but having resisted , josette began to wonder : the people sifting through the wreckage , the water dripping from the roof , gaskin shrugging , the stark photos of the crash all of it seemed to press in on her , and suddenly her mind leapt beyond : to the flash in the sky , to a young boy she recalled from one of the hiroshima panels looking up in stark surprise , his face reflecting the harsh reds and whites of the explosion ... and then the bodies and debris falling .