Chapters 4 - 11 Summary

In the first month after Carter, Maria's ex-husband, leaves her, she takes to driving her Corvette along the freeways in Southern California, hurrying to be on the freeways by ten o'clock in the morning. She is afraid to be caught on surface streets or freeway entrances at that time, because she fears she could lose the entire rhythm of her day if she is not on the freeway every morning by 10 am.

She spends the entire first month driving the freeways—from San Diego to Hollywood, to Santa Monica, Santa Ana, Pasadena and Ventura, and back. Every day she becomes more attuned to the road and often returns to her Beverly Hills home at night and dreams of the freeway signs in her sleep. Sometimes the freeway ends, dropping off into a scrap yard or an abandoned lot.

Maria eats...