The Farming Of Bones

Man Rapadou moves six kids out of Yves’ old bed for Yves and Amabelle to sleep in. Amabelle lays down while Yves goes to talk to his mother. When Amabelle wakes up, Yves has gone to plant beans in his father’s fields. Man Rapadou tells Amabelle that “[e]verything you knew before this slaughter is lost” (228). When Man Rapadou tells Yves to go visit Sebastien and Mimi’s mom, Man Denise, he ignores her. Amabelle finds the house on her own but does not go inside, instead walking by the dwelling each day. She worries what Sebastien will think of her and wonders if he would even recognize her if he saw her. 

After several awkward nights sleeping next to Yves, Amabelle tries to talk to him when he lays down at night. She asks him if she can come to the fields with him, but he doesn’t seem keen on the idea. Instead, he mentions that the Generalissimo is offering money to the families of those affected by the massacre. They go to the justice of the peace the next morning and wait in a line of more than 1,000 people hoping to share their stories in return for some compensation. By the end of the day, they still have not made it in. A woman who was able to get in tells the crowd that they are demanding papers as proof of the deceased, an impossibility for most. After 16 days of waiting, Man Denise shows up to wait with them. On that same day, they announce the money is gone and they cannot help anyone else. Many of those waiting rebel and storm the building. Amabelle, Yves, and Man Denise return to Man Denise’s and several people come to console her. Yves leaves but Amabelle stays the night. The next day, she approaches Man Denise and tells her she knew Sebastien and Mimi. Man Denise responds excitedly, explaining that her children had left because the house had been taken from them, and that she always wondered if they knew that she had got it back. She then insinuates that she knows Amabelle was Sebastien’s lover and says she named him after Saint Sebastian because he was able to die two deaths. She then tells Amabelle that she has been told Mimi and Sebastien are dead, that they were forced to lie on the ground and then were shot to death from behind. She asks if Amabelle believes it and Amabelle says no but does, in fact, believe it. Man Denise then asks if Mimi and Sebastien wore the bracelets that she had made for them. Amabelle says they did. She then asks Amabelle to leave. After a small protest, Amabelle leaves and wanders about the town and then down to the harbor.