hen I came to the second farmhouse John Emery hurried out to meet me.
"Morning, Lewis," he said. "Going to town?"
I shut off the motor and nodded. "I want to catch the early shuttle plane to the spaceport," I said. "I'm going to the city to buy some things...."
I had to lie about it. I didn't want anyone to know we were even thinking of leaving, at least not until we had our tickets in our hands.
"Oh," Emery said. "That's right. I suppose you'll be buying Martha an anniversary present."
I stared at him blankly. I couldn't think what anniversary he meant.
"You'll have been here thirty-five years next week," he said. "That's a long time, Lewis...."
Thirty-five years. It took me a minute to realize what he meant. He was right. That was how long we had been here, in Martian years.
The others, those who had been born here on Mars, always used the Martian seasons. We had too, once. But lately we forgot, and counted in Earth time. It seemed more natural.