"What happened to him, Ben?" Annie asked. "My—the other man that should have been here."
Ben worried a hole in the sand with one foot and cleared his throat. "He stayed home."
"You mean he's alive! Here?"
"Well ... yes. But he didn't—"
"Never mind. I don't need anybody to strum a guitar under my window. If he couldn't get away from the farm today I can certainly go to him. I've got a pair of legs that'll walk around the world."
"You coming?" the pilot shouted.
"No!" Annie cried. "I live here."
The spaceship took off, a phoenix rising from the flames.
Ben was shuffling his feet, hands in his pockets. "We'd be proud to have you stay with us, Annie."
"Oh, cut it out, Ben. I'm no hot-house rose. Just tell me which way and I'll find my own farm." She paused, trying to guess his thoughts.