Would you go to Mars?

I want to be an animal among animals.

Inspired by a conversation with a friend and Joanna Bagniewska’s A Modern Bestiary.

“Would you go to Mars?”

I hesitated. “Safety guaranteed,” he added, tone suggesting an obvious answer. (Who wouldn't want to go to space?)

“I couldn't.”

There are no creatures on Mars: no fireflies, no frogs so small you can't believe they exist, no rare snails on the edge of a hot spring's pool. There are no sleepy dogs to welcome you home, no grizzly bears across the river, no foxes carrying prey. How could I smile in a world without scrub jays? Sans squirrels? Bereft of deer?

I want to be an animal among animals.