2
'Oh dear, oh dear,' said Mr Wonka, 'I do hope that no part of him gets left behind.'
'What on earth do you mean?' asked Mr Teavee sharply.
'I don't wish to alarm you,' said Mr Wonka, 'but it does sometimes happen that only about half the little pieces find their way into the television set. It happened last week. I don't know why, but the result was that only half a bar of chocolate came through.'
Mrs Teavee let out a scream of horror. 'You mean only a half of Mike is coming back to us?' she cried.
'Let's hope it's the top half,' said Mr Teavee.
'Hold everything!' said Mr Wonka. 'Watch the screen! Something's happening!'
The screen had suddenly begun to flicker.
Then some wavy lines appeared.
Mr Wonka adjusted one of the knobs and the wavy lines went away.
And now, very slowly, the screen began to get brighter and brighter. 'Here he comes!' yelled Mr Wonka. 'Yes, that's him all right!'
'Is he all in one piece?' cried Mrs Teavee.
'I'm not sure,' said Mr Wonka. 'It's too early to tell.'
Faintly at first, but becoming clearer and clearer every second, the picture of Mike Teavee appeared on the screen. He was standing up and waving at the audience and grinning from ear to ear.
'But he's a midget!' shouted Mr Teavee.
'Mike,' cried Mrs Teavee, 'are you all right? Are there any bits of you missing?'
'Isn't he going to get any bigger?' shouted Mr Teavee.
'Talk to me, Mike!' cried Mrs Teavee. 'Say something! Tell me you're all right!'
A tiny little voice, no louder than the squeaking of a mouse, came out of the television set. 'Hi, Mum!' it said. 'Hi, Pop! Look at me! I'm the first person ever to be sent by television!'
'Grab him!' ordered Mr Wonka. 'Quick!'
Mrs Teavee shot out a hand and picked the tiny figure of Mike Teavee out of the screen.
'Hooray!' cried Mr Wonka. 'He's all in one piece! He's completely unharmed!'
'You call that unharmed?' snapped Mrs Teavee, peering at the little speck of a boy who was now running to and fro across the palm of her hand, waving his pistols in the air.
He was certainly not more than an inch tall.
'He's shrunk!' said Mr Teavee.
'Of course he's shrunk,' said Mr Wonka. 'What did you expect?'
'This is terrible!' wailed Mrs Teavee. 'What are we going to do?'
And Mr Teavee said, 'We can't send him back to school like this! He'll get trodden on! He'll get squashed!'
'He won't be able to do anything!' cried Mrs Teavee.
'Oh, yes I will!' squeaked the tiny voice of Mike Teavee. 'I'll still be able to watch television!' 'Never again!' shouted Mr Teavee. 'I'm throwing the television set right out the window the moment we get home. I've had enough of television!'
When he heard this, Mike Teavee flew into a terrible tantrum. He started jumping up and down on the palm of his mother's hand, screaming and yelling and trying to bite her fingers. 'I want to watch television!' he squeaked. 'I want to watch television! I want to watch television! I want to watch television!'
'Here! Give him to me!' said Mr Teavee, and he took the tiny boy and shoved him into the breast pocket of his jacket and stuffed a handkerchief on top. Squeals and yells came from inside the pocket, and the pocket shook as the furious little prisoner fought to get out.
