Eleven Minutes

This is a lengthy chapter in which Maria meets Ralf Hart, a 29-year-old painter who is already famous and wealthy. Her reactions to him, marked with repeated expressions that she is determined not to be interested in him, indicate that she is very taken with him from the first instant she hears his voice call out to her.

The stage for their meeting is set when Maria, now only 90 days from fulfilling her plan to quit sex work, fly back to Brazil, and buy a farm for herself and her parents—and await the arrival of the love of her life—checks out some library books on farming. The librarian, whom Maria has gotten to know over the course of nine months in Geneva, tells Maria about her life. Her story is pathetically sad, ordinary, and uninspiring: she gave her heart to her husband, who retired early and died of cancer within the year. The librarian says, “‘I still think it’s best to lead a life without surprises,’ she concluded. ‘If we had, my husband might have died even earlier, who knows’” (93).

Maria walks into a roadside bar to ask the meaning of a sign she sees: “Road to Santiago.