Good Friday was forlorn, heavy and dreary with the death of God’s son and the accompanying sense of utter hopelessness.
But on Saturday morning our spirits lifted. We had been through the agony and now the ecstasy of Easter was just ahead. Then too we had our first confession to look forward to in the afternoon. In the morning my mother took me to town and bought me a white shirt and dark pants and jacket. It was the first suit I ever owned, and I smiled when I saw myself in the store mirror. I even got new shoes. Everything was new, as it should be for the first communion .
My mother was excited. When we returned from town she would not allow me to go anywhere or do anything. Every five minutes she glanced at the clock. She did not want me to be late for confession.
“It’s time!” she finally called, and with a kiss she sent me scampering down the goat path, to the bridge where I raced the Vitamin Kid and lost, then waited to walk to church with Samuel.
“You ready?” I asked. He only smiled. At the church all the kids were gathered around the steps, waiting for the priest to call us.
“Did you pass?” everyone asked. “What did the priest ask you?” He had given each one of us a quiz, asking us to answer questions on the catechism lessons or to recite prayers.
“He asked me how many persons in one God?” Bones howled.
“Wha’daya say?”
“Four! Four! Four!” Bones cried. Then he shook his head vigorously. “Or five! I don’t know?”
“And you passed?” Lloyd said contemptuously.
“I got my suit, don’t I?” Bones growled. He would fight anyone who said he didn’t pass.
“Okay, okay, you passed,” Lloyd said to avoid a fight.
“Whad’ did he ask you, Tony?”
“I had to recite the Apostles’ Creed and tell what each part meant, and I had to explain where we get original sin—”
“¡Oh sí!” “¡Ah la veca!” “¡Chingada!”
“Bullshit!” Horse spit out the grass he had been chewing.
“Tony could do it,” Florence defended me, “if he wanted to.”
“Yeah, Tony knows more about religion and stuff like that than anyone—”
“Tony’s gonna be a priest!”
“Hey, let’s practice going to confession and make Tony the priest!” Ernie shouted.
“Yeahhhhh!” Horse reared up. Bones snarled and grabbed my pant leg in his teeth.
“Tony be the priest! Tony be the priest!” they began to chant.
“No, no,” I begged, but they surrounded me. Ernie took off his sweater and draped it around me. “His priest’s dress!” he shouted, and the others followed. They took off their jackets and sweaters and tied them around my waist and neck. I looked in vain for help but there was none.
“Tony is the priest, Tony is the priest, yah-yah-yah-ya-ya!” They sang and danced around me. I grew dizzy. The weight of the jackets on me was heavy and suffocating.
“All right!” I cried to appease them, “I shall be your priest!” I looked at Samuel. He had turned away.
“Yea-aaaaaaaaye!” A great shout went up. Even the girls drew closer to watch.
“Hail to our priest!” Lloyd said judiciously.
“Do it right!” Agnes shouted.
“Yeah! Me first! Do it like for reals!” Horse shouted and threw himself at my feet.
“Everybody quiet!” Ernie held up his hands. They all drew around the kneeling Horse and myself, and the wall provided the enclosure but not the privacy of the confessional.
“Bless me, father—” Horse said, but as he concentrated to make the sign of the cross he forgot his lines. “Bless me, father—” he repeated desperately.
“You have sinned,” I said. It was very quiet in the enclosure.
“Yes,” he said. I remembered hearing the confession of the dying Narciso.
“It’s not right to hear another person’s confession,” I said, glancing at the expectant faces around me.
“Go on!” Ernie hissed and hit me on the back. Blows fell on my head and shoulders. “Go on!” they cried. They really wanted to hear Horse’s confession.
“It’s only a game!” Rita whispered.
“How long has it been since your last confession?” I asked Horse.
“Always,” he blurted out, “since I was born!”
“What are your sins?” I asked. I felt hot and uncomfortable under the weight of the jackets.
“Tell him only your worst one,” Rita coaxed the Horse. “Yeah!” all the rest agreed.
The Horse was very quiet, thinking. He had grabbed one of my hands and he clutched it tightly, as if some holy power was going to pass through it and absolve him of his sins. His eyes rolled wildly, then he smiled and opened his mouth. His breath fouled the air.