Plot: 8/9. I favor the mystery and the sentiment within this story more than the world-building and the description of the Martian environment. None the less, it had a complete drama structure considering the circumstance that at the end of story when the mystery was dissolved, the conflict came to its zenith and ended this story with an impressive tragedy and melancholic sentimentality.
LaFarge found a little boy like Tom, his long dead son, standing in his yard on a rainy night, so he left the door unhatched and acquiesced the strange boy to enter his house, who came in finally and acted as his son. When dubious LaFarge asked him whether it was the allegedly Martian that could mutate their appearance to approach humanity, it went off on one and then ran out of the door directly, leaving LaFarge regretting his own indiscreet garrulity.
Tom returned home in the afternoon claiming he was once trapped by a small tin house and nearly couldn’t come back ever again, though unwilling to give more information on it. Later, LaFarge heard that one murderer in the tin house saw his victim came back from Earth and ended his own life out of fear and guilt.
At night, Anna, LaFarge’s wife, commanded everyone to go to town despite Tom’s strong rejection out of his extreme fear of the people and he even murmured something about changing and trap in his nap on boat. Upon arrival, Tom asked LaFarge to stick with him tightly, which LaFarge obeyed until, unfortunately, they were careened apart by a group of the drunken.
Tom disappeared immediately regardless of their evocation and searching. At first they kept calm and thought Tom would reappear at the boat, which, of course, didn’t work.
Mike told desperate LaFarge the Spauldings found their long lost daughter Lavinia on the street, so he sneaked into the Spauldings’ yard and confirmed the Martian was there. The Martian told him that it was easily caught by people’s ideals in their minds, obliged to meet human’s needs and could not determine its own fate. Though at first it rejected LaFarge’s recall, yet it finally obeyed LaFarge’s will and slid down through the vines.
In order to escape the Spauldings, LaFarge volunteered to lead them off for Tom to go ahead to the boat. But the boy wasn’t there when he came back until he found lots of people were chasing after a silver running figure in the plaza.
in the end, a large number of people all surrounded Tom and claimed that figure was someone that they recognized and consequently wanted Tom them including LaFarge, which caused the poor Martian to change its shape for whoever touched him and finally exploded out of overload.
In bed, the melancholic LaFarge heard something again, nevertheless, this time his expectation didn’t come true when he checked the door.