Flora And Ulysses

It is summer break, and Flora Belle Buckman is reading a comic about the Amazing Incandesto in defiance of a contract she signed with her mother, Phyllis Buckman, to “work to turn her face away from the idiotic high jinks of comics and toward the bright light of true literature” (5). Flora’s mother writes romance novels, but Flora hates romance, much preferring to read about adventurous superheroes. This is why her mother calls her a “natural-born cynic.” Flora also likes to imagine her speech as word bubbles above her head, as if she were in a comic herself.

As she reads, Flora suddenly hears a loud noise and sees Tootie in her yard, vacuuming chaotically. When Flora notices the vacuum heading straight for a squirrel, she yells at Tootie, but is not heard. Just like Incandesto, Flora says to herself, “This malfeasance must be stopped” (7). The squirrel is vacuumed up as Flora watches helplessly.

As squirrels mostly think of food, when this squirrel is sucked up by the vacuum, he is simply thinking about how hungry he is. After he is sucked up, he has no thoughts at all.

The vacuum cleaner sputters to a stop, and Tootie tries to pull the squirrel out. When it doesn’t budge, she believes she has killed it.

Flora runs from her room to Tootie’s yard, thinking herself surprisingly helpful for a cynic. She shakes the vacuum until the squirrel falls out, and an illustration shows that most of its fur has been vacuumed off. The Incandesto comics include a bonus section detailing “Terrible Things Can Happen to You!” (16), in which Flora has read about how to give CPR. She tries to give CPR to the squirrel.

The squirrel starts drifting toward death, “floating in a great lake of light” (16) and feeling immense joy, when he is suddenly startled back to life by the sound of someone shouting at him to breathe.

The squirrel turns over and breathes, and Tootie begins to laugh hysterically. Flora wonders if she is having a seizure, and mentally prepares to help Tootie next.

When the squirrel awakes, he feels “as if the several doors in the dark room of his self (doors which he hadn’t even known existed) had suddenly been flung wide” (18). He feels a new sense of purpose and meaning. He is also hungry, and in a comic strip, the squirrel lifts up the vacuum cleaner and shakes it to allow crackers to fall out. He smiles proudly.

Tootie cannot believe what she is seeing, but because Flora has read so many comic books, she is open to the idea that “impossible things happened all the time” (21). Flora suggests that perhaps the squirrel has superpowers now, similar to how most superheroes gain their powers from tragedy. She is worried that “the world will misunderstand” (22) the squirrel if he is a superhero, remembering that Alfred T. Slipper’s true identity (Incandesto) is known only by his pet parakeet. Just then, Donald calls out to his wife to make him lunch. Flora warns Tootie not to tell anyone about the squirrel. Donald asks whether or not Tootie plans to leave the Ulysses vacuum outside, and Flora deems Ulysses the perfect name for the squirrel.

The squirrel feels illuminated, as if the entire world has opened up before him and everything seems beautiful. He stares up at Flora, who is surrounded by a halo of sunlight, “setting the whole world on fire” (24). Flora tells the squirrel her name, and then names the squirrel Ulysses. Ulysses wonders how he never noticed the beauty of the world before today, and thinks about how hungry he is.

Flora’s mother is typing one of her romance novels in the kitchen, and Flora thinks back to her parents’ arguing before they divorced. The romance novels were often a source of these fights, and Flora often found herself caught in the middle of them. An illustration shows Flora standing in the kitchen behind her mother, and shows the juxtaposition between them: Flora is plain-looking, having little concern with looking feminine, and her mother is wearing a fancy coat and necklace, with painted nails and curled hair—all just to sit at a typewriter at home. Flora’s mother also sucks on lollipops to avoid the urge to smoke, something she used to do frequently. She doesn’t notice that Flora is carrying a squirrel and tells her to go wash her hands for dinner. Flora walks away, thinking about a glass shepherdess lamp her mother purchased and considered beautiful; Flora’s mother doesn’t call her beautiful, but Flora tries not to let this bother her.

Flora quickly learns that Ulysses can understand her, and explains to him how superheroes tend to get their powers from tragic accidents like his. However, she tells herself, “do not hope; instead, observe” (35), trying not to get overexcited about the possibility of having a squirrel with superpowers. She shows Ulysses one of her Incandesto comics and explains that Alfred T. Slipper is an unassuming janitor who nobody suspects to be a hero. Flora tells Ulysses that superheroes use their powers to fight evil and how “Alfred sheds light into the darkest corners of the universe” (35-36). She wonders what other hidden powers Ulysses might have, and then her mother calls her down for dinner.

