The Book of Delights

Gay opens this essay by discussing the fig cuttings he is transporting from Philadelphia to Detroit. To Gay, carrying the figs equates to carrying joy. The figs originated in Gay’s friend’s garden in Pennsylvania, were replanted in his partner’s mother’s garden in New Jersey, and are now on their way to Detroit. Gay is in New Jersey to attend a funeral of a 20-year-old girl named Rachel with his partner, Stephanie. At the funeral, he and Stephanie stand in the back and find an elephant-shaped earring on the floor. Elephants were Rachel’s favorite animals. Later that night, the funeral guests eat pizza and guacamole Gay has made himself, and he plants the fig stalks in plastic bags to transport them. Sitting on the counter, the stalks sit like promises and dreams coming back to life, and Gay hopes to carry those with him wherever he goes.

In this essay, Gay talks about the nickname he has assigned his friend, Curtis. Instead of calling him Curtis, Gay calls him “Boogie,” which is ironic because Curtis never dances. Similarly, Curtis calls Gay “Salpicon,” and Gay imagines that Curtis has a similarly ironic reason for assigning Gay this nickname. Gay then lists many of the nicknames he has collected over his lifetime, many of which start with “B.