A Mango-Shaped Space

Mia and her best friend, Jenna, are spending a summer day exploring a ravine near their homes. The girls are 13 and “much too old for day camp” (12). Instead of going to camp, they explore the countryside together. Jenna’s mother died three years ago but gave the two of them friendship bracelets before she died. Sometimes, Jenna still looks for secret doorways in the woods that might bring her back to her mother. Jenna’s mother “stocked up on presents and wrote long letters about her life” (14) shortly after learning that her cancer was terminal so that she could still send Jenna birthday presents after her death. Mia thinks about the colors that she associates with Jenna’s name, as well as the names of her own sister, Beth, and her brother, Zack. 

Mia is working on a painting of her grandfather as a gift for him on the first anniversary of his death. Jenna asks if she can see it, but Mia says that it is not ready yet. The girls discuss the strangeness of Mia’s family, particularly that of her father and brother. Zack keeps track of every McDonald’s hamburger that he has eaten in his life; a local newspaper once reported on him. Jenna and Mia see Mia’s father working on his helicopter, which he uses for his job: selling and repairing farm equipment in remote locations. Jenna asks Mia if she has time for a mischievous mission. Mia says that she doesn’t, and the friends part ways. 

When Mia returns home, she finds her cat, Mango, whom she named after the color of his meows. Zack comes into Mia’s room and tells her that he is trying to synchronize all of their watches. Mia collects clocks and, when 5 o’ clock strikes, all of them go off at once, very loudly. Mia is overwhelmed by the sounds of all the “buzzing and chiming and ringing and shrieking” (22) and all the accompanying colors and shapes. She describes the “blurry purple triangles and waves of green and floating black dots and balls of all sizes and shades of colors, spinning, swooping, swirling in front of [her] and across the room and in [her] mind’s eye” (22). Mia is angry with her brother for turning up the alarms on all her clocks, which she normally keeps silent. After Zack leaves, Mia starts tries to finish the painting of her grandfather.

Mia adds in a likeness of Mango as a kitten to her painting of her grandfather. She first found Mango at her grandfather’s funeral. Mango has had a wheeze since she first found him, but the vet has assured Mia that he is still healthy. Mia’s father knocks on her door and asks her if she wants to come to the drugstore with her sister, who has just returned from a seven-week college prep program in California. Mia shows him the finished painting of her grandfather and he compliments her on her “sense of color” (27). He remarks how she made “Mango’s and Grandpa’s eyes the same shape” (27).

Her parents and sister leave to go to the drugstore, and Mia takes her painting to the cemetery. She leaves the painting on her grandfather’s grave. It starts to rain heavily and Mia rushes home. When Mia returns, she finally sees Beth. Her sister has changed a lot. She is kinder and is no longer “wearing any makeup, and her hair is tied back in a ponytail instead of being hair-sprayed out to there” (30). Beth has become interested in herbs, energy, and nature, which seems out of character, or “un-Bethlike” (31). 

Mia and her mother go out to buy spaghetti for dinner. Mia thinks about how much she is dreading going back to school in a week. Going into the eighth grade means having to learn a foreign language and take pre-algebra, subjects she finds difficult because of her colors. In the check-out line up, Mia meets a five-year-old boy named Billy Henkle. As the two talk, Billy says that Mia’s name is pretty because it is “purple with orange stripes” (37). Mia is stunned to meet someone else who sees colors the way she does. 

Mia spends a restless night thinking about Billy, wondering if they really are the same or if he is just an imaginative young child. Unable to sleep, she gets up early to rescue her painting from the rain. When she gets to the cemetery, she sees Jenna and her father visiting Jenna’s mother’s grave. The two friends meet and discuss the painting. As Mia is leaving, she mentions that her mother is “dragging [her] out for school supplies” (40). She feels guilty for mentioning her mother and notices that Jenna is behaving strangely. As Jenna leaves, Mia thinks about all that is left unsaid between them. 

On one of the last days before the summer’s end, Mia and Zack set up a lemonade stand. Mia asks Zack if the color of lemons remind him of anything, “like the letter a or the number four?” (42). Zack is confused and just stares at her. He clearly does not share her color associations, though he does subscribe to many superstitious beliefs.

Later, Mia and her mother take Mango for a routine vet appointment. A boy from Mia’s school, Roger Carson, comes in with his family and their very old golden retriever. The family goes into a private room with the vet and their dog. Mia can hear Roger crying as the vet puts the dog to sleep. When the family comes out of the room, Roger and Mia make eye contact. Mia tries to convey her sympathy and finds that she cannot speak, though Roger appears to understand. 

On Monday, eighth grade begins. Mia and Jenna both express their distaste for school. Mia meets her new teachers: Mrs. Morris, her germophobic American history teacher; Mr. Siedler, her English teacher; and Karen, her new art teacher. She also has her first Spanish and pre-algebra classes, where she realizes that she is likely to struggle. Her color associations are already making it hard to learn. On the bus home, Mia vows to try to be normal.