A Death in the House (Simak)
Short summary
A small farm in rural Wisconsin, presumably the 1950s. While hunting his cows in the woods, Old Mose Abrams found a dying alien creature.
He carried it home, but the doctor could not help, and it died overnight. The town refused it a burial, so Mose buried it in his garden with a glass ball from its pouch and hid its wrecked cage-like ship.
Soon a strange plant grew from the grave and turned into a new, young alien.
Together they repaired the ship, but it needed silver. Mose gave up his kettle of silver dollars, and they melted it down. Before leaving, the alien shook his hand and left a glowing glass ball that filled Mose with happiness, as if friends were near. Out in space, the alien thought about giving away its Companion:
It perhaps was a foolish thing to do, but the old creature had been such a kind savage, so fumbling and so pitiful and eager to help. And one who travels far and fast must likewise travel light.
Detailed summary
Division into sections is editorial.
A sick stranger in the woods
Old Mose Abrams, who had lived alone for nearly ten years, went into the woods to find his cows.
In the woods he found an injured alien struggling to crawl into hazel bushes and making faint, frightened cries.
The creature was green and shiny, with purple spots and a terrible smell. Its head had no face, only a moving fringe that seemed to produce its cries. Mose was frightened and disgusted, but he could not abandon a suffering creature. When he finally touched it, he found it warm and firm, like a green cornstalk, rather than cold or slimy.
He carried it home, feeling less afraid as it quieted and seemed to snuggle against him. He chose the house rather than the barn, laid it on his bed beside the kitchen stove, and stirred up the fire. Under a dirty blanket, it grew more comfortable:
It had quieted down a lot and seemed more comfortable than it had out in the woods. He tucked the blanket snug around it with a tenderness that surprised himself.
Mose promised to care for it despite not knowing how to feed it. After his evening chores, he decided to call a doctor.
The crashed cage, the doctor's visit, and a lonely death
After arranging a visit, Mose wondered whether the stranger had companions. He searched the woods by lantern light and found a large metal cage wrapped around a hickory tree. Broken branches showed where it had crashed down. He could not pull it loose and assumed it had carried the creature from somewhere far away. He returned home without finding any other travelers.
Doctor Benson arrived and was astonished by the strange patient on Mose's bed.
After examining it, he admitted that he could neither diagnose nor treat it. He was a human doctor, and he was not even certain whether the creature was an animal or a plant. He suggested contacting the university at Madison. Mose described finding it but kept the damaged cage to himself.
Mose paid him in silver dollars and sat beside the bed, hoping his guest would recover and stay. His wife and his dog were dead, and he had never replaced either companionship. Unknown to his neighbors, he also kept a kettle filled with silver dollars beneath the living-room floor.
He fell asleep in his chair. Before dawn he woke and found the alien cold, rigid, and drying like a dead cornstalk. It had died while he slept.
The town refuses a decent burial
After finishing his chores, Mose shaved, put on his good suit, and drove to town. The cemetery secretary sold him another plot after Mose explained that the family plot had room only for himself and his wife. Mose said that a stranger he had found in the woods had died.
He next visited Albert Jones, the undertaker, hoping to arrange a proper funeral.
The undertaker called Doctor Benson about a death certificate. On learning that the body was not human, he refused to handle it and warned that burying it in the cemetery was illegal.
Mose then asked the local minister to say a few words over a grave on his farm.
He explained the whole story and argued that the creature was one of God's living things, even if it was not human. The minister considered the request but refused because he doubted the church would approve. Mose drove home discouraged and angry that no one would help him give the stranger a decent burial.
A secret grave and a confrontation with the sheriff
Mose dug a grave in a corner of his garden. With no boards left for a coffin, he wrapped the body in an old white linen tablecloth. While preparing it, he discovered a slit in its chest containing a cloudy glass ball slightly larger than a tennis ball. The ball felt as lifeless as the body. He put it back, carried the body outside, and spoke a few words before covering it.
