Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [362]

“Did Mr. Garfield give you back your book?” I asked. … “I loaned Joanne a book about California plants and the ways Indians used them. It was one of your books. I’m sorry I loaned it to her. It’s so neutral, I didn’t think it could cause trouble. But I guess it has.” — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 362

Note

The pivot from accusation to botany is funny and precise: Lauren has already told us the trick (‘the way to move Dad is to go at him from several directions’), and here we watch it work. The book about plants is both a real object she wants back and a test of whether she can steer the conversation — a small piece of stagecraft where the subject change is itself characterization.