Mark was wandering down 5th street, a very busy street at any time of night ordinarily in the city, but for some odd occasion tonight seemed surprisingly vacant. Mark wasn’t worried however, being nearly 6ft 2 and nearly 180 pounds had its advantages. As he walked in the brisk night towards a bar he was to meet friends at, a sight gave him pause.
The towering spires and awe inspiring buttresses of the almost castle like WONKA factory. And though the building bred whimsy in the daytime it had taken on an almost sinister undertone in the night. Drawing his jacket closer to himself, he began to walk more purposefully until he noticed something quite odd.
A man was standing on the steps of the factory. This was not only out of place because it was the middle of the night and the man should surely have been home in bed but also because nobody had ever laid eyes on a worker at the WONKA factory except for old man Wonka himself. This gave Mark pause, and he forgot his earlier fears as trepidation gave way to curiosity. Mark smiled dumbly at the man, a bit eager to speak to the enigma, and the man began to walk over to him across the cobblestone plaza. As the man approached Mark could see he had wild hair and was wearing a lab coat, a bit of an eccentric but otherwise perfectly normal.
“Do you really work here?” Mark asked a bit nervous that the man had approached him.
“One of the very lucky few!” The odd man retorted, noting the spark of excitement on Mark’s face.
“What’s it like, working with Wonka I mean.” Mark asked. The funny man paused for a second, then his face seemed to light up.
“Tell you what…”
“Mark”
“Mark. Tell you what Mark, if you promise not to tell anybody, I can show you around! You seem like a nice young fella and we always keep our eyes out for talented individuals.” The man had extended a hand to Mark. His other hand up and counting down from five.
“Well I really was going to see some guys at-“
“Offer of a lifetime going once, going twice-“
“Okay, okay I’ll go, I’ll go.” Mark sighed, slightly stressed at the situation yet unable to say no to the almost hypnotic personality of the strange man. They walked towards the main gate and Mark told the man his name.
“Mark, excellent name. Look here’s what’ll happen, I’ll give you the brief tour as long as you promise to keep your hands to your side, and I’ll even top it off with a present if you stay good!” Cornelius had begun unlocking the gate while Mark stood by.
“Oh man, that’ll be cool I guess.” He nodded at the lab coated man, as the two of the walked through the gates up the steps and across the plaza into the factory.
The first chamber they came to was a huge hallway with giant industrial windows. Starlight poured through as they walked down the carpeted walkway and Cornelius took his time explaining the history and significance of this or that to Mark, who had simply smiled dumbly, still surprised he managed to gain access to this marvel.
Cornelius showed him the Candy Room, which true to form was a room made entirely out of candy. The Vanilla Fudge room, with its huge vistas of fudge cliffs, and the Fruit Room, which was a dense jungle of giant fruit. This repeated Ad Nauseum, with Cornelius showing Mark beautiful and awe inspiring rooms full of mind bending sights and Mark simply smiled politely or remarked about how cool it must be to work there. Cornelius had begun to pick up on the fact that Mark was not the brightest of boys. Yet he was tall, blonde, and hefty and he simply couldn’t resist the frat star. He would have to move quickly he thought, or even the dull bulb might pick up on what exactly was going to happen. Cornelius then opened the door to the final room on the tour.
