Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Author:Octavia Butler
Language: pt
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-02-26T17:59:53+00:00

15

Kindness eases Change.

EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2027

Harry slept most of the day today. Zahra and I took turns staying with him. He has a concussion, at least, and he needs time to heal. We haven't talked about what we'll do if he gets sicker instead of healing. Zahra doesn't want to abandon him because he fought to save her. I don't want to abandon him because I've known him all my life.

He's a good guy. I wonder if there's some way to get in touch with the Garfields. They would give him a home, or at least see that he has medical care.

But he doesn't seem to be getting worse. He totters out to the fenced back yard to urinate. He eats the food and drinks the water that I give him. With no need for discussion, we're eating and drinking sparingly from my supplies. They're all we have.

Soon we'll have to risk going out to buy more. But today, Sunday, is a day of rest and healing for us.

The pain of Harry's headache and his bruised, beaten body are almost welcome to me. They're distractions. Along with Zahra's talking and crying for her dead daughter, they fill my mind.

Their misery eases my own, somehow. It gives me moments when I don't think about my family.

Everyone is dead. But how can they be? Everyone?

Zahra has a soft, little-girl voice that I used to think was phony. It's real, but it takes on a sandpaper roughness when she's upset. It sounds painful, as though it's abrading her throat as she speaks.

She had seen her daughter killed, seen the blue face who shot Bibi as Zahra ran, carrying her. She believed the blue face was enjoying himself, shooting at all the moving targets. She said his expression reminded her of a man having sex.

"I fell down," she whispered. "I thought I was dead. I thought he had killed me. There was blood. Then I saw Bibi's head drop to one side. A red face grabbed her from me. I didn't see where he came from. He grabbed her and threw her into the Hsu house. The house was burning everywhere. He threw her into the fire.

"I went crazy then. I don't know what I did.

Somebody grabbed me, then I was free, then somebody shoved me down and fell on me. I couldn't get my breath, and he tore my clothes. Then he was on me, and I couldn't do nothing. That's when I saw your mother, your brothers. . . .

"Then Harry was there, and he pulled the bastard off me. He told me later that I was screaming. I don't know what I was doing. He was beating up the guy he'd pulled off me when a new guy jumped him. I hit the new guy with a rock and Harry knocked the other one out. Then we got away. We just ran. We didn't sleep. He hid between two unwalled houses down the street away from the fire until a guy came out with an ax and chased us away.

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