They called her foulmouthed. They were not of this world but of Mars. Her mouth was foul because she had eaten a lot of mint. The mint smelled foul in her mouth. She was a mother--but not one who spent much time with her children. One of her children swam competitively. He also held his breath competitively, and, each time he outlasted an opponent, he lowered his test scores. Her other child stripped in the open. Her mouth once had things in it. They happened to surprise her--what since they came from Mars. They were not of this world, so they had patience few--especially this mother or her son or her daughter--had ever seen. She had a square piece of wood in her mouth. A block that kept foul out. They were a little gross themselves. They licked things up. They happened to lick certain things up. Her son won some sort of competition in a salt water pool, and, afterwards, he did yell a lot. Her daughter stripped in public. What was it that made them a family? It was their arms and legs--especially when they held or clenched them. She was foulmouthed--not at all ready to show her children what an animal would come naturally to.

It was when he was sick that they started to hamper him however they could. He was happier than many animals he had fed. He fed cats and lizards, and he was happier than most of them. He had a turtle, and he knew it would be a legacy pet--a pet that would live long after he died. He'd have to find a future person for it, his legacy pet. He knew of fish in the Marianas Trench that lived for over 100 years. Parrots lived long lives. Some scorpions lived for over fifteen years. He was so sick that, even if he were to buy a mouse, it would be a legacy pet. If he were to buy a feeder mouse, even that would be a legacy pet. And he knew that feeder mice lived far shorter lives than other mice. He once had a mouse that had long fur--what's more, its fur was the color of champagne. When he had been healthier, he would regularly mow his lawn. His mower had been electric, and he had had no choice but to plug it in in his kitchen. In the same socket the accepted the plug from his toaster. In his house, he had painted ivy over his main door. He did not have all the ivy, though, because it was his mother who had done it. She had started the project and had finished three quarters of it--but then she died. So he can look at one last leaf and one last green curly cue and know that was the last thing that squirmed in her mind.

The chafe between her son's legs was great. He ran around for most of a day and got a chafe. He son spent much of the day in the ocean. He caught waves with a luncheon tray. But he chafed between his legs. She was not a person who planted anything. She never planted anything. When her son slept, she put dirt in his hair. He had ears that stank. He chafed. The ocean was not ready to have people in it. It was cloudy and had sewage in it. Lots of bubbles, and it stank. The surgeonfish has orange razors on its tail. The Portuguese Man O' Was will sting. Her children all drew horses on her walls. So she took kitchen matches to their drawings and blackened her walls a little. She was told that if she made a large fire on her dining room table the flames would reach up and draw designs on her ceiling. The designs would be full of portent. But she didn't do it. Her one son filled a bag full of water and stepped into it. Her daughter drew on herself--on her face. Very little revealed itself to this family. Whenever they went to the ocean, they had to rent a van.