Back at home, the squirrel reveals a second astonishing power. He climbs onto the typewriter belonging to Flora's mother and, slowly and carefully, types out a poem. Flora is amazed. A squirrel that can lift a vacuum cleaner is one thing; a squirrel that can write poetry is a genuine phenomenon. She is now almost certain that Ulysses is a real superhero. Not everyone is delighted. Flora's mother, Phyllis, a writer of romance novels, has no patience for a wild animal in her house, and she soon makes her intention to be rid of him clear. Flora feels a growing dread that her mother will find a way to get rid of Ulysses for good. Meanwhile, a strange new figure appears next door. William Spiver is the great-nephew of Flora's neighbour, sent to stay with her for the summer. He is polite, formal, and astonishingly talkative — and he cannot see. With great composure, William Spiver explains that his blindness was caused by trauma, and that although his eyes do not work, he perceives the world in other ways. Lonely, forlorn, and far from home, William Spiver is as much an outsider as Flora herself. Baffled by him at first, Flora slowly begins to realise she may have found an unlikely friend.