Martian Child
A widowed science-fiction writer considers adopting a six-year-old outcast who thinks he's an alien from Mars. What's the nature of being a parent and of being a child? David is a widower grieving for two years. He writes science fiction and was considered weird as a boy. He meets Dennis, a foster child who claims to be on a mission from Mars, stays in a large box all day, fears sunlight, and wears a belt of flashlight batteries so he won't float away. David takes the six-year-old home on a trial. His sister and his wife's best friend offer support, but the guys are basically alone to figure this out. Dennis takes things, is expelled, and is coached by David in being normal. Will the court approve the adoption, and will Dennis stay? Can a man become a father and a child become a son? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> Widowed for two years, David Gordon, a successful writer of fantasy fiction, believes it's time to move on with his life by doing what he and his wife Mary were planning on doing before she passed away, namely adopt a child. Partly because of understanding fantasy, not only in writing it but having believed such in his formative years, David is ultimately convinced by Sophie, the manager of the home, that he should consider adopting Dennis, an adolescent who is largely a loner in his belief that he is a Martian, his ultimate mission to make it "home". David gets a reluctant approval from the adoption board to proceed with Dennis, their hesitance in Dennis being classified as special needs and David being single. With help from his sister Liz, who jokes that her own two sons are the spawn of the devil, and his platonic friend Harlee, a landscaper who could be more if he opened his eyes to the possibility, David tries to connect with Dennis, which may be more challenging than he anticipated in Dennis' behavior all in light of his belief of being from Mars, and, by association, what he does to try and make it home. The situation is made more difficult as David has to finish his next book, his contractual obligation in it being the next in his Dracoban series. —Huggo
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