The Five Wounds

Angel asks Amadeo if he is working. He says that work is slow because of the “recession,” but adds that he is starting a new business, windshield repair. Amadeo has started and abandoned many new businesses. He is not a reliable worker, something of which his friends and family are aware. Angel asks about the procession and wonders if she can accompany him to pray in the Morada. He tells her that Tío Tíve does not allow women in the sanctuary, but she can attend mass at the local church. She asks him if it is because she is “dirty.” He denies it.

Amadeo takes Angel to the Morada at night when no one else is there. She marvels at the gruesome depiction of Christ on his cross and at the absence of images of the Virgin Mary or Baby Jesus. She asks why Amadeo wants to be part of the procession. Although he is not able to voice it to her, he wants to prove to himself that he is strong enough to ask for real nails.

The day of the Passion’s re-enactment arrives. Amadeo and the rest of the hermanos gather at the bottom of the Calvario and start the procession. Although the cross is easy to carry at first, it soon grows heavy, and Amadeo has little trouble mimicking the pain of Jesus Christ. Angel runs alongside and offers him water. He declines and wishes that she would allow him to focus completely on his role. When he is lifted onto the cross, feet supported by a wooden block and hands only tied on, he breathes deeply and asks Tío Tíve for the nails. He is nailed to the cross in front of Angel and the rest of the attendees.

Later, in the emergency room, Angel is furious. She sees little sense in his choice to be nailed to the cross and is upset that he will be unable to hold her baby. She is three weeks from her due date. It is also her birthday, which Amadeo has forgotten. He is lost in thought about his faux crucifixion and wishes that someone had taken pictures. He tells Angel that she shouldn’t have gotten pregnant or come to stay at his house. Angel reminds him that it is not his house, but his mother’s.

Yolanda, Amadeo’s mother and Angel’s grandmother, returns home after vacationing in Las Vegas with her boyfriend, Cal. Although Cal is a kind man and she enjoys her time with him, Yolanda finds herself unable to fall in love again. She ruminates on her late husband Anthony, Amadeo’s father. In Vegas, she learned that her chronic headaches were the result of an aggressive brain tumor. Against the advice of an oncologist, who urged her to remain for treatment, she rented a convertible, left Cal confused in Las Vegas, and returned to Las Penas.

At home, Yolanda and Angel discuss Amadeo. Angel remains upset with him for having been so “extreme” in his portrayal of Christ, but Yolanda tells her that he was deeply religious as a child. Yolanda recalls her son’s recent DUI and worries that he bears the scars of having lost his father at such a young age. Angel is unmoved, merely wishing that he’d been a better father to her. Amadeo returns from Easter Mass. He asks about Easter lunch, and Yolanda tells him that his sister, Valerie, will be coming over. Amadeo and Valerie dislike each other, and Amadeo is not pleased.

Valerie arrives with her two daughters: 12-year-old Lily and 7-year-old Sarah. Amadeo perceives Valerie as a self-righteous, self-aggrandizing know-it-all. She has recently completed a master’s degree and works as a school counselor in Albuquerque. Amadeo notices that she’s gained weight and thinks smugly that, because Valerie is a domestic abuse survivor, she is sensitive to male aggression, so he can always silence her with an open display of anger. Amadeo tries to shift attention to his bandaged hands and the important role he played in the procession, but Yolanda, Angel, and Valerie are uninterested in discussing or looking at his wounds. Valerie gives Angel a pile of children’s clothing, and Amadeo notices that much of it is dirty and obviously for girls. Angel is having a boy. He angrily points this out to Valerie, and the two continue to bicker. He drinks enough beer to feel drunk, even though Valerie reminds him that, because he is on pain killers, he should not have alcohol.

After dinner, Yolanda’s head hurts, and Valerie tells her that she and Amadeo will clean up. Valerie tells him that she’s proud of Angel for how seriously she’s taking the prospect of parenthood. Valerie is also proud of the way he’s helping Angel, adding that she didn’t think he would. Amadeo flies into a rage. Valerie, realizing that he’s drunk, says as much. He breaks the stack of dirty plates in anger and, fearful, Valerie runs from him to tell her mother.

In bed with a headache, Yolanda recalls the difficulty of her marriage, as her husband struggled with addiction: He “teetered on the brink of destruction or self-destruction” (76) for many years. Yolanda was consumed by worry not only for him but also for her safety and that of her children. When he turned from alcohol to heroin, she forced him to move out. Six months later, she received a call from the police informing her that he had died in a car accident.

Now it is Valerie’s turn to lose her temper. Valerie blames her mother for enabling Amadeo. She does not think that an adult man in his thirties should be allowed to drink beer all day in his mother’s home. Amadeo must find a job and learn responsibility. Yolanda feebly protests that Amadeo is a “good boy,” but Valerie will not hear it. Valerie leaves and says she will not return until Amadeo gets help.

Amadeo returns later that night. Tío Tíve drives him home, as Amadeo was arrested for drunk driving. Amadeo is struck by how powerfully addiction has affected the lives of his father and uncle. He dumps his remaining Percocet down the drain.