Kate DiCamillo: Flora & Ulysses

“I was out looking for Ulysses,” said Flora. “I thought you had kidnapped him.”

“It’s true,” confessed her mother. “I did.”

Ulysses, sitting on Flora’s shoulder, nodded. His whiskers brushed her cheek.

“I wanted to make things right somehow. I wanted to make things normal,” said Flora’s mother.

“Normalcy is an illusion, of course,” said William Spiver. “There is no normal.”

“Hush up, William,” said Tootie.

“And when I returned and you weren’t there . . .” said Flora’s mother. She started to cry again. “I don’t care about normal. I just wanted you back. I needed to find you.”

“And here she is, Mrs. Buckman,” said William Spiver in a very gentle voice.

Here I am, thought Flora. And my mother loves me. Holy bagumba.

And then she thought, Oh, no, I’m going to cry.

And she did cry. Big, fat tears rolled down her face and landed on the horsehair sofa and trembled there for a second before they rolled off.

“You see?” said Dr. Meescham. She smiled at Flora. “I told you. This is how it is with this sofa.”

“Mrs. Buckman,” said William Spiver, “what is that that you are holding in your hand? What is that piece of paper?”

“It’s a poem,” said Flora’s mother, “by Ulysses. It’s for Flora.”

“Look at this!” said Tootie.

They all turned and looked at Tootie. She was standing by the headless Mary Ann, who was plugged in and shining. “It still works. Isn’t that something?”

“Why don’t you read the poem, Phyllis?” said Flora’s father.

“Oh, goody,” said Tootie, “a poetry reading.”

“It’s a squirrel poem,” said Flora’s mother. “But it’s a good one.”

Ulysses puffed out his chest.

“‘Words for Flora,’” her mother said. “That’s the title.”

“I like that title,” said William Spiver.

He took hold of Flora’s hand. He squeezed it.

“Don’t squeeze my hand,” said Flora.

But she held on tightly to William Spiver, and she listened as her mother read the poem that Ulysses had written.

This poem was just the beginning, of course.

There would be more.

He needed to write about how they always, always answered the door in Blundermeecen. He needed to write about the saving of Phyllis Buckman from Mr. Klaus. He needed to write about Mary Ann’s broken, still-shining self. And little fishes.

He needed to write a poem about little fishes.

Also, he wanted to write about things that hadn’t happened yet. For instance, he wanted to write a poem where William Spiver’s mother called and asked for him to come home. And a poem where the other Dr. Meescham came and visited this Dr. Meescham and sat beside her and hummed to her and watched her sleep. And maybe there would be a poem about a horsehair sofa. And one about a vacuum cleaner.

He would write and write. He would make wonderful things happen. Some of it would be true. All of it would be true.

Most of it would be true.

Ulysses looked out the window and saw the sun glowing on the horizon. Soon it would be time to eat.

A wonderful thought occurred to the squirrel.

Maybe there would be donuts, giant donuts, for breakfast.

Words for Flora

Nothing

would be

easier without

you,

because you

are

everything,

all of it —

sprinkles, quarks, giant

donuts, eggs sunny - side up —

you

are the ever - expanding

universe

to me.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2013 by Kate DiCamillo

Illustrations copyright © 2013 by K. G. Campbell

Excerpt from “Gott spricht zu jedem . . . / God speaks to each of us . . .” from Rilke’s Book of Hours:

Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy,

copyright © 1996 by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.

Used by permission of Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,

or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic,

electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First electronic edition 2013

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2012947748

ISBN 978-0-7636-6040-6 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-7636-6724-5 (electronic)

The illustrations were created in pencil.

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