Fred turned from the screen and grinned at Hazel. “I want to go,” he said.
“You have to pee?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, no. To Mars. I want to go to Mars. It’s light there. The ocean isn’t dark.”
“The ocean is gone,” said Hazel. “And anyway, you can’t go to Mars. You don’t even know who you are.”
“I know my name is Fred.”
“What else? Where you from? Where’s your family?”
He looked up at the ceiling, then back to the screen. “I would do well on Mars,” he said. “Mars would be my new home.”
But interplanetary travel would have to wait. Later that afternoon, Hazel had Fred do some work in the yard. She showed him how to mow the grass with her lawn mower. He took to the task with enthusiasm, running the machine back and forth quickly.
Hazel looked up from weeding her garden eve
