Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [879]

Where were the Paynes? Where was Wardell Parrish? Had anyone called the fire department? A house full of people, after all, it wasn’t like a burning garage. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 879

Note

Three questions in a row without answers, ending not on the biggest fear but on a deflationary comparison that makes the point sharper: a house is people, not property. The clipped interior voice here does the work that a longer paragraph of dread would do worse.