ρυяε sωεεт ιмαgιηαтιση

Willy's Childhood

When we stepped into the elevator, Willy pressed on a button that was labeled, Luminous Lollies. The elevator lurched into the designated direction, and Willy caught me before I could stumble.

I looked up at him and asked, "What'd you make the lollipops luminous for?"

He grinned at me and said, "So you can eat them in bed at night."

He leaned down to me and murmured, "I know how rebellious kids will want to be."

I giggled and said, "Really? How so?"

He smiled, but then it slowly faded, and he seemed to zone out.

"I was a bit rebellious myself," he whispers, staring at nothing.

"Willy, are you sure you are okay? These flashbacks you've been having since the Golden Ticket tour worry me," I said, taking his hand.

A smile tugged at his lips, and the elevator stopped, its glass doors opening freely. Willy pulled me out, leading me into a darkened room, ignoring my worried questions.

We stopped, and he said, "Watch your step."

He then took my other hand pulled me gently forward, his face illuminated by the elevator's light.

We continued forward for some time, and he pulled me close to him, whispering, "Watch this."

He then stepped away from me, and I was alone in the dark. Suddenly, a round, purplish shape began to glow brightly. Then a red one. A yellow one. Green. Blue. Orange. Pink.

The room was immediately lit up with the rainbow of colors from the rather large lollipops. I looked around and observed the sight in awe, completely captured by its simplistic beauty.

"This is absolutely beautiful..." I whispered to Willy.

I felt his hand take mine slowly, and he murmured, "I know."

I turned and faced him, asking with a smirk, "How were you inspired to make this, being you said you were rebellious as a child?"

He grinned softly, and then let go of me, sitting down on the floor, motioning me to sit next to him. I took my place beside him, and he sighed.

"You see, when I was a child, my father—being the city's most famous dentist—had forced upon me to wear this horrible, cage-like brace for my teeth. He wanted me to have the best teeth I can have. With that, sadly, he treated me rather more like a patient, which made me feel like a nuisance to him rather than his son," he says with a slightly bitter tone. He takes a deep breath and sighs with sorrow, continuing on.

"Well, being under the intensive dental care, he never let me eat anything that could damage my teeth, which included candy. Every Halloween, after I would go trick-or-treating, he would take my candy, pour it into a glass bowl, and then tell me how each piece of candy was terrible for my teeth. I remember exactly what he would say to me every year. 'Now, let's see what the damage is this year, shall we?' he'd say. 'Caramels. They'd get stuck in your braces, wouldn't they? Lollipops. Ought to be called cavities-on-a-stick. Then we have all this... All this... chocolate.' He told me about how he was reading in a very important medical journal that some children are allergic to chocolate. That it makes their noses itch.

"I had tried to convince him to let me have a piece, telling him I might not be allergic. My father then said, 'Really? But why take a chance?' He would then dump all of the candy I ever received into the fire, and I never got to taste the sweet candy all the kids my age enjoyed."

I studied him in the glow of the Luminous Lollies, sympathy filling me. He hadn't gotten much of a taste of sweets in his youth, just like I hadn't. He glanced at me and smiled wanly, returning his empty stare to the floor.