Chapter 18
During the summer, Fred and Catherine begin to go around the city as his legs heal. One night Fred borrows money from a waiter they know and they buy sandwiches for the night. At night, they have sex after the other patients sleep. Fred likes to watch her sleep.
"She had wonderfully beautiful hair and I would lie sometimes and watch her twisting it up in the light that came in the open door and it shone even in the night as water shines sometimes just before it is really daylight." Chapter 18, pg. 114
Fred wants to get married, but Catherine thinks that if they do she will be forced to leave because of the formality imposed under Italian law. Furthermore, she says it makes no sense because "there isn't any me, I'm you. Don't make up a separate me." Chapter 18, pg. 115. She continues this sort of selfless discussion. They talk briefly about her dead fiancée but it upsets Fred, who then asks to be married privately. Catherine explains that it wouldn't mean anything because she is not religious (she just gave him the Saint Anthony for luck). Religion means nothing to her, just as it is meaningless to Fred. She says she wants to please him and tells him they'll have sex as soon as she's finished her rounds.
Topic Tracking: Love and Sex 7
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