Flora And Ulysses

Flora overhears her mother tell her father to take Ulysses, put him in a sack, and hit him over the head with a shovel. She believes the squirrel is diseased and wants to get rid of him. Flora’s father refuses, upset at the idea. Flora suddenly realizes William is not the villain of her and Ulysses’s story—her own mother is.

Ulysses hears Flora’s mother’s words, but he does not fear them because “as a squirrel […] there was always someone, somewhere, who wanted him dead” (76). He is used to being attacked or nearly killed, and instead sits on Flora’s shoulder thinking about poetry. Flora assures Ulysses and herself that “this malfeasance will be stopped” (77).

Flora sits in her father’s car with Ulysses in a shoebox on her lap. She feels confused, as Ulysses seems happy despite knowing he might be murdered, and Flora’s mother is not who she thought she was. She feels hopeful knowing that Ulysses has great power within him but is perplexed by “the random and confusing nature of the universe” (79). As George pulls out of the driveway, Tootie and William run up to the car and stop him. Flora’s father introduces himself, and Flora feels irritated at the thought of having to deal with William again. William apologizes for insulting Ulysses’s poetry, but when Flora asks him to take off his glasses again, he refuses. She tells William that her mother is her and Ulysses’s archnemesis, and William seems surprised. Tootie recites a poem to Ulysses, having been moved by his own poem, and George finds the situation strange. William asks Flora if she will return, and she sarcastically replies that she is not going to the South Pole. Flora thinks about what it would be like to eat seal blubber, and Tootie tells Ulysses to remember her poem.

During the drive, Flora interrogates her father about the sack and shovel in the trunk, hoping to coax him into admitting the plan to kill Ulysses. She thinks her father would make a great spy because he “never really answered questions” (86), except with more questions or noncommittal answers. When Flora asks about the sack and shovel, her father asks her if she wants to get lunch. She agrees that it might be a good idea to delay the battle ahead and strengthen Ulysses with a meal.

Ulysses sits in the car with Flora, smelling the world as it speeds by. He is happy to be with someone he loves, and on his way to eating food. He is not concerned about his potential death, enjoying each moment he has now: “The world in all its smelly glory, in all its treachery and joy and nuttiness, washed over Ulysses, ran through him, filled him. He could smell everything. He could even smell the blue of the sky” (90). Ulysses feels uplifted by Tootie’s poem, which told him to “Flare up like flame” (90). He hopes to write down everything he feels.

Flora’s father tells Flora to leave Ulysses in the car upon arriving at the Giant Do-Nut, but she knows criminals exist and refuses to leave Ulysses alone. Having read “The Criminal Element” comic strip, she knows anyone can become a criminal because “that river [the heart] can carry us along in its hidden currents of want and anger and need, and transform each of us into the very criminal we fear” (91). George surrenders and lets Flora bring Ulysses into the donut shop with his shoebox closed.

Flora and her father are seated by a waiter named Rita, who Flora thinks looks like Marie Antoinette. Rita sees the shoebox and thinks Flora has a doll inside. When Flora tells Rita that she cannot see what’s inside the box, Rita insists, and screams when she discovers Ulysses. Ulysses screams back, and then leaps at her.

Ulysses lands on Rita’s head. Rita claws and swings at him, but Ulysses clings tightly to her. An illustration shows a frightened Rita with Ulysses in her hair, looking equally shocked. Behind them stands the chef, who holds a large knife. Suddenly, Ulysses hears Flora’s voice through the chaos, urging him to remember who he is and to act now. Ulysses heeds Flora’s words and leaps from Rita’s hair and finds out he can fly.

Ulysses looks “incredibly, undeniably heroic” (101) as he sails through the air. Flora feels like his trusted sidekick, much like Incandesto’s parakeet, Dolores. Even her father is smiling, which she notices. She stands next to him and holds his hand, and then George says, “Holy unanticipated occurrences” (102) in Dolores’s voice, like he used to. Flora wells up with joy, and then trips the chef, who is still chasing Ulysses.

In comic strip form, Ulysses flies above the crowd, thinking about how much he loves Flora, and then flies straight into a glass door. He falls next to a piece of donut, unconscious with sprinkles swirling around his head.

Ulysses is bleeding from the head, but Flora is confident he will be alright when she feels his heart beating. Everyone in the diner is quiet for a moment, but then chaos erupts once more. The chef demands the police be called, and Rita wants an ambulance, convinced she caught rabies from Ulysses. George uses his habit of answering questions with questions to sleuth himself and his daughter out of the diner before anyone is called, and on the way to the car, he laughs boisterously; he continues to laugh as they drive away. Flora thinks about her comics and believes her father is experiencing hysteria.

Flora’s father continues to laugh as they drive away, and Flora starts to wonder if Ulysses has a concussion or might die. George assures her that Ulysses will be okay, and she allows herself to feel hopeful. When her father promises to never kill Ulysses (as Flora’s mother requested), Flora suggests taking Ulysses to his place to stay safe.

Flora and her father dash through the halls of his apartment complex in an attempt to avoid the landowner’s cat, who often viciously attacks peoples’ ankles. George continues to laugh, but Flora focuses on saving Ulysses.

Flora notices one of the apartments is labeled “The Dr.’s Meescham!” (113). Flora wonders why this doctor doesn’t know how to use apostrophes or exclamation marks, but identifies the irony in her needing a doctor right away—making the exclamation mark appropriate. Flora’s father goes into his apartment, and the doctor’s door opens before Flora can knock, letting out loud opera music. Dr. Meescham opens the door and calls Flora “Little flower. Flora Belle. Beloved of your father, Mr. George Buckman” (115). Flora is urged inside before she has time to think, and is taken aback by the thought of being so important to her father.