

One day, Mary Alice comes home and sees that Grandma Dowdel is looking at a Sears catalog.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.

