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Good-bye Georgina
When Mr Wonka had finished reading the recipe, he carefully folded the paper
and put it back into his pocket. 'A very,
very
complicated mixture,' he said. 'So
can you wonder it took me so long to get it just right?' He held the bottle up high
and gave it a little shake and the pills rattled loudly inside it, like glass beads.
'Now, sir,' he said, offering the bottle first to Grandpa George. 'Will you take one
pill or two?'
'Will you solemnly swear,' said Grandpa George, 'that it will do what you say it
will and nothing else?'
Mr Wonka placed his free hand on his heart. 'I swear it,' he said.
Charlie edged forward. Grandpa Joe came with him. The two of them always
stayed close together. 'Please excuse me for asking,' Charlie said, 'but are you
really absolutely sure you've got it
quite right
?'
'Whatever makes you ask a funny question like that?' said Mr Wonka.
'I was thinking of the gum you gave to Violet Beauregarde,' Charlie said.
'So
that's
what's bothering you!' cried Mr Wonka. 'But don't you understand, my
dear boy, that I never did give that gum to Violet? She snatched it without
permission. And I shouted, "Stop! Don't! Spit it out!" But the silly girl took no
notice of me. Now Wonka-Vite is altogether different. I am
offering
these pills to
your grandparents. I am
recommending
them. And when taken according to my
instructions, they are as safe as sugar-candy!'
'Of course they are!' cried Mr Bucket. 'What are you waiting for, all of you!' An
extraordinary change had come over Mr Bucket since he had entered the
Chocolate Room. Normally he was a pretty timid sort of person. A lifetime
devoted to screwing caps on to the tops of toothpaste tubes in a toothpaste
factory had turned him into a rather shy and quiet man. But the sight of the
marvellous Chocolate Factory had made his spirits soar. What is more, this
business of the pills seemed to have given him a terrific kick. 'Listen!' he cried,
going up to the edge of the bed. 'Mr Wonka's offering you a new life! Grab it
while you can!'
'It's a delicious sensation,' Mr Wonka said. 'And it's very quick. You lose a year a
second. Exactly one year falls away from you every second that goes by!' He
stepped forward and placed the bottle of pills gently in the middle of the bed. 'So
here you are, my dears,' he said. 'Help yourselves!'
'
Come on!
' cried all the Oompa-Loompas together.
'Come on, old friends, and do what's right!
Come make your lives as bright as bright!
Just take a dose of this delight!
This heavenly magic dynamite!
You can't go wrong, you must go right!
IT'S WILLY WONKA'S WONKA-VITE!'
This was too much for the old people in the bed. All three of them made a dive
for the bottle. Six scrawny hands shot out and started scrabbling to get hold of it.
Grandma Georgina got it. She gave a grunt of triumph and unscrewed the cap
and tipped all the little brilliant yellow pills on to the blanket on her lap. She
cupped her hands around them so the others couldn't reach out and snatch them.
'All right!' she shouted excitedly, counting them quickly. 'There's twelve pills
here! That's six for me and three each for you!'
'Hey! That's not fair!' shrilled Grandma Josephine. 'It's four for each of us!'
'Four each is right!' cried Grandpa George. 'Come on, Georgina! Hand over my
share!'
Mr Wonka shrugged his shoulders and turned his back on them. He hated
squabbles. He hated it when people got grabby and selfish. Let them fight it out
among themselves, he thought, and he walked away. He walked slowly down
toward the chocolate waterfall. It was an unhappy truth, he told himself, that
nearly all people in the world behave badly when there is something really big at
stake. Money is the thing they fight over most. But these pills were bigger than
money. They could do things for you no amount of money could ever do. They
were worth at least a million dollars a pill. He knew plenty of very rich men who
would gladly pay that much in order to become twenty years younger. He
reached the riverbank below the waterfall and he stood there gazing at the great
gush and splash of melted chocolate pouring down. He had hoped the noise of
the waterfall would drown the arguing voices of the old grandparents in the bed,
but it didn't. Even with his back to them, he still couldn't help hearing most of
what they were saying.
'I got them first!' Grandma Georgina was shouting. 'So they're mine to share out!'
'Oh no they're not!' shrilled Grandma Josephine. 'He didn't give them to you! He
gave them to all three of us!'
'I want my share and no one's going to stop me getting it!' yelled Grandpa
George. 'Come on, woman! Hand them over!'
Then came the voice of Grandpa Joe, cutting in sternly through the rabble. 'Stop
this at once!' he ordered. 'All three of you! You're behaving like savages!'
'You keep out of this, Joe, and mind your own business!' said Grandma
Josephine.
'Now you be careful, Josie,' Grandpa Joe went on. 'Four is too many for one
person anyway.'
'That's right,' Charlie said. '
Please
, Grandma, why don't you just take one or two
each like Mr Wonka said, and that'll leave some for Grandpa Joe and Mother and
Father.'
'Yes!' cried Mr Bucket. 'I'd love one!'
'Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful,' said Mrs Bucket, 'to be twenty years younger and
not have aching feet any more! Couldn't you spare just one for each of us,
Mother?'
'I'm afraid not,' said Grandma Georgina. 'These pills are specially reserved for us
three in the bed. Mr Wonka said so!'
'I want my share!' shouted Grandpa George. 'Come on, Georgina! Dish them
out!'
'Hey, let me go, you brute!' cried Grandma Georgina. 'You're hurting me! Ow! . .
. ALL RIGHT!
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