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Willy was beginning to panic. He and Lofty would not be able to handle Valentine’s Day at the shop without more help! But all Willy’s friends were engaged for the day. They’d all been by a day or two early as Willy wanted them to have his Valentine chocolates before the general public. As always, his friends could find no superlative was sufficient to describe Willy’s chocolates. But they all knew, if they were stranded on a desert island, Willy’s chocolates were the only thing they’d want with them!
But, alas, they could not be free to help Willy on Valentine’s Day. Dorothy and Noodle were busy with an event at the library. Lottie was committed to the telephone exchange all day. Piper had been shanghaied into checking pipes all day. Larry had two shows that day. Abacus had promised his wife and granddaughter he’d be with them in the country this year. They were all very sad they couldn’t help and wished Willy the best of luck. Willy thanked them anyway. Happy Valentine’s Day wishes were exchanged, then Willy’s friends left. What was he going to do?
*******
Willy and Lofty stared round the shop. As usual, when he was planning a big event, Willy had the doors and windows papered over. But inside, it was like a romantic wonderland. Roses, lots of chiffon hangings, comfy chairs and loveseats abounded. The chocolates were displayed on gold-trimmed white shelf units. There was soft lighting everywhere. And there was plenty of soft romantic music! It was beautiful. And the chocolates were some of his best ever.
The ‘Soft Rain’ chocolates gave one the feeling of walking in the park in the rain. And the ‘Evening Romance’ chocolates imparted the feeling of a candlelight dinner in an elegant hotel, overlooking the ocean. Willy didn’t forget the children either. His new ‘Dancing Hearts’ chocolates would make children feel as though they were skipping and dancing with cartoon heart characters through a Valentine land of sweets! He was so proud of all the chocolates he’d created. The factory had been running at full stretch and he and Lofty were exhausted. How were they going to cope on the day?
Then Lofty had an idea. He said he could try to contact his fellow Oompa Loompas. Ever since Lofty’s fellow Oompa Loompas had tried Willy’s chocolates, they’d fallen in love with them - like everyone else! And Willy and Lofty needed all the help they could get! And the Oompa Loompas would work for chocolate! The buzz in the town - and beyond, was that of overwhelming interest! Willy told Lofty to definitely try! Lofty put the word out…
*******
At the crack of dawn on Valentine’s Day, Willy was awakened by an almighty commotion at the back of the shop. Going to see what it was, Willy nearly fainted at the sight of dozens - if not, hundreds, of Oompa Loompas! He hollered for Lofty…
Lofty appeared at the back door and, immediately, took charge.
“Right! You lot help Wonka in the shop! And you lot, follow me!” The Oompa Loompas then split up. Some went with Willy to the shop and the majority went with Lofty to the factory.
A few moments later, Willy peeked out the front window of the shop and gasped! It looked as though every person on the planet was in front of the shop, waiting to get in! It was a veritable ocean of people. And right at the front were two or three teachers and about twenty or more schoolchildren!
“Goodness gracious!” Willy exclaimed. He turned to the Oompa Loompa next to him. “I think we’re going to need more supplies for the children’s area. Then I think we’d better open.” The Oompa Loompa nodded and ran off to get more supplies as requested. In the meantime, Willy shook his head. Yes, it looked like he just might sell a few chocolates today. He chuckled. He also realised he would only be letting people in, in small groups. And even with all the extra help, this day would be chaos! Willy couldn’t wait.
*******
Willy let the first group of people in, the school group and a few others. Everyone stood still and just gaped. There were chocolate cupids and chocolate hearts and chocolate love letters all dangling from the ceiling on Valentine-coloured ribbons - and all edible, except the ribbons. There were cream-coloured chiffon hangings covering the walls and chocolate roses on tables and shelves. Soft lighting was everywhere. Willy’s special Valentine-themed chocolates were on shelves and on the spacious centre table. All to the accompaniment of soft romantic music. It was another world. People struggled to take it all in.
After a few moments, Willy brought them back to earth, “Please, everyone, enjoy yourselves!” And so they did! At one point, after making their purchases, the schoolchildren were asked by their teachers to wait outside, while the teachers made a few ‘secret purchases’ themselves.
