As Sweet As Chocolate

The Contest

The next morning, I woke up early to get ready for work and take Charlie to school. I put on a clean apron dress outfit that I made myself after my mother, Grandma Josephine, and Grandma Georgia taught me how to make one. After that, I put on my winter jacket and I climbed down the ladder. When I got to the bottom, I wrapped my knitted scarf around my neck and I looked up and saw Charlie climbing down the ladder.

When he finally reached the ground, he grabbed his jacket and his scarf and he put them on. "You ready?" I whispered, trying not to wake up mother and our grandparents. Charlie nodded. Then, I opened the door, slowly and quietly, and we both headed out.

As we were walking away from our house, we noticed a crowd of people looking at something on the nearby telephone pole. "What's going on, Em?" Charlie asked. "I don't know, Charlie. Let's go see." I said, as we walked towards the crowd.

After squeezing through people, Charlie and I saw what was on the telephone pole. A poster from the one and only, Willy Wonka. It reads:

"Dear people of the world, I, Willy Wonka, have decided to allow five children to visit my factory this year. In addition, one of these children shall receive a special prize beyond anything you could ever imagine."

I couldn't believe my eyes. Willy Wonka is finally opening his factory. It's unbelievable. Unfortunately, it also read that he's only allowing five children into the factory when the lucky five finds a golden ticket that are hidden underneath Wonka chocolate bars. It's disappointing, but I knew I shouldn't lose hope for both me and Charlie.

After reading the poster, I looked at a nearby street clock and there was only five minutes before my shift started. I walked out of the crowd with Charlie and looked at him. "Charlie, I only have five minutes before my shift starts and I can't be late. Do you think you could-" I started to ask, but Charlie cut me off. "That's fine, Em. I can walk to school." He said. "Are you sure?" I asked, to double check. "Of course, sis. I don't want you to be late for work." Charlie said.

I put my hand on his shoulder and said, while smiling, "Thank you so much, Charlie. I'll walk home with you later." "Okay, Em. Bye." Charlie said, and, then, he walked off to school. "Bye, Charlie." I said, while waving, and, then, I headed to the candy store.

When I got to the candy store, I unlocked the door, since I was in charge of opening the store today while Ron was coming in later, and I walked inside and turned on the lights. I walked behind the cashier counter, hung my jacket and scarf on the coat hanger, and I put on my black waist apron.

After that, I went to the back room and started putting candy on the shelves. Then, after I was done, I stood behind the cashier counter, turned on the radio, and I waited for customers.

Ten minutes went by and not a single customer came in. I was surprised because after people saw the poster on the telephone pole, they should've came into the store already to buy Wonka bars and possibly find a golden ticket inside it. I was bummed, but at the same time, I was glad that there wasn't a crowd of people to deal with so early in the morning. But that'll change later on.

Since I was starting to get a bit bored, I grabbed a newspaper near the entrance and I leaned on the counter as I started reading it. While I was reading, a song that I heard from the radio earlier came to my head. Without thinking, I started singing part of the song, quietly.

Come with me

And you'll be

In a world of pure imagination

Take a look

And you'll see

Into your imagination