Chapter 15

Antonio contracts pneumonia from his time in the cold and snow. Tenorio is not arrested for Narciso's murder because there was "only the word of a small, sick boy" to say what had happened on that dreadful night. Narciso's death is ruled an accident because he was the town drunk and no one really cared what had happened to him.

"He was a big and wild man; he drank and cursed like most men do, but he was a good man. He died trying to help an old friend. He had the magic of growth in his hands and he passed it into the earth. Now his house was deserted and his garden withered away, and few people remembered anything good about Narciso."

Ultima nursed Antonio through his bout with pneumonia. He was worried that he may have talked in his fevered dreams about seeing Andrew at the brothel. Ultima assures him that his secret is safe.

During the Christmas holiday from school Antonio spends time with his mother in the kitchen. He recites prayers for her while she cooks. She tells him that in the spring he will start catechism classes that will culminate with his first communion on Easter Sunday. She tells him the he will "hold God in your mouth, in your body, in your soul--you will speak to Him, and He will answer." Antonio asks her, "Then I will have the knowledge of God?"

Antonio thinks that perhaps Andrew feels guilty about not heeding Narciso's warning about Tenorio. But all Andrew actually says to him is that he is sorry that Antonio witnessed the murder.

Shortly after Christmas Antonio's brothers, Eugene and Leon, came home to visit, but not to stay. When they leave, Andrew leaves with them. "And I wondered if the death of Narciso had anything to do with Andrew's decision to go."