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The Chocolate Room

"An important room, this. After all, it is a chocolate factory," Mr. Wonka remarked, facing us with an excited grin. We adults all had to bend over so we wouldn't hit our heads.

Mike testified, "Then why is the door so small?"

I rolled my eyes at the unimaginative child.

"That's to keep all the great big chocolaty flavour inside," Mr. Wonka said as if it was obvious, ending his fact with a light chuckle. He pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and before opening it, he looked at me and gave a mischievous smirk.

And he pushed open the door, walking inside. We quickly followed him in, onto a stone pathway. My heart must've skipped a beat at the sight of the room. It was fantastic...

"Now, do be careful, my dear children. Don't lose your heads. Don't get overexcited. Just keep very calm," Mr. Wonka said, half-sarcastic.

The room had luscious green grass, and there was a chocolate river and waterfall. Candy-cane stalks and candy-apple trees were planted along the meadow, with lollipop flowers and creamy mushrooms all around.

Charlie smiled brightly. "It's beautiful."

I looked at Charlie, and glanced at Mr. Wonka, who waited by the door as the rest of the winners passed him to see the room better. Mr. Wonka glanced at Charlie, again pulled from his thoughts.

"What? Oh, yeah," he said, looking at me. In a faraway voice he murmured, "It's very beautiful."

I swallowed nervously and looked away, trying to ignore the heat rising in my cheeks.

Mr. Wonka walked past us, a small smile plastered on his face in what looked like success, and continued to lead the others. We followed him across a candy grass bridge, and he began to inform us about the chocolate river.

"You see, every drop of the river, is hot, melted chocolate of the finest quality." He pointed up to the churning waterfall that leads into the river, used his hands to demonstrate the motions of the chocolate's texture, and described, "The waterfall is most important. Mixes the chocolate. Churns it up. Makes it light and frothy."

He then pointed a finger in the air knowledgeably, saying, "By the way... no other factory in the world, mixes it's chocolate by waterfall, my dear children. And you can take that to the bank."

He straightened his posture in pride, and turned around, continuing to the other side of the bridge. He gestured us to keep crossing, and looked up. I followed his gaze to see a large pipe traveling across the room.

He returned his gaze to us and called, "People!"

When we all were focused on the pipe, he again motioned his hands in the air to show us the chocolate's movements, explaining, "Those pipes... suck up the chocolate, and carry it away, all over the factory. Thousands of gallons an hour...Yeah!"

Mr. Wonka looked around, encouraging, "And do you like my meadow? Try some of my grass. Please have a blade. Please do. It's so delectable and so darn good-looking."

He motioned to the meadows with his cane. Charlie looked at him in exhilaration and asked, "You can eat the grass?"

Mr. Wonka smiled and laughed a light giggle, proving, "Of course you can. Everything in this room is edible. Even I'm edible. But that is called cannibalism, my dear children, and is, in fact frowned upon in most societies."

The way he pronounced "edible" was more like "eatable", which made me grin in amusement. He cocked his head to the side, a smile forming.

"Yeah..." he said thoughtfully. He motioned all of us to roam the chocolate room. "Enjoy. Go on. Scoot, scoot."

Everyone dispersed, except for Mr. Salt who gave Mr. Wonka an odd, suspicious look. Mr. Wonka stared at him with a steady, daring gaze, until Mr. Salt looked away.

I looked around the room, wondering where to even start in the wonderland of candies. The rest of the guests had already left to enjoy themselves. I decided to observe each family closely, noticing their terrible manners.

Mike was destroying a pumpkin that had a jelly-like filling inside. Mr. Teavee noticed and begged half-heartedly, "Son. Please."

Mike looked at his dad incredulously, and scoffed, "Dad, he said, 'enjoy'."

I rolled my eyes, and saw Augustus cramming his face with all the candy he can fit into that large mouth of his. I mentally gagged, not wanting to watch such a perturbing sight.

I glanced around to where my little brother Charlie was. Thank goodness he wasn't too far. Just around maybe twenty yards away.

He found a candy-apple tree, reaching for one of the red treats. Violet then raced up to the tree and plucked the very one that Charlie was going to grab.

Violet then stared at him snootily as she took out her gum, placing it behind her ear. I heard Charlie ask her curiously, "Why hold onto it? Why not just start a new piece?"

Violet replied rudely, "Because then I wouldn't be a champion. I'd be a loser, like you."

I mutter angrily to myself, "Despicable. Such a brat. Chewing gum isn't even all that great, to be honest."

"Finally, somebody gets it."

I jumped and spun around to see who spoke. Mr. Wonka stood there, both hands placed on his cane in front of him. "Hello."

"Hello," I said back. He walked up to my side, looking down at me. We both smiled slightly and returned our focus to watching the families.

"I remember you from the small candy store," he told me, his eyes on my little brother. I smirked.

"How could I forget? You left me with many questions, you did." I laughed lightly, and so did he.

"Aren't you Charlie's sister?" he asked me. I nodded.

"Yup. He wanted me to experience this, since... well, so I can have a bright memory," I said, trailing off into thought.

My breath hitched slightly, and I inhaled deeply. I needed to change the subject before I lost composure. I sighed and wove my hand to the masterpiece before me.

"It's really a beautiful room, this," I admitted, nodding to the room, taking in it's wonders.

"It certainly is..." he said, and I felt his eyes on me again as he said that. I slowly returned the gaze. He swallowed and took a small step away, embarrassed.

"Er, h-have you tried anything in here?" He gestured to the candies around me.

"I've been debating on whether I should, because it's simply too marvelous to eat!" I said with a laugh.

He grinned and said, "Here," reaching over my shoulder for a delicacy.

He was so close to me as he reached past me, that I could smell the candy-like aroma he had. Before he retreated from leaning over me, he looked into my eyes, studying me. I blushed under his observing gaze.

He then straightened and held a chocolate-covered treat, holding it up to me. I smiled and took it from him, my hand lingering on his for a moment. I never noticed before, but I saw that his mesmerizing eyes were a deep purple.

My goodness he was a bundle of surprises and mysteries, I thought, a little bit flustered. He looked at me with a sweet, soft smile tugging on his lips.

"Thank you, Mr. Wonka," I murmured. His smile widened a bit more.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Veruca's loud obnoxious voice, which jarred us both from our little moment. We both looked to where she pointed.

"Daddy, look over there. What is it? It's a little person. Over there, by the waterfall," she announced.

Mr. Wonka threw me one more caring glance, and returned to where the rest of the people gathered, gesturing me to follow.