Keeper

As El Gato’s 15th birthday nears, he begins to worry that he will soon have to go to work with his father and won’t be able to practice with the Keeper anymore. However, he says nothing about it, hoping things will somehow change.

One day, the Keeper talks to Gato about his “instincts.” He tells him that he is thinking too much about what he is doing instead of letting his body act on its own. The Keeper kicks a ball to him from far out, and Gato makes a good save. However, the Keeper tells him that a save isn’t good enough; Gato needs to protect himself and the ball and prepare for what his next move will be. The Keeper trades places with him so that Gato kicks a ball at the Keeper. He makes the same save, turns his body in the air to protect himself and the ball, then immediately throws the ball down the field. 

Gato tries to replicate the move but falls each time he tries. He frustratingly tells the Keeper that he can’t do it and that he doesn’t have the “instincts” he needs. The Keeper surprises Gato when he gets angry. He tells Gato, “I am not wrong about you. I cannot be wrong about you. If I am wrong about you, we are all…stuck” (63). Gato is confused by the word “stuck” and what the Keeper means, but before he can ask, the Keeper calms down. He assures Gato that he has changed and that he is a new person now.

The next day, Gato watches as the Keeper comes into the clearing, moving as though he is part of the forest itself. A jaguar follows behind him, and Gato is awed by both its beauty and the fear he feels. The jaguar walks across the field, then sits in the grass directly behind Gato. Over by the goal, a small deer comes into the clearing. It eats the grass, unaware of the jaguar’s presence.

Over the next several minutes, Gato watches as the jaguar stalks the deer. It moves so that the deer is stuck between itself and the goal. Finally, it pounces, lunging at the deer just as the deer tries to flee. Gato is amazed at the way the jaguar moves, as well as the way that the deer almost manages to get away despite its precarious position. However, at the last minute, the jaguar catches it, killing it “almost gently” (70), then dragging it into the forest.

The Keeper asks Gato if he “saw what [he] wanted [him] to see” (71), and Gato replies that he thinks he did; however, he also tells the Keeper that he could never do something like what the jaguar did because it’s “impossible.” The Keeper scolds him, saying that there will be a lot of things in life that seem impossible, but Gato will learn to do them anyway. He asks Gato whether he is the deer or the jaguar, and Gato replies that he is the jaguar.

El Gato has his 15th birthday, and after Easter, he does not return to school. Instead, he goes to work in the forest with his father.

On the way to the part of the forest they are clearing, Gato’s father tells him that they used to only travel 15 minutes to work, but now, with everything they have already cleared, they travel over an hour. Gato is awed at the “scars” and “open wounds” he sees, with vast swathes of the forest missing (74).

Gato is given a job working in the tool shop, where he will repair tools that are used to take down the trees. He knows he should be grateful that his father got him a better-paying and safer job, but all he can think about is how he wants to be a soccer player.

Gato’s father takes him to meet his boss, Señor Hellman, a large, bald man who is yelling into a radio about supplies when Gato arrives. He is surprised by Gato’s size and strength, as well as his ability to read and write. He takes him to a mechanic, Estevan, who is missing several fingers. Gato spends the rest of the day watching Estevan work.

At one point, Estevan takes the tool they are working on to the smith to be repaired. He then goes behind a shed and urinates, then stands for nearly an hour staring out at the empty space where the forest used to be. Gato thinks of how nothing is alive out there. He also realizes that it is the time of day he typically goes to the Keeper, and tries to push down his guilt.

Gato’s father returns with the other tree cutters. Hellman asks Estevan how Gato did, and Estevan agrees to let Gato continue working with him.

On Saturday, Gato gets paid after work. He expects to go home, but instead, his father takes him to a clearing. The workers have a soccer field where two teams—the Loggers and the Camp—play each other, with Hellman as the referee. Gato sits with his father to watch but then realizes that the Camp has no goalie. Without thinking about it, Gato gets up and goes into the goal. He recognizes one of the players from the other team as a kid he used to play with in town. They call him “the Butcher,” and Gato can see that he has grown only angrier and tougher while logging.

Throughout the game, the Camp is better, so Gato does very little. He tries to get a read on the game, but Hellman ignores many penalties, the players are very selfish, and there is little strategy, so Gato feels frustrated. However, he manages to send a ball down the field that enables a Camp player to score—even though no one acknowledges the pivotal role he played in the goal.

