Night at the Fiestas

Claire is 10 and the only student at her school who is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is constantly at odds with her classmates and her teachers because of her atheism, and because she does not know when to keep quiet about her outsider opinions, she often gets herself into trouble. In an effort to fit in more effectively, Claire decides to convert. She makes a concerted effort to spend time with her classmates in order to absorb their faith by sheer proximity. She is ashamed of her own family’s obvious differences from the others in their community; her stepfather is an academic, and they watch foreign films and eat a range of international foods. She does not mention any of this when she visits friends who are Latter-day Saints. Claire’s father lives in San Diego. He is an angry, volatile man who cycles in and out of sobriety. Claire does not feel a connection to him, nor does she enjoy visiting him in the summer.

Claire meets a girl named Morgan who attends a different school but only lives a few blocks away. Because Morgan and her family have a messy house and are not particularly religious, Claire is shocked to find out that they are also Latter-day Saints. Morgan invites her to spend five days with her family at a reunion, and Claire is ecstatic. Morgan’s mother, Patsy, is youthful and fun. She listens to Paula Abdul’s music and accidentally gives the girls wine coolers on the way to the reunion. Morgan is upset, but Claire tentatively says that she has had wine before, mixed with water at a party. This she explains, is how parents give their children wine in France. Patsy is thrilled by this anecdote, but Morgan is upset because alcohol is strictly forbidden in their faith, and she is much more devout than her mother.

At the reunion, Patsy strikes Claire as being refreshingly different from her own mother. Patsy gives the girls makeovers and buys them presents at the drug store. Still, Claire cannot help but feel the difference between her family and Morgan’s. Patsy asks a series of pointed questions about Claire’s mother’s relationships with men, and this exchange makes her feel a sense of shame. Morgan reveals that there is no family reunion, and that it will just be the three of them. When Claire asks when the plans changed, Morgan snaps at her. Tension continues to characterize the trip, and Morgan is increasingly judgmental about Claire’s lack of religiosity.

After dinner, Patsy gets drunk on wine coolers and Claire overhears a strange telephone call that between Patsy and a man who is not her husband. Patsy hangs up the phone, curses, and throws one of her bottles at the wall. Claire, whose own father has an alcohol addiction, tells Patsy about her father’s drinking and voices her opinion that alcohol is bad for people. Patsy seems angry but agrees with Claire. Claire then asks if she will be cast into hell when she dies, as Morgan had told her she would, and Patsy tearfully says that yes, she will. Patsy then offers to baptize Claire and drunkenly dips her into water. Afterwards, she asks Claire to baptize her. This is a confusing experience for Claire, who tells Patsy that she wants to go home. Angry, Patsy tells her that she will take her home the next day. Still, she argues that a child whose parents regularly allow her to drink wine (albeit mixed with water) clearly needs a vacation in the company of devout people.