Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

by Roald Dahl

  'It's changing shape!' cried Charlie. 'That nearest one! What's it going to do? It's getting longer and longer!' And indeed it was. The mammoth egg-shaped body was slowly stretching itself out like chewing-gum, becoming longer and longer and thinner and thinner, until in the end it looked exactly like a long slimy-green serpent as thick as a thick tree and as long as a football pitch. At the front end were the eyes, big and white with red centres, at the back a kind of tapering tail and at the very end of the tail was the enormous round swollen bump it had got when it crashed against the glass.

  The people floating inside the Elevator watched and waited. Then they saw the long rope-like Knid turning and coming straight but quite slowly toward the Great Glass Elevator. Now it began actually wrapping its ropy body around the Elevator itself. Once around it went... then twice around, and very horrifying it was to be inside and to see the soft green body squishing against the outside of the glass no more than a few inches away.

  'It's tying us up like a parcel!' yelled Grandma Josephine.

  'Bunkum!' said Mr Wonka.

  'It's going to crush us in its coils!' wailed Grandma Georgina.

  'Never!' said Mr Wonka.

  Charlie glanced quickly back at the Transport Capsule. The sheet-white faces of Shuckworth, Shanks and Showier were pressed against the glass of the little windows, terror-struck, stupefied, stunned, their mouths open, their expressions frozen like fish fingers. Once again, Charlie gave them the thumbs-up signal. Showier acknowledged it with a sickly grin, but that was all.

  'Oh, oh, oh!' screamed Grandma Josephine. 'Get that beastly squishy thing away from here!'

  Having curled its body twice around the Elevator, the Knid now proceeded to tie a knot with its two ends, a good strong knot, left over right, then right over left. When it had pulled the knot tight, there remained about five yards of one end hanging loose. This was the end with the eyes on it. But it didn't hang loose for long. It quickly curled itself into the shape of a huge hook and the hook stuck straight out sideways from the Elevator as though waiting for something else to hook itself on to it.

  While all this was going on, nobody had noticed what the other Knids were up to. 'Mr Wonka!' Charlie cried. 'Look at the others! What are they doing?'

  What indeed?

  These, too, had all changed shape and had become longer, but not nearly so long or so thin as the first one. Each of them had turned itself into a kind of thick rod and the rod was curled around at both ends - at the tail end and at the head end - so that it made a double-ended hook. And now all the hooks were linking up into one long chain... one thousand Knids... all joining together and curving around in the sky to make a chain of Knids half a mile long or more! And the Knid at the very front of the chain (whose front hook was not, of course, hooked up to anything) was leading them in a wide circle and sweeping in toward the Great Glass Elevator.

  'Hey!' shouted Grandpa Joe. 'They're going to hook up with this brute who's tied himself around us!'

  'And tow us away!' cried Charlie.

  'To the planet Vermes,' gasped Grandma Josephine. 'Eighteen thousand four hundred and twenty-seven million miles from here!'

  'They can't do that!' cried Mr Wonka. 'We're doing the towing around here!'

  'They're going to link up, Mr Wonka!' Charlie said. 'They really are! Can't we stop them? They're going to tow us away and they're going to tow the people we're towing away as well!'

  'Do something, you old fool!' shrieked Grandma Georgina. 'Don't just float about looking at them!'

  'I must admit,' said Mr Wonka, 'that for the first time in my life I find myself at a bit of a loss.'

  They all stared in horror through the glass at the long chain of Vermicious Knids. The leader of the chain was coming closer and closer. The hook, with two big angry eyes on it, was out and ready. In thirty seconds it would link up with the hook of the Knid wrapped around the Elevator.

  'I want to go home!' wailed Grandma Josephine. 'Why can't we all go home?'

  'Great thundering tomcats!' cried Mr Wonka. 'Home is right! What on earth am I thinking of! Come on, Charlie! Quick! Re-entry! You take the yellow button! Press it for all you're worth! I'll handle this lot!' Charlie and Mr Wonka literally flew to the buttons. 'Hold your hats!' shouted Mr Wonka. 'Grab your gizzards! We're going down!'

  Rockets started firing out of the Elevator from all sides. It tilted and gave a sickening lurch and then plunged downward into the Earth's atmosphere at a simply colossal speed. 'Retro-rockets!' bellowed Mr Wonka. 'I mustn't forget to fire the retro-rockets!' He flew over to another series of buttons and started playing on them like a piano.

