Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

At home, Ari hears his mother talking to Mrs. Quintana in the kitchen. They are talking about Ari and Dante, and how they are scared for their sons, “scared the world will beat the decency out of them” (44). They consider how their husbands are taking the news that their sons are gay and agree that each man is handling it well and doing their best to provide support. Not wanting to interrupt, Ari decides to head back to Dante’s house.

On his walk, Ari feels bad for making his parents worry. A group of boys pass him and one of them points out Ari as the guy who beat up his friend. When the boy uses an anti-gay slur, Ari grabs him by the collar and threatens to beat him up.

At Dante’s, Ari greets Mr. Quintana, who insists he call him by his first name; Ari refuses. In Dante’s room, Dante tells Ari he is not mad anymore. They spend the afternoon cleaning Dante’s room. Coming upon a covered painting canvas, Ari asks when he can see Dante’s painting. Dante tells him he will see the painting when the time is right.

When Ari feels the sudden urge to write down his thoughts and feelings, he decides to start a journal. He is only concerned about writing for himself and what matters to him. He decides in each entry he will pretend he is speaking to Dante in order to “make myself believe that I’m talking to someone who’s worth talking to” (49).

In his first journal entry, Ari tells Dante that he thinks about him all the time, and that he imagines being physically intimate with him.

Legs and Ari go for a run. Ari loves running in the mornings, and always runs past Dante’s house.

After his run, Ari stops by Dante’s house, where he finds him on the front steps. They talk about how much they are dreading going back to school. Dante offers to take a shower with Ari, who is sweaty from his run. On the way home, Ari imagines showering with Dante. A small part of him feels the urge to run away from “all the complications of being in love with Dante” (52).

Dante and Ari go swimming later in the day. They compliment each other on being handsome and interesting. Ari finds himself having sexual fantasies about Dante once again.

Ari writes a journal entry. In it, he tells Dante about how confused he is about being in love with him, and what it all means. He also tells Dante about a dream he had recently, in which his brother Bernardo stands across from him on the other side of a river. Ari admits it is hard wondering about the brother he never knew all the time.

As Ari is writing, his mother walks into the room. She suggests Ari and Dante go camping before school starts. Ari wants to cry and feels grateful to have his mother. Lilly also mentions that Ari’s sisters want to take him out to lunch, and that they know that he is gay. Ari is apprehensive about seeing them. Lilly assures him that they love him and tells Ari that he needs to learn to “let yourself be loved” (57).

At lunch with Emmy and Vera, Ari and his sisters reminisce about the old days. Both sisters tell Ari that they adore him and think he is too hard on himself. They recall that when Bernardo was hauled off to prison, Ari thought it might have been his fault somehow. They also tell him they have no problem with his being gay, and “You can’t tell other people who to love” (60).

After having lunch with his sisters, Ari cannot stop thinking about how they told him they just wanted him to be happy. Ari realizes, “I used to live in a word that was made up of the things I thought. I didn’t know how small that world was” (61).

In the world Ari is mapping out, “there were certain roads that went to certain places” (62). Ari decides that one road would lead to the desert, and he would name the desert Arid. He imagines a storm hitting on the way to the desert, and he imagines kissing Dante in the rain, unaffected by the storm. He creates another place that he calls Lugar de los Milagros, the Place of Miracles.

Ari calls Dante and asks him to go on a camping trip with him before school starts. Dante is so pleasantly surprised that Ari thinks he might cry. Both boys are very excited about the plan.

Ari writes a journal entry in which he tells Dante he has been preparing for the camping trip with his dad’s help. He tells Dante that he is beginning to analyze his parents.

After he finishes writing Ari and his dad look over all the camping supplies. Jaime remembers how Ari used to love camping as a child. Jaime admits that it was easier to connect to Ari when he was a child, and how he had gotten so used to not talking for so many years. He tells Ari that he never meant to ignore him for so many years, and “It wasn’t that I didn’t love you” (66). Ari leans into his father and cries, realizing that his father is not a stranger anymore. The tears are tears of joy.

Ari writes a journal entry. He tells Dante that he is not sure who he is, and that he is not sure “who I’m going to become” (68). He tells Dante that he is starting to understand his parents better, and that he had not paid them much attention for most of his life. Ari decides that he has been walking around blindly for most of his life, and only now is he tuned into life.

The night before the camping trip, Ari goes to the Quintanas for dinner with a homemade apple pie in hand. Over dessert, Mrs. Quintana tells the boys they are not to do drugs or drink alcohol on their camping drink. Everyone raves about Lilly’s apple pie.

When Dante walks Ari to his truck after, he tells him that he is kissing him in his mind; Ari tells him he is kissing him back before driving home.

Ari writes a journal entry. He tells Dante, “All I can think of is you” (75). Ari is constantly thinking about touching Dante.

On the night before the camping trip, Ari cannot sleep. At dawn, he goes for a run and thinks about his body. In the shower, he thinks about Dante and whispers his name.

Ari’s parents see him off for his camping trip, giving him food for the road and well wishes. Jaime gives Ari some money, though Ari tries to refuse it.

At Dante’s house, everyone is sitting on the porch waiting for Ari. The boys say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Quintana. When they get in the truck, Ari is grinning. Dante immediately takes off his shoes and shares a poem he has written for Ari with him. Hearing the poem, Ari feels “as though I were the center of the universe” (78).

On the road, Ari and Dante eat the food Lilly prepared. Dante raves about the burritos and the fact that Lilly made the tortillas herself. The boys joke around all the way to White Sands. Being with Dante makes Ari feel playful.

When the boys get to White Sands, Dante runs out of the truck, excited to be in nature. Ari loves that Ari is not afraid to be himself and act like a kid sometimes.

In the sand dunes, Ari feels like he and Dante are the only people in the universe. Savoring their aloneness, he and Dante kiss each other.

Being alone with Dante makes Ari feel like they have “actually become cartographers of a new world,” one in which “we were free to love each other” (82). Kissing Dante, Ari no longer feels lost. With Dante, he finally feels like he belongs.