t don't like it here at all,' charlie whispered. 'it gives me thewillies.'

'me, too,' mr wonka whispered back. 'but we've got a job todo, charlie, and we must go through with it.'

the mist was condensing now on the glass walls of theelevator making it difficult to see out except through the opendoors.

'do any other creatures live here, mr wonka?'

'plenty of gnoolies.'

'are they dangerous?'

'if they bite you, they are. you're a gonner, my boy, if you'rebitten by a gnooly.'

the elevator drifted on, rocking gently from side to side. thegrey-black oily fog swirled around them.

'what does a gnooly look like, mr wonka?' 'they don't looklike anything, charlie. they can't.' 'you mean you've never seenone?'

'you can't see gnoolies, my boy. you can't even feel them …until they puncture your skin … then it's too late. they've gotyou.'

'you mean … there might be swarms of them all around usthis very moment?' charlie asked.

'there might,' said mr wonka.

charlie felt his skin beginning to creep. 'do you die at once?'

he asked.

'first you become subtracted … a little later you are divided …but very slowly … it takes a long time … it's long division andit's very painful. after that, you become one of them.'

'couldn't we shut the door?' charlie asked.

'i'm afraid not, my boy. we'd never see her through the glass.

there's too much mist and moisture. she's not going to beeasy to pick out anyway.'

charlie stood at the open door of the elevator and stared intothe swirling vapours. this, he thought, is what hell must be like… hell without heat … there was something unholy about it all,something unbelievably diabolical … it was all so deathly quiet,so desolate and empty … at the same time, the constantmovement, the twisting and swirling of the misty vapours, gaveone the feeling that some very powerful force, evil andmalignant, was at work all around … charlie felt a jab on hisarm! he jumped! he almost jumped out of the elevator!

'sorry,' said mr wonka. 'it's only me.'

'oh-h-h!' charlie gasped. 'for a second, i thought …'

'i know what you thought, charlie … and by the way, i'mawfully glad you're with me. how would you like to come herealone … as i did … as i had to … many times?'

'i wouldn't,' said charlie.

'there she is!' said mr wonka, pointing. 'no, she isn't! … oh,dear! i could have sworn i saw her for a moment right overthere on the edge of that dark patch. keep watching, charlie.'

'there!' said charlie. 'over there. look!'

'where?' said mr wonka. 'point to her, charlie!'

'she's … she's gone again. she sort of faded away,' charliesaid.

they stood at the open door of the elevator, peering into theswirly grey vapours.

'there! quick! right there!' charlie cried. 'can't you see her?'

'yes, charlie! i see her! i'm moving up close now!'

mr wonka reached behind him and began touching a numberof buttons.

'grandma!' charlie cried out. 'we've come to get you,grandma!'

they could see her faintly through the mist, but oh so faintly.

and they could see the mist through her as well. she wastransparent. she was hardly there at all. she was no morethan a shadow. they could see her face and just the faintestoutline of her body swathed in a sort of gown. but she wasn'tupright. she was floating lengthwise in the swirling vapour.

'why is she lying down?' charlie whispered.

'because she's a minus, charlie. surely you know what aminus looks like … like that …' mr wonka drew a horizontalline in the air with his finger.

the elevator glided close. the ghostly shadow of grandmageorgina's face was no more than a yard away now. charliereached out through the door to touch her but there wasnothing there to touch. his hand went right through her skin.

'grandma!' he gasped. she began to drift away.

'stand back!' ordered mr wonka, and suddenly, from somesecret place inside his coat-tails he whisked out a spray-gun. itwas one of those old-fashioned things people used to use forspraying fly-spray around the room before aerosols came along.

he aimed the spray-gun straight at the shadow of grandmageorgina and he pumped the handle hard once … twice …three times! each time, a fine black spray spurted outfrom the nozzle of the gun. instantly, grandma georginadisappeared.

'a bull's eye!' cried mr wonka, jumping up and down withexcitement. 'i got her with both barrels! i plussed her goodand proper! that's vita-wonk for you!'

'where's she gone?' charlie asked.

'back where she came from, of course! to the factory! she's aminus no longer, my boy! she's a one hundred per centred-blooded plus! come along now! let's get out of herequickly before the gnoolies find us!' mr wonka jabbed abutton. the doors closed and the great glass elevator shotupwards for home.

'sit down and strap yourself in again, charlie!' said mr wonka.

'we're going flat out this time!'

the elevator roared and rocketed up toward the surface of theearth. mr wonka and charlie sat side by side on their littlejump-seats, strapped in tight. mr wonka started tucking thespray-gun back into that enormous pocket somewhere in hiscoat-tails. 'it's such a pity one has to use a clumsy old thinglike this,' he said. 'but there's simply no other way of doing it.

ideally, of course, one would measure out exactly the rightnumber of drops into a teaspoon and feed it carefully into themouth. but it's impossible to feed anything into a minus. it'slike trying to feed one's own shadow. that's why i've got touse a spray-gun. spray 'em all over, my boy! that's the onlyway!'

'it worked fine, though, didn't it?' charlie said.

'oh, it worked all right, charlie! it worked beautifully! all i'msaying is that there's bound to be a slight overdose …'

'i don't quite know what you mean, mr wonka.'

'my dear boy, if it only takes four drops of vita-wonk to turna young oompa-loompa into an old man …' mr wonka liftedhis hands and let them fall limply on to his lap.

'you mean grandma may have got too much?' asked charlie,turning slightly pale. 'i'm afraid that's putting it rather mildly,'

said mr wonka.

'but … but why did you give her such a lot of it, then?' saidcharlie, getting more and more worried. 'why did you sprayher three times? she must have got pints and pints of it!'

'gallons!' cried mr wonka, slapping his thighs. 'gallons andgallons! but don't let a little thing like that bother you, mydear charlie! the important part of it is we've got her back!

she's a minus no longer! she's a lovely plus!

'she's as plussy as plussy can be!she's more plussy than youor than me!the question is how,just how old is she now?isshe more than a hundred and three?'