Wild Seed (Gollancz SF Collectors' Edition) by Octavia E. Butler

Author:Octavia E. Butler
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780575071452
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 1980-07-15T02:38:44.296000+00:00

Nweke and Doro were in the kitchen popping corn and drinking beer when Isaac and Anyanwu came in. The bed had been remade and Nweke had been properly dressed and cautioned against even the appearance of brazenness. "Let her be angry at me," Doro had said, "not at you. Say nothing."

"I don't know how to think about her now," Nweke said. "My sisters whispered that we could never have you because of her. Sometimes I hated her. I thought she kept you for herself."

"Did she?"

". . . no." She glanced at him uncertainly. "I think she tried to protect us from you. She thought we needed it." Nweke shuddered. "What will she feel for me now?"

Doro did not know, and he did not intend to leave until he found out. Until he could see that any anger Anyanwu felt would do her daughter no harm.

"Maybe she won't find out," the girl said hopefully.

That was when Doro took her into the kitchen to investigate the stew Anyanwu had left simmering and the bread untended in its bake kettle, hot and tender, unburned in the coals. They set the table, then Nweke suggested beer and popcorn. Doro agreed, humoring her, hoping she would relax and not worry about facing her mother. She seemed peaceful and content when Isaac and Anyanwu came in, yet she avoided her mother's eyes. She stared down into her beer.

Doro saw Anyanwu frown, saw her go to Nweke and take the small chin in her fingers and raise it so that she could see Nweke's frightened eyes.

"Are you well?" she asked Nweke softly in her own language. She spoke perfect English now, along with Dutch and a few words of some Indian and foreign African dialects, but at home with her children, she often spoke as though she had never left home. She would not adopt a European name or call her children by their European names—though she had condescended to give them European names at Doro's insistence. Her children could speak and understand as well as she could. Even Isaac, after all the years, could understand and speak fairly well. No doubt, he heard as clearly as Doro and Nweke the wariness and tension in Anyanwu's soft question.

Nweke did not answer. Frightened, she glanced at Doro. Anyanwu followed the glance and her infant-clear, bright eyes took on a look of incongruous ferocity. She said nothing. She only stared with growing comprehension. Doro met her gaze levelly until she turned back to look at her daughter.

"Nweke, little one, are you well?" she whispered urgently.

Something happened within Nweke. She took Anyanwu's hands between her own, held them for a moment, smiling. Finally she laughed aloud—delighted child's laughter with no hint of falseness or gloating. "I'm well," she said. "I didn't know how well until this moment. It has been so long since there were no voices, nothing pulling at me or hurting me." Relief made her forget her fear. She met Anyanwu's eyes, her own eyes full of the wonder of her newfound peace.

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