Chapter 13

In this chapter the Márez family travels to El Puerto for their annual trip to help Antonio's uncles with the harvest. Antonio's father travels with the family for the first time, and all are eager to get away and forget the events of the previous night. Antonio thinks about the God of the Catholic church and the golden carp, and how he has been told that both will punish sinners, and he wonders if there could be a god who would forgive all of the time, like the Virgin Mary? "Perhaps the best god would be like a woman, because only women really knew how to forgive."

Antonio asks his Uncle Pedro why he didn't come to warn them last night. His uncle answers that Antonio's grandfather would not allow any of them to do so, in order to live in harmony with both the good and bad and not pass judgment. When Antonio points out that they allowed Tenorio to pass judgment on Ultima, who cured Lucas, Pedro is at first angry, but he finally acknowledges that they were afraid and praises Antonio for standing by his friend.

After a family dinner in El Puerto, one of Antonio's uncles tells a story that Tenorio and his two daughters will perform a witch's Black Mass for the third daughter who has just died. That night Antonio dreams of the events described except that he sees Ultima in the coffin! The next day, Tenorio and his daughters attempt to bring the third daughter to be buried at the church, but they are refused entrance (last rites and burial in holy ground) by the priest. Tenorio withdraws, defeated, but looks vengefully at Ultima as he passes by.

As the harvest ends and the Márez family leaves, the uncles invite Antonio to stay for the entire summer during the next harvest season, to give him the opportunity to know their way of life better before deciding which path he will choose.

Discussion questions
1. How are God, the golden carp and the Virgin Mary - as Antonio understands them - similar to some of the important adults in his life?
2. In Antonio's dream, why does he see Ultima in the coffin?