The Bean Trees

Taylor and Turtle continue living at the Republic Hotel downtown. Every morning, the nearby train wakes up Taylor like an alarm clock, She’s worried because she’s running out of money. She quit working at Burger Derby six days after starting because of a conflict with the overbearing manager about the employees needing to dry-clean their own uniforms. While Taylor enjoys spending time with Sandi, she worries that spending all day at Kid Central Station isn’t helping Turtle. Whenever she returns there to pick up the child, she finds her in the exact same position as when she dropped her off.

Taylor begins searching newspaper ads for a roommate to save some money. She identifies two ads that sound intriguing: One requests tenants who are “open to new ideas” (92), and the other says that the landlord is a new mom in need of company. Taylor visits the first house and finds that it’s inhabited by a group of New Age spiritualists who eat only organic food and require everyone in the house spend seven hours a week straining bean curd for their soy-based diet. Taylor decides that these people are trying to be polite but that she wouldn’t fit in there.

The second house she visits belongs to Lou Ann Ruiz; Taylor immediately gets along with her, and they bond over their shared Kentucky heritage. Taylor explains how she ended up with Turtle, and Lou Ann mentions how her cat, Snowboots, has a split personality because Angel expected him to be a bad boy, but she treated him like he was sweet and good. They decide to live together, and Lou Ann is excited that Taylor’s accent sounds the same as hers.

A frost comes to Tucson and kills the remaining bean vines in Mattie’s garden. Despite Taylor’s fear of exploding tires, she has taken a job working for Mattie at Jesus is Lord Used Tires. She tries to avoid handling the tires but remains jumpy whenever she must handle them. Taylor learns that Mattie offers her house as a sanctuary for Central American refugees and immigrants who have crossed the border without authorized documentation and that she works with a local priest to help them.

Eventually, Mattie notices that Taylor is nervous around the tires, and Taylor is forced to explain the story of seeing Newt Harbine’s dad being thrown back by the overfilled tractor tire. Mattie explains to Taylor that is the amount of pressure in a car tire is the same as in a water jug, so she shouldn’t be afraid. If a tractor tire comes in, Mattie promises, she’ll handle it. Taylor feels better, though she still hasn’t completely lost her fear of tires.

Taylor comes home from work on Valentine’s Day with some books to try to read to Turtle. Lou Ann is cooking them borscht for dinner, still trying to lose weight and eat healthy foods. As she cooks, Lou Ann reads aloud a book of baby names, hoping that Turtle will react to one of them. Lou Ann implies that something’s wrong with Turtle, which irritates Taylor.

After dinner, Taylor realizes that their friendship is turning into a replication of a heteronormative marriage, wherein Lou Ann cooks and takes care of the babies while Taylor works, and this bothers her. She talks to Lou Ann about it, and they bond by eating junk food together and drinking beer. Lou Ann reveals that she hates drinking because she fears being out of control and doing something that makes everyone leave her. She recounts a story of how she once got drunk with Angel and some friends while waiting to watch a meteor shower and then didn’t remember the meteor shower in the morning. Taylor points out that Angel might have lied and the meteor shower might have never happened. She tells Lou Ann that her philosophy about men is that no romantic relationship can ever complete her or use up all her parts. They talk about the card Taylor bought for her mother, which jokes that the only thing a woman needs to open jars in her house is a wrench rather than a strong man.