ρυяε sωεεт ιмαgιηαтιση

Preparation

My eyes fluttered open as I felt a stir of motion beneath my head. I looked up and saw Willy yawning, and smiling at me. "Morning, again."

I grinned and nestled my nose into his neck. He tensed for a moment, then relaxed with my action. I murmured tiredly, "Shh. Just... let me sleep some more."

He chuckled, the laughs reverberating in my ears. "You do realize I have a factory to run, right?"

"And you do realize—" I froze mid-sentence, tensing up with the sudden thought in my mind.

Wait.

Today's my birthday.

Willy looked at me, and propped himself up on his elbows slowly as I myself sat up.

"My..." I began. "It's my..."

I looked at Willy, who had worry traced over his face. He asked in an anxious tone. "Mary, what is it?"

I ran my hand through my hair, and exclaimed, "My gosh, how could I have forgotten my own birthday!"

I stood up and offered my hand to Willy. He took it and said, "Wha—it's your birthday today?"

I nodded. "I must've gotten distracted by all the excitement of these past two weeks."

I squeezed his hand and began to walk toward my house. He walked right next to me, entwining his fingers in mine with a little hesitation.

When I reached the other side of the bridge, I noticed that the snow falling earlier this morning wasn't snow at all. It was actually sugar, being shaken out over the home.

"Huh. That's really neat," I told Willy and he grinned in pride.

"I thought it'd feel a lot more like home if I had it snow, so I did," he said with a light laugh.

"How did you even get the house inside the factory in one piece without waking anyone up?" I asked him when we neared the front door.

"I got several of my Oompa-Loompas to come and literally take your whole house to the factory," he said simply. I shot him a look, knowing he was not telling me all of it.

"But how?" I pushed. He shook his head and put a finger to my lips.

"It's a secret," he murmured.

"Ugh, fine," I said, smiling. I opened the door and greeted, "Morning, Buckets!"

"Ah, Mary. You're awake," Mr. Bucket stated. "We were wondering where you've run off to."

I looked at Willy and told them, "O was just having a nice walk with Willy. He was telling me about how he got the house into the factory, right?"

He smirked and told them the same thing he told me. Nothing more was said about it to my disappointment. Well, it was worth a shot.

"Happy Birthday, Mary!" Charlie shouted as he raced down from his room and tackled me. I let go of Willy's hand to hug my brother tightly.

"Oh, thank you, Charlie!" I said with glee.

"Happy Birthday," Grandpa Joe congratulated me. Many more blessings came from my family, and I smiled at them, truly happy.

Mrs. Bucket came up to me and gave me a hug. She whispered apologetically, "I'm sorry we couldn't get you anything, dear."

I pushed her away gently and looked at her with reassurance. "It's okay. I have everything I could ever want."

I smiled at them, and then at Willy.
He smiled back softly, and then said, "I have to, um... go. I have to, uh, y'know. Run the factory. Come on, Charlie!"

I raised my eyebrow in skepticism at his nervousness, then shook my head. Mrs. Bucket then asked me, "How about a lovely feast? Would you like that?"

"That sounds fantastic!" I cheered. Walking to the kitchen, I offered, "Let me help."

"All right, dear," she said, and we began cooking up tonight's feast.

<><><><><>

The turkey was broiling, the mashed potatoes were ready, and the vegetables were steamed. I yawned with exhaustion, being that I was entirely focused on making the feast just right.

Mrs. Bucket chuckled at me, and said, "Go take a rest, Mary. Thank you for helping."

"But I'm not tired," I said, yawning again in the process.

"Clearly," Mr. Bucket stated sarcastically with a chuckle.

"Fine, I'll go sleep," I complained as I plopped onto the couch.

I heard my parents laugh a little, and Mr. Bucket stating, "Still as childlike as she was twenty-two years ago."

With that, I fell asleep, curled up and smiling with contentment.

<><><><><>

I woke up to a soft tapping on my shoulder. I took a deep breath and looked over my shoulder. "Wh—"

"Shh," Willy whispered in my ear, giving me a shiver. "Take my hand; I want to show you something."

I sat up and looked at him. The grandparents were resting, and Mrs. Bucket was stirring some tomato soup for this evening's dinner.

He led me out the door, resting his hand on my back. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" I asked him. He only smiled mischievously and kept guiding me over the grass bridge, across the river.

We went to the riverside, and a smaller kind of boat came rowing along. A paddle-boat with a nice canopy over it, paddled by four Oompa-Loompas dressed in royal blue, and one Oompa-Loompa turning a golden ship wheel in the front. The boat had an old-fashioned color scheme of red, blue, creme, and gold, the paddle a bright cherry-red.

I smiled and gently patted my hand on his chest, growing excited. I wondered with an eager grin, "What's this all about?"

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Happy Birthday."

His breath sent another shiver down my spine. And, strangely, I quite enjoyed that odd feeling.

When the Oompa-Loompas stopped the paddle boat in front of us, Willy stepped onto the boat, turning around and placing his hands on my waist.

I gasped, and placed my hands on his shoulders as he lifted me over. I blushed as he pulled me to a seat, sitting next to me, shoulder to shoulder.

With the flick of a hand towards the Oompa-Loompas, the boat began to row onward. I asked him, "This won't be like the last boat ride I went on, right?"

"Heavens no. It's your day today, and you deserve to be comfortable." He shook his head with pursed lips. He then smiled at me and laughed a single delighted laugh. "Besides, the Wonkatania is not sturdy for such excitement."

"The Wonkatania?" I giggled. He flashed a grin and nodded.

"Okay, I'll ride on it. Promise it's calm?" I checked, wanting to make sure he wasn't juking me or something.

"Why don't you believe me?" he asked, his brow creasing with a bit of mock hurt. He then grinned goofily when I began to fluster.

"I-I do believe you, I just—"

"I like your fluster. It's so weirdly you," he said, and I remember, from this morning, his list of likes about me. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

I noticed that we began to enter a darkened tunnel. I was a little nervous, but knowing that Willy seemed genuine about my comfort, I didn't worry too much. But I still wondered what he was up to. What did Willy have planned for me?