Glastonville, also known as Bracketsville, is a frontier town in Texas whose sanctuary, kept by a patriarch, protects children rescued from across the border. It is the final destination of the company, the girl and Sebastián.
| Spanish entry | Glastonville |
Route
From the Mexican side: the Eagle Pass crossing, the “great river of the north,” then one or two days’ walk into Texas; a train may also reach “the special location.” Its people declare: “of course we are from Glastonville.”
The town
It has a park, a bridge, a watchtower, a shipyard, neighborhoods, a temple and the governor’s house. The shipyard builds “pretty boats, pleasure barges that go as far as the Mississippi.” Around it lie fields, haciendas and a small grove.
The sanctuary
The local cult is Christian “but with some crazy inversions,” and also accepts the Hindu gods. It is led by a patriarch, “a very wise man,” priest of faith and friend of magical science, who guards the rescued children: “they will be protected, only there.” The refuge begins with the crossing itself (“We crossed the border into the sanctuary”), with a promise: “when we arrive you will be rewarded.”
Its own clergy admits that “corruption sometimes reaches these cloisters”: one of the priests committed a betrayal.
Open questions
- What threatens the children, and why protection holds “only there.”
- Whether the governor or the patriarch rules.
- The cult’s doctrine and how the Hindu gods enter it; the size of the reward.
- The traitor priest’s name and betrayal.
- Why the town has two names, and whether the railway reaches it.