- Tante Atie takes Sophie to her Grandmè Ifé's house in La Nouvelle Dame Marie—five hours away—so she can say goodbye before heading to New York.
- We learn that Martine had sent money to have Ifé's house fixed up, so it's much nicer than the other houses in the area.
- Sophie's grandmother's very happy to see her and promises to cook all the things that she likes to eat. She reminds Sophie that a mother is always your first friend.
- Sophie has trouble sleeping, because she expects to have that nightmare where her mother snatches her from Tante Atie.
- They leave the next day, so that Sophie's grandmother won't suffer "chagrin"—which Sophie defines as an actual disease you can get from emotional upset.
- Sophie asks Atie if a person can die of "chagrin"; Atie says that it's not a sudden illness, but one that takes you apart piece by piece. It just happens.
- Atie tells Sophie about Guinea—a version of heaven/the otherworld—and people there who hold up the sky with their heads. Those who have trouble in this world are these sky-bearers.