Sorry for the wait guys.
Hopefully the Point-Of-View shifts in here are not too confusing, I tried to keep the narrative as smooth as possible.
Thanks to all the reviewers. I love all of you.
Chapter 16 – Wonkas Miscalculation
"Izzy!"
Charlie shouted in horror as Izzy jumped into the river.
He briefly thought about jumping in after her, but quickly shook off the idea. He held the lollipop tighter and widened his stance, determined to help pull her out when she needed him to.
He ignored the various cries of astonishment from the group. A large hand covered his and Charlie realised that Mr. Wonka was crouched next to him, steadying his arms, as the heavy lollipop dipped further into the chocolate.
"Hold still Charlie!" The cholocatier murmured, before kneeling next to the edge and gesturing wildly to the Oompa-Loompas on the other side of the river. He then flipped his cane around and stretched as far as he could, hoping the mad woman would have the sense to grab hold as soon as possible so he could pull her away from the boy.
This had not been part of his plan at all! What had that woman been thinking? He had expected agitation and concern from the adults, but he had never dreamed that anyone would actually take drastic action themselves and certainly not to this extent!
"Please help her Mr. Wonka." Charlie pleaded, as he watched Izzy try to push Augustus towards them. It was very clear that they were both in a lot of trouble. He hoped Mr. Wonka could help, but they were still too far away to grab onto the cane he was holding out.
"No! Izzy!" Charlie called out in pure fear as he watched her get pulled under so suddenly.
Willy suppressed a curse as he watched the pair disappear from view. The Oompa Loompas had been too slow in switching off the machinery after all. A bolt of fear flashed through him.
The suction was programmed to be extremely strong to minimize time spent without oxygen, but with two bodies of that size involved, they would never fit into the pipe at the same time. The possibility of drowning was very real. That was not part of his meticulously laid plans!
Wonka eyed the frantic Oompa Loompas across the river as they furiously worked at the console. What was taking them so long, he wondered. His gaze swept the area, mind working furiously to come up with a solution.
What he saw, calmed his nerves instantly and he silently heaved a huge sigh of relief. His loyal Oompa Loompas were already launching plan B. Everything would be alright, now all he had to do was comfort the distraught boy next to him.
Wonka was still on his knees at the river's edge, but reached up to gently hold Charlie's shoulder. Charlie threw the lollipop to the side and himself to the ground.
He was immediately wrapped in a one-armed hug. "Look Charlie." Mr. Wonka's steady, calm voice soothed the boys fear enough to look where the cane was pointing.
More Oompa-Loompas had appeared on the opposite shore.
The wheelbarrows and bags of powdered cream lay abandoned next to the waterfall as the workers instead began chattering frantically amongst themselves.
A small, elegant looking white and blue boat quickly emerged from somewhere off to the right and chugged slowly towards the area that had sucked Augustus and Isabelle down into the murky depths. As it was, the boat drifted in place as best it could, whilst the Oompa-Loompas on board began methodically dipping long poles into the river, searching for the two humans.
Under different circumstances, the boat would no doubt have appeared charming, enticing the viewer on a lovely voyage, not that Charlie cared on wit about that at the moment.
He watched helplessly as more Oompa-Loompas rushed onto the scene, hauling tiny boats downhill and pushing them into the river. They quickly threw themselves into those boats and swarmed across the surface, towing floating bags behind them.
There was still no sign of either Isabelle or Augustus. Charlie felt himself begin to panic in earnest. He unconsciously held on tightly to Wonkas jacket, twisting the fabric in his fingers.
As the pair watched, the giant tube lifted out of the river and swung to the side, dripping large blobs of melted chocolate as it rose high into the air. Charlie noticed two Oompa-Loompas standing at what appeared to be a control box as he could see wiring and blinking lights. He hadn't noticed any of that before, because everything had been cleverly hidden by fake rocks, which were now swung open wide, exposing many different buttons, dials and cables.
"They found her Charlie." Mr Wonka pointed with his cane, and Charlie saw Izzy being pulled out of the river and dragged onto the other bank. He almost cried with relief; he had been so scared she would never be found.
"Where is my Augustus! Augustus! Augustus!"
Charlie shrank back further into Mr. Wonka's arm, as Mrs. Gloop continued to shout. Why was she so loud?
"They are both perfectly safe." Mr Wonka stated as he stood up and faced Mrs. Gloop, one hand still resting on Charlie's shoulder. Charlie stood up too, but didn't stop staring at Izzy as she sat up shakily with the help of a fussing Oompa-Loompa.
'Is she really ok?' He wondered. Izzy waved and Charlie waved back with delight, a huge grin back on his face. He was so happy she was alive.
"Mein Liebling. He's ok, He is alright." Exclaimed Mrs. Gloop. She stood fanning herself as she started to shake uncontrollably and her legs gave out.
Mr. Salt and Mr. Teevee were close enough to automatically catch her and hold her before she crashed gracelessly onto the ground.
Charlie ignored them in favour of watching Izzy worriedly until she was led away by her rescuers. Mr Wonka stood vigil by his side until she disappeared from sight.
A small cough had both of them glancing down at a stern looking Oompa-Loompa, who handed Willy a note and a new cane, since the other was now covered in chocolate. The short, green-haired man gave Charlie a solemn nod. Charlie knelt down and shook the surprised little man's hand.
