The Barbarian Nurseries

Scott tries to return to work. He struggles with people asking if he is alright and with Charlotte’s chilly silence. He also feels trapped between his Mexican name and “white” identity.

Araceli, in jail, is assigned the public defender “Ruth ‘Ruthy’ Bacalan-Howland” who tells her not to plead guilty. She explains that pleading guilty to any crime, no matter how small, will give the government reason to deport her permanently. The pink boots Ruthy wears for comfort due to her late-stage pregnancy distract Araceli. She is also shocked that she could potentially lose the case and go to prison. Ruthy explains the overcrowding of the justice system and how “a fighter […] can change the law” (350).

Araceli resolves to fight, which Ruthy is happy to hear. The lawyer promises to push for trial quickly. On her way back to her cell, some of the fellow inmates attack and beat Araceli. A guard rescues her and carries her to safety.

John Torres comes back to the Torres-Thompson house and announces that he is going to “stay four nights a week, which is probably more than I can take” (352). He knows they are struggling without help. Neither Maureen nor Scott is happy about this prospect but let him stay once he makes them dinner and plays with the boys. He also admires the desert garden and explains to his grandsons that they are a quarter Mexican.

In the morning, John pushes Scott to help out around the house. Pushed to work, Maureen, and Scott “remembered Araceli in their muscles, and in their wrinkled and bleached hands, until the tasks became familiar and routine and her prominent place in their memories began to fade very slightly” (355).

Araceli learns that someone has paid her bail, releasing her from jail. Outside, she meets Mitchell Glass of “the South Coast Immigrant Coalition”—the group that paid her bail (357). He tells her about the Immigrant Daylight Project, made up of people across the US who help people detained for immigration issues.

He takes her to “a little meeting,” which turns out to be a rally at a nearby school’s gym (358). On the stage, she “had a moment to marvel at the power of television and newspapers to make her face known to strangers” (360). Glass asks her to speak to the crowd, who are against the racist immigration laws and violence against immigrants. She doesn’t know what to say, but she eventually says she wants justice because she didn’t do anything and “soy inocente” (361). The crowd applauds, nevertheless, and Glass escorts her away.

One of the attendees of the rally is Giovanni Lozano, who operates a support website in favor of Araceli. He knows his fellow Mexican-American community “don’t understand shouting. They understand victims and heroes. So, he would give them an icon” (363).

The Deputy District Attorney interviews Maureen and Scott, but they are increasingly evasive. Eventually Scott says: “I’m not sure Araceli needs to be prosecuted,” although Maureen remains silent (365). However, the attorney says he cannot simply let her go because “it’s not your decision to make. This case doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the People” (365).

Once they are alone, Maureen tells Scott that she has had an epiphany about downsizing, and she wants to move to a smaller house. Scott wants to talk about how CPS called, but Maureen keeps deferring the topic by removing clutter and old toys. When pressured, she snaps: “don’t you understand? I’m trying to take control of our lives too […] What we need to focus on to keep our family in one piece is in here. In these rooms. Not out there” (369).

Judge Adalian gives an interview on TV about having seen Araceli and the boys in LA, which corroborates Araceli’s story and shows the Torres-Thompsons’ version of events could not have happened. Ian Goller leaks incriminating stories to counter the swell of public sympathy. He knows he only has to win the preliminary hearing to get her deported.

Araceli returns to the Covarrubias house while she awaits trial. She rejects their suggestion to run away “because I made a promise to the people who paid my bail. That I would go to court” (372). Later, a visitor arrives—Felipe, the man that Araceli had danced with during her last visit to Marisela and on whom she has a crush. While they visit together, “the second-most-famous man on Mexican television,” (374) Carlos Francisco Batres Goulet arrives unexpectedly. They conduct an interview to air on Spanish TV, edited in Araceli’s favor.

Araceli walks into the courthouse with Ruthy Bacalan, passing by a large crowd of protestors, organized by Judith Bryson, who scream at her to go home. There is also a small crowd of supporters. The two sides soon begin fighting, but Araceli and her lawyer escape into the courthouse.

Meanwhile, Oliva Garza with Child Protective Services visits the Torres-Thompson house. She asks about the fight that started everything, and Maureen and Scott tell her the truth, including their financial troubles. Olivia then goes to talk to the boys and sees that Brandon is reading Catcher in the Rye. She alerts Maureen that it is not appropriate for his age level.