Near halftime, he saves one of the Butcher’s shots. He realizes that it makes the Butcher even angrier. On the next breakaway, the Butcher lines himself up to step on Gato’s face after the shot. Gato remembers the jaguar and feels as though, in that moment, he “was her,” his body knowing how to save the ball and get out of the Butcher’s way (94). Having missed Gato, the Butcher runs into the goalpost and is taken off the field.

In the second half, Gato makes several more saves and the Camp players score again. Gato then faces a penalty kick. He tracks the shooter and realizes that he is going to shoot into the upper-right corner. However, he does not consider that the shooter might make a mistake. When he miskicks it, the ball veers off course and rolls toward the center. Gato barely manages to twist his body at the last moment, saving the ball but hitting the ground hard. For the rest of the game, he struggles to think, but his body takes over. He manages to save every shot and the Camp wins, two goals to zero. Gato thinks he sees the Keeper standing behind the goal, but then he vanishes.

After the game, Gato’s entire team celebrates his performance. When he returns to his father, he realizes that his father is somewhat unsure and embarrassed—especially since his father should be supporting the Loggers. When Hellman tells Gato that he needs to play next Saturday, Gato hesitates, but his father encourages him.

On Sunday, Gato goes to the clearing. He finds the Keeper standing on the goal line with the ball on the penalty marker. He is standing with his hands on his hips, and Gato thinks of how he looks “arrogant”; however, he then realizes that the Keeper is mimicking the way that Gato stood in the goal yesterday during the game. Gato thinks of how the Keeper had, many times, forced him to “confront [his] own failings,” but this was the first time he made him “feel shame” (104). These feelings are quickly followed by Gato’s realization that the Keeper was following and watching him, which makes Gato feel a mix of anger and fear.

The Keeper instructs Gato to shoot a penalty. Gato is annoyed, having never scored on the Keeper before. Gato is overcome by “hate” for the Keeper in the moment, letting it consume him as he shoots. The Keeper hesitates, and Gato manages to score. The Keeper tells him that he did a good job hiding his thoughts, but then dismisses Gato, telling him they are done for the day even though it is only early afternoon.

When Gato goes to work on Monday, Estevan greets him by calling him “El Gato.” Estavan tells him that that’s what all the workers are calling him after his game on Saturday. 

Gato then breaks from his story, telling Faustino that this is the origin of his nickname: “El Gato” did not come from soccer players or the news, but from that “hellish” place.

Gato resumes his narrative. On Saturday, Gato collects his pay and is given a new jersey. It has the number one on it and a jaguar drawn on the front. When he arrives at the field, he is embarrassed when several people applaud him as he takes the field.

In the goal, Gato is nervous, not because of the fans or the game but because of the thought of the Keeper being there, somewhere, watching. He looks for him but can’t find him, although there is a place where the air seems different. He also thinks back to their last meeting, when his anger and hatred fooled the Keeper.

The Loggers try a new strategy, crossing the ball high and into a group of players. It bothers Gato, as it is difficult to defend and he is often forced to punch the ball out of the goal. However, he manages to save every shot.

As the teams change sides at halftime, one of the Camp players, Augustino, comes up to Gato. He tells him that, for a long time, the Camp team had always been the underdog. Now, however, they are the favorites, because of Gato. Gato insists that he is not responsible, as he doesn’t do the scoring, but Augustino assures him that his constant saves have disheartened the Loggers.

The Camp team wins three goals to zero. After the game, the Camp team celebrates Gato’s play. He even sees that his father is proud of him. However, he feels as though the only person whose opinion matters is the Keeper.

The next day, Gato goes to the clearing. The Keeper is there, waiting on the corner. He has a strange sense of urgency about him that Gato doesn’t understand, almost as if he is not in control. The Keeper makes several corner kicks at the goal, emphasizing the thing that Gato struggled with in the game. Gato stops almost all of them but acknowledges that it is easier because there are no other players on the field to get in his way.

The Keeper comes over to Gato and tells him that they are running out of time because Gato is leaving. Gato is confused but realizes that he has learned a lot from the Keeper and there is not much else for him to learn. The Keeper warns him that things constantly change, like the game of soccer, which is much different now than it used to be. However, he tells Gato that he is “lucky” because the place he protects—the goal—will always be the same. He tells Gato that, if Gato can protect the goal, “then perhaps other things, more important things, can also be protected” (115). 

Gato has no idea what he means, but he feels as though the Keeper is telling him goodbye. When the Keeper starts to leave, Gato desperately tries to stop him, asking where he is going. The Keeper tells him that he doesn’t know, then leaves.