After dinner, Flora goes upstairs to find Ulysses curled up and sleeping on her pillow. She finally feels like she’s not alone for the first time in a while, and wonders what amazing and unexpected things will happen with Ulysses. She also thinks about her father, who used to read Incandesto comics aloud to her before the divorce. They shared a passion for the hero, and Flora misses his company, but doesn’t care to admit this.

Ulysses awakes in the middle of the night, starving. He wanders into the kitchen, following the smell of a cheese puff, and finds an entire bag of them in the cabinet. He is able to read the bag of cheese puffs, and then finds Flora’s mother’s typewriter on the table. Ulysses begins typing: “His whiskers trembled. His heart sang. Was he fighting evil? Who could say?” (42). These words are written alongside a short comic showing Ulysses happily typing and looking inspired.

The next morning, Flora’s mother calls Flora downstairs, angry about her typewriter being used and the cheese puffs being eaten; there is cheese puff dust all over the typewriter. Flora looks at the page on the typewriter and sees “Squirtel! I am. Ulysses. Born anew” (44). She is amazed at Ulysses having used the typewriter, but doesn’t want to tell her mother this, so she instead apologizes. As her mother lectures her, the doorbell rings.

The Buckmans’ doorbell is partially broken and sounds more like an electric chair than a ringing bell; Flora read about electric chairs in “Terrible Things Can Happen to You!” Flora’s mother thinks their visitor is Flora’s father and tells Flora to answer the door. Flora takes her time getting to the door and thinks about how she and Ulysses will soon be vanquishing evil together. She opens the door, but the visitor isn’t her father.

Tootie is at the door, and the first thing she notices is the shepherdess lamp that Flora hates. She asks Flora about the squirrel, wondering if she was hallucinating; Flora confirms Ulysses can type. Flora’s mother joins in, wondering why Tootie is there to see Flora; when Flora goes to confirm Ulysses’s typewriting, she hears a scream from the front hall. Ulysses is sitting atop the shepherdess lamp, and Flora’s mother panics at the lamp potentially breaking. Just then, the doorbell buzzes again, and this time, it is Tootie’s great nephew, William, at the door.

Tootie’s great nephew is named William Spiver. He wears dark glasses and claims to be blind, but Tootie insists he’s not. William reports that he heard screaming and came to check on the situation, but encountered some shrubs on his way over and might be bleeding now. He is staying with Tootie for the summer, and Flora’s mother is excited to hear that Flora will have someone to play with. William mentions he can “smell squirrel” (56) somewhere nearby, and Flora’s mother thinks that Ulysses is rabid and diseased.

Tootie tells Flora’s mother that she will take the squirrel outside and release it, and Flora’s mother agrees. Flora and William accompany Tootie, and William talks to Flora as they walk back to Tootie’s house. He puts his hand on Flora’s shoulder, and she finds him “unnecessarily cryptic” (59). William reveals he is 11 years old, but feels much older, and Flora tells him that she is 10. Tootie doesn’t actually want to release Ulysses, and is instead excited to see the page he typed out. The page will prove “the hallucination extends” (60), even if William doesn’t believe it possible. Flora remembers Incandesto, and how only his parakeet believes in him, and she knows that it is her duty to believe in Ulysses. William suggests that Ulysses type again, so they can all see it for themselves.

Ulysses sits in front of Tootie’s computer and recognizes the letters on the keyboard as similar to those on a typewriter. He thinks to himself that he must write something for Flora’s sake, and wonders what to write: “What was the truth? And what kind of squirrel was he?” (62). He sees a painting of a man and woman overlooking a city and feels a sense of warmth and love. Ulysses thinks about Flora and the grass outside, both of which he loves. He moves toward the keyboard.

“Destiny bestirred itself” (64) as Flora, Tootie, and William watch Ulysses type. He writes a poem about how much he loves Flora’s round head, the colors around him, the letters that appear as he types, and the world itself. He also writes about how hungry he is.

Tootie faints after seeing Ulysses type his poem, and Flora gets a bag of frozen peas for her head. The former is amazed that the squirrel wrote poetry, but William comments that it’s not particularly good poetry. Flora warns him not to doubt Ulysses, and then asks William to take off his glasses so she can see the real him. She wonders if he might be Ulysses’s secret archnemesis and demands to know the truth. Just as she reaches to take off William’s glasses, Flora’s mother yells that her father is waiting to pick her up. Flora puts Ulysses in her shirt, and as she leaves, William asks if he will see her again.