Maureen is embarrassed and tells Olivia that “we are going to change. […] We’re moving. To a smaller house” to save money and to also have more control (389). Scott agrees but fears that she will come to blame them for their smaller lives if they do so.

Olivia Garza tells them that CPS will not be taking the children away. This news goes out as a press release, but the reporters and news channels have already moved on to another story about a missing child who is discovered dead. Later, investigating this story, Olivia Garza reads Catcher in the Rye “and decided, belatedly, that it was probably okay for a bright eleven-year-old boy to read” (391).

The ants that Maureen had discovered in the kitchen had increased in number. Maureen tries to fight back and wonders how Araceli had dealt with them. She even tries chemical pesticides, which she hates, but also unknowingly removes the chalk lines that Araceli had places around all the baseboards—a superstitious remedy to keep ants at bay.

Ian Goller calls to ask Maureen and Scott to appear in court and support him in the fight against Araceli. However, Scott refuses, and he and Maureen finally feel like the ordeal is over.

At her preliminary hearing, Araceli and Ruthy Bacalan hear the testimony of Deputy Ernie Suarez who responded to Maureen and Scott’s call when they discovered the boys missing. Araceli worries as the prosecutor builds “a case of foreboding around her acts of naivete and stupidity” (398). She struggles as she watches video footage of herself with the boys, thinking how she did everything wrong.

Ruthy cross-examines the witness, who admits that Brandon’s fantastical account of the journey didn’t make much sense and isn’t verifiable. After this, the prosecutor announces that he will not call any more witnesses, which is a surprise to the judge as well as Ruthy. The judge adjourns until the next day, as Ian Goller watches, fuming as he “realized that she would not give up” (401).

On the way out of the courtroom, an A-list Hollywood actor stops Araceli to tell her that he’s been following her case and supports her. In the parking lot, Felipe is waiting for Araceli. He has been waiting four hours. He promises to come get her the next day and do the same. 

The next day, most of the protestors are gone, leaving Janet Bryson all alone, which confuses her.

Felipe drops Araceli off at the courthouse steps, pausing to hold her hand for a long minute “to comfort himself as much as her” (406).

Once proceedings begin, Ruthy calls her only witness: Salomon Lujan. He describes the story of Araceli’s journey and how well she cared for the boys while they were at his house. The prosecutor has no questions, so Ruthy gets up to make her closing remarks, in which she concludes that Araceli’s actions “are the actions of an adult who’s taken the responsibility of caring for these two children seriously, unlike their parents” (407).

After the prosecutor says a few words, the judge says “I’m going to grant your motion, Ms. Bacalan” (408); he is going to let Araceli go once and for all. However, before he can adjourn the court, the prosecutor brings up “the matter of the defendant’s immigration status” (408). This irritates the judge, who dismisses the idea of calling ICE, a federal organization, into a state court.

Araceli is free to go.

Meanwhile, the Torres-Thompsons are touring a new house, a smaller house. It is older but is “authentically old and American” (409). The boys like the upper floor, with its vaulted ceilings that feel like a hideout. Maureen loves it and asks Scott if they can move in. The asking price is more than they paid for their current home, so he hesitates.

Maureen goes outside and greets a neighbor, who is friendly and asks if she also gardens.

Ruthy is pleased with the outcome, which “hardly ever happens” (412). However, she advises Araceli to get far away quickly, without going back to where she was staying, since ICE will certainly check there first. She passes Janet Bryson and Giovanni Lozano before encountering the Mexican consul, who gives her all of the money she previously put in the bank. He then snaps a picture handing her a check.

She goes to find Felipe in his truck and tells him she has to run away. He agrees, and they drive out toward the desert, heading east. While they drive, Araceli wonders if she should go back to Mexico or stay in the US. Felipe says that he will drive with her, even if she wants to go all the way to the East Coast. She worries briefly that there will be border guards between states, but Felipe assuages her fears.

When they pass into Arizona, “suddenly days and weeks of worry and fear lifted” and she feels she can finally rest (421). She sleeps and awakes to see they are still in the desert and a thunderstorm is brewing, forcing Felipe to pull off the road and wait it out. She opens the window and lets the rain fall on her face, and then she finally kisses Felipe.

He tells her that she has to decide “which way are we going? To Flagstaff if we stay in the United States. To Tucson if we go to Mexico” (422). Araceli recognizes that it is her choice and is happy; she points away into the distance and tells him: “that way” (422).