A Walk with Willy

A Walk with Willy

The dinner with the Buckets was, Anne hated to admit it, absolutely wonderful. Each and every minute of speaking with them was like talking to a family she had never really known. At times where she would usually fake a laugh, she found herself genuinely laughing.

“Do you want anything else to eat, dear?” Mrs. Bucket asked, holding out a plate to Anne.

“Oh no,” Anne groaned, putting her hand to her stomach. “I’m fine; thank you.”

“How about you, Willy?”

Willy held up his hand. “I told you; those Ding berries did no justice for me.”

Anne snorted into her drink, and the whole table began to laugh again.

Mr. Bucket ceased his laughing and looked at Anne. “You’re all situated in then, Anne? Everything is to your liking?”

“Everything is great! I absolutely love the room.” At the corner of her eye, she saw Willy grin.

“Great,” Mr. Bucket said. “I’m happy for that.”

Mrs. Bucket stood up from her spot. “Charlie, you’ll help me clean?”

Charlie stood up quickly and reached for Anne’s spot.

“Oh, that’s fine. I’d love to help, Mrs. Bucket,” Anne gently called to her.

Mrs. Bucket, now at the sink, called over her shoulder, “No need, darling. You and Mr. Wonka can go off and do whatever you were doing earlier today.”

Willy stood up. “Really, Mrs. Bucket, I’d love to help also.”

Mr. Bucket now held up his hand. “The hosting family does their own dishes,” he said sternly. He then smiled. “Go on. You’ll make it up to us later, Willy.”

Willy smiled and looked down at Anne. “Shall we?” he asked, pointing at the door.

Anne nodded and pushed the chairs out of the way to get to the front door. Making sure she said her gratitude and farewells to the grandparents, Anne stepped out of the Buckets house onto the edible, green grass.

“Well that was extraordinarily tasty!” Willy said, shutting the door behind them.

Anne smiled at him, and then her gaze shifted slightly down, feeling embarrassment. She wasn’t sure why she found herself blushing, but the note Willy gave her flashed through her mind.

“You don’t have to thank me, Anne.”

These words surprised her so much, Anne snapped her head up. Willy was staring at her with a slight half grin on his face. “Excuse me?” she asked quietly.

Willy sighed and slid his hands into his coat pockets. “There are three steps to embarrassment: the first is looking down in a shifted gaze; the second is either biting your lip or playing with your hands; the third is blushing.”

Anne dared not to look down, but she could feel her face flushing with red again. “I don’t think I’m embarrassed.”

Willy’s teeth dazzled with a huge smile. “I think you are,” he said quietly.

Anne kept her face still for a moment, but then a slight laugh came out. “Maybe I’m a little embarrassed.”

The two of them laughed together, while Anne tried to get over her moment. She shook out her hands and pushed her hair out of her face. “I just…I want you to know that your letter meant a lot to me.”

Willy stared at her.

Anne said, “And the ice helped a lot too.”

Willy smiled. “I’m glad.”

Both of them stood there awkwardly, waiting for the other to say something. Anne tried to find words to project, but so many different possibilities were running through her head, she found it tough to find one to say.

“Maybe I need to…” she blurted out.

“Why don’t we…?” Willy asked at the same time.

They both stopped and laughed nervously. Willy’s dark eyes bore into Anne’s. “Go ahead,” he said.

“No, you go.”

“I insist. It’s all you.”

Anne sighed. “All right,” she said quietly. She got the courage to look Willy in the face. “Maybe I need to learn more of the factory.”

Willy’s eyes widened.

“I mean,” Anne continued, “if we are ever going to make this stay enjoyable for me, I need to do something that will take up most of my time. I think learning more of the factory’s secrets will help with that.” She felt a stab of guilt as she said the words.

Willy grinned. “Well, you know how happy I’d be to do that for you, Anne. What would you like to know?” He stood there like he was asking a kindergarten class a question about the alphabet.

Anne had to smile. “Well…” She searched her mind for a question Patrick would love to hear her ask. “Where do your workers come from?”

