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RETIREMENT IN A TRAILER PARK THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD
After a spring break, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent
the
holidays. One child wrote the following: "We always used to
spend the
holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live here in a big brick
house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona. 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 they all jump up and down in it with their hats on. I guess they
don't know how to swim.
Retardment
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's 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."