try on

“Before that time of day, my mother would ask me to try on something—heightwise, I was getting to be the size of some of the ladies she sewed for, though with my still-sparse diet I came nowhere near filling in all their darts and pleats—and she would make me spin, and then she would stand back and clasp her hands together and would tell me, “You know”—then she would stop, and it was a nice effect—“you look ‘lovely’” It was like “fond,” a word soft and kind.”

Simon & Schuster: Hoopi Shoopi Donna

“It started when I invited Ana Gomez from church to a tienda descuenta that had MTV inside to attract business, to try on new two-dollar dresses.”

Simon & Schuster: The Madonnas of Echo Park

“I reckon that calf 'u'd have a surprise-party ef he was to try on his suckin' business now," he said.”

Northern Georgia sketches,