“Oooo,” Willy said excitedly. “Good question. Shall we?” He pointed at the walkway.

“Sure!”

The two of them walked down onto the path of the edible room, Willy telling the story of his strange, but intriguing Oompa Loompas.

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“You drank from it?!”

Willy nodded his head with a slightly amused look, yet his mouth was in the shape of a frown.

“I can’t believe you drank from it!” Anne cried out, putting her hand to her head.

“I had to! For the good of my factory,” Willy said defensively.

“You drank caterpillar juice for the good of your chocolate factory?”

Willy laughed. “Well, of course!” he said in a high-pitched tone.

Anne stared at him. “You really would do anything for your factory, wouldn’t you?”

Willy answered, “Well…what else do I have to do in my life?”

Anne shrugged her shoulders and looked ahead at the chocolate waterfall. “Oh, I don’t know: do more hobbies, travel, get married, have children…?”

She looked at up Willy who was shaking his head and smiling. “None of that is for me.”

Anne felt her heart slightly sink. “Really?”

“Yes. I mean, really, how hard would it be to manage children in this type of atmosphere? I’d go crazy!” He began to laugh, and Anne had to hold back the words running through her head.

“Yes, but, then you wouldn’t have to worry about passing on all of your work to Charlie; it would just all go to your children.”

Again, Willy shook his head. “No…no…”

Anne smiled softly. “What? Tell me your reasoning, Mr. Wonka.”

Willy’s face turned slightly redder as he continued to talk. “It’s just…well…I don’t know. I have a reason for not creating my own little inventions…it’s just too complicated to explain to you.”

“What?” Anne persisted.

Willy looked away from her and up at the waterfall.

“Willy?...” Anne taunted.

Reluctantly, his eyes shifted towards her.

She smiled. “You know…there are three steps to embarrassment: the first is glancing down away from said person one is talking to; the second is playing with one’s hands; the third is the reddening of the face.”

When Anne stopped her imitation of Willy, she saw that he was laughing and shaking his head, still looking away from her. “Come on!” she persisted. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.” Mentally, she reminded herself to not forget any of his words.

Willy sighed. “It’s just that…” He stopped and looked down at himself.

“What?!”

“Look at me!” Willy blurted out. Anne stared at him. “It’s not like I’m the best-looking man in England! Every day whenever I used to walk around town, people used to stare at me like I was some loony TV star, like people you see on reality television. After hearing that, does that surprise you that I’ve never gotten married, or that I’ve never had any children? I mean, come on, Anne!”

Willy said all these words with a slightly dazed smile on his face, yet by the end of his rush, his face looked somber and hit with true realization.

Anne stood there, not knowing what to say. She looked at the paleness of his skin and the cupped bob of his hair and quickly looked away when she realized how obvious she was being.

“I never meant to…”

“You didn’t, silly.”

She looked back up at him, and he was smiling at her: a genuine smile. A smile that she never saw in any normal people. If this was what was considered a smile from a crazy person, she didn’t want one from any sane people. Willy was staring at her, like he knew what she was thinking. As he continued to grin, she didn’t look at his skin of doll-like hair; she looked at the softness of his eyes and the dimples of gayness from his smile.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

Slowly, Willy’s smile started to fade. “For what?”

“That you’ve never had anyone.”

Without pause, Willy smirked again. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Oh, that’s no problem! I’m fine with that now.”

They silently walked on, the spray of the chocolate waterfall hissing along their feet.

“I’ve never had one either,” Anne said tranquilly, staring at the frothy waves.

Willy turned to her. “What’d you say?”

“I said I’ve never had one,” she said louder. “I mean, yes, I’ve dated before, but none of them have ever loved me.” She laughed bitterly. “Who am I kidding? I never loved any of them either. I just tried to convince myself that I did. I used to spend mornings staring at them, thinking in my head, ‘Why are they here? Do I really love them?’ I used to do that each and every morning, and every time it resulted in the same thing.”

“What was that?” Willy asked interestedly.

