The Tequila Worm

Sofia calls Berta and tells her she has two big problems: “How to get those five new dresses and the four hundred dollars” (92). Her family must pay $400 for her part of the tuition, and Sofia will need five dresses, one for every weeknight for the formal dinner at her new school. She has only one good dress; the one she wears to church. She has only three dollars in her piggy bank, which won’t even buy one dress. Sofia has a recurring dream that she is sitting with seven students awaiting dinner, wearing her church dress, and they all start laughing at her. When Sofia looks down, she sees she is taped up in Tia Petra’s rolls of plastic. Each time she wakes from the dream, she remembers being called “Taco Head.”

Berta comes over to Sofia’s house, and Sofia, like a good comadre sits through all the pictures of Berta’s quinceañera. Sofia asks Berta about her boyfriend, Jamie. She wants to know what it’s like when Berta kisses him. Berta is less interested in the kissing than she is in her dream of marrying him and settling down. When they finally get around to talking about Sofia’s need for four new dresses, Berta suggests Sofia find sponsors like she did for her quinceañera, but Sofia tells Berta that she is too shy and proud to ask for help.