“There’s no need for that! Come with me, children!” Willy grinned. Then he led them to the children’s area he’d set up. Inside, there was rubber sheeting covering the floor and low shelves of multi-coloured coveralls. From the ceiling, dangled what Willy called, ‘Devil Cupids’ in coloured nappies that matched the coveralls. Willy explained the game…
The children were to each change into coveralls, an Oompa Loompa showing them where to change and where to safely store their clothes and shoes. The coveralls covered everything except the children’s hands and faces. Then they were told to find their matching cupids. The object of the game was a chocolate squirt fight! Each child had the same number of cupids. Willy showed them how to squirt chocolate out of the cupids’ arrows! He then left, after inviting them all to enjoy themselves! And they certainly did! Willy narrowly missed getting squirted as he left the area!
A little later, Willy and several Oompa Loompas were helping customers, when, suddenly, they heard screams coming from the other side of the room. Willy dashed over. It appeared that a few customers had been hit by flying chocolate! One poor woman got it right in her eyes! Willy immediately started apologising!
“I am SO sorry! Please forgive me! The children are enjoying a chocolate squirt fight and I knew some shots might go AWOL, but I thought the barrier was high enough. Obviously not. Again, I am so sorry!”
The ‘chocolate attack’ victims just laughed and took out their handkerchiefs and cleaned themselves off. A visit to Wonka’s was always guaranteed to be memorable!
But at the next ‘adults only’ group of customers, the Oompa Loompas - in addition to replacing supplies, made sure to raise the barrier even higher, before the next group of children arrived!
It was all worth it, when the group of happy, but chocolatey, children emerged from battle. They’d discovered paper bags in the pockets of their coveralls, allowing them to take their ‘empty’ Devil Cupids home. The first hour of business was a success.
*******
The morning progressed very favourably. People were delighted with their visits to Wonka’s. Willy and his ‘employees’ were rushed off their feet and, so far, loving it!
Just before noon, Willy got a wonderful surprise, when Abacus Crunch walked in! He’d been ordered by his wife to help Willy, but to make sure he was home before their granddaughter’s lessons were over, so the three of them could celebrate Valentine’s Day that evening. Willy was most grateful! Abacus took over the till.
*******
Nothing could have prepared Willy for the shock he got round about noon. Chief of Police Affable came back. He’d come earlier to buy his own chocolates. But this time he brought more help…
Affable asked Willy to come to the back door of the shop and give his temporary help their instructions. Willy arrived at the back door and uttered words no one ever thought Willy Wonka would *ever* say,
“Bloody Hell!” Standing in front of him, in their prison uniforms and in handcuffs and leg irons *and* with three prison guards each *and* wardens from each prison, stood Mrs Scrubitt, Bleacher, the ex-Chief of Police, Slugworth, Fickelgruber, and Prodnose! All on work release and ordered to work at Willy’s factory! NOTHING could have been more mortifying for the prisoners! Adding to the nightmare, they would also have Lofty and an army of Oompa Loompas watching their every move! No way were the prisoners trying anything! Affable would also be keeping an eye on them! Willy rang Lofty at the factory, then escaped back to the sales floor. Lofty came, uttered the most frightful language, rolled his eyes, sighed and led his new help and their minders to the factory.
*******
Willy was doing fantastic business, but, oh, was everyone getting worn out! Several times during the day, Affable had very kindly offered to take bags of sovereigns to the bank to deposit in Wonka’s account. All due to the never-ending stream of customers - and it was barely early afternoon! As soon as people left, others came in. No one got more than a ten minute break! Oompa Loompas from the factory would trade places with the ones in the shop every hour or so, to help out. It was chaos. Though nobody deliberately damaged anything, things got knocked over and the floor was covered with spilt chocolate and other items. All due to people jostling for Willy’s chocolates! The floor in the till area looked like a major disaster area!
So it was with great joy and appreciation, when Piper and Lottie walked in! They’d decided to spend their lunch hours helping Willy. They had no qualms about having chocolate for lunch! They just couldn’t leave Willy completely alone! Willy couldn’t have been more grateful! Piper and Lottie got right to work!
Then, a bit later, Larry walked in! He insisted on spending the time between shows helping Willy! Willy’s gratitude multiplied! And to polish things off, Dorothy rang, round about the time Abacus had to leave, saying she and Noodle would be able to help that evening! Willy’s gratitude multiplied again! He had the best friends anyone could ask for!
********
C.O.P. Affable also came to the shop occasionally to give updates on the factory goings on. Willy’s friends nearly passed out, hearing about the temporary ‘help’. Then they laughed. They thought it served the prisoners right!