“I packed their bags and made them move out.”

“Oh.”

Willy’s cane pushed against the candy necklace path, leading them back to the Buckets’ house.

“Willy?”

“Hmmm?”

“Do you eat candy every day?”

Willy nodded his head vigorously. “I have a piece of candy from at least 57 of my rooms.” When he saw that Anne was staring at him in shock, he shrugged his shoulders. “What?”

“’57 rooms?’”

Willy nodded.

“How do you not have any cavities?” she asked, staring at his pure white teeth.

Willy laughed. “A lot of dental work. You see, my father always told me that…” He suddenly broke off, and his face became stone expressionless. “Told me that…”

Anne eyed him. “Told you what…?”

Willy looked at her with hazed eyes. “Hmmm….? Oh…yes!” he exclaimed, getting out of his trance. “Well, you see, I brush my teeth four times a day and wear my blasted retainer that I hate so much!” He went off into a stream of laughter.

“And about your father…?”

“What about him? Anyway…!” Willy said, changing the subject. “Your canines aren’t so bad yourself!”

Immediately, Anne closed her mouth.

“No…really!” Willy said laughing. “They’re not one of the average square-box shaped teeth, yet they are very proportional to your lip size and the situation of your mouth on your face.”

“Um…thank you?”

“No problem! Now, if you could…open your mouth.”

“No, sir!” The two of them stopped walking, and Anne’s hands flew to her mouth as Willy reached to touch her lips.

“Really! I’ve learned how to study the teeth from an old friend. I’d really like to do this.”

“Then do it on someone else!” Anne cried, still covering her mouth. “I’m not letting you touch my teeth, Willy.”

“Oh, please, Anne. I know a lot about canines.” He tried to pry her hand off of her mouth, but she clamped on tightly.

In muffled tones, Anne let out streams of laughter and petty cries for help. Willy crouched over her, determined to look inside her mouth. “Get…off…me!” Anne yelled, her lips tightly together.

Willy simply laughed and tried to hold onto Anne’s arms so as to make her let go of her mouth.

Suddenly, a small cough came out of nowhere from behind them. Anne screamed bloody murder and let go of her lips. Willy also jumped, and the two of them turned around to see who had alarmed them both.

Their eyes went downcast and one of the Oompa Loompas was standing there, eyeing them with the slightest bit of suspicion in his eyes.

“Oh, hello there. You alarmed us!” Willy said breathlessly.

The Oompa made a strange snake-like movement with his right arm, and Willy nodded vigorously.

“I’ll be there a in a minute.”

The Oompa’s eyes fell on Anne, and she felt like his eyes were looking into her mind. She tried to shut off shameful thought, but he seemed to be x-raying her. Finally, he turned around and walked back down the candy path.

Willy laughed nervously. “Well, then. Sorry about that.”

Anne gave him a weak smile and then looked back down at the path. A bright pink chunk of candy necklace was facing up towards her, calling her name.

“What did he want?” Anne tried to ask casually, yet her voice slightly shook.

“Oh! He wanted me to go to Fudge Mountain with him immediately; there appeared to be an avalanche,” Willy said with a laugh. As soon as he stopped laughing, he began to tap his cane repeatedly against his shoe.

“That sounds pretty urgent,” Anne said.

Willy nodded. “Yes…” he said absentmindedly.

Anne stared at him for a moment. “Don’t you want…to…you know?” she stammered.

Willy’s expression was blank. “What?”

“Don’t you think you should go?”

Willy stared at her for a second, and then, as if a light bulb had went off in his brain, his face brightened with realization. “Oh, yes! I see what you mean.” He tweaked the top of his hat and pointed in the direction of where his Oompa Loompa had just walked away. “I better go, then!”

“All right.”

Willy went to cross back over the bridge, still tapping his cane like someone suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. Anne watched his retreating back, still feeling a little embarrassed from what had just happened.

Suddenly, Mr. Wonka stopped in his tracks and dramatically swung around. “Would you like to come with?” he called out to Anne.