  The Elevator was now streaking downward head first, upside down, and all the passengers found themselves floating upside down as well. 'Help!' screamed Grandma Georgina. 'All the blood's going to my head!'

  'Then turn yourself the other way up,' said Mr Wonka. 'That's easy enough, isn't it?'

  Everyone blew and puffed and turned somersaults in the air until at last they were all the right way up. 'How's the tow-rope holding, Grandpa?' Mr Wonka called out.

  'They're still with us, Mr Wonka, sir! The rope's holding fine!'

  It was an amazing sight - the Glass Elevator streaking down toward the Earth with the huge Transport Capsule in tow behind it. But the long chain of Knids was coming after them, following them down, keeping pace with them easily, and now the hook of the leading Knid in the chain was actually reaching out and grasping for the hook made by the Knid on the Elevator!

  'We're too late!' screamed Grandma Georgina. 'They're going to link up and haul us back!'

  'I think not,' said Mr Wonka. 'Don't you remember what happens when a Knid enters the Earth's atmosphere at high speed? He gets red-hot. He burns away in a long fiery trail. He becomes a shooting Knid. Soon these dirty beasts will start popping like popcorn!'

  As they streaked on downward, sparks began to fly off the sides of the Elevator. The glass glowed pink, then red, then scarlet. Sparks also began to fly on the long chain of Knids, and the leading Knid in the chain started to shine like a red-hot poker. So did all the others. So did the great slimy brute coiled around the Elevator itself. This one, in fact, was trying frantically to uncoil itself and get away, but it was having trouble untying the knot, and in another ten seconds it began to sizzle. Inside the Elevator they could actually hear it sizzling. It made a noise like bacon frying. And exactly the same sort of thing was happening to the other one thousand Knids in the chain. The tremendous heat was simply sizzling them up. They were red-hot, every one of them. Then suddenly, they became white-hot and they gave out a dazzling white light.

  'They're shooting Knids!' cried Charlie.

  'What a splendid sight,' said Mr Wonka. 'It's better than fireworks.'

  In a few seconds more, the Knids had blown away in a cloud of ashes and it was all over. 'We've done it!' cried Mr Wonka. 'They've been roasted to a crisp! They've been frizzled to a fritter! We're saved!'

  'What do you mean saved?' said Grandma Josephine. 'We'll all be frizzled ourselves if this goes on any longer! We'll be barbecued like beefsteaks! Look at that glass! It's hotter than a fizzgig!'

  'Have no fears, dear lady,' answered Mr Wonka. 'My Elevator is air-conditioned, ventilated, aerated and automated in every possible way. We're going to be all right now.'

  'I haven't the faintest idea what's been going on,' said Mrs Bucket, making one of her rare speeches. 'But whatever it is, I don't like it.'

  'Aren't you enjoying it, Mother?' Charlie asked her.

  'No,' she said. 'I'm not. Nor is your father.'

  'What a great sight it is!' said Mr Wonka. 'Just look at the Earth down there, Charlie, getting bigger and bigger!'

  'And us going to meet it at two thousand miles an hour!' groaned Grandma Georgina. 'How are you going to slow down, for heaven's sake? You didn't think of that, did you!'

  'He's got parachutes,' Charlie told her. 'I'll bet he's got great big parachutes that open just before we hit.'
/>   'Parachutes!' said Mr Wonka with contempt. 'Parachutes are only for astronauts and sissies! And anyway, we don't want to slow down. We want to speed up. I've told you already we've got to be going at an absolutely tremendous speed when we hit. Otherwise we'll never punch our way in through the roof of the Chocolate Factory.'

  'How about the Transport Capsule?' Charlie asked anxiously.

  'We'll be letting them go in a few seconds now,' Mr Wonka answered. 'They do have parachutes, three of them, to slow them down on the last bit.'

  'How do you know we won't land in the Pacific Ocean?' said Grandma Josephine.

  'I don't,' said Mr Wonka. 'But we all know how to swim, do we not?'

  'This man,' shouted Grandma Josephine, 'is crazy as a crumpet!'

  'He's cracked as a crayfish!' cried Grandma Georgina.

  Down and down plunged the Great Glass Elevator. Nearer and nearer came the Earth below. Oceans and continents rushed up to meet them, getting bigger every second...

  'Grandpa Joe, sir! Throw out the rope! Let it go!' ordered Mr Wonka. 'They'll be all right now so long as their parachutes are working.'