When asked how the prisoners were doing, Affable replied, “They’re mad enough to chew neutronium, but behaving themselves.” He grinned, as did the others. Though they all had some sympathy for Lofty and the Oompa Loompas in the factory, having to put up with that lot!
********
The day was going from strength to strength and Willy was ecstatic! He was also exhausted, but he didn’t let that bother him. He was in such a happy mood, that he almost forgot just who was working at the factory! Earlier on, he’d got up the courage to check a few times. It was going all right, but it was too surreal! Lofty and Affable were doing just fine keeping things in order - along with the guards and wardens. Willy could more or less keep to the shop. And, of course, that was where all the children and his best friends were! He was feeling good. Until Arthur Slugworth happened…
*********
Things were not at all good for the prisoners. It was particularly hard on the ex-chief of police. He’d been deprived of his beloved chocolate since being incarcerated. And he’d lost a considerable amount of weight. Then being forced to work at Wonka’s factory around all that chocolate and not being allowed even one tiny little bit of it, he knew he’d go mad! Solitary confinement for his entire sentence would have been better!
The other horror the prisoners were subjected to, was that anytime any of them had to answer a call of nature, each compliment of guards had to go in with their respective prisoners! No one enjoyed that but, ‘rules is rules’. Mrs Scrubitt’s minders may have been female like her warden from the women’s prison, but that was little comfort when she coping with nature!
Slugworth had had enough! There had to be something he could do! Some little bit of revenge nonsense he could get away with. Then he thought of it! He would spit on the chocolates! It would happen so quickly, that his guards couldn’t stop him! He started to work his mouth up…
Slugworth’s guards hadn’t been born yesterday. One of them saw what Slugworth was about to do. Like lightning, the guard slammed Slugworth to the ground, with a strong forearm to Slugworth’s chest, narrowing missing, dumping him into the chocolate river! The spit Arthur had ‘prepared’, shot out of his mouth and came straight back down, right into his own face! His mind went in about fifty directions - none of them good!
Arthur was hauled to his feet. Lofty knew just where to put him. Slugworth would be put on laundry duty. He would have to wash all the children’s coveralls, till they were pristine and ready for the shop again. And the coveralls weren’t just drenched in chocolate. During the course of their chocolate fights, many children would laugh so hard, they’d wet themselves. The coveralls were a smelly mess! Arthur’s guards marched him off to the laundry. Scrubitt and Bleacher were laughing, till their guards gave them warning looks.
Fickelgruber was not amused. The last thing any of them needed, was for their guards to tell the rest of their prison inmates where the six had been! The prisoners would never hear the end of it! He picked up a jar of freshly made chocolates and prepared to throw it at Slugworth as he was hauled to the laundry! “Slugworth, you bastard!” He started to say, when the jar was plucked from his hand.
“Now. Now. None of that, my lad, or you’ll be joining him!” Fickelgruber looked daggers at both his guard and his former partner in crime, but he did shut up. Still furious, he went back to work. Prodnose, looking on, had been considering a few tricks, himself, but realised, it wasn’t worth it. Furious about their whole situation, but knowing it was pointless to try anything, he just kept working.
********
Back in the shop, even Willy was hoping the day would end soon! On the up side, sales were through the roof! He could retire on the takings from today alone! But on the down side, the crowd never stopped! As soon as one or two people left, the next two would come in! They were all exhausted! Whenever there was a change-over of Oompa Loompas, the factory group would also bring more products for the shop and fresh coveralls for the children’s area.
One of the biggest frustrations was that, when Willy was planning for Valentine’s Day, someone suggested he offer chocolate-covered strawberries! A great idea - on the surface. In reality, they turned out to be one of the biggest headaches! They sold like crazy. But people naturally wanted them fresh, so someone had to be constantly dipping them. Also, people kept mistaking them for samples! But when caught, they were very gracious about paying a sovereign for each one they’d eaten. Willy finally put up a sign saying, ‘NOT SAMPLES!’. It helped - a little.
********
Early evening, Dorothy and Noodle arrived, much to Willy’s relief! But on hearing just who was working at the factory, Dorothy shook her head, laughing. “Oh, I have *got* to see this!” Noodle giggled. They both took off for the factory.
“Hello, Arthur.” Slugworth looked up from doing his coveralls, gave a strangled cry and fell backwards into a tub of soaking coveralls. When he was pulled out by his guards, he noticed the two ladies he’d so cruelly wronged. They were a lot better off than he was now. The tables had *really* turned!
