The Fountains of Silence: A Novel

Daniel notices how Nick Van Dorn stares at Ana, and he decides to have lunch with Ben in the hotel coffee shop instead. He worries that Ben is part of his father’s effort to manipulate him, but agrees to have lunch with Ben nonetheless.

Ana thinks about how many Texans visit Spain now that Franco has opened the country to oil exploration. Ana thinks about Daniel, about how he is different from the other Americans: he treats her with respect, rather than as a servant. She also thinks of how lucky Daniel’s mother is to travel to Valencia, which hotel guests say is beautiful: “tranquil beauty, fragrant orange trees, and rolling blue waters” (76). Ana has never seen the ocean, and thinks about how she can transfer to the hotel’s business office so that she can travel; perhaps, Daniel’s family will write her letters of recommendation if she does a good job.

As Ana straightens up the room she sees in the trash, a small green glass bottle. She looks at the bottle and “immediately wishes she hadn’t. She doesn’t need Texas secrets. She has enough of her own” (77)

This chapter is followed by an article from the 1954 Abilene Reporter-News entitled “World Travel is Turning Texans into Real Sissies” (79).