Summary

In “Mantis,” a 14-year-old narrator begins the story by stating that she has her “grandmother's skin” (1), to which her mother applies all manner of creams and potions. She attends Catholic school, where the other girls call her “The Mummy” (3) because she must wear gloves and she has dark rings around her eyes and nostrils, but it is just benign teasing. All the other girls complain about their own flaws, but when the narrator mentions her skin, it is “a winning card, one that can't be trumped” (5). Her mother tells her stories about her grandmother, whom she calls a “party girl” (7). When the narrator asks about her grandfather, her mother always replies, “Your granddad wasn't around by that time” (7).

By the narrator's 15th birthday, she has begun to lose teeth, her skin is shedding, and she is losing her hair. She...