The Wooden Parrot
- Book 3, The Mass at Ácoma, is ready to go.
- After his first year working in New Mexico, Bishop Latour goes to visit some of the Native American missions in the deep west.
- Along the way, he stops to pick up another priest. But the guy fakes an injury in order to get out of his duties. This is all well and good for Latour, who wasn't looking forward to the guy's company anyway.
- Farther along his journey, Latour stops to visit a priest named Father Jesus. The man is very old and very poor, but he can't bring himself to ask for any money from the people in his parish.
- Latour learns all about how parrots are sacred animals for the Native Americans in the area. He finds a carved wooden parrot and looks it over while Father Jesus is in another room.
- Before Bishop Latour leaves, Father Jesus tells him of a portrait of St. Joseph that's located in the settlement of Ácoma.
- Apparently this picture brings rain to the town even when the areas surrounding it don't get any. People have thus decided that the picture is blessed.