The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

Robert spends the summer after Yale working as a custodian. While cleaning out dorms, he discovers a huge amount of “free stuff,” some of it very valuable. He also works in the medical school lab, where he researches the structure of proteins.

Robert spends the summer living with his friend Raquel Diaz, who’s stressed about her future. Robert has always had a way of getting along with platonic female friends—he gives them emotional support without making them feel uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the last four years have been the hardest of Jackie’s life. She’s worked hard, and lived alone for the first time in her life. She’s also confused about what Robert plans to do with his future. However, Robert is a good son, and always leaves money for her when he visits. In these four years, life has gotten more violent in Newark. There are more gangs then ever, and homicides are at an all-time high.

Dealing weed has become more complicated for Robert, for the simple reason that he’s now a Yale graduate. He travels down to Newark, picks up weed from a supplier for a low price with the help of his “uncle” Carl, pays Carl a “kickback” for his help, and then sells it back at New Haven for much more than he paid for it. But Robert is careful to keep his Yale status a secret from this supplier, for fear of seeming like an outsider.

In August 2002, Jeff visits Robert, still living at Yale. Robert tells Jeff that he’s planning on traveling to Rio in the spring. At the time, Jeff has no jobs lined up, though he aspires to write books. Eventually, he moves to New York and gets a job as a grant writer. He gets the job thanks to his brother’s business contacts.

Around the same time, many of Robert’s Yale friends are beginning fellowships at elite graduate programs. Many of Robert’s childhood friends, however, are still completing college or struggling to support themselves. Other of Robert’s Yale friends, such as Oswaldo Gutierrez, are living with their families, and don’t know what they want to do for a living. Robert offers Oswaldo some money, but Oswaldo refuses.

Robert has one short-term goal: launder the money he’s made dealing drugs. In reality, Robert probably doesn’t have to launder the money. He spends almost nothing, and he’s pretty unlikely to be audited. Nevertheless, he buys equipment from the Yale med school lab, and then returns the equipment for cash reimbursements. This is a highly risky way to launder his funds, especially since it could embarrass Yale med school. Perhaps knowing this, Robert doesn’t tell anyone what he’s doing, including Raquel Diaz.

Raquel Diaz, meanwhile, falls in love with a Yale graduate named Simon Rodriguez. Simon is about to begin medical school in New York. Five years later, Simon and Raquel will get married.

On Valentine’s Day 2003, Robert leaves for Rio. He leaves his drugs and money with Carl, in a padlocked trunk. When he arrives in Brazil, the Copacabana is every bit as beautiful as he’d imagined. He spends his vacation dancing, drinking, swimming, and practicing Portuguese. Rio is a lot like Newark in some ways: it’s divided between upscale neighborhoods, dominated by descendants of Europeans, and impoverished neighborhoods (or favelas) dominated by descendants of native Brazilians and African slaves. Both cities have huge drug problems.

As the vacation goes on, two of Robert’s Yale friends pass through Rio and stay with him, and they all go out dancing together. Also during his trip, Robert befriends custodial workers who live in the favelas, telling his friends back home that he admires their honesty. He also experiences the wonders of Carnival, Rio’s annual world-famous party.

Robert returns to Newark in April, a few weeks earlier than planned. The reason he returns early is that he gets a call from Carl, and senses that something is wrong. In Newark, Carl takes Robert to his place, where Robert notices that his trunk has been tampered with. Robert furiously opens the trunk and sees that his savings—four years of hard, risky work—are gone. Carl mutters that he’s been in debt lately, that he feels Robert owes him, and that he intends to pay Robert back. Robert is too furious to respond.