A Thin Line Between Gum and Chocolate

PAYBACK & PRESENTS

Later that night, Miss Vicky was back in her working space. However, Mr. Wonka could not get a single idea from her fed through the monitor. She appeared a few times at the machines only to check the dials. However, it was getting late and he was struggling to keep himself alert for the rest of the night. A few hours have passed and Mr. Wonka was asleep at his desk until he heard sounds coming from the monitors. He slowly woke up and overheard Miss Vicky utter something about super stretch taffies.

"Aha!" Mr. Wonka observed the monitor and found she was jotting down the ideas in her notebook. He muttered to himself. "I'll show you, Chunky Vicky. I could have thought of that ages ago." He was able to focus a particular hidden camera to where the book was positioned and saw clearly what she was writing. He copied the notes himself and leaped with glee as he ran out the door, heading to the taffy room.

Morning arrived and boxes of Wonka's Tremendous LaffyTaffy were being shipped immediately. It did not take very long for someone to hear how successful they have become in just one day. People were excited for Wonka's candies again and the days to follow proved just that. Every idea Miss Vicky came up with, Wonka was already manufacturing them before she was able to even start creating them. Miss Vicky thought of candy corn-on-the-cobb and Wonka manufactured sugar cane husks with candy corn growing from them. Miss Vicky thought of cotton candy that never melted or stuck to fingers and Wonka manufactured cotton candy balls that not only never melted or got sticky, they stayed fluffy until they were chewed.

One day, Miss Vicky was working on a gumball that had candy powder in the center. She picked up a green one and once she was going to create more colors, she heard voices outside her door. It was Willy Wonka, speaking as loudly as he could for her to hear. She opened the door slightly and found him talking animatedly to Charlie about trying his new gumball that had his own Nerds inside. Charlie blew the biggest bubble and once it was popped, Charlie looked at his mentor with amazement. Miss Vicky frowned at her own gumball creation and chucked it at the wall in disgust. Wonka knew what was going on inside his rival's room and grinned smugly. She finally found out what it is like to be a step behind.

For the days to come, Miss Vicky came up with many more ingenious ideas but Wonka remained to be first to release them. The pride he was feeling began to increase everyday and more of his creations were enhanced and re-released. He finally found success again without that Miss Vicky ruining it. Her frustration overcame her one day when she finally gave up on coming up with new ideas all together.

She continued making her gum with her old recipes. However, nothing innovative came out of those machines again. Her sales were steady but Wonka's were increasing rapidly again.

Finally, people started coming back for his chocolates. It was music to his ears when he heard on the news how the public has now livened up the spirit of the holidays with Wonka's candy once again.

Everyone's happiness filled the holiday air, all except Miss Vicky's. She had no contact with Mr. Wonka, Charlie, or the Buckets for days until Christmas Eve. Mr. Wonka went over to the Buckets' cottage, walking merrily across the chocolate room. He was overwhelmed with joy from his holiday sales. Mrs. Bucket set the table for a brilliant Christmas Eve feast but one seat remained empty at the end of supper.

She frowned and turned to Charlie and Mr. Wonka. "Have any of you boys seen Vicky for the past few days?" They both shook their heads.

Charlie frowned. "She's been locked up in her room. She wouldn't open the door when I came to see her."

"Poor dear. A Christmas without a family. It must be so lonely." Mrs. Bucket sighed and stood up to fetch a present from under their Christmas tree. She handed it out to Mr. Wonka. "Willy, would you kindly take this to her? Maybe this will cheer her up."