Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [816]

I think this might have sounded weak or even pitiful somehow if it had been begun by a lesser voice. I think I might have sang it weakly. I’m only a fair singer. Kayla, on the other hand, has a big voice, beautiful, clear, and able to do everything she asks of it. Also, Kayla has a reputation for not moving unless she wants to. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 816

Note

The narrator sets up a counterfactual about her own inadequacy only to hand the moment to another woman — and the pivot is the double meaning of ‘not moving,’ which turns a spiritual’s refrain into a fact about Kayla’s character. The last sentence is a straight-faced joke that lands exactly where the hymn’s chorus sits.