Day Two

Cast of Characters:

1. Tonio Kruger -- an aspiring American writer of Mexican and Polish descent. A relapsed Catholic with a streak of contrarianism.

2. His mother -- a former Kennedy Democrat turned Republican who once lit candles on behalf of Solidarity and now works as a bookkeeper. Went from being very Catholic to being merely nondenominational and then back again. Current religious status: unknown.

3. His father -- a Mexican immigrant who is now deceased. Former Kennedy Democrat who went from Catholic to atheist and then back again. Religious changes like that are quite common in this family. Used to counsel people in his spare time. Loved plants and children. Collected art books and once made paintings in his spare time -- usually copies but good copies -- not paint-by-the-numbers stuff.

4. His younger sister -- a self-confessed Republican and mother of two kids.
5. His middle brother -- a self-confessed Republican who never votes. The most mechanically adept of his four siblings.

6. His youngest brother -- a CPA who is basically following in his mother's footsteps careerwise and in his father's footsteps spiritwise.

7. His best friend -- a Southern woman who is in many ways the older sister Tonio Kruger never had. Of course, she prefers to be thought of as either the twin sister Tonio Kruger never had or else a second younger sister.