Turtles All the Way Down: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Before school on Monday, Aza tells Daisy about kissing Davis and texting him. Daisy says that kissing is gross when Aza describes it in terms of bacteria, but she suggests that maybe it's making Aza healthier. Aza wonders if kissing will get less scary as time goes on. Daisy assures her she'll be fine and runs off to kiss Mychal.

At the Pickett estate after school, Lyle lets Aza through the gate and then takes her to Davis in his golf cart. As they ride, he asks her how Davis is doing. Aza says he's fine, but Lyle insists he's fragile. He asks Aza if she has lost someone and then says that she understands since she has lost someone. Aza thinks that losing someone yourself isn't enough to truly understand someone else's pain.

At the pool, Davis and Noah are sitting hunched on a pool lounger. He tells Aza that he needs a few minutes, so she gets back in the golf cart with Lyle and they drive to the onsite lab for a tour. Aza tells Lyle her dad is dead as they drive. Lyle lets Aza into the lab, where Malik is looking through a microscope. He remains engrossed for a minute before explaining that Tua's blood doesn't last very long outside the body. He explains that tuatara have been around a thousand times longer than humans. Malik explains that Mr. Pickett loves that Tua is forty years old and still in the first quarter of her life. Aza asks if this is why Tua will inherit the estate, and Malik says there are worse uses for the money. Aza isn't sure she agrees.

Malik explains that the molecular evolution rate of tuatara is exceedingly slow. He explains that tuatara today look the same as their fossils and change very slowly, but on a molecular level, they evolve faster than any other animal. Malik says that this raises a bunch of questions that are currently unanswerable, which is why he loves science.

Davis comes in the door behind Aza. Aza thanks Malik for the tour and follows Davis out of the lab. He explains that Noah got caught with pot at school and is suspended. Aza thinks that kids get arrested—not suspended—for having pot at her school. Davis says that Noah seems to want to get in trouble and needs a dad. He says that Aza is the only one he can talk to, and Aza fixates on the "only."

In the theater, Davis starts Jupiter Ascending and says that if Aza doesn't like it, she can choose the next ten movies. Aza holds Davis’s hand and giggles at the movie. She thinks that holding hands feels nice and leans over to kiss him. It's fine for a minute, but then the thoughts flood her mind and she has to pull away. Davis suggests they take it slow and says she'll love the next scene of the movie.

Aza thinks of a poem about counting snowflakes and thinks that you can only count a few before it becomes a blizzard, and her thoughts are the same way. She thinks about Davis's saliva and bacteria and finally excuses herself to the bathroom. Noah is playing a video game and calls Aza's name when he hears her, but Aza runs to the bathroom. She tries to shut down her thoughts, but fails. She squeezes hand sanitizer into her mouth and swallows.

When Aza comes out of the bathroom, Noah tells Aza that nobody wants to find his dad. Noah wonders why his dad isn't trying to contact them, or if he is trying and they just don't know it. Aza suggests that Mr. Pickett is waiting until it's safe and that maybe he's scared, but she promises Noah to keep looking.

Back in the basement, Davis asks Aza if she's okay. She apologizes and says she can't talk about it, and tries to hide her hand sanitizer breath. Davis says he heard her talking to Noah, and Aza struggles to stay present with Davis while her thoughts tell her she needs to drink more hand sanitizer. She tells Davis that Noah should see a psychologist, but Davis insists he just needs a father. They decide to watch the movie in silence and Aza's spiral tightens.