The news that Janey got hold of she spread among the other coloredwomen. Sethe's dead daughter,the one whose throat she cut, had come back to fix her. Sethe was worn down, speckled, dying,spinning, changing shapes and generally bedeviled. That this daughter beat her, tied her to the bedand pulled out all her hair. It took them days to get the story properly blown up and themselvesagitated and then to calm down and assess the situation. They fell into three groups: those thatbelieved the worst; those that believed none of it; and those, like Ella, who thought it through.

　　"Ella. What's all this I'm hearing about Sethe?""Tell me it's in there with her. That's all I know.""The daughter? The killed one?""That's what they tell me.""How they know that's her?""It's sitting there. Sleeps, eats and raises hell. Whipping Sethe every day.""I'll be. A baby?""No. Grown. The age it would have been had it lived.""You talking about flesh?""I'm talking about flesh.""whipping her?""Like she was batter.""Guess she had it coming.""Nobody got that coming.""But, Ella — ""But nothing. What's fair ain't necessarily right.""You can't just up and kill your children.""No, and the children can't just up and kill the mama."It was Ella more than anyone who convinced the others that rescue was in order. She was apractical who believed there was root either to chew or avoid for every ailment.

　　Cogitation,assh(woman) ecalledit,cloudedthings(a) and prevented action. Nobody loved her and shewouldn't have liked it if they had, for she considered love a serious disability. Her puberty wasspent in a house where she was shared by father and son, whom she called "the lowest yet." It was"the lowest yet" who gave her a disgust for sex and against whom she measured all atrocities. Akilling, a kidnap, a rape — whatever, she listened and nodded. Nothing compared to "the lowestyet." She understood Sethe's rage in the shed twenty years ago, but not her reaction to it, whichElla thought was prideful, misdirected, and Sethe herself too complicated. When she got out of jailand made no gesture toward anybody, and lived as though she were alone, Ella junked her andwouldn't give her the time of day.

　　The daughter, however, appeared to have some sense after all. At least she had stepped out thedoor, asked or the help she needed and wanted work. When Ella heard 124 was occupied bysomething or-other beating up on Sethe, it infuriated her and gave her another opportunity tomeasure what could very well be the devil himself against "the lowest yet." There was alsosomething very personal in her fury. Whatever Sethe had done, Ella didn't like the idea of pasterrors taking possession of the present. Sethe's crime was staggering and her pride outstrippedeven that; but she could not countenance the possibility of sin moving on in the house, unleashedand sassy. Daily life took as much as she had. The future was sunset; the past something to leavebehind. And if it didn't stay behind, well, you might have to stomp it out. Slave life; freed life —every day was a test and a trial. Nothing could be counted on in a world where even when youwere a solution you were a problem. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and nobodyneeded more; nobody needed a grown-up evil sitting at the table with a grudge. As long as theghost showed out from its ghostly place — shaking stuff, cry............