The Murmur of Bees

Simonopio and Francisco Junior remain in the wilderness for 48 hours, waiting for a search party. Simonopio can’t hear his bees and is unsure whether the coyote is still alive. He gives the unconscious Francisco honey and water and covers his injuries. He finally hears the sound of the search party, led by Francisco’s uncle, Emilio.

Beatriz is the only one who doesn’t cry at Francisco’s funeral. She has shut out the pain. For years, she’ll remain unable to discuss what happened. The daughters care for all the legal details. Beatriz hears that workers have come for the cart, and she waits beside Reja. When the cart arrives, she sees neither Simonopio nor Francisco on the bench seat and assumes Francisco is dead.

Simonopio is in his shed, resting after returning with Francisco. Only the queen and immature bees remain in the hive. Most of the bees who responded to Simonopio’s summons never returned. When they first arrived and Beatriz saw Francisco in his arms, she slapped Simonopio. She comes to his shed, apologizes for slapping him, and thanks him for bringing her son back alive.

Beatriz is consumed with remorse for slapping Simonopio. She tries to work through her grief by sewing, but her machine jams up repeatedly. She wanders through the house as if lost.

Beatriz doesn’t respond when people console her. She knows Anselmo is the murderer. Although he and his son disappear, the rural guard continues to search for them. The campesinos bulldoze his house. Servants send his daughter away because Beatriz never wants to see her again. She sits for hours at Francisco’s bedside. Her mother steps in and tells her what to do to keep things going properly. As the chapter ends, Francisco Junior wakes, asking for the .22.

When Francisco wakes, as he recalls, he asks for the .22 rather than his father. His mother and sisters are aghast that the rifle is all he can think about in the face of his father’s death. In reality, he assumes that wherever the .22 is, he’ll find his father.

Francisco learns that Anselmo’s son took the rifle.

Francisco remains in the house for a month. Beatriz assumes Anselmo and his son are still at large, and she won’t let her son out of her sight.

Beatriz now makes the decisions her husband would have made. She regards the title “widow” as an inescapable cancer. She considers that her unwillingness to accept change is the cause of Francisco’s death, saying she should have moved to Monterrey as he wished.

Francisco picks up the narrative, talking about his mother’s decision to move the family to Monterrey. Beatriz sells off their land piece by piece. In Monterrey, he attends a public school, where he meets the girl who later becomes his wife. He gets a university business degree in the US. Although he first wanted to go to Texas A&M, his mother told him, “Study whatever you want, except agriculture” (422).

Francisco says all of his memories of Simonopio are tainted by the reality that Simonopio abandoned him.

Francisco realizes his story enthralls Nico, the taxi driver. Under different circumstances, they might have become friends. He says his goal now is to tell the whole story.

Simonopio never recovers after the incident. He never has the same look in his eyes and doesn’t comes out of his shed until Francisco awakens. Beatriz can’t bring herself to ask him what happened. She notes that almost all the bees have gone.

As they pack to go to Monterrey, it becomes clear that Simonopio isn’t moving. When they start to put Francisco in the car, he goes to the shack, looking for Simonopio. Everything is gone. Francisco runs after him until he’s caught by Martín and forced into the car. Francisco vomits continually for days and refuses to speak Simonopio’s name for years. Ultimately, however, he realizes that had Simonopio come to Monterrey, he would have died of sadness.

Francisco’s taxi arrives at Amistad. The house has been torn down. Francisco looks over the rubble and describes his memories and how he felt about moving to Monterrey.

As the family packs to move to Monterrey, Simonopio knows they’ll be going without him, as he has no future in Monterrey, though Beatriz asks he and Nana Reja to go with them. Reja also refuses, so Beatriz asks Simonopio to care for her. Beatriz hugs Simonopio and he hugs her back. Their goodbyes are simple.

Rising early on moving day, Simonopio and Nana Reja go to the top of the hill and look back at the house. They see Francisco looking and calling for Simonopio. Simonopio knows he can’t respond. He picks up Reja’s chair and they walk to the bridge.

Francisco realizes he has been mistaken throughout his life when he thought Simonopio had abandoned him. Instead, he realizes he abandoned Simonopio.

Francisco realizes that Simonopio had to deceive him. If Simonopio said he wasn’t going, Francisco would have refused as well. Simonopio knew Francisco had no future in Linares, only in Monterrey, where he’d live a successful life. Francisco reflects on how stubborn he has always been. That was what Simonopio took into consideration when he let him go.

Another reason Simonopio couldn’t leave Amistad was the decimation of the hive when the bees killed Anselmo and only a few returned. The bees themselves were uncertain about their future and had forgotten many of their paths and destinations. When they left the hive in the warmer weather, Simonopio had to show them where to fly. His responsibility was to the hive and the surviving bees and the land, because the plants needed the bees too.

Speaking to Nico, the taxi driver, Francisco says he believes that, just over the hill, Simonopio is waiting for him.

Although he’s eager to see his brother, Francisco is also reluctant. He thinks Simonopio will be disappointed in him because he’s an old man now and can’t climb orange trees or play as they had before. He feels ashamed, believing that Simonopio has been calling him constantly without any response.

The bees come to guide Francisco to Simonopio. He tells Nico he’s not returning with him. Francisco tells him to take the money from his billfold and tell Francisco’s children the story. He’s sorry they have to hear it from a stranger, but the time has come for him to go. He’s returning to Simonopio, and they’ll be young again and do the wonderful things they did as children. As he turns to the hills, he says he grows younger with each step. The excitement is overwhelming. The only important thing is his destination.