Both case and machine were gone. That was a real blow. Cory and I both use that machine to make, alter, and repair clothing for the family. I had thought I might even be able to earn some money with the machine, sewing for other people in the neighborhood. Now the machine is gone. Sewing for the family will have to be done by hand. It will take much more time, and may not look like what we’re used to. Bad. Hard. But not a fatal blow. Cory cried over the loss of her machine, but we can get along without it. She’s just being worn down by one blow after another.
We’ll adapt. We’ll have to. God is Change.
Strange how much it helps me to remember that.
Curtis Talcott just came to my window to tell me that the firemen have found charred bodies and bones in the ashes of the Payne-Parrish house. The police are here, taking reports of the robberies and the obvious arson. I told Cory. She can tell Wardell Parrish or let the cops tell him. He’s lying down on one of our living room couches. I doubt that he’s sleeping. Even though I’ve never liked him, I feel sorry for him. He’s lost his home and his family. He’s the only survivor. What must that be like?
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2026
I don’t know how long it can last, but in some way that I suspect is not quite legal, Cory has taken over part of the job Dad held for so long. She’ll give the classes Dad gave. With the computer hookups we have already in place, she’ll issue assignments, receive homework, and be available for phone and compu-conferences. The administrative part of Dad’s work will be handled by someone else who can use the extra money, and who is willing to show up at the college more often than once or twice a month. It will be as though Dad were still teaching, but had decided to give up his other responsibilities.
Cory has arranged this by pleading and begging, by crying and cajoling and calling in every favor and every friend she could think of. People at the college know her. She taught there before Bennett’s birth, before she saw the need here and began the front-room school that serves all the children of the neighborhood. Dad was all for her quitting the college because he didn’t want her going back and forth outside, exposed to all the dangers that involved. The neighbors pay a per-kid fee, but it isn’t much. No one could support a household on it.
Now Cory will have to go outside again. She’s already drafting men and older boys in the neighborhood to escort her when she has to go out.
There are plenty of unemployed men here, and Cory will be paying them a small fee.
So in a few days, the new term will start and Cory will do Dad’s work— while I do her work. I’ll handle the school with help from her and from Russel Dory, Joanne and Harry’s grandfather. He used to be a highschool math teacher. He’s been retired for years, but he’s still sharp. I don’t think I need his help, but Cory does, and he’s willing, so that’s that.
Alex Montoya and Kayla Talcott will take over Dad’s preaching and other church work. Neither is ordained, but both have substituted for Dad in the past. Both have authority in the community and the church. And, of course, both know their Bible.
This is how we will survive and hold together. It will work. I don’t know how long it will last, but for now, it will work.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30,
2026
Wardell Parrish has finally dragged himself back to his people— to the part of his family that he lived with before he and his sister inherited the Sims house.
He’s stayed with us since his sister and all her children were killed. Cory gave him some of Dad’s clothes which were too big for him. Much too big.
He wandered around, not talking, not seeming to see anything, not eating enough… . Then yesterday he said, like a little boy, “I want to go home. I can’t stay here. I hate it here; everyone’s dead! I have to go home.”
So today Wyatt Talcott, Michael, and Curtis escorted him home. Poor man. He’s years older than he was a week ago. I think he may not live much longer.
2027
We are Earthseed. We are flesh—
self-aware, questing,
problem-solving flesh. We are thataspect of Earthlife best able toshape God knowingly. We areEarthlife maturing, Earthlife preparing to fall away from theparent world. We are Earthlifepreparing to take root in newground, Earthlife fulfilling itspurpose, its promise, its Destiny.
EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING
by Lauren Oya Olamina
14
In order to rise
From its own ashes
A phoenix
First
Must
Burn.
EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING
SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2027—
MORNING
Last night, when I escaped from the neighborhood, it was burning. The houses, the trees, the people: Burning.
Smoke awoke me, and I shouted down the hall to Cory and the boys. I grabbed my clothes and emergency pack and followed Cory as she herded the boys out.
The bell never rang. Our watchers must have been killed before they could reach it.
Everything was chaos. People running, screaming, shooting. The gate had been destroyed. Our attackers had driven an ancient truck through it.
