The Immortalists: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

In October, Robert and Simon’s relationship is still tentative, and they haven’t yet had sex. Robert is frustrated at Simon’s crudeness and worries that Simon is ashamed of what they’re doing. In November, Harvey Milk and the mayor of San Francisco are shot and killed. The city grows somber, and thousands of people march in a vigil for them that evening. The Gay Men’s Chorus sings a hymn. As he walks, Simon wonders what God thinks of him—according to Leviticus, he’s an “abomination.” Simon concludes that he must either be a mistake, or that there’s no God at all. Simon scans the crowd. He and Robert lock eyes and they reach for each other.

Simon and Robert return to Robert’s apartment and have sex—first aggressively, then more tenderly. Afterwards, they sit in bed and smoke. Robert says that he met Harvey Milk once, and that the world needs more optimistic people like Harvey. However, Robert himself isn’t optimistic—he often feels out of place as a gay black man in San Francisco. Robert asks why Simon doesn’t go to the bathhouses, and Simon explains that they scare him. Inwardly, Simon worries that he would get too caught up in their pleasure and that he’d never leave.

Robert then tells the story of how he came to San Francisco. He grew up in Los Angeles and played football in high school, hoping to get a scholarship to play in college. But he was really close with another guy on the team, Dante, and they both could tell that they were different from the other guys. One day after practice, they had sex in the locker room. Someone must have seen them, because the next day Robert got kicked off the team and Dante lost his scholarship. Both of them got beat up badly by teammates, and Dante was left tied to a fence and died. So Robert came to San Francisco and started taking dance, because no one would kick him out for being queer. Simon holds Robert to comfort him.

In April, Gali calls Simon. He urgently tells him that one of the dancers in Corps is injured, and Gali asks Simon to stand in for the dancer that night in their performance. Simon agrees. That night, Simon tries to ignore the audience as he performs and focuses instead on his movements. After they bow, Simon grabs Robert and kisses him in ecstasy; the other men cheer.

That fall, Simon is given a role in The Naughty Nut, which is Corps’s version of The Nutcracker. It’s a huge success, and Gali throws a party at his house to celebrate the company. Simon is amazed at Gali’s home and thinks he would love to have a career, a house, and a partner. He’s always assumed that these things are not for him, not only because he’s not straight, but also because of the prophecy. He’s frustrated that he believes the fortune teller, but the prediction gives his life a sense of urgency. At the party, Robert tells Simon that he got a new apartment, and Simon floats the idea of becoming roommates, admitting that he likes Robert.