The Martian Chronicles

LaFarge and his wife Anna are an elderly couple who retired on Mars. Many years before, on Earth, their 14-year-old son Tom died of pneumonia, and the loss continues to haunt them. One night, LaFarge spots a figure in their yard who resembles Tom, and he leaves the door of their house unlocked should the figure decide to enter.

The next morning, LaFarge finds Tom in the house. Anna is undisturbed by his presence, not even questioning the reappearance of her son. LaFarge questions Tom, but Tom rebuffs answering, only explaining that the night before he sang to LaFarge and Anna, and that “you’ll accept me more because of it” (161). Recognizing his wife’s happiness, LaFarge agrees not to question Tom further.

Tom disappears for the afternoon, and before he returns, LaFarge learns that one of his neighbors, who had left Earth because he killed a man, died by suicide after seeing the man he killed appear on his property. Soon after, Tom returns. Anna, after a happy dinner, insists that the family spend the night in town, despite Tom’s unwillingness to go.

In town, Tom disappears, and when LaFarge goes looking for him, he discovers that Tom has shape shifted into Lavina, the deceased daughter of the Spaulding family.