but. sethe was pregnant in the spring and by august is so heavy with child she may not be able to keep up with the men, who can carry the children but not her.
but. neighbors discouraged by garner when he was alive now feel free to visit sweet home andmight appear in the right place at the wrong time.
but. sethe's children cannot play in the kitchen anymore, so she is dashing back and forth betweenhouse and quarters-fidgety and frustrated trying to watch over them. they are too young for men'swork and the baby girl is nine months old. without mrs. garner's help her work increases as doschoolteacher's demands.
but. after the conversation about the shoat, sixo is tied up with the stock at night, and locks areput on bins, pens, sheds, coops, the tackroom and the barn door. there is no place to dart into orcongregate. sixo keeps a nail in his mouth now, to help him undo the rope when he has to.
but. halle is told to work his extra on sweet home and has no call to be anywhere other thanwhere schoolteacher tells him. only sixo, who has been stealing away to see his woman, andhalle, who has been hired away for years, know what lies outside sweet home and how to getthere.
it is a good plan. it can be done right under the watchful pupils and their teacher.
but. they had to alter it — just a little. first they change the leaving. they memorize thedirections halle gives them. sixo, needing time to untie himself, break open the door and notdisturb the horses, will leave later, joining them at the creek with the thirty-mile woman. all fourwill go straight to the corn. halle, who also needs more time now, because of sethe, decides tobring her and the children at night; not wait till first light. they will go straight to the corn and notassemble at the creek. the corn stretches to their shoulders — it will never be higher. the moon isswelling. they can hardly harvest, or chop, or clear, or pick, or haul for listening for a rattle that isnot bird or snake. then one midmorning, they hear it. or halle does and begins to sing it to theothers: "hush, hush. somebody's calling my name. hush, hush. somebody's calling my name. omy lord, o my lord, what shall i do?"on his dinner break he leaves the field. he has to. he has to tell sethe that he has heard the sign.
for two successive nights she has been with mrs. garner and he can't chance it that she will notknow that this night she cannot be. the pauls see him go. from underneath brother's shade wherethey are chewing corn cake, they see him, swinging along. the bread tastes good. they lick sweatfrom their lips to give it a saltier flavor. schoolteacher and his pupils are already at the houseeating dinner. halle swings along. he is not singing now.
nobody knows what happened. except for the churn, that was the last anybody ever saw of halle.
what paul d knew was that halle disappeared, never told sethe anything, and was next seensquatting in butter. maybe when he got to the gate and asked to see sethe, schoolteacher heard atint of anxiety in his voice — the tint that would make him pick up his ever-ready shotgun. maybehalle made the mistake of saying "my wife" in some way that would put a light in schoolteacher'seye. sethe says now that she heard shots, but did not look out the window of mrs. garner'sbedroom. but halle was not killed or wounded that day because paul d saw him later, after shehad run off with no one's help; after sixo laughed and his brother disappeared. saw him greasedand flat-eyed as a fish. maybe schoolteacher shot after him, shot at his feet, to remind him of thetrespass. maybe halle got in the barn, hid there and got locked in with the rest of schoolteacher'sstock. maybe anything. he disappeared and everybody was on his own.
paul a goes back to moving timber after dinner. they are to meet at quarters for supper. he nevershows up. paul d leaves for the creek on time, believing, hoping, paul a has gone on ahead;certain schoolteacher has learned something. paul d gets to the creek and it is as dry as sixopromised. he waits there with the thirty-mile woman for sixo and paul a. only sixo shows up,his wrists bleeding, his tongue licking his lips like a flame.
"you see paul a?""no.""halle?""no.""no sign of them?""no sign. nobody in quarters but the children.""sethe?""her children sleep. she must be there still.""i can't leave without paul a.""i can't help you.""should i go back and look for them?""i can't help you.""what you think?""i think they go straight to the corn."
