Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [2175]

We want to bury the bones, but we don’t dare. It’s bothering Bankole. Bothering him a lot. I’ve suggested we hold a funeral and go ahead and bury the bones. The hell with the cops. But he says no. Best to give them as little provocation as possible. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 2175

Note

Craft: the dropped subject in “Bothering him a lot” mimics spoken emphasis, and the clipped back-and-forth (suggestion, refusal, rationale) renders an argument already worn smooth by repetition. The horror is bureaucratic — human remains treated as evidence that must be left in the open, undealt-with.