then she went on: what about this? what about that? said she knew halle was no trouble, but shewanted to know if schoolteacher was handling the pauls all right and sixo.

"yes, ma'am," i said. "look like it.""do they do what he tells them?""they don't need telling.""good. that's a mercy. i should be back downstairs in a day or two. i just need more rest. doctor'sdue back. tomorrow, is it?" "you said features, ma'am?""what?""features?""umm. like, a feature of summer is heat. a characteristic is a feature. a thing that's natural to athing.""can you have more than one?""you can have quite a few. you know. say a baby sucks its thumb. that's one, but it has otherstoo. keep billy away from red corn. mr. garner never let her calve every other year. sethe, youhear me? come away from that window and listen.""yes, ma'am.""ask my brother-in-law to come up after supper.""yes, ma'am.""if you'd wash your hair you could get rid of that lice.""ain't no lice in my head, ma'am.""whatever it is, a good scrubbing is what it needs, not scratching.

don't tell me we're out of soap.""no, ma'am.""all right now. i'm through. talking makes me tired.""yes, ma'am.""and thank you, sethe.""yes, ma'am."you was too little to remember the quarters. your brothers slept under the window. me, you andyour daddy slept by the wall. the night after i heard why schoolteacher measured me, i had troublesleeping. when halle came in i asked him what he thought about schoolteacher. he said therewasn't nothing to think about. said, he's white, ain't he? i said, but i mean is he like mr. garner?

"what you want to know, sethe?""him and her," i said, "they ain't like the whites i seen before. the ones in the big place i wasbefore i came here.""how these different?" he asked me.

"well," i said, "they talk soft for one thing.""it don't matter, sethe. what they say is the same. loud or soft.""mr. garner let you buy out your mother," i said.

"yep. he did.""well?""if he hadn't of, she would of dropped in his cooking stove.""still, he did it. let you work it off.""uh huh.""wake up, halle.""i said, uh huh.""he could of said no. he didn't tell you no.""no, he didn't tell me no. she worked here for ten years. if she worked another ten you think shewould've made it out? i pay him for her last years and in return he got you, me and three morecoming up. i got one more year of debt work; one more. schoolteacher in there told me to quit it.

said the reason for doing it don't hold. i should do the extra but here at sweet home.""is he going to pay you for the extra?""nope.""then how you going to pay it off? how much is it?""$123.7o.""don't he want it back?""he want something.""what?""i don't know. something, but he don't want me off sweet home no more. say it don't pay to havemy labor somewhere else while the boys is small.""what about the money you owe?""he must have another way of getting it.""what way?""i don't know, sethe.""then the only question is how? how he going get it?""no. that's one question. there's one more.""what's that?"he leaned up and turned over, touching my cheek with his knuckles. "the question now is, who'sgoing buy you out? or me? or her?" he pointed over to where you was laying.

"what?""if all my labor is sweet home, including the extra, what i got left to sell?"he turned over then and went back to sleep and i thought i wouldn't but i did too for a while.