Summary

Dengue Boy was hated by everyone. They teased him about his beak and his buzzing wings. They left him alone at recess. He “didn’t have a single friend” (210).

Dengue Boy’s classmates spread rumors about him. They said the “pestilential lot where his family lived” was to blame for Dengue Boy’s condition and appearance (210). They said that “a mutant species” of mosquito had bred there, “raped and impregnated his mother,” and killed his father (210). They also said the mutant bug was Dengue Boy’s father. He had ejaculated into Dengue Boy’s mother, creating “the misfit creature” (210). They had other stories and theories, too. Whenever they were bored, they bullied him. Whenever they started calling him names, Dengue Boy’s antennae quivered “with rage and indignation” (211).

Dengue Boy’s home life offered him little reprieve. His mother did not like him...