I was not expecting what was waiting for me just as I rounded the corner.
“Grandpa!” I shouted dropping the files. “How did you get out of the nursing home?”
“It’s your lucky day Marty!” My grandfather giggled prancing up to me in a purple suit and top hat. “Today your pappy is taking you to CANDY LAND!”
I glanced at the surrounding cubicles. Most of my co-workers were on the phone or trying to send e-mails, but no one was doing anything interesting enough to distract them from this.
“Grandpa,” I murmured taking his arm and trying to guide him to the exit. “Maybe you should go back to the home.”
“Really Marty? You want me to go back to the old folk’s home? Or do you want me to take you on a cruise down the chocolate canal and a safari among the lollipop lions? We could fly my licorice plane through the cotton candy clouds!”
I could see my boss Mr. White walking toward us.
“You really need to get out of here grandpa!”
“Are you suuuuure Marty?”
“Yes! I’m sure!” I stammered gathering up the files I had dropped. “I need to send these faxes now, but I’ll go to Candy Land with you after work. Do you need me to call you a taxi?”
My grandfather’s face drooped. “No, that’s alright.” He sighed. “I can find my own way out.” He reached into his purple jacket and pulled out a candy cane, which he stuck into the wall. What had been hard plaster pulled back like a curtain revealing a landscape filled with gumdrop trees and toffee mountains. “See ya Marty,” Grandpa sighed and stumbled on through.
Kelly, one of the more attractive associates, walked past me. “That looked embarrassing.”
I shook my head. “That was nothing. You should’ve seen what happened when my Uncle Ryan the Lord of Rainbows showed up.”