Captain's Log Stardate 9282016: My Epilogue to the Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Epilogue:

The sun set upon the finest apartment in the finest building of the dead city. The sounds of dinner being prepared, the pots being filled with boiling water and rations being boiled to stew, rang out in the dead air. Not quite dead: in the other streets of the city were nine other apartments lit up, hustle and bustle.
“Mom, can I have some more stew?”, asked Texas.

“Of course, honey.” said Julia, their mother.

Later that night, Texas and his twin sister Brazil, went out in the red sands to explore. There was always something to find among the crumbling houses scattered across the deserts. They found pots and pans, dolls and pencils, shovels and pictures. Who left all of this here?, they would wonder some days.  But they did not think too hard along this train of thought, because there was no one here now and this was their playscape.

Washington, their older brother, stayed behind to continue his education with his mother.  Among other things, she taught him the history of Earth. Washington understood that his grandparents had come from Earth, that it was a little planet many miles away, and that he would never see Earth in person. Mars was his home.

“The Civil War was fought over slavery. People were being treated like livestock... remember what livestock are? Yes, so anyway, the Confederates wanted to keep their slaves and the Union wanted there to only be free people.”

Washington asked, “Why did the confederates want to make other people work for them?”

Julia, pausing for a moment, said, “they weren’t the only ones.  Slavery was very common in this time period in earth and it continued even when your grandfather Tim was alive.  It’s all about greed, and money.  People on earth would do a lot for greed and money, including treating other people badly. Of course, we don’t have money now.  We just share what we have and we’re still alive, so it’s worked out, hasn’t it?”

“I guess so.”

“We’re done for tonight, honey. Could you go get Tex and Brazil in a few minutes?”

Washington climbed down the staircase, spiraling on and on until he reached the floor.  Walking out onto the sands that had blown over where the city roads used to be, Washington walked into the desert to look for his sister and brother.  He knew he would find them soon enough.  Their screams of delight at all the toys they found could be heard from far away.  As he trudged along absent-mindedly, Washington thought of Earth.

Why had they all been so silly?  Why had they fought one another?  Why had they always argued about their differences?  Why did they think that people of different skin colors or women or those of different religions were that different from them? Washington felt that if he had been in charge of Earth, he probably could have done a better job then all the supposedly brilliant people that had run the planet.  

The sun was setting, making the sand shimmer like his mom had described the oceans on Earth. And why did they always use up too much of their wood or their coal or their oil or their water and fight over what was left?  Didn’t they see the end coming?  Didn’t they know that their water should have lasted them forever?
He heard them.  They were over there, in that little Martian House.  He walked up to the house, calling “it’s time to come home!”  Their little heads popped out of the house, followed by their running bodies. Soon they were at his side, panting and laughing as they tickled each other.  Washington thought, “what the Earth men would think of us?  Did they know that this was all you needed?”