Rodrigo wonders what language he should use to write Macabéa’s story. He considers the language that he uses in his own life and wonders if it applies to Macabéa. He decides that he’s a real person only because he writes, a practice that lets him ask the questions he wants about God, the universe, and himself. However, Macabéa doesn’t even “believe in death” (28). She knows her parents are gone but rarely thinks about them or their fates.

Every morning, Macabéa listens to her roommates’ clock radio. She doesn’t understand everything that comes out of it but likes the program that broadcasts the time to a backdrop of dripping water sounds. Macabéa has an inner life but hasn’t discovered it yet. She has dreams and lives with a kind of ecstasy inside her. In a way, she’s a saint. She does have small pleasures, like looking through newspapers and collecting ads that she likes. One day, she sees a skin cream that looks so good she decides she would eat it if she could afford to buy it.

Rodrigo is still procrastinating about getting to the heart of Macabéa’s story. Something about her disturbs him and remains difficult to write.