Little Bee

Sarah’s narration continues on the day of Andrew’s funeral. She remembers that morning, before Little Bee’s arrival, surveying her neighborhood while Batman played outside. There is not, she feels “a grown-up language” (86) to describe her grief that morning. She remembers considering moving, suddenly, because “there was no longer one single reason for [her] to be here” (87). That is the moment that Little Bee rang the doorbell

Their conversation, Sarah remembers, brought back “memories from hell” (87). Sarah remembers exiting in the middle calling her neighbor and lover, Lawrence, in panic. As he comforts her, she hears his children running around, and she recognizes that she cannot bring up the “presumed-dead Nigerian girl, resurrected on his mistress’s sofa” (89). Instead, she just shares her concern over her lack of feeling. She also begins to ask about what their relationship will be with Andrew gone.

Part of her struggle to feel is that “since Africa, [she] hadn’t really bought the idea of love as a permanent thing” (91). Back in her conversation with Little Bee, she explains Andrew’s death. She is horrified by the “so old, so tired” (91) feeling in Little Bee’s voice. Then, the undertaker, who Batman calls Bruce Wayne, arrives and interrupts their interview.