This choice: Scarlett, ignoring the warning, leaps in and grabs the gum. • Go Back...Chapter #4Scarlett, ignoring the warning, leaps in and gr... by: RasenRob   "A blueberry? Really Mr. Wonka? You surely are over exaggerating!" exclaimed Scarlette as a bemused look filled her face. The eccentric inventor had been inhaling the fumes from his many machines, which had somehow taken its toll on the poor man's face. "Are you sure you're not just making up another weird story?"
"I assure you m'aam I'm not," defended Wonka, "I would never joke or fabricate someone turning into a blueberry. It's just too weird to make up."
An annoying laugh escaped her throat that sounded a cross between a donkey and sorority girl drunk laugh. She looked around the room, searching for some backup from the other skeptical tour members. No one joined her, the embarrassment following the awkward situation brought her laughing fit to a premature end. "Mr. Wonka it's impossible for people to turn into fruit. After all, if it were possible , surely the medical world would have seen at least one instance. Your mind must be playing tricks on you."
"Oh my mind does play tricks on me, quite often in fact," he said with a child like smile at the though of the wacky sights that had filled his mind during the mad episodes. Some of his best work had originated from these "trippy" spells that had spurred the inventor to push the boundaries of known candy creations. "However, I know that the sights of little girls and oompa loompas expanding into a blueberry were surely real and not a figment of my reality."
"Uh huh," Scarlette said skeptically as she cocked an eyebrow up, one of her hidden and unattractive talents, as she showed her skepticism to the what appeared to be the mindless rants of a lunatic, who flashed another eerie grin at her. "Mr. Wonka is this just some odd way of saying their tongues turned blue, or they had bad blueberry breath, because I'm still just not buying that you're actually telling the truth."
Wonka's face filled with a sad and frustrated smile, how was he not getting through to this woman. What was hard to understand about the phrase, swelling into a blueberry. Was she stupid? Had he lied to her in the past to make her doubt him? Did the marvelous creations he had made not justify his ability to defy the impossible? He didn't know. "Umm, Ms. Beauregarde..."
"Mrs. Beauregarde," corrected the lovely blonde, whose patience was starting to wane.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Beauregarde, I assure you that I'm not quite certain how I'm confusing you?"
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Violet's mother cried out in shock. "How do you not understand how odd and unconvincing the phrase turning into a blueberry is?" She walked over to the machine and grabbed the strip of gum hanging from the exotic looking machine. "You are honestly telling me that this little piece of gum, this simple candy, has the side effect of making a person blow up iin to a blueberry? The notion of such an act happening is absurd because people don't swell into fruit. They might have an allergic reaction where they get puffy sure, but nobody I know has ever come close to changing into a blueberry." She spat at the last word as if his descriptive term was a tainted taste that had poisoned her tongue.
"Well as you discovered today... there are many things you haven't seen that exist. So surely that is proof enough that such a concept is not impossible."
"Making tricks and treats is one trick Wonka, and sculpting food into shapes is not something that hasn't been seen before, or do you not see the numerous television shows that focus on those artists."
"I don't really watch TV, it destroys the imagination and rots the mind!"
"Hey!" cried out Mike Teevee.
"See my point," said Wonka.
A few giggles escaped the other tourists, Veruca, Violet and Scarlette in particular as the three girls' feministic attitudes relished any quips thrown at the opposite sex. "Do you all really believe what this man is saying?" asked Scarlett with shock and surprise as she turned in a circle to look at the crowd. She held her arm straight out, the gum wedged between her thumb and index finger, as she looked for any aid in her argument. Many of the parents remained silent, most refusing to meet her eyes as they stared at the small stick in her hands, their eyes portraying fear at the sight of such a small and benign piece of candy. Apparently Wonka's story had breached their rationality, overriding it with ridiculous tales and ideas of an irrational punishment.
"Nobody hear agrees with me, with how stupid this sounds?"
"I do mother," said Violet, her little prodigy smiling with the confidence Scarlet had beaten into her daughter. Scarlett had worked hard to make sure Violet was succesful and surely she would be an elite member of society, crushing the competition in whatever endeavors she chose to pursue.
