Stone Mattress

An unnamed, first person narrator tells the story of “Lusus Naturae,” which translates to “a freak of nature.” The story starts with the narrator telling the reader “[i]f I was in one of my lucid phases” (117), implying that the narrator is not lucid. It is further revealed that the narrator is a woman who becomes so sick and deformed when she is young that her parents feel they have no choice but to tell their friends and family that the little girl died. While others blame curses and demons, the father in the story hints that “it was after the case of measles, when she was seven. After that” (81).

Hidden away from the world, the narrator feels freer than she did when she was known to be alive and was physically free. Now, she reads during the day and at night, and when no one can see her, she runs free through the house and the yard. Eventually, members of her family pass away and her mother leaves her. After years of solitude, the woman becomes more visible, either on purpose or accidently. As she finds herself closer to death, she tries to communicate with others. “But now things are coming to an end,” she says, “I’ve become too visible” (123).