Sarah’s Key

The young girl and Rachel tear the stars off of their shirts. “There,” the girl says, “I’m burying the stars. They’re dead” (98). They decide not to go into the village because no one really helped them there.

They walk; by later afternoon, they enter a forest. They try to eat some fruitbut cannot keep it down. They drink and swim in a small pond before falling asleep. 

Julia waits for Bertrand at a special table in a special restaurant for them. Many of their most important moments were shared there, even sad ones, like discussing Bertrand’s affair with Amélie, Bertrand’s lifelong friend.

Bertrand runs late, but Julia does not mind. She’s excited to tell him. When she finally has the chance to tell him, he is not excited at all: “A baby would not fit into our life” (105). She realizes that he is trying to tell her to have an abortion. 

The children awake. It is night. They wander down the road and duck out of the way of some passing trucks. They knock on doorsbut get no help: “There were more farmhouses. Each time, the same things happened. They were sent away” (108).

Eventually they find an old man and his dog.