  'Rope gone!' called out Grandpa Joe, and the huge Transport Capsule, on its own now, began to swing away to one side. Charlie waved to the three astronauts in the front window. None of them waved back. They were still sitting there in a kind of shocked daze, gaping at the old ladies and the old men and the small boy floating about in the Glass Elevator.

  'It won't be long now,' said Mr Wonka, reaching for a row of tiny pale blue buttons in one corner. 'We shall soon know whether we are alive or dead. Keep very quiet please for this final bit. I have to concentrate awfully hard, otherwise we'll come down in the wrong place.'

  They plunged into a thick bank of cloud and for ten seconds they could see nothing. When they came out of the cloud, the Transport Capsule had disappeared, and the Earth was very close, and there was only a great spread of land beneath them with mountains and forests... then fields and trees... then a small town.

  'There it is!' shouted Mr Wonka. 'My Chocolate Factory! My beloved Chocolate Factory!'

  'You mean Charlie's Chocolate Factory,' said Grandpa Joe.

  'That's right!' said Mr Wonka, addressing Charlie. 'I'd clean forgotten! I do apologize to you, my dear boy! Of course it's yours! And here we go!'

  Through the glass floor of the Elevator, Charlie caught a quick glimpse of the huge red roof and the tall chimneys of the giant factory. They were plunging straight down on to it.

  'Hold your breath!' shouted Mr Wonka. 'Hold your nose! Fasten your seat-belts and say your prayers! We're going through the roof!'

  12

  Back to the Chocolate Factory

  And then the noise of splintering wood and broken glass and absolute darkness and the most awful crunching sounds as the Elevator rushed on and on, smashing everything before it.

  All at once, the crashing noises stopped and the ride became smoother and the Elevator seemed to be travelling on guides or rails, twisting and turning like a roller-coaster. And when the lights came on, Charlie suddenly realized that for the last few seconds he hadn't been floating at all. He had been standing normally on the floor. Mr Wonka was on the floor, too, and so was Grandpa Joe and Mr and Mrs Bucket and also the big bed. As for Grandma Josephine, Grandma Georgina and Grandpa George, they must have fallen right back on to the bed because they were now all three on top of it and scrabbling to get under the blanket.

  'We're through!' yelled Mr Wonka. 'We've done it! We're in!' Grandpa Joe grabbed him by the hand and said, 'Well done, sir! How splendid! What a magnificent job!'

  'Where in the world are we now?' said Mrs Bucket.

  'We're back, Mother!' Charlie cried. 'We're in the Chocolate Factory!'

  'I'm very glad to hear it,' said Mrs Bucket. 'But didn't we come rather a long way round?'

  'We had to,' said Mr Wonka, 'to avoid the traffic'

  'I have never met a man,' said Grandma Georgina, 'who talks so much absolute nonsense!'

  'A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men,' Mr Wonka said.

  'Why don't you pay some attention to where this crazy Elevator's going!' shouted Grandma Josephine. 'And stop footling about!'

  'A little footling round about, will stop you going up the spout,' said Mr Wonka.

  'What did I tell you!' cried Grandma Georgina. 'He's round the twist! He's bogged as a beetle! He's dotty as a dingbat! He's got rats in the roof! I want to go home!'

  'Too late,' said Mr Wonka. 'We're there!' The Elevator stopped. The doors opened and Charlie found himself looking out once again at the great Chocolate Room with the chocolate river and the chocolate waterfall, where everything was eatable - the trees, the leaves, the grass, the pebbles and even the rocks. And there to meet them were hundreds and hundreds of tiny Oompa-Loompas, all waving and cheering. It was a sight that took one's breath away. Even Grandma Georgina was stunned into silence for a few seconds. But not for long. 'Who in the world are all those peculiar little men?' she said.

  'They're Oompa-Loompas,' Charlie told her. 'They're wonderful. You'll love them.'

  'Ssshh!' said Grandpa Joe. 'Listen, Charlie! The drums are starting up! They're going to sing.'

  'Alleluia!' sang the Oompa-Loompas.

  'Oh alleluia and hooray!

  Our Willy Wonka's back today!

  We thought you'd never make it home!

  We thought you'd left us all alone!

  We knew that you would have to face

  Some frightful creatures up in space.

  We even thought we heard the crunch

  Of someone eating you for lunch...'

  'All right!' shouted Mr Wonka, laughing and raising both hands. 'Thank you for your welcome! Will some of you please help to get this bed out of here!'

