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In chapter 5, it starts off when the calender sisters bought a few outfits for Rosaleen and put some medication on her stitches on her head. Rosaleen insists that she will pay it all back, but the calender sisters say that she can work it off. May starts crying again, and she then excuses herself to the wailing wall.
Next Lily began telling about what she had learned while working with August and the bees. Not only did she learn the important parts about working with bees like pouring the beeswax into the candle molds and using the honey for every use possible, but she learned silly things like new songs. It also explained how well May and Rosaleen had been getting along. They would work together in the kitchen or spread peanut butter on the pine cones. Being with May so much, Rosaleen figured out that when May is around when something sad happens, May starts to cry right away. She can only live on a happy note. May didn't even allow the family to kill bugs or rats, and Lily liked that because it reminded her of how her mother used to lure the bugs out of the house instead of kill them.
Lily also found out many things about June. June loved playing the cello. However, playing the cello was the only real happy thing she found out. Lily found out that June didn't like the idea of her and Rosaleen staying there very much. She overheard a conversation between August and June where June said she didn't think Rosaleen and Lily should stay long because Lily was white and she must be in some type of trouble.
One night, they all watched television together and it was a show about an african-american parade that was invaded by whites. Lily felt very "white" then; she felt very outcasted. Naturally, the parade being invaded upset May very much and she went off crying again.
Later on that night, they were all praying around the black Mary statue. After praying on the Rosary, August told Lily a story. The story was about how a nun ran away because she was tired of being a nun. She didn't have much of a life outside of being a nun, so she ended up begging on the streets. When she went back to the Beatrix, where she had been a nun, she was almost positive they wouldn't accept her back. However, Mary was there disguised as the nun, so that when she came back, she could have her spot back. Mary watched out for her, and August made Lily aware that if she needed help, she could ask Mary for it.
Lily and August spent the entire next day together. First they went to work with the bees. Then they sat together discussing the story of May and why she gets upset. It turns out that May had a twin sister named April. April did not understand the segregation between whites and blacks, so when the ice cream man told her she could not eat her ice cream inside, she got very upset. Her depression grew, and eventually she commited suicide. This let May's guard down, and she did not have any protection against sad things, so she felt the pain no matter where she went. That is why she cried so much.
After the discussion, Lily went back to bed and Rosaleen gave her a jealous attitude about her spending the entire day with August and not talking to her that much. When Rosaleen finally fell asleep, Lily wrote her mothers name on a piece of paper and went to stick it into the wailing wall. -
Posted by Toni G. on 9/10/02; 3:11:46 PM
from the Chapter Summaries dept.
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