January 2050: Let the Hero Born of Woman
The men sat around the fire warming their blue hands. Their faces were scared with worry lines. Robert put his ear to the atomic radio and turned the dial. Nothing but static. The others, use to this nightly ritual, paid Robert no attention. A older woman approached with a black pot at her side. She ladled out stew for each man. None took the time to thank her. They sat and ate. The only noise was the dull, repetitive grinding of hard potatoes. They finished and the woman took their empty bowls to the creek. Robert dropped his ear to the radio again. Static. Timothy slowly cleared his throat and said, “No one’s there Robert”.
“Someday-”
“No Robert, no one else is left.” Timothy said with certainty.
“Someday there will be.” Pointing to the sky Robert proclaims “There are more out there. There has to be.”
Timothy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stood and moved toward the creek. Robert and Michael watched him embrace their mother. Timothy turned and walked down the stream toward the horizon. Alice sat by the creek with her head in her hands sobbing. Neither man moved toward her. Alice stood quickly, causing the men to look at her. She moved toward them, tears streaming down her cracked checks. She screamed, “Why did we ever come here. On Earth at least death would be quick.” The men sat unchanged. Alice moved right in front of her children and whispered, “Your father was wrong, were not Martians. Martians know how to use their cities. We live in a shack you boys built.” Robert and Michael took time to look at their dilapidated home. Their mother continued, “Your father ruined us. He destroyed everything we had, even the rocket. Then he leaves, and now my first born does too.” The memories of their father stirred Robert and Michael. She continued slower, choosing her words carefuly, “Years after the books were burned in the great fire on Earth, I went to hear a man speak. A man with a grizzled beard and yellow teeth. He spoke on top of a soap box to a small crowd listening intently. He spoke for hours. So much has happened since then I can’t remember the story he told.” Her children now looked up at their mother’s eyes. Alice searched for words and said, “Were...a family...you boys and I...we must go on.”
Michael finding words, asked his mother, “There’s no one else; how do we go on?” Robert put his ear back down to the atomic radio.
Their mother went over to the shack and called out in response, “Robert, come here.”
Michael watched with a puzzled look as Robert accompanied his mother into the house. Moments later a smile crept across Alice’s face.

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