Morocco is the coastal setting of Samas and Zohra’s home, where Evan sees a way of life markedly different from Poppy’s and enters a guarded room filled with paintings. The house stands close to the Mediterranean, but its domestic warmth and Samas’s private art collection make the visit more than a passage through landscape: it gives Evan a vivid point of comparison for the lives people build around themselves.

Setting and Arrival

On the flight, Evan and Samas are the only passengers in first class. Watching the barren brown North African coast rise out of the blue Mediterranean, Evan mistakes the land below for Morocco; Samas identifies it as Algeria and says they will pass over Morocco in twenty or thirty minutes, though the terrain will look much the same. As they approach, he points out the coastal highway leading to his home. The journey places the house within a long, exposed shoreline rather than an inland town. At the airport, a petite, middle-aged, dark-skinned woman runs to meet Samas. He enfolds her in his arms and lifts her effortlessly; she nuzzles into the back of his neck and greets him with evident affection. She is Zohra, whose British-accented English accompanies the intimate reunion. Their welcome establishes the household’s warmth before Evan has seen the house itself.

The Coastal Home and Household

Zohra drives a white jeep along a narrow two-lane highway bordering a craggy coast. From the back seat, Evan watches her and Samas together and measures their life against Poppy’s: Poppy lives in self-imposed exile in her church, with bolts on the inside of the doors, whereas Samas lives like a popular general, among the people around him. Evan prefers Samas’s more outward, social life, while recognizing that his own habits resemble Poppy’s more closely. Samas points out a large house nestled beside a small sandy beach. Its white stucco glows in the sun before the jeep turns onto a gravel road winding toward the coast. Two Great Danes, one black and one black-and-white spotted, run up to meet them, and Zohra calls to them in her native language. She says she will start dinner while Samas shows Evan around. The scene makes the home feel both domestic and distinctly coastal: the approach is a narrow road beside the sea, and the household’s welcome is immediate and personal.

The Secured Art Room

After dinner, Samas leads Evan to a room behind a white door. He enters a code into the security keypad while ensuring Evan cannot see it, then opens the unusually thick door with a soft whoosh. Inside, paintings cover all four walls, their differently sized frames interlocking like a dissonant jigsaw puzzle. Diffused light from the sterile white ceiling and floor gives the room the feel of a medical laboratory; two wooden chairs and a small white table stand at its center. The locked entry and controlled atmosphere distinguish this private room from the open, hospitable spaces Evan has just encountered. Samas explains that sea air is corrosive and can dull the paintings’ colors over decades. As he pours wine, he jokes that it may help restore them if enough is drunk. Evan examines the works, each identified by a small brass nameplate bearing its title, artist, and date. The room reveals a practical tension at the heart of the coastal home: the sea defines its setting, but its salt-laden air threatens the art Samas keeps there, prompting careful protection behind a coded door.