Venus Boy

BY LEE SUTTON
Illustrated by Richard Floethe
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., INC. NEW YORK
Copyright, 1955, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 54-7882
Printed in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved
To Mildred and Blake
Everything that lives is Holy. OLD MARVA SAYING.
If you ever make a trip to the green planet of Venus, the first thing you'll see will be the fifty-foot high statue of Venus' greatest hero. It stands on the very top of towering New Plymouth Rock at the edge of the old colony of New Plymouth. Even from the rocket cradle, anyone can tell that the statue is of a twelve-year-old boy smiling up at the Venusian jewel bear perched on his shoulder. Cut into the huge rock below the statue are the words,
Virgil Dare (Johnny) Watson And the Marva, Baba. May their Friendship Endure!
Virgil Dare Watson, called Johnny by his friends, was the first human being born on Venus. He was named after Virginia Dare, the first pioneer child born in North America, and for a long time he was the only child on all Venus. And that would have been a lonely thing to be if it had not been for Baba. Baba, the bear, was not only Johnny's pet, but his best friend, too, and the only one who knew about his three secrets.