“Well who is it?” we overhear the former Vice President asking into his cell phone as we enter the room. “I feel like I should know. No, you’re probably right. OK, OK. Just let me know when I know, alright? OK.” With that, he set down the phone and turned his attention first to a wall on the other side of the room and then to us. “Oh, hey there! Wow, you snuck up on me. Hey, you guys are something, huh? What can I help you with?” As we settled in and reminded Mr. Biden about our scheduled interview, he cut us off to ask us another question. “Hey, who do you think I picked for my VP?”

 

Not wanting to seem rude but also hoping not to have an open can of worms on our hands, we decided to flip the question back on him. “We have no idea, but are you wanting to tell us? Because if so, we won’t try to stop you.”

 

“No, I’m seriously asking. My team won’t tell me. Apparently, ‘I,’ as in the entity known as ‘Joe Biden’ chose my VP weeks ago. At least that’s what our ads are saying. But the me known as Joe Biden has no damn idea who I’ve chosen and I very much want to find out.”

 

“Why won’t they tell you, do you think?”

 

“Hell if I know, but my guess is they want it to be a surprise. They love surprising me with stuff. Maybe because I can’t remember anything, but who knows.” Taking a moment to frown, he continued,” I just feel like I should be told, right? I mean, what if I don’t get along with them? People know me as the guy who was friends with Barack during our time in the White House, so what happens if I’m not friends with my VP? I’ll tell you. My reputation goes down the toilet.”

 

“Don’t you trust them to make the right choice?”

 

“Of course I trust them, I trust them with my life every day. But what if it’s not enough to defeat Romney? We can’t have another four years of him, I’ll tell you what. He has been a disgrace and a dishonor to the office of the president and we won’t forget it.” With a small chuckle he smiled at us and said, “But don’t you worry boys, that’s not going to happen. Big Joe is gonna be president and you can quote me on that.”

 

“Actually, we’re quoting you on all of this.”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Now, did you say you are doing this to replace Romney?”

 

“Yeah of course. Why else would anyone run if not to get him out of Washington? I still can’t believe he won.”

 

Rather than try to decipher all that, we simply stood still for a few minutes until Biden got up, dusted off his shirt, and slowly made his way to the next room. From down the hall we heard him say, “Hey, you guys are something, huh? What can I help you with?” and knew in our hearts what the future holds.