Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [640]

That old dream of his. For reasons that make sense to him alone, he’s always wanted to go to L.A. Any sane person would be thankful for the twenty miles that separate us from that oozing sore. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 640

Note

Three sentences that shift register from flat summary to free indirect mockery. ‘That old dream of his’ is dismissive by syntax alone, and ‘an oozing sore’ is the kind of wound-image Lauren reaches for — the city figured as an infected body the twenty miles keeps at a sanitary distance. It also quietly maps Keith’s wanting against Lauren’s own longing to get out.