Night at the Fiestas

Monica Vigil-Rios wakes at dawn to find her daughter Cordelia shivering with cold and realizes that the heat has gone out again in their trailer. Monica silently curses her husband Eliot, a geologist, for leaving her alone with Cordelia and their baby, Beatrice, while he collects rock samples. Eliot will be home later, but she will have to attempt to fix the heater on her own now. She tries to restore heat to the trailer but is unsuccessful, so she goes back to bed. She wakes too late to get Cordelia onto her bus to school and is forced to venture out into the cold, windy morning on foot with both girls in tow. Of the motley crew of residents at their trailer park outside of the town of Gypsum, she is unsure whom she might be able to ask for a ride. After a brief walk around the park, she returns dispirited to the trailer. Cordelia, who adores school, is upset that she is missing art day. Monica wishes that her life were different. She had envisioned something other than a dusty trailer park in the Mojave desert when she’d married an academic, and she hopes to live in a small house, finish her own degree, and attend fancy dinner parties.

To entertain Cordelia, Monica proposes that the two play dress-up. A severe and serious child, Cordelia reluctantly agrees. Monica chooses a black, beaded dress that Cordelia’s father, Peter, gave to her. (She is no longer involved with him and rarely speaks about him.) She recalls wearing the dress as a younger woman and becomes momentarily caught up in memories of her youth and early adulthood. Monica grew up in Santa Fe. Her family was not wealthy, but Peter, her first husband, was. He ridiculed her for her lack of education and intellect even as she showed interest in literature and art. Monica’s mother was more materialistic; she had grown up with so little that her desires were largely for material things like television sets and nice carpeting. Monica herself had loftier aspirations, and she was hurt that her husband thought so little of them.

Now, Monica is startled from her reverie by a knock at the door. It is Amanda, a young girl from one of the neighboring trailers. Monica is slightly ashamed of how harshly she judges the family for their appearances and for their obvious poverty. Amanda is nine, while Cordelia is only seven, but Amanda tries to act much older. Monica feels that Amanda sexualizes herself by wearing clothing that is inappropriate for a little girl. She also believes that Amanda lacks manners. Amanda has brought a backpack full of random objects, including a torn pornographic magazine, a porcelain figurine, and an odometer. Monica asks if the items are Amanda’s and is met with rolled eyes and a “Duh!” Monica, Cordelia, and Amanda talk about Monica’s husband. Monica tells the young girl that her husband is a geologist and that he is working toward his PhD. Amanda seems bored until Cordelia reveals that he has had some difficulty with his advisor and that his progress has stalled. Monica grows defensive when Cordelia shares this family secret. She asks Amanda to leave. Just as the young girl is exiting the trailer, Monica impulsively gives her the beaded gown. She has a vision of sloughing off her old life and her expectations for her marriage and wants to be rid of the dress, which is a physical reminder of who she once was. Cordelia is upset by her mother’s choice to gift this heirloom to an obviously unworthy neighbor girl, and Monica tries to explain that Amanda does not have nice things and needs the dress more than Monica or Cordelia.

Later, Eliot returns and fixes the heater. Monica tells him about the dress. By that point, she is surprised at her own actions and is starting to feel regret. Eliot dismisses the interaction as her attempt to give something nice to an underprivileged child and tells Monica that it was just a dress: a meaningless object. Monica contemplates asking Amanda’s mother to return the dress but decides against it. She and Eliot have a brief argument about it but reconcile later. The trailer is warm, he is home, and life seems to be returning to normal.