Patron Saints of Nothing

Through Mia’s translation, Jay learns Reyna’s backstory, how she came to live with Jun for nearly two years. Reyna grew up in poverty outside Manila. Her family, desperate for money, sold her into a relationship with a stranger who abused her until finally she left him and sought the protection of the human rights organization where Jay’s aunts work. Then Reyna got to know Jun. Their relationship was an abiding friendship, nothing sexual. Reyna responded to Jun’s kindness. Eager to stand on her own, Reyna took the apartment in the seedy Manila neighborhood, and Jun left with her. The two lived together in poverty for two years. By then Jun had fallen in love with Reyna. The two never had sex (the child living with Reyna is an orphan she took in). Reyna insists that Jun never used or sold drugs in their time together, that he volunteered at street clinics to help addicts. Reyna claims that a year earlier, for no apparent reason, Jun suddenly left.

Jay returns to his aunts’ home more confused than ever. Solving the mystery of Jun’s death confounds him, like when “you’re almost finished with a jigsaw puzzle but discover you’re missing a couple of pieces” (217).