Summary

In Chapter 10, the protagonist left Ohio and returned home, feeling adrift. She found a review of a play about the Elephant Man on the portal and laughed at an overly pretentious sentence, then felt pleased that she was still capable of finding something funny. She still felt disconnected from the portal and she thought about all the experiences she wished for her niece to have. She dreamed that her niece spoke to her, claiming to be “a very advanced life-form” who must “return...to the Planet 9/11” (166). She found it strange that people continued to go about their ordinary lives despite the advancing of climate change.

The family took the baby to Disney World. The protagonist felt strange riding with her on the Haunted Mansion ride. She saw a teenager take a picture of her niece with his phone. Her sister wrote a letter to...