Pete from Mars

Often the boys

around the neighborhood

would gather at the ball field

for a pickup game of baseball.

When he showed up for the first time,

he introduced himself as Pete.

Pete played right field;

I played center.

During one inning,

from out of the clear blue,

Pete informed me

that he was from Mars!

I never made sport of him

because I liked Pete.

He was a great ball player.

If players like him

came from outer space

then I was in favor

of more aliens playing!

We were always

short on players.

I never was able

to muster up the courage

to ask Pete

if there were any others like him

back on Mars.

I was just tickled pink

that he came down to earth

to play ball with us!

Later that summer

I learned that Pete

lived in a foster home.

I just let on to Pete

like I didn't know.

He never spoke

of his personal life,

only that he was from Mars.

No one seemed to mind.

With an arm and

a swing like Pete's,

he played as if

he was from

another planet.

Come to think of it,

Pete enjoyed

playing on the infield.

It must have reminded him

of the Martian soil

back home.

I was too young to understand

that Pete came from a world

from which I never knew.

By summer's end,

Pete left without a word.

I knew I would never

see Pete again;

his Mars was so far away

from my world,

except for a ball,

a glove, and

a bat.