Time is passing. The world is in revolt, and Josie is increasingly rebellious. Adam is becoming old and frail and fears that Caro will tire of their life together and leave him. Caro is still writing to Ted; she explains her sense of dread as a “foreboding roar” (251).  

Ted is in bed with a girl he met at a conference. She asks if he has ever loved anyone besides his wife. He alludes to Caro and admits he never slept with her. She implies that he should act on his feelings for Caro because “you only live once, for Christ’s sake” (254).  

Caro is translating the Latin American poet Ramón Tregeár’s work from Spanish into English. He delivered the work to a friend before his arrest, who then passed it on to Caro. Tregeár sends Caro a note saying that if his death is “spectacular” she will better be able to publish the poems (261). When Tregeár dies an atrocious death, his work has a favorable reception.