The Theme of Trust in "Danger Word"

     In "Danger Word", the author engages with the notion of trust as being based on recognizable aspects of a situation, rather than an innate human impulse. Every relationship and action in this story is predicated on trust, since there is a constant risk of death and reanimation.
     Throughout the story, the character of Grandpa Joe assess the risk of persons and events, and bases his reactions from that. This is demonstrated in the character of the hitchhiker holding the sign "Still Here", who is ignored in spite of being a plausible refugee. The author shows that the scope of trust in another human being has been constricted since the event which led to the "freaks"; while Grandpa Joe would normally have given anyone a ride, he now contemplates running down any stranger on the side of the road as a precautionary measure. Thus, trust is shown to rely on recognizable phenomena. Individuals and circumstances that can be recognized are the sole objects of trust in this story, while everything else is  viewed with automatic suspicion.
    The element of fear in this story is based on the fact that there is a spectrum between the normal and infected. Because the infection progresses over a period of days, there is no way to tell absolutely between the infected and the unbitten. The absence of binary opposition, more than the fear of infection, drives the plot of the story. Without the uncertainty, much of the tension would vanish. Thus, the author demonstrates that when trust is based on something uncertain, there will always be tension, doubt, and reservations in the interactions between individuals.