28 Only Charlie Left
‘Which room shall it be next?’ said Mr Wonka as he turned away and darted¹ into the lift.
‘Come on! Hurry up! We must get going! And how many children are there left now?’
Little Charlie looked at Grandpa Joe, and Grandpa Joe looked back at little Charlie.
‘But Mr Wonka,’ Grandpa Joe called after him, ‘there’s… there’s only Charlie left
now.’
Mr Wonka swung round and stared at Charlie.
There was a silence. Charlie stood there holding tightly on to Grandpa Joe’s hand.
‘You mean you’re the only one left?’ Mr Wonka said, pretending to be surprised.
‘Why, yes,’ whispered Charlie. ‘Yes.’
Mr Wonka suddenly exploded with excitement. ‘But my dear boy,’ he cried out, ‘that
means you’ve won!’ He rushed out of the lift and started shaking Charlie’s hand so
furiously it nearly came off. ‘Oh, I do congratulate you!’ he cried. ‘I really do! I’m
absolutely delighted! It couldn’t be better! How wonderful this is! I had a hunch², you
knew, right from the beginning, that it was going to be you! Well done, Charlie, well
done! This is terrific! Now the fun is really going to start! But we mustn’t dilly! We
mustn’t dally³! There’s even less time to lose now than there was before! We have an
enormous number of things to do before the day is out! Just think of the arrangements
that have to be made! And the people we have to fetch! But luckily for us,
we have the great glass lift to speed things up! Jump in, my dear Charlie, jump in!
You too, Grandpa Joe, sir! No, no, after you! That’s the way! Now then! This time I shall
choose the button we are going to press!’ Mr Wonka’s bright twinkling blue eyes rested
for a moment on Charlie’s face.
Something crazy is going to happen now, Charlie thought. But he wasn’t frightened.
He wasn’t even nervous. He was just terrifically excited. And so was Grandpa Joe. The
old man’s face was shining with excitement as he watched every move that Mr Wonka
made. Mr Wonka was reaching for a button high up on the glass ceiling of the lift.
Charlie and Grandpa Joe both craned their necks to read what it said on the little label
beside the button.
It said… UP AND OUT.
‘Up and out,’ thought Charlie. ‘What sort of a room is that?’

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