“Hmmm?”

“I said, would you like to come with me to Fudge Mountain? It’s pretty exciting.”

“Oh,” Anne said taken aback. “No. You go ahead. We’d probably be back pretty late, and I had a rough day with my head and all.”

Willy absently waved his hand. “Don’t be silly; you’ll forget all about your head if you come with me.”

Anne still shook her head. “I have a lot of things to do.” And it was true. She needed to get all of today’s events on a sheet of paper before she forgot it all.

“Do it later!”

“Ummm…” Anne groaned.

Willy nodded his head excitedly. “You know you want tooooo,” he said tauntingly.

Anne stared at him. “I do, but…”

“No buts. Just come with me.”

Willy stared at her, with a leering smile on his face. Anne looked into the back of her mind and saw Patrick’s contradicting face glaring at her. She sighed at the thought of all the work she would have to do at the tree house. Her eyes fell on Willy’s face again and saw his dazzling, white teeth beaming at her. As if it were contagious, a smile spread across Anne’s face.

“Do I take that as a yes?”

Anne sighed. “Well…”

“Great!” Willy cried out. He approached her, holding out his hand for her to take. “You’ll love it! You’ll absolutely love it!”

She grabbed hold, and Willy was off. He almost sprinted over the bridge back towards the Buckets’ house. Anne’s arm was already beginning to ache.

“Fudge Mountain is one of my proudest achievements. It was one of the first rooms in the factory that I put together. It holds about thousands of tons of fudge. You can’t even see the tip of the mountain; that’s how big it is.”

They were now passing the small house, heading towards the main door of the edible room.

“It holds about every kind of fudge. My Oompa Loompas just love it. Whenever they need time to get away from work, they go on a little hike on the mountain. It also provides an unlimited supply of sugar to keep them going to the top of peak. It really is big!”

“Willy?!” Anne suddenly cried out.

Willy flew around, completely bewildered. Anne pointed down at her hand.

“Oops! Sorry!” Willy said, letting go of her hand.

In his excitement, Willy had squeezed Anne’s hand until it had turned a faint shade of purple. Anne brought it to her chest. “It’s okay. You don’t need to hold onto me anymore.”

“Of course! Well, we’ve reached our destination anyway.” Willy smiled at her. “Don’t bump your head again.” And then he laughed.

Anne looked ahead at what she had thought was bare grass, but she could see the faint outline of the glass elevator, waiting for its occupants to step inside.

“Well, go ahead,” Willy said, pointing through the doors.

Anne made sure to be cautious when climbing through, and then she squeezed into the small, exquisite elevator. The flashing buttons winked at her, making her feel petty and little. It didn’t help when Willy’s tall form entered the elevator, having to duck through the entrance.

“Let’s see…let’s see…” he muttered to himself, his fingers brushing gently against the buttons.

“How can you possibly remember where each room is?” Anne asked.

Willy just looked over his shoulder at her with a blank stare.

“Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have asked; continue.”

Willy turned back around to keep searching. “Oh!” he suddenly cried out. “Here it is!”

The button was pushed and the elevator shook. “Now, hold on,” Willy said cautiously.

The doors closed, and the elevator suddenly shot into the air. The gravity weighed on Anne, and she grabbed Willy’s arm to gain balance. “Oh my goodness!” she said breathlessly.

“You’ll get used to it,” Willy said, laughing.

Again, the elevator made a sharp turn causing Anne to continue her nervous gasps. She grasped on to Willy’s secure arm for dear life throughout the ride of her life.

Left, right, down, left, right…Anne soon lost count. The elevator was moving so fast, Anne only caught short glimpses of the rooms they were shooting through.

“Almost there.”

Anne soon realized she wasn’t scared anymore. Her breaths were coming easier, and her composure became as dormant as Willy’s. She began to enjoy the sharp turns and plummeting drops. Just as she was about to yell out an excited yelp, the elevator came to a slow stop in what looked like a completely white room.

“We’re heeere!” Willy cried out.

