The Musicians [April 2003/2034]

First appeared in The Martian Chronicles.

Several boys venture into the ruins of Martian cities. They enter houses and play with the debris, imagining that they are on earth playing with the autumn leaves. They have fun playing "white xylophones"—Martian ribcages. They play with a sense of urgency because the firemen, men whose job is to clean up the ruins of Martian cities, will presently come and clean everything up, eliminating this source of fun.