To keep strangers from disturbing the grave, he left no mound or cross. He used a horse to pull the crashed cage free and hid it in the machine shed. Then he plowed the entire garden so that the burial place could not be distinguished.
Sheriff Doyle arrived as Mose finished and asked to see the dead stranger.
Mose refused to reveal the grave. When the sheriff questioned the burial's legality, Mose argued that a nonhuman, unowned creature involved neither a crime against a person nor damage to property. He explained why he had acted:
To me it was just a living thing that needed help real bad. It was alive and it had its dignity and in death it commanded some respect. When the rest of you refused it decent burial, I did the best I could.
The sheriff gave up and drove away. After his chores, Mose faced a silent house again.
Curious visitors and a strange plant
A reporter questioned Mose, then published a story that made fun of him. A university professor later brought the article to the farm and apologized for the reporter's behavior.
The professor asked many questions and wanted to examine the body, but Mose refused to disturb its peace. Other curious visitors and neighbors came until his blunt replies drove them away.
Working in the garden, Mose found a strange, fleshy plant growing from the grave. Instead of pulling it up, he left its heavy, curling green leaves to develop.
Later, the president of a flying saucer club arrived, demanding further information.
Mose said he had not spoken with the creature and lied about finding any vehicle. When the visitor lectured him about withholding information, Mose fetched his shotgun, and the man quickly left.
The creature returns and the cage is repaired
One morning the creature that had grown from the plant stood at Mose's door, alive and youthful again.
For here was the creature he’d found in the woods, no longer sick and keening, no longer close to death, but full of life and youth. It was not the same entirely, though.
Mose welcomed it and took it along while he did his chores. It could not answer him, eat breakfast, or bend to sit in a chair, but he was glad to have someone to talk to. In the garden, an empty husk lay where the plant had stood.
In the shed, the creature recognized the damaged cage and asked for help through gestures. It showed Mose how to release each bar by applying pressure at precise angles. When he tried to heat a bar in the forge, it stopped him, so he hammered the metal cold. Together they restored the bent bars over four exhausting days, while his hay waited to be cut. The bars slipped easily back into place.
The creature then examined the basketlike mechanism on top of the cage. It needed material for further repairs, but none of Mose's available metals was right. Mose was secretly glad it could not leave.
The next morning, Mose knocked a cigar box from the cupboard and scattered his silver dollars. The creature eagerly gathered them, showing that silver was the missing material. Mose gave it the box, but it stacked the coins and indicated that it needed many more.
Mose thought of the kettle hidden beneath the floor. His savings had been a comfort, and surrendering them would also allow his companion to leave. He protested that he had already given enough, but could not convince himself. Finally he lifted the floorboards and brought out the kettle, delighting the creature.
They carried the money to the shed, where Mose melted his hard-saved dollars in the forge. The creature poured the silver into the basket mechanism and shaped it with careful hammer taps. By evening the repairs were complete, and almost all the silver was gone.
The creature waited while Mose did his chores, then followed him inside. He could scarcely talk, knowing that it would leave. Without either the creature or his money, the house would be lonelier than ever.
In bed he sensed an immense loneliness between the stars and an urgent search for something he could not define. He realized these thoughts came from the creature, then fell asleep.
At dawn they dragged the cage outside. Before entering, the creature returned to clasp Mose's hand and left a small round object in it. Then it touched the controls and vanished with the cage.
The crystal companion and the traveler's final gift
Mose opened his hand and found a crystal like the cloudy ball he had buried, except that this one glowed with inner fire. As he looked at it, comfort replaced grief:
Looking at it, he had the strange feeling of a happiness and comfort such as he had seldom known before, as if there were many people with him and all of them were friends.
He pocketed it and went for his milk pails, whistling. He thought the farewell and the gift's sentimental value explained his happiness.
Out in space, the traveler lacked its Companion and might not soon find another. It had given it to the kind old farmer because it had nothing else to offer.