Because of Winn-Dixie: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

India Opal Buloni, who goes by Opal, introduces herself. Last summer, Opal’s daddy, the preacher, sent her to the store for groceries—and she came home with a dog. Opal enters the produce section of her local Winn-Dixie grocery store and almost runs into the store manager, who’s screaming, demanding to know who let a dog in the store. Opal sees vegetables all over and employees running around. Finally, the dog races around the corner: he’s big and ugly, and he looks like he’s having the time of his life. The dog stops in front of Opal and smiles by pulling his lips back and showing his teeth. He wags his tail, knocks some oranges off a display, and then races for the manager. The dog smiles at the manager and gets up on his hind legs to say hello, but he ends up knocking the manager over.

The manager starts to cry, and the dog, concerned, licks the man’s face. When the manager shouts for someone to call the pound, Opal says that the dog is hers. Everyone stares at her. She knows she just did something stupid, but she can’t stand the thought of the dog going to the pound. She calls the dog and figures that like everyone else, he must have a name. Opal calls him the first thing that pops into her head: Winn-Dixie. The dog runs to her. The manager looks suspicious, but Opal apologizes for letting the dog into the store. She carefully walks out the door, Winn-Dixie trailing her closely. Outside, she looks him over and sees that he’s skinny and dirty. He smiles so big that he sneezes, which makes Opal fall in love with him immediately. She tells him that they need to go talk to the preacher.