Chapter 1 – Page 73
In today’s update, Si is introduced to a potted history of post-war reconstruction architecture.
A topic of fantastically little interest to a jaded pre-teen is brought into sharp relief when she realises exactly why someone might be interested in knocking all these places down at once with minimum warning.
↓ Transcript
Panel 1:
Si slouches under a railway arch. There’s tons of mood lighting.
SI (box): I didn’t know what I was looking for.
SI (box): Like, I played a tune and saw V2 impact sites in my head. Everything was super-clear in that moment, but the more I trudged, the fuzzier that moment got.
Panel 2:
Si stares up at a tower block.
SI (box): Every step I thought “whacha doin’, Si? This is dumb. This is a dumb thing you’re doing. Go back before you get into even more trouble.”
SI (box): At some point it stopped being about getting at the truth and turned a pride thing. I couldn’t go back after chucking everyone’s goodwill in their faces like this, it’d be embarrassing.
Panel 3:
Si leans out over Holborn Viaduct, staring at a cube dropped in the middle of a Victorian street.
SI (box): I had a hunch, and every rocket site I saw backed that hunch up - every spot a V2 hit, someone had dropped a cube after it like it’d landed from planet Mars.
SI (box): I thought it was funny when we first moved in that our house looked different to all the other houses.
SI (box): Y’know, for, like, a minute or so. Who’s got the time of day to care about a bunch of old buildings?
Panel 4:
Si stares at another tower block. There’s activity on the upper levels - laundry being dried and kids chatting on balconies.
SI (box): But something clicked when I checked the estates.
SI (box): Stanton Estate had been on the list too - didn’t think nuffing of it at the time, weren’t like I could check it out with the fuzz on me - but tons of other places on the list were just like it.
Panel 5:
We see the upper floors more closely, and all the life milling about in it.
SI (box): Dad had made me so scared of these dumps that I’d never really looked at them before.
SI (box): The people. The lives they’d built. Spilling outta every crack in the place. Like a human forest sprouting into the sky.
SI (box): They weren’t “dumps.” They’d never been dumps.
Panel 6:
We see Si staring up, eyes widening in realisation.
SI (box): The only reason I was properly looking for the first time at these homes that real breathing people lived in was cuz someone wanted to turn them into rubble.
SI (box): And I suddenly got why someone would wanna do that.
Si slouches under a railway arch. There’s tons of mood lighting.
SI (box): I didn’t know what I was looking for.
SI (box): Like, I played a tune and saw V2 impact sites in my head. Everything was super-clear in that moment, but the more I trudged, the fuzzier that moment got.
Panel 2:
Si stares up at a tower block.
SI (box): Every step I thought “whacha doin’, Si? This is dumb. This is a dumb thing you’re doing. Go back before you get into even more trouble.”
SI (box): At some point it stopped being about getting at the truth and turned a pride thing. I couldn’t go back after chucking everyone’s goodwill in their faces like this, it’d be embarrassing.
Panel 3:
Si leans out over Holborn Viaduct, staring at a cube dropped in the middle of a Victorian street.
SI (box): I had a hunch, and every rocket site I saw backed that hunch up - every spot a V2 hit, someone had dropped a cube after it like it’d landed from planet Mars.
SI (box): I thought it was funny when we first moved in that our house looked different to all the other houses.
SI (box): Y’know, for, like, a minute or so. Who’s got the time of day to care about a bunch of old buildings?
Panel 4:
Si stares at another tower block. There’s activity on the upper levels - laundry being dried and kids chatting on balconies.
SI (box): But something clicked when I checked the estates.
SI (box): Stanton Estate had been on the list too - didn’t think nuffing of it at the time, weren’t like I could check it out with the fuzz on me - but tons of other places on the list were just like it.
Panel 5:
We see the upper floors more closely, and all the life milling about in it.
SI (box): Dad had made me so scared of these dumps that I’d never really looked at them before.
SI (box): The people. The lives they’d built. Spilling outta every crack in the place. Like a human forest sprouting into the sky.
SI (box): They weren’t “dumps.” They’d never been dumps.
Panel 6:
We see Si staring up, eyes widening in realisation.
SI (box): The only reason I was properly looking for the first time at these homes that real breathing people lived in was cuz someone wanted to turn them into rubble.
SI (box): And I suddenly got why someone would wanna do that.
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