We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live here
in Wyoming in a big brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Palm
Desert.Now they live in a place with a lot of other retarded people. They live in a tin
box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on big tricycles and
wear name tags because they don't know who they are anymore.
They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed, because
it is all right now. They play games and do exercises there, but they don't do them very
well. There is a swimming pool too, but all they do is jump up and down in it with their
hats on. I guess they don't know how to swim.
At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it. He watches
all day so nobody can escape. Sometimes they sneak out. Then they go cruising in their
golf carts. My Grandma used to bake cookies and stuff, but I guess she forgot how. Nobody
there cooks, they just eat out.
And they eat the same thing every night - Early Birds. Some of the people can't get
past the man in the doll house to go out. So the ones who do get out bring food back to
the wrecked center and call it pot luck.
My Grandma says Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should
work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment I want to be the man
in the doll house. Then I will let people out so they can visit their grandchildren.