"He saw them boys do that to me and let them keep on breathing air? He saw? He saw? He saw?"
"Hey! Hey! Listen up. Let me tell you something. A man ain't a goddamn ax. Chopping, hacking,busting every goddamn minute of the day. Things get to him. Things he can't chop down becausethey're inside."
Sethe was pacing up and down, up and down in the lamplight. "The underground agent said, BySunday. They took my milk and he saw it and didn't come down? Sunday came and he didn't. Monday came and no Halle. I thought he was dead, that's why; then I thought they caught him,that's why. Then I thought, No, he's not dead because if he was I'd know it, and then you comehere after all this time and you didn't say he was dead, because you didn't know either, so Ithought, Well, he just found him another better way to live. Because if he was anywhere near here,he'd come to Baby Suggs, if not to me. But I never knew he saw."
"What does that matter now?"
"If he is alive, and saw that, he won't step foot in my door. Not Halle."
"It broke him, Sethe." Paul D looked up at her and sighed. "You may as well know it all. Last timeI saw him he was sitting by the chum. He had butter all over his face."
Nothing happened, and she was grateful for that. Usually she could see the picture right away ofwhat she heard. But she could not picture what Paul D said. Nothing came to mind. Carefully,carefully, she passed on to a reasonable question.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing."
"Not a word?"
"Not a word."