Meanwhile, the nativity play practice is carrying on, and Mary Alice feels shabby in her robes made out of old bedsheets-especially next to Carleen, who's playing an angel and has an actual satin gown.(She's not particularly fond of the smell of the fox urine they use as a lure, either, but hey, girls committing crimes with their grandmas can't be choosers.) Over the next few weeks, Mary Alice often goes out at night to help Grandma, even though she hates the sound of the foxes screaming when they get caught in the trap.This lady is nothing if not unpredictable. It turns out that Grandma's been setting traps and killing foxes for their furs. Later, when Mary Alice is getting ready to go to bed, Grandma Dowdel tells her to get dressed to go out with her.

When Mary Alice gets home one day, she finds that Grandma Dowdel has been out in all of her warmest clothes doing something-but she won't say what.This really gets Carleen's goat, and Mary Alice is determined to do it right-and to make herself a proper costume. For the Christmas nativity play, the teacher chooses Mary Alice to be the Virgin Mary.In fact, the best dressed person in school is a girl named Carleen, who has all sorts of fancy things like silk stockings. The one thing that works in Mary Alice's favor is that she doesn't dress like a rich city girl.She's glad that at least Ina-Rae is nice to her-since all the other girls are still giving her the cold shoulder. Mary Alice gives Ina-Rae, the only girl who's friendly to her, her hot pad because Ina-Rae's didn't turn out so well.In Home Ec class at school, the girls are tasked with crocheting used bottle caps together to make hot pads for their loved ones.

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck