Meursault awakens a day later and suddenly realizes why his boss was frustrated with him for asking for two extra days off. It is Sunday, so requesting time off on a weekend made no sense. Meursault tries to rationalize to himself that it is not his fault that they buried Maman on a Saturday. Nonetheless, he accepts this misunderstanding and continues with his day. He does not want to go to Celeste's, his normal lunch restaurant because he does not want to deal with extra questions about his mother from Celeste. He decides to go to the public beach for a swim. While there, he sees Marie Cardona, a typist from his office with whom he wants an affair. The two spend the day together. Upon discovering Meursault's very recent loss, Marie is shocked and saddened. However, the tragedy is soon forgotten when the two see a late movie (a comedy), and make love in Meursault's bed. When he awakens the following day, Marie is gone. He realizes that he dislikes Sundays intensely for many of these such reasons.
Looking around at his apartment, Meursault realizes that it is now too big for him alone. It seemed the perfect size while Maman was living there, but now there is too much room. Still hungry, he goes to another café - an unknown, hidden place - at which he will have to speak with nobody and explain nothing about Maman. As he smokes cigarettes and eats a piece of chocolate, he looks around at the street lamps, the men and women flirting and giggling together, and the trees around the area. He buys some bread and goes home. When he looks in the mirror, he sees his lamp and a few stray pieces of bread from days earlier. "It occurred to me that anyway one more Sunday was over that Maman was buried now, that I was going back to work, and that, really, nothing had changed" Part 1, Chapter 2, pg. 24.