"Thank you honey, I knew I could count on you," she said with a smirk as she gazed back at her fellow tour members. "Unlike the rest of the cowards that seem to be in this group." Scarlett passed another glare at the audience before returning her attention to Wonka. "They're just too chicken to speak up , but the truth is Wonka, no one here believes in this blueberry mumbo jumbo."
"Heh, Heh, Heh... Mumbo Jumbo, that's funny."
"What is?" Scarlett asked with confusion.
"The word Mumbo Jumbo, it sounds funny... and really weird."
"Oh for lord's sake, have you been smoking something Mr. Wonka. Honestly first the stupid blueberry story and now you're laughing at a word. What's next, are we all going to magically lift off the ground and fly towards the ceiling?"
"Oh not at all, unless you tried my fizzy lifting drinks, they can make people lighter than air due to the constant carbonation, another side effect I haven't quite figured out yet."
"Oh for crying out loud," Scarlett yelled in frustration. This eccentric game of cat and mouse phrases was really getting on her nerves and it was no longer funny to her. "Mr. Wonka, I'm sick of your lying! Tell the truth, you just don't want to give up the gum, because of how expensive it is to make. This blueberry story is nothing but a scam!!!!!"
"I promise you I did not lie, those who chewed it really did...."
"Turn into blueberries," she rudely interrupted. "If that's true, then show me some proof. Where are these so called blueberry people?"
"Well I couldn't leave them that way. If i did they could have exploded, so we juiced them."
"Juiced them? With what another ingenious gum?"
"Oh no, we have a juicing room. It's state of the art and..."
"When will you stop lying you strange man?" asked Scarlett as she shook her head. An annoyed smirk crossed her lips, and she just stared at him with a look that was part pity and anger.
"I don't think he is lying," said Charlie Buckett, the quiet English boy who was forced to live in poverty conditions. Scarlett shot a look towards him, another annoyance filling her face at his audacity.
"Sorry little boy, but I don't believe in fairy tales." Scarlett squinted her eyes just enough to make herself look threatening.
"But it's not a fairy tale," assured Mr. Wonka who had finally reached his limits of the round and round discussion. "If you don't believe than by all means try it yourself."
The offer had surprised Scarlett, her theory about not wanting to waste the gum seemed to have gone out the window. Her eyes darted back towards the inventor and stared at him for a long time, an attempt to read through his deception. There was none though, at least none on his face, as he just smiled back at her with that innocent grin. What was he getting at? She looked at the gum strip and pondered the question once more. Was Wonka telling the truth? Did this gum really have the power to turn someone into a blueberry? It was frightening to her.
She passed another glance towards Wonka and looked at his creepy smile once more. No, no it had to be a lie, this was just another game to him, an attempt to show off his bravery and test her own courage to a challenge.
"What did you say?" she asked in an air-headed manner, a noble attempt to buy her some more time to think about the challenge.
"I said if you don't believe me try it yourself!"
Scarlett was still confused, but she tried not to show the uncertainty and fear she was feeling. An arrogant smile filled her face as she tried to face her challenger with the confident image she had prided herself in. Surely he was thinking she would back at now, but she was pushing this challenge to the limits, calling his bluff of the blueberry story. Yet his face didn't change, except to a little more uncertain as he wondered what she was going to do. His calmness was both bold and scary. A new fear welled up inside her and she wasn't certain as to what course she should take, nor what theory was true about the gum.
She stole a look at Violet, her daughter now looking at her wide eyed with admiration and wonder at the woman who was her mother. Flashbacks of all the lessons she had taught her daughter in training rushed back and she knew the words of Never back down from a challenge, always go for the gold and the win, were embedded in her offspring's mind. To go back on that saying, that teaching, would surely make her daughter lose respect for her mother. It was something she couldn't do, nor live with for the rest of her life.
Her faith restored, Scarlett's doubts melted away and her arrogant smile grew wider as she looked back at their tour guide.
"My dear woman, I wouldn't do that," warned Grandpa Joe, the old fool that was with the poor boy. The senile geezer was annoying her, "Why is that?"
"Because Mr. Wonka's kind soul would never lie or make up a story. I know from working with him!"
"Uh huh, whatever," she said as she looked back at the gum. She stared back at the gum and realized that it was now or never. What would she do? Scarlett   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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