Disclaimer – I don't own any of it, except the habit of popping my knuckles!
Willy Wonka hated when people popped their knuckles. It was one of the things that he couldn't stand, one of the things that drove him crazy.
Unfortunately for him, Charlie had the habit of popping his knuckles.
He would do it when he thinking about something, he would do it while he was writing, he would do it before he was about to use his hands, he would do it all the time.
So, Charlie was driving Willy Wonka crazy.
Willy asked Charlie to stop, but because Charlie did it all the time, he hardly noticed that he was doing it anymore. Charlie explained that when his knuckles hurt, he would pop them and he would feel better. It did not make Willy feel better.
Willy was slowly going insane, and his new candy was suffering from it! Every time he thought he was about to make a breakthrough with a new candy idea, he would hear it in the background.
POP POP POP POP!
Willy started loosing sleep. He was starting to hear the noise in his dreams. Finally, he had an idea! He stayed up all night while Charlie was asleep to create the answer to his problems!
The next day, when Charlie came into the Inventing Room, Willy shoved a new candy into his hands.
"Here, try this!" Willy exclaimed excitedly.
His mentor having never let him down before, Charlie tried the candy, no questions asked. He waited for something to happen, some explosion, some color change, some extra body parts, anything! But nothing happened.
"I guess it didn't work," Charlie said. Willy still seemed excited, but turned to one of the other projects.
As Charlie began setting up his workstation, he went to pop his knuckles before starting. But something was different. That satisfying sound that usually accompanied his relief was missing!
"It worked! It worked! YES!!" cried Wonka, doing a little dance.
Charlie just looked at Willy in confusion.
"The candy! I just invented it! It removed that awful sound of you popping your knuckles. I'll be able to sleep again!" Willy explained, still dancing around.
Charlie just looked at his mentor, still a little confused. He was never going to understand Willy Wonka.