Summary

In “You Will Hear the Locust Sing,” a man named Francis Kay transforms into a giant insect. He has a history of eating bugs to impress his classmates, but that particular trick has become increasingly less appealing to his peers, who have begun to ostracize him. When Francis’s parents bust his door in to make him to go school, they are astonished to find that he is an enormous bug. Francis gets his father out of the way, but hears his mother, Ella, reciting a prayer on his way out the door, which moves him deeply.

Unsure of where to go, Francis returns to his parents’ house. He finds his father, Buddy, sleeping with his face in Ella’s bosom, and also notes that Ella has left a taco salad on the table...