The Barbarian Nurseries

Araceli leaves the Torres-Thompsons alone on Saturday to go to Santa Ana for the weekend with her friend, Marisela. She has every other weekend off, as Maureen believes it is important for the family to occasionally fend for themselves. She walks to the bus stop, noticing the fake and grammatically incorrect Spanish names of the streets and gated community, Paseo Linda Bonita. She waits impatiently for the bus and recalls the hubbub of Mexico City, where it is so crowded people are always waiting, but she “would never have imagined herself also waiting in the United States, so pathetically alone on a winding road” (74).

Meanwhile, Maureen begins to feel exhausted and overwhelmed by watching all three children alone. She sees “only the frayed ends of a family project that was subtly coming apart” (74).

Araceli arrives at the home of Octavio Covarrubias and his family—her friend Marisela lives with them. Both from Mexico City, Marisela is the friend who had helped Araceli get the job with the Torres-Thompsons. They are both Mexican girls working in the US who are supposed to be sending money back to their families, but they “squirrel away money” for themselves too (77).

They dress up and go out to a quinceañera party. Araceli wears her hair down with trendy clothes—the opposite of her work uniform. Marisela tells Araceli a story about the girl whose party they are going to—she and her brother were taken away to Foster Care where “they separate siblings” and it’s hard to get the kids out (79). The story bothers Araceli.

They go to the party, where Araceli dances with a stranger named Felipe. They connect over their shared love for creating art. She gives him her number before he leaves.

On Sunday, Maureen sorts photographs, while the boys watch a movie and Scott plays video games, avoiding doing the dishes. Maureen recalls Scott’s father, who “dedicated his life to the erasure of the language and rituals he associated with” his Mexican heritage (85).

Later, she tries to talk to Scott while he is playing video games. She tells him about the succulent garden, but he is too distracted to ask about the cost, just says: “cool” and goes back to playing (87).

Araceli watches three Mexican day-laborers arrive with a man who has come to remove the dying jungle to make way for the new garden. The boys are excited to watch, as the men hack down the plants with machetes, but Araceli feels slightly sickened and nostalgic watching and hearing the violent work.

Soon after they leave, a second truck arrives with the landscaping experts. The workers are also Mexican American but are all respectful and dressed in uniforms. Maureen is happy now that the experts have arrived—the crew in the morning had unsettled her, and she asked herself: “what am I doing, allowing these sweaty barbarians into my home?” (94).

The nursery manager shows Maureen a series of expensive plants and explains “you’ve got your own little microclimate here” on the hill (95). The centerpiece of the new garden will be an ocotillo or “burning bush” that they transplanted from the desert (96).

At work, Scott asks a coworker, Charlotte, to lunch. Though he’s not attracted to her physically, he’s attracted to her work skills. She is also a fan of his early work and small contributions to the programming industry. They have a very long, boozy lunch until Scott realizes the time. He gets home late and doesn’t notice the telltale signs of work in the garden. He also brushes off Maureen’s announcement that they’ve installed “the new garden” and goes to bed without realizing the change (99). 

Scott has a nightmare about Maureen banishing him from the house after seeing him with Charlotte. Baby Samantha’s crying wakes him, and he goes to feed her since Maureen doesn’t fully wake up. Meanwhile, Maureen has nightmares about Mexican day-laborers overrunning her house.

In the morning, Scott finally looks outside and sees the succulent garden. He asks Maureen about the cost, and she defers that “it cost a bit” but “we talked about it” (104). Scott worries about the cost, but he decides against starting an argument.

Later that day, Scott takes his staff out to lunch to celebrate the end of their long project. He plans to pay for lunch and then expense it, but his card is declined when he tries. Embarrassed, he leaves to go get cash, but finds his employees have all split the bill and left before he could get back. At work, he uses his computer “to uncover his wife’s latest credit card betrayal” (109). The garden cost “what he would have paid Pepe the gardener for two years of work” (109). Doing the math on the credit card interest, he feels “bullied and violated” (109).

Araceli daydreams about art school and concludes that she was “too serious” for the work, although the long journey and her parents’ disapproval also led her to quit (110). Still, she arranges the utensils into artful patterns. Suddenly, she hears arguing from the next room, and the fight seems to be worse than the usual Torres-Thompsons fights. The fight sounds almost physical. She goes to interrupt, but this time her presence does not shame Maureen and Scott into silence.

Araceli retreats, but then hears a scream and a crash. She goes back to find Maureen on the floor and on top of the broken glass coffee table. Scott apologizes and asks Araceli to help Maureen up. She does but thinks: “today I am the civilized one and they are the savages” (114).