“I couldn’t make much sense out of her. You know she been gettin’ stranger and stranger after she come out the hospital. How is she anyway?”
“Same, I guess. Not so hot.”
“No? Laura, I know, was doing her cooking and things. Is she still?”
“No. I put her out.”
“Put her out? What for?”
“She made me nervous.”
“But she was doing it for nothing, Sula.”
“That’s what you think. She was stealing right and left.”
“Since when did you get froggy about folks’ stealing?”
Sula smiled. “OK. I lied. You wanted a reason.”
“Well, give me the real one.”
“I don’t know the real one. She just didn’t belong in that house. Digging around in the cupboards, picking up pots and ice picks…”
“You sure have changed. That house was always full of people digging in cupboards and carrying on.”
“That’s the reason, then.”
“Sula. Come on, now.”
“You’ve changed too. I didn’t used to have to explain everything to you.”
Nel blushed. “Who’s feeding the deweys and Tar Baby? You?”
“Sure me. Anyway Tar Baby don’t eat and the deweys still crazy.”
“I heard one of ’em’s mamma came to take him back but didn’t know which was hern.”
“Don’t nobody know.”
“And Eva? You doing the work for her too?”
“Well, since you haven’t heard it, let me tell you. Eva’s real sick. I had her put where she could be watched and taken care of.”
“Where would that be?”
“Out by Beechnut.”
“You mean that home the white church run? Sula! That ain’t no place for Eva. All them women is dirt poor with no people at all. Mrs. Wilkens and them. They got dropsy and can’t hold their water—crazy as loons. Eva’s odd, but she got sense. I don’t think that’s right, Sula.”
“I’m scared of her, Nellie. That’s why…”
“Scared? Of Eva?”
“You don’t know her. Did you know she burnt Plum?”
“Oh, I heard that years ago. But nobody put no stock in it.”
“They should have. It’s true. I saw it. And when I got back here she was planning to do it to me too.”
“Eva? I can’t hardly believe that. She almost died trying to get to your mother.”
Sula leaned forward, her elbows on the table. “You ever known me to lie to you?”
“No. But you could be mistaken. Why would Eva…”
“All I know is I’m scared. And there’s no place else for me to go. We all that’s left, Eva and me. I guess I should have stayed gone. I didn’t know what else to do. Maybe I should have talked to you about it first. You always had better sense than me. Whenever I was scared before, you knew just what to do.”
The closed place in the water spread before them. Nel put the iron on the stove. The situation was clear to her now. Sula, like always, was incapable of making any but the most trivial decisions. When it came to matters of grave importance, she behaved emotionally and irresponsibly and left it to others to straighten out. And when fear struck her, she did unbelievable things. Like that time with her finger. Whatever those hunkies did, it wouldn’t have been as bad as what she did to herself. But Sula was so scared she had mutilated herself, to protect herself.
“What should I do, Nellie? Take her back and sleep with my door locked again?”
“No. I guess it’s too late anyway. But let’s work out a plan for taking care of her. So she won’t be messed over.”
“Anything you say.”
“What about money? She got any?”
Sula shrugged. “The checks come still. It’s not much, like it used to be. Should I have them made over to me?”
“Can you? Do it, then. We can arrange for her to have special comforts. That place is a mess, you know. A doctor don’t never set foot in there. I ain’t figured out yet how they stay alive in there as long as they do.”
“Why don’t I have the checks made over to you, Nellie? You better at this than I am.”
