"About an hour and a half, if I had to guess," Autor says, highly amused at her cute little snort.

The boy finishes his salad, and just in time, too. He reaches for his and her soups, and passes hers to her. Two government agents check out a burnt astronaut's reentry capsule on the screen, which doesn't look big enough to hold a person, setting up the plot properly.

"Douglas was pear-shaped, very short, and stood the whole way!"