RED CHAIR TO MARS

Robert Conover

Travis Adkins has left the building.
The old gentleman who has lived down
the hall from us since before either you
or I ever got here.  The one who had
inherited the recliner in his apartment
that was supposed to have belonged to
that former moon astronaut in his single
days at the space center.  Everyone knew
his dream: to be the first man to land on
the planet Mars.  
Appropriately, the chair is red and to hear
Travis talk about it, you would think he
realized vicariously its former owner's
wish after he switched from using the
chair to watch the local baseball team to
reading the classic science fiction work of
the likes of Bradbury and Asimov.  The
way he would describe in vivid detail the
canals and Mars' distinctly red surface!
Now here is an interesting tidbit you
might or not know:  Travis was never
even up in a plane.
And now he is departed.
And, oh yes, so is the red chair.