“ John Emery said. "And you all know something else that Lewis and Martha thought they'd kept as a surprise—that this is more than an anniversary. It's goodbye."I stared at him. He knew. All of them knew. And then I looked at Duane and saw that he was smiling more than ever."They've lived here on Mars for thirty-five years," John Emery said. "And now they're going back to Earth."Martha's hand tightened on mine. "Look, Lewis," she cried. "Look at them. They're not angry. They're—they're happy for us!" ”
Quotes from The Statue (Mari Wolf)
“ Only her hands moved. I could see them trembling where they lay folded in her lap, trembling with emotion and tiredness and old age. I knew what she was thinking. After seventy years there can be no secrets.We sat on the glassed-in veranda of our Martian home looking up at the Morning Star. To us it wasn't a point of light. It was the continents and oceans of Earth, the mountains and meadows and laughing streams of our childhood. We saw Earth still, though we had lived on Mars for almost sixty-six years."Lewis," Martha whispered softly. "It's very bright tonight, isn't it?" ”
“ John Emery said softly.It was a statue. A life-size statue carved from the dull red stone of Mars. Two figures, a man and a woman, dressed in farm clothes, standing side by side and looking out across the square toward the open desert.They were very real, those figures. Real, and somehow familiar."Lewis," Martha whispered. "They're—they're us!"She was right. It was a statue of us. Neither old nor young, but ageless. Two farmers, looking out forever across the endless Martian desert.... ”