"Thank you for saving Izzy." He said. The look on the Oompa-Loompas face softened and he patted Charlies hand with a soft smile.
Another quick glance at the chocolatier, and the Oompa-Loompa grabbed hold of a dazed Mrs. Gloop and began leading her away from the others. Charlie started to follow them, but Mr. Wonka quickly stopped him by squeezing his shoulder and holding him in place.
Charlie looked up questioningly, but was ignored.
"Aufwiedersehn, Adieu, Gesundheit, Goodbye. Parting is such sweet sorrow." He called after the vanishing Mrs. Gloop.
"Now then, let's continue with our tour." Wonka clapped his hands together and spun around to face the rest of the group, who had been passively observing everything up until now.
Violet popped her gum, accidentally flicking her long brown hair into Verucas face. Mike was already bored and had wandered off, poking things with a broken candy cane. The adults didn't appear overly concerned with anything either and didn't offer any sympathy towards Charlie. They barely even spared the boy a glance.
The chocolatier herded Charlie back towards the group, then continued up the pathway and away from the waterfall.
They all followed in his wake with Charlie trailing uncertainly in last place. He glanced over his shoulder, but Mrs. Gloop and the Oompa-Loompa had already vanished. He sighed, and hurried to catch up with the others.
Mr. Wonka led them across a bridge and onto a beautiful little jetty that was covered with jellybean flowers in bright, happy colours. Charlie knew Izzy would have loved it.
As they approached, a large pink boat regally sailed out of a tunnel and rested against the jetty. Charlie noticed the front of the boat resembled a seahorse. It was really pretty, even though it was obnoxiously pink. Mr. Wonka proudly informed them it was hand carved from a boiled sweet.
As the boat docked, the team of Oompa-Loompas solemnly saluted them from their perch at the oars as one of them hopped ashore and secured the boat with a thick rope. Another burly Oompa-Loompa helped unfold a gangway so the humans could board safely.
The two of them then stood back and surveyed the crowd in front of them. Their boss was currently confusing them all by speaking in another one of the humans many languages.
Munza was the captain, and he lightly punched his brother Makana on the arm whilst discreetly pointing at the sad looking blonde kid standing forlornly off to the side.
All the Oompa-Loompas knew that this was Charlie Bucket, the boy their boss was so interested in. They could finally say they had met him in person and Munza sincerely hoped that Charlie would live up to expectation.
This wasn't the first time any of the Oompa-Loompas had ever seen the boy. The entire factory knew that this was the boy who would spend a considerable amount of time at the factory gates, seemingly staring into space.
The factory security team had circulated his picture amongst all of them, and his visits had been most welcome, especially when they realised that he came every day for years on end. It was touching to know that someone cared so much about the place, not just what it produced.
None of their other so-called fans were as dedicated as that boy.
Every resident Oompa Loompa that wasn't directly involved in Wonkas little tour was eagerly watching the live feed and all eyes were on the boy and the woman who was always by his side.
Whilst the security team had been carefully monitoring everything, Munza's team of sailors had been tending to the 'Wonkatania' polishing her yet again and impatiently waiting for their turn to show off.
Everything had been carefully planned until that woman, Isabelle, had decided to do the unexpected and jump into the river and ruin everything.
He remembered how much fun they had all had whilst preparing this particular trap for the German boy. It would have been his teams time to shine. A pity that their choreographed song and dance would no longer have an appreciative audience. He sighed, oh well.
Munza had nearly had a heart attack when the security team had alerted him of the unexpected turn of events. No one besides the greedy boy was supposed to end up in the river. After researching the various winners over the last few months, everyone had behaved exactly as expected, with the exception of Isabelle.
Munza decided he liked her the moment he had heard about her antics, but the captain was sure that his boss wasn't happy at all with the situation. Charlie would be upset at her disappearance, and he didn't want his future apprentice to be sad during the tour.
The pipe had been shut down as soon as possible as one wanted a full sized adult stuck anywhere in there, but the boy and woman still needed to be fished out and Munza had quickly sent out his rescue team.
He was exceedingly proud as he watched his team. They responded fast and didn't waste time with pranks during this rescue as they normally would whenever one of their own fell into the river.
The dainty blue and gold boat originally intended for this part of the tour had been swiftly re-purposed as a search-and-rescue craft, and Munza had scrambled to ready another team to launch the 'Seahorse' instead.
Unlike the 'Wonkatania' the 'Seahorse' was part of the working fleet usually used to dispatch various large cargo around the factory. It was never designed as an attractive pleasure boat to inspire visitors, however, the sheer size of it should still impress that ungrateful crowd, at least, Munza hoped it would.
The size of this boat would require a completely different route through the factory, but he trusted his boss wouldn't be too inconvenienced.
The Oompa-Loompas were nothing, if not adaptable to quickly changing circumstances, and arrangements were already being put in place to accommodate their bosses original tour plans as best they could. He was confident Wonka wouldn't be disappointed with the longer detour and would, in fact, use it to his advantage. He was, after all, a masterful showman.
Munza watched the antics of his boss as he entertained the group until Charlie had hopped aboard before helping his brother Makana fold away the gangplank.
As he boarded the boat himself and prepared to cast off, he took another long look at the visitors and supressed a grin. They had no idea what Wonka had in store for them.
The Oompa-Loompas glanced at each other as they rowed away and burst into a fit of giggles.