At dawn, Saint follows her usual routine and goes onto the rear porch. In a brief parallel with the wider day in Monta Clare, Patch is also watching the same sunrise seven streets away. Saint hears the strange absence of sound at the hive, crosses the damp yard, and realizes the bees are gone except for a few stragglers.

Alarmed, Saint runs inside and bursts into her grandmother Norma's bedroom to report that someone has stolen the bees. Norma first assumes Saint may simply be mistaken because Saint is not wearing her glasses. Saint rushes upstairs, puts on her thick round glasses, dresses, and cleans her teeth with paste on her finger because her toothbrush was ruined cleaning mud off a fake fossil Patch once brought her.

Back outside, Saint and Norma inspect the empty hive together. Norma tries to reason through possible causes, suggesting ants, a skunk, or some other disturbance, while Saint anxiously rejects explanations she thinks she has already prevented. Saint insists the bees know her because she has sat with them for four years, which shows how personally she takes their disappearance.

When Norma mentions reading about a beekeeper in Wayne County who was arrested for stealing hives, Saint immediately latches onto theft as the answer. She angrily accuses Mr. Lewis, recalling how he sampled her honey without paying, and talks about confronting him or going to Chief Nix. Norma orders Saint not to do either, but Saint bolts out through the side gate anyway, leaving Norma worried and powerless to stop her.