Chapter 4 Summary

A small low car carrying two young people travels out of the Basque hills to the beaches of Spain. The couple agrees to stay, and David says he is going to start writing. Catherine agrees and, in a seemingly unrelated statement, assures him that their role-playing in bed has changed nothing in their relationship. In the morning, it is rainy, and Catherine goes out in her raincoat, leaving David to work. The writing comes so easily that he thinks it is probably worthless. He writes on inexpensive lined cahier, the school notebooks used by children. He uses pencil and makes a ritual of sharpening each of the five pencils before he begins. Afterwards, he puts on his raincoat and goes down to the hotel front desk. The clerk gives him a note from Catherine. It says that she did not want to disturb...