  Fifty Oompa-Loompas ran forward and pushed the bed with the three old ones in it out of the Elevator. Mr and Mrs Bucket, both looking completely overwhelmed by it all, followed the bed out. Then came Grandpa Joe, Charlie and Mr Wonka.

  'Now,' said Mr Wonka, addressing Grandpa George, Grandma Georgina and Grandma Josephine. 'Up you hop out of that bed and let's get cracking. I'm sure you'll all want to lend a hand running the factory.'

  'Who, us?' said Grandma Josephine.

  'Yes, you,' said Mr Wonka.

  'You must be joking,' said Grandma Georgina.

  'I never joke,' said Mr Wonka.

  'Now just you listen to me, sir!' said old Grandpa George, sitting up straight in bed. 'You've got us into quite enough tubbles and trumbles for one day!'

  'I've got you out of them, too,' said Mr Wonka proudly. 'And I'm going to get you out of that bed as well, you see if I don't!'

  13

  How Wonka-Vite Was Invented

  'I haven't been out of this bed in twenty years and I'm not getting out now for anybody!' said Grandma Josephine firmly.

  'Nor me,' said Grandma Georgina.

  'You were out of it just now, every one of you,' said Mr Wonka.

  'That was floating,' said Grandpa George. 'We couldn't help it.'

  'We never put our feet on the floor,' said Grandma Josephine.

  'Try it,' said Mr Wonka. 'You might surprise yourself.'

  'Go on, Josie,' said Grandpa Joe. 'Give it a try. I did. It was easy.'

  'We're perfectly comfortable where we are, thank you very much,' said Grandma Josephine.

  Mr Wonka sighed and shook his head very slowly and very sadly. 'Oh well,' he said, 'so that's that.' He laid his head on one side and gazed thoughtfully at the three old people in the bed, and Charlie, watching him closely, saw those bright little eyes of his beginning to spark and twinkle once again.

  Ha-ha, thought Charlie. What's coming now?

  'I suppose,' said Mr Wonka, placing the tip of one finger on the point of his nose and pressing gently, 'I suppose... because this is a very special case... I suppose I could spare you just a tiny little bit of...' He stopped and shook his head.

  'A tiny lit
tle bit of what?' said Grandma Josephine sharply.

  'No,' said Mr Wonka. 'It's pointless. You seem to have decided to stay in that bed whatever happens. And anyway, the stuff is much too precious to waste. I'm sorry I mentioned it.' He started to walk away.

  'Hey!' shouted Grandma Georgina. 'You can't begin something and not go on with it! What is too precious to waste?'

  Mr Wonka stopped. Slowly he turned around. He looked long and hard at the three old people in the bed. They looked back at him, waiting. He kept silent a little longer, allowing their curiosity to grow. The Oompa-Loompas stood absolutely still behind him, watching.

  'What is this thing you're talking about?' said Grandma Georgina.

  'Get on with it, for heaven's sake!' said Grandma Josephine.

  'Very well,' Mr Wonka said at last. 'I'll tell you. And listen carefully because this could change your whole lives. It could even change you.'

  'I don't want to be changed!' shouted Grandma Georgina.

  'May I go on, madam? Thank you. Not long ago, I was fooling about in my Inventing Room, stirring stuff around and mixing things up the way I do every afternoon at four o'clock, when suddenly I found I had made something that seemed very unusual. This thing I had made kept changing colour as I looked at it, and now and again it gave a little jump, it actually jumped up in the air, as though it were alive. "What have we here?" I cried, and I rushed it quickly to the Testing Room and gave some to the Oompa-Loompa who was on duty there at the time. The result was immediate! It was flabbergasting! It was unbelievable! It was also rather unfortunate.'

  'What happened?' said Grandma Georgina, sitting up.

  'What indeed,' said Mr Wonka.

  'Answer her question,' said Grandma Josephine. 'What happened to the Oompa-Loompa?'

  'Ah,' said Mr Wonka, 'yes... well... there's no point in crying over spilled milk, is there? I realized, you see, that I had stumbled upon a new and tremendously powerful vitamin, and I also knew that if only I could make it safe, if only I could stop it doing to others what it did to that Oompa-Loompa...'

  'What did it do to that Oompa-Loompa?' said Grandma Georgina sternly.

  'The older I get, the deafer I become,' said Mr Wonka. 'Do please raise your voice a trifle next time. Thank you so much. Now then. I simply had to find a way of making this stuff safe, so that people could take it without... er...'