The man ignored us and pressed on steadily. “Perhaps he is transporting a poor woman to Rickett’s Circus, like Mr. Carris said,” I suggested.
“She should be moved at night, when good people are safe in their beds. Now what is he doing?”
The man had stopped at the corner of High and Seventh, in front of our coffeehouse. Grandfather sped up. “Sir, I protest most vehe­mently!”
I lifted my skirts and ran ahead of Grandfather. An unnamed fear shot through me. My eyes filled with tears.
“No, this is too much,” Grandfather called angrily. “Sir,” he shouted. “Take that away from my home. Off with you now and take your cargo, or I should call the constable.”
The man turned back and looked at Grandfather, then lifted the handles of the wheelbarrow and dumped the woman on the street.
“Mother!” I screamed.

—Fever 1793,
Laurie Halse Anderson

Write a topic sentence for a paragraph that responds to this prompt: “How does this fictional account of the yellow fever epidemic help draw readers into the historical facts of the event.”