The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border

Cantú is named “Francisco” for San Francisco de Asís, known in English as Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals. Growing up, Cantú’s mother read him stories about his namesake, including a story about a wolf who lays siege to the town where San Francisco lives. With several townspeople in tow, Francisco approaches Brother Wolf, who tries to attack. Francisco makes a sign of the cross, which stops the wolf, and he brokers peace between the wolf and the people: If the wolf stops attacking and eating humans, the humans will feed the wolf each day so he never goes hungry, as that is what caused him to harm others.

Cantú’s personal narrative picks up with the news that he is transferring out of the field and into a low-level intelligence position in Tucson, Arizona. Around this time, Cantú has a dentist appointment and learns that he has been grinding his teeth in his sleep. The dentist asks about his work and mentions that it must be stressful, which Cantú denies since he now works a desk job, which he sees as a “nice break” (84) from fieldwork.

Cantú flashes back to his first day working at his intelligence position and the orientation led by his new supervisor, a man named