Summary

The first of the two Catholic Tales is called, “The Vocation.” The narrator reflects on a time when he was 17 years old, living like St. Vincent, “deacon to Bishop Valero, tortured by the governor Dacian in the year 304” (103). He imagines the elaborate ways in which St. Vincent was, or could have been, tortured. He remembers his friend Juanito’s mother who, like him, was “addicted to the movies” (104). Once he dreamed of opening the door to Juanito’s mother’s bedroom and finding a never-ending tunnel.

The narrator then describes Juanito’s father who was once, according to Juanito’s aunt, a “good, honest police chief” (105). The narrator describes Juanito’s siblings who have all left home: “Our city is shrinking everyday. Sometimes I get the feeling that everyone is either leaving or shut up inside packing a suitcase” (106). The narrator recalls...