Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary

"How did the world come to be run by power-mad old women," Miles wonders amidst a discussion with Father Mark in the Rectum's breakfast nook. The conversation begins with comments about the plight of John Voss, whom Miles has just hired as a busboy at Tick's urging. John was abandoned by his parents, one after another, to be raised by a grandmother who was either mean-spirited or desperately poor, or both. Miles has confessed to the Padre that he has come to doubt the goodness of God when Tick told him about the boy's background. Father Mark confesses in turn that he once thought god was like his maternal grandmother. The old lady used to rate her grandchildren on the basis of who loved her the most, then reward them with cash at Christmas depending on her evaluation. The most loving...