Night at the Fiestas

A teenager named Crystal has a dream that Father Paul cut off her fingertips with a pair of scissors as she held a prayer card on which was printed not a saint (as was customary), but a sonogram of her unborn child. The next day, while she works at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, Crystal finds her dream slightly ridiculous. Because she is unmarried and is in the third trimester of her pregnancy, she has been the target of unpleasantly judgmental comments at the church. As she works at her desk, a couple waits for Father Paul to meet them for their premarital counseling appointment. He is late, and this pattern has become increasingly common since Father Leon joined the parish. Crystal pictures the two of them staying up late together, chattering like girls at a slumber party. Crystal’s coworker Colette sends her to look for Father Paul.

Crystal prefers Father Paul to Father Leon, as most people in the parish do. Father Paul is kind and benevolent, and he cares deeply about his parishioners. By contrast, Father Leon is cold; his sermons are full of fire and brimstone, and he has offended several people with his anti-gay bias and his

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