The Dew Breaker

After Part 5 brings all of the preceding parts together, Part 6 works to slightly unravel this tight web of connections. This story recounts an interview between a young journalist named Aline and a retiring seamstress named Beatrice. The newspaper is the Haitian American Weekly. The editor’s wedding dress was made by Beatrice, so she simply wants a small column regarding the seamstress’s retirement. In the back of her mind, Aline is thinking about a recent breakup with an older girlfriend, a female professor.

Beatrice has made wedding dresses since she lived in Haiti and has always hand-sewn the dresses alone. She explains that all the girls who come requesting dresses call her “Mother,” and accordingly she behaves imperiously toward Aline. For example, she replies to a question about whether she’s been married by saying the question is an inappropriate one to ask someone her age.

The interview takes a bizarre turn when they go for a walk. Beatrice points out her various neighbors’ homes, including one that she says belongs to a prison guard from Haiti. When they get back to Beatrice’s house, she is clearly distracted. She explains that she plans to move again, then abruptly transitions into a story about the dew breakers. One of them, she says, asked her to dance at a party. She said no and, as revenge, he had her taken to prison, where her feet where whipped raw. She then explains that wherever she moves, the man follows her and moves in nearby.

Incredulous about the idea of the guard following her, Aline questions Beatrice’s account. Nevertheless, she is intrigued, and after the interview, she spends some time investigating the house of the accused dew breaker. After some poking around, she realizes that this home is uninhabited; its most recent occupant was a woman named Dolly. She confronts Beatrice with this information, but Beatrice simply replies that the guard lives in abandoned houses. She suspects that he follows her using the letters she sends to the owners of her dresses, informing them of her new address. Instead of believing Beatrice is crazy, Aline resolves that these are the sort of people she should learn more about, to try to understand them and tell their stories.