“You’re looking well.” Dorothy smiled. Noodle never said a word. She opted not to talk to Scrubitt and Bleacher at all. She just glared at all three of her former oppressors. Then mother and daughter left. Arthur’s mouth was still open as his niece and her mother walked away.
********
Back in the shop, Dorothy, more or less, took over. When she found out that Willy and Lofty had barely eaten or rested the whole day, she ordered both to go to Willy’s quarters and do both! She and Noodle and Affable could manage for an hour or so. When Willy and Lofty protested, Dorothy gave them a look. “GO!”. They went.
It was round about ten pm, when the crowd finally started to thin and almost midnight when the last patrons had gone. Willy hadn’t the heart to close, before everyone waiting had been helped. Then Willy, Lofty and the Oompa Loompas who were still there, pulled up the rubber sheeting in the children’s area and collapsed on the floor! They were all too tired to move.
Willy’s friends had been a godsend for helping out and Willy had given each one a heartfelt thank you! He couldn’t have managed without them! And he’d insisted they each take whatever chocolate they wanted. They said their own heartfelt thank yous, and offered to come the next day and help clean up. Willy told them that was sweet of them, but that he and Lofty would probably sleep the whole next day. The shop would be closed for two days to get everything sorted out. Willy’s friends wished him luck and told him to let them know, if he changed his mind about having extra help. He said he would and his friends left. Everyone still in the shop fell asleep for a couple of hours.
As for the factory, the prisoners were still cleaning up. They wouldn’t get to leave till the factory was perfectly spotless! All their minders would make sure of that! They were just about done, when Willy himself turned up.
Willy had decided that since he’d gifted all his other helpers chocolate for their hard work, it was only fair to do the same for the help from the prisons. Most of his helpers had loved being paid in chocolate. Chief of Police Affable had been very grateful. But the Oompa Loompas were ecstatic and had gone wild with their chocolates and were now on their way home to Loompaland. However, Willy’s generosity was met with mixed reactions from the prison contingent.
He’d given large carrier bags containing boxes of chocolates, to both wardens - for the guards and themselves. They were very grateful. Then Willy whispered to them that he’d put in a box for each of the six prisoners - to be given at the wardens’ discretion.
The fun started when both wardens decided that, yes, their respective prisoners deserved the chocolate. Five of the prisoners flat out refused! After the day they’d had, they never wanted to even hear the name, ‘Wonka’, ever again!
But one of their number started positively drooling at being offered chocolate! The ex-chief of police had no qualms, no scruples and no shame, when it came to chocolate! He was an addict and a chocoholic and he didn’t care one little bit! So when the other five told him, he was welcome to all six boxes, he almost started jumping for joy, right on the spot!
The deprived chocoholic didn’t waste any time, either! The prison contingent had barely piled in the van to go back to their respective prisons, when he started gobbling down chocolate - after giving each box multiple smooches! By the time they’d dropped off Mrs Scrubitt and her minders at the women’s prison, the ex-chief had polished off all six boxes! He spent the journey to the men’s prison, clutching the empty boxes and murmurring, ‘Oh, my babies! Daddy missed you *so* much!’. The other prisoners started to gag. For Fickelgruber, this was worse than someone screaming, ‘POOR!!’ all day long!
The torture didn’t stop for any of the six prisoners, even after they’d got back to prison! All six discovered that they’d been assigned laundry duty for the next week! Arthur was so upset, he had to be put on suicide watch!
*******
It was round about three am and Willy was alone in the shop. Lofty had gone to bed in his quarters in the factory. Willy was reflecting on the day, as he got ready for bed. It had been one of the most unbelievable days of his life! When it was good, it was very good! But when it was weird (it wasn’t ever really ‘bad’), it was very weird! Fortunately, the money that hadn’t been taken to the bank yet, fit into the safe. So he could take that money to the bank as soon as possible. He was just about to climb into bed with his Mamma bear, when he decided to check he’d locked the front doors to the shop. He had, thankfully!
He was looking out the window, marvelling at the empty square, when he saw her! His mamma was there, in the square - smiling and blowing him a kiss! Willy blew her a kiss back. He closed his eyes in gratitude. But when he looked up, she was gone! But, still, it was the best Valentine gift he could have ever asked for *and* the perfect end to an extraordinary day.