"The Dress" by Louise Erdrich

"Behind her eyes and nose Celestine felt a prickling, a surge of heat that she didn't even recognize at first as tears.  It had been so long, almost too long to remember, since she had cried. She didn't now, either; it made no sense to start over something as ordinary as the issue of a dress, although that was, Celestine now realized, connected to larger things in life."

 Twelve year old Dot is captain of her softball team, practically lives in her uniform (her mother washes it while she sleeps), and, more than anything else in the world, wants a new first-baseman's glove from the Sears catalog. But, as Celestine, a single mother in desperate financial straits, takes note of Dot's sudden growth spurt and changing body, she knows the money must be spent on new clothes before the start of Junior High. 

 The glove costs $22.95.  Celestine has twenty dollars set aside for emergencies. Dot has saved nine dollars from her birthday and bottle refunds.  Upon finding a special in the catalog, "Grab Bag Dresses One Dollar Each", Dot proposes a deal. They purchase the glove and six dresses - one for each day of the school week, plus Mass on Sunday.

On the first day of school, a grab bag dress is unwrapped and found to be utterly hideous.  In addition, the new glove elicits less than the anticipated admiration, and Dot begins to feel a mistake has been made.  Disaster strikes when the remaining five dresses are found to be identical to the first! 

The embarrassment and ridicule Dot faces when she realizes the entire school is taking bets on the date her outfit will change is brilliantly captured, as well as her solution for dealing with it.

All readers know the feeling when an author's writing really 'works' for them and, after reading a single short story, I'm pretty sure I've found that here.  Louise Erdrich has been on my 'authors to read' list for ages, but it was a mention of  her anthology, The Red Convertible, at The Betty and Boo Chronicles that finally convinced me the time had come.  I clicked right over to the library website and the book was in my hands just a few days later.

The title story is my usual starting place with anthologies but, in this case, the broken spine automatically fell open to "The Dress".  Just a quick scan of the first paragraph and I was compelled to continue.  The following morning, a Border's 40% off coupon appeared in my inbox, the library book was returned, and I purchased a copy of my own.  I'm looking forward to slowly making my way through this collection! 

Have you read anything by Louise Erdrich? It won't be long before I'll be looking for novel recommendations!

Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.  Stop over to see who else has a short story to review, or leave a link to yours.