Adventures in Wonderland

Pig and Pepper: We are All Mad Here

Wild Ride

There was one time that I had an early meeting at work. In my haste to get there on time, I get onto the subway intending to go downtown but wind up going uptown instead. Barely awake it takes a couple of stops before I notice that the street numbers are going up. I get off the train a couple of stops later to find I'm on the upper east side of Manhattan. I live and work on the west side of New York City.

Manhattan is an island sandwiched between the Hudson and East river. I get to see the Hudson a lot but don't see the East river too often. Anyway when I get off the train the sun is beginning rise over the East river and I feel a little bit of a Vertigo feeling as my drowsy mind recognized that everything was off. I felt like I was in a mirror version of New York. A river was there but it felt like the sun was not where it was supposed to be this time of day. The building definitely had a New York feel to them but I was unfamiliar with the area so it felt like this was not right

I do eventually take the subway back downtown and make my way into work. I'm a little bit late but in time for the meeting. I then find my next unexpected turn of the day as I see my coworkers wearing casual outfits. There's not really a dress code in this office but usually for the more important meetings there's an unspoken rule to dress a little bit more fancy. It turned out there was an activity this meeting that required comfortable attire so I was overdressed. To be fair there was one or two others in the same boat as me but who wouldn't prefer to be dressed more casually if given the option. ^_^; What hits me harder though is that about an hour after finishing the team buildings activities it dawns on me that this isn't even the wackiest day I've experienced.

Growing up and working in New York city in the 21st century, I've come to accept that adjustable desks exist (though I can't picture anyone in their right mind who would prefer to stand rather than sit at work), I've learned to play upside down chess (yes that really is a thing) and I've seen Unicycle marathon go by my window. I've walked through food market selling such ridiculous creations as Spaghetti Donuts, Ramen Burgers and Dessert Pizzas and grudgingly accepted that they don't taste too bad. Sometimes you just have roll with the twists.

-

Word Count: 463 Words
Chess References This Entry: 1
Total Chess References in Book: 12

Prompt
3. "We Are All Mad Here" – Where cats wag their tails when angry and growl when pleased. Write about a day when everything was completely opposite to what you expect. Short story (<500 words) or poem (<40 lines).