Mosquitoland

Mim writes to Isabel and identifies herself as a “collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons” (41). In the letter, she tells Isabel about her “misplaced epiglottis,” which makes her vomit randomly and sometimes allows her to vomit at will. She is also blind in her right eye after looking directly at a solar eclipse a few years ago. She considers her pain something admirable because it separates her from the “Generics,” or the people in life who revel in their mediocrity.

The Greyhound is parked on the side of the road while Carl, the driver, tries to fix the overflowing toilet that has flooded the bus with sewage. Arlene and Mim talk on the side of the road. Arlene is on her way to see her nephew Ahab. Ahab lives with his boyfriend, and they own a gas station in Independence, Kentucky. Arlene is carrying a wooden box that’s intended for Ahab, but she doesn’t tell Mim what’s inside. 

Back on the bus, the creepy Poncho Man sits beside Mim even though she doesn’t want him to. He talks, but she doesn’t listen. Instead, she thinks back to the first time that her