He stepped forward, and Anne suddenly realized why she had felt so safe. Willy had put his other hand on top of the one she had used to grasp his arm. When he stepped forward, the feeling of security suddenly left her, and her hand felt much less warm.

She stood in her spot, staring down at her vacant hand.

“Anne?”

Anne looked up and saw that Willy was staring at her. “Are…you okay?”

Anne stared at him for a second. “Oh yes!” she said, coming out of her trance. Her hand fell to her side. “I’m fine…really. Sorry about that.” She walked forward out of the elevator.

Right as she stepped into the new room, the inside of Willy’s hands was all she could see. “Willy!”

“Come on; I want it to be a surprise.”

“It’ll be a surprise without you covering my eyes.”

Willy snorted. “Don’t complain, Anne. Walk forward,” he said instructively.

Anne sighed and took a step forward, letting Willy guide her. She very slowly followed his orders, taking baby steps in the alien room. “Please be careful!” she said for the fourth time.

“Anne, just trust me! Geez!”

They took a couple more steps, and finally, Willy stopped. “Okay! Here we are!” He took his hands off her face. “Fudge Mountain!”

It was incredible! Anne was no longer in a chocolate factory but looking up at one of the most breath-taking mountains she had ever seen. She craned her neck to look at the top of the peak, and it was softly touching wispy clouds. There was no ceiling, only sky. She looked all over the mountain, taking in the brown chocolate color of it. Along the edges, Oompa Loompas were climbing it as if they were on a climbing adventure. Anne looked at the base of the mountain which was only a couple steps away. The fudge bits were shaped into large and smaller rocks, making the mountain look surreal.

“Do you like it?” Willy asked in an excited whisper.

Anne still stared ahead. “It’s unbelievable.”

He came up beside Anne and smiled at her. “It seems unbelievable,” he said, “until you actually go on it.”

Anne slowly turned her head towards him and saw that Willy was giving her a knowing look. She started to nervously laugh and shake her head. “No.” She looked back up at the peak. “I’m not going up there. There is no way that I’m going up there!”

“Why not?”

“Because! Look at it! I can’t even see the tip of the mountain. And…and…we don’t have any supplies or climbing ropes. How could we possibly be safe?”

“It’s made of fudge, Anne. I think we’ll be okay,” Willy said laughing.

Anne crossed her arms. “You go ahead. I’ll watch you safely from here.”

“I’m not going on that mountain by myself, Anne.”

“Yes, you are,” Anne said, nodding her head.

“Anne….” Willy said tauntingly.

“Willy…” Anne said mockingly.

They stared at each other for a second with grins playing at the corner of their lips. Willy’s dark eyes bore into hers, slightly twinkling like a child’s.

“What if I promise that you will be safe?” Willy asked, uncrossing his arms.

“Pardon?”

“I said, what if I promise that you will be safe? I have been up there plenty of times, and it is worth all the work to see the beautiful view.”

Anne looked back up at the peak and could feel the shadow of the mountain on her skin. “I don’t know,” she said slowly.

“I didn’t bring you here to wimp out.”

She snapped her head towards him. “I am not a wimp!”

Willy put his hand to his mouth. “Oooh, I seemed to have touched a soft spot in Miss Anne here.”

Anne’s mouth gaped open, but she wouldn’t let him see her upset. She turned back towards the mountain with her arms crossed.

Willy slowly walked towards her, circling her like she was his prey. “Am I sensing…chicken… in you?” he asked, bending towards her ears.

She remained silent, an angry smirk on her face.

Willy kept circling, beginning to make clucking noises. “Baaaawwkkk! Chicken! Chicken! Bawwwwk!” His arms began to flap and he was smiling down at Anne. “Chicken!”

“Fine!” Anne suddenly cried out. “I’ll do it!”

Willy dropped his arms with a satisfied grin. “Great! Let’s go!” he said, pointing towards the base of the mountain.

There you go! I don’t really know where this story is going, but I really appreciate all your reviews. You guys are sooo sweet! Keep reading! It’ll get better.