ROALD DAHL
Charlie and the
Great Glass Elevator
ROALD DAHL
Charlie and the
Great Glass Elevator
1
Mr Wonka Goes Too Far
The last time we saw Charlie, he was riding high above his home town in the Great Glass Lift. Only a short while before, Mr Wonka had told him that the whole gigantic fabulous Chocolate Factory was his, and now our small friend was returning in triumph with his entire family to take over. The passengers in the Lift (just to remind you) were:
Charlie Bucket, our hero.
Mr Willy Wonka, chocolate-maker extraordinary.
Mr and Mrs Bucket, Charlie’s father and mother.
Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine, Mr Bucket’s father and mother.
Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina, Mrs Bucket’s father and mother.
Grandma Josephine, Grandma Georgina and Grandpa George were still in bed, the bed having been pushed on board just before take-off. Grandpa Joe, as you remember, had got out of bed to go around the Chocolate Factory with Charlie.
The Great Glass Lift was a thousand feet up and cruising nicely. The sky was brilliant blue. Everybody on board was wildly excited at the thought of going to live in the famous Chocolate Factory.
Grandpa Joe was singing. Charlie was jumping up and down. Mr and Mrs Bucket were smiling for the first time in years, and the three old ones in the bed were grinning at one another with pink toothless gums.
‘What in the world keeps this crazy thing up in the air?’ croaked Grandma Josephine.
‘Madam,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘it is not a lift any longer. Lifts only go up and down inside buildings. But now that it has taken us up into the sky, it has become an ELEVATOR. It is THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR.’
‘And what keeps it up?’ said Grandma Josephine.
‘Skyhooks,’ said Mr Wonka.
‘You amaze me,’ said Grandma Josephine.
‘Dear lady,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘you are new to the scene. When you have been with us a little longer, nothing will amaze you.’
‘These skyhooks,’ said Grandma Josephine. ‘I assume one end is hooked on to this contraption we’re riding in. Right?’
‘Right,’ said Mr Wonka.
‘What’s the other end hooked on to?’ said Grandma Josephine.
‘Every day,’ said Mr Wonka, ‘I get deafer and deafer. Remind me, please, to call up my ear doctor the moment we get back.’
‘Charlie,’ said Grandma Josephine. ‘I don’t think I trust this gentleman very much.’
‘Nor do I,’ said Grandma Georgina. ‘He footles around.’
Charlie leaned over the bed and whispered to the two old women. ‘Please,’ he said, ‘don’t spoil everything. Mr Wonka is a fantastic man. He’s my friend. I love him.’
‘Charlie’s right,’ whispered Grandpa Joe, joining the group. ‘Now you be quiet, Josie, and don’t make trouble.’
‘We must hurry!’ said Mr Wonka. ‘We have so much time and so little to do! No! Wait! Cross that out! Reverse it! Thank you! Now back to the factory!’ he cried, clapping his hands once and springing two feet in the air with two feet. ‘Back we fly to the factory! But we must go up before we can come down. We must go higher and higher!’
‘What did I tell you,’ said Grandma Josephine. ‘The man’s cracked!’
‘Be quiet, Josie,’ said Grandpa Joe. ‘Mr Wonka knows exactly what he’s doing.’
‘He’s cracked as a crab!’ said Grandma Georgina.
‘We must go higher!’ said Mr Wonka. ‘We must go tremendously high! Hold on to your stomach!’ He pressed a brown button. The Elevator shuddered, and then with a fearful whooshing noise it shot vertically upward like a rocket. Everybody clutched hold of everybody else and as the great machine gathered speed, the rushing whooshing sound of the wind outside grew louder and louder and shriller and shriller until it became a piercing shriek and you had to yell to make yourself heard.
‘Stop!’ yelled Grandma Josephine. ‘Joe, you make him stop! I want to get off!’
‘Save us!’ yelled Grandma Georgina.
‘Go down!’ yelled Grandpa George.
‘No, no!’ Mr Wonka yelled back. ‘We’ve got to go up!’
‘But why?’ they all shouted at once. ‘Why up and not down?’
‘Because the higher we are when we start coming down, the faster we’ll all be going when we hit,’ said Mr Wonka. ‘We’ve got to be going at an absolutely sizzling speed when we hit.’