The Barbarian Nurseries

Araceli wakes up later than usual the next morning, bothered by the memory of the fight. She sweeps up a few missed shards of glass from the broken coffee table and senses that “it would fall to her to bring the Torres-Thompson household back to a calm center by restoring the broken routines” (120).

The boys come to eat breakfast; they had only heard the arguing last night, not the crash of the table.

Maureen had slept on the floor of the nursery with Samantha the previous night. After Scott pushed her into the coffee table, Maureen recalls that she had always expected physical violence from him; her own father had been prone to outbursts, causing her to run away from home. She feels the need to run away again. She decides to leave for a few days and leave Brandon and Keenan at home for Scott to care for, taking only Samantha with her. She justifies this by reasoning that “Araceli would be there to keep the household from falling apart and the boys from going hungry” (124).

She gathers Samantha and sneaks out to leave. Although she sees that Scott’s car is already gone, meaning the boys are alone with Araceli, and that she left her cell phone inside, she leaves anyway.