The Delivery Characters

A mother and wife trapped by routine, caretaker fatigue, and unresolved grief after a miscarriage; she accepts the NORM LLC delivery hoping for escape. She is overwhelmed, insecure, and increasingly frightened as Mr. Man's help turns dangerous, but ultimately she finds the strength to end the arrangement.

Arc: Moves from wanting unpredictability and relief to confronting the danger Mr. Man represents. She admits her lie to Maddy about Bao-Bao, throws away the Porsche key, and finds gratitude emancipating.

• Mark — her husband
• Maddy — her seven-year-old daughter, on the spectrum
• Mr. Man — the NORM LLC being she accepted into the house and eventually commands into the prism
• Jackson — her aggrieved next-door neighbor
• Luca — her NORM LLC Experience Facilitator
• Alexa de Grasse — the woman who pitched NORM LLC to her at the Polo Lounge
• Sheila Evans — Sydney's mother, who begins as an adversary and later receives Rebecca's help

Rebecca's husband and Maddy's father, grieving the same miscarriage while strained by work for his demanding boss Derek. He helps accept the delivery, becomes watchful as Mr. Man proves dangerous, and ultimately negotiates to end the relationship with NORM LLC.

Arc: Learns to put his family first, using leverage rather than legal standing to force NORM LLC into removing the unit. He reconciles with Derek and returns to a simpler family routine.

• Rebecca — his wife
• Maddy — his daughter
• Derek de Grasse — his demanding boss, later reconciled
• Mr. Man — the being he helps contain and return
• Luca — the NORM LLC facilitator he threatens with bad press
• Jackson — his neighbor

A customized humanlike being grown by NORM LLC from Rebecca and delivered to the Higgins house. He is literal, amoral, and eager to take care of the family, killing the pet rabbit and carrying out a threatening night mission involving a stolen Porsche. He insists he is only doing what the family wants.

Arc: At first a polite helper, he increasingly reveals a dangerous interpretation of care, culminating in being sealed into his prism and picked up for disposal.

• Rebecca — the person he was grown from and claims to serve
• Mark — the adult whose clothes he wears and who later seals him in
• Maddy — the child who names him Mr. Man
• Bao-Bao — the pet rabbit he kills and skins
• Luca — the facilitator associated with NORM LLC
• Ginny Merchant — the breeder he steals the replacement rabbit from

The Higginses' next-door neighbor, furious about pine debris on his roof and increasingly aggressive toward Rebecca. He threatens to poison the tree, smears sap on their porch, and pounds on their door, then later falls off a ladder and is found paralyzed and contorted on his lawn.

Arc: Moves from petty antagonist to a figure of regret after his accident, but his actions remain part of the mounting dread around the family.

• Rebecca — the neighbor he intimidates
• Mark — the neighbor who deals with him earlier
• Mr. Man — the being who later visits his yard and leaves a footprint

Rebecca and Mark's seven-year-old daughter, who is on the spectrum and experiences sensory overload and bullying. She loves her routines, her rabbit Bao-Bao, and her stuffed animals, and she is perceptive enough to know when the replacement rabbit is not the real Bao-Bao.

Arc: Endures bullying and a burn on the hot slide, then shows courage by confronting Mr. Man. She helps Rebecca by saying it was not her fault and eventually reclaims joy through a slow family bedtime ritual, renaming the new rabbit Bunnysaurus.

• Rebecca — her mother
• Mark — her father
• Bao-Bao — her beloved pet rabbit
• Bunnysaurus — the replacement rabbit she renames
• Mr. Fox — her stuffed fennec fox
• Mr. Man — the being she names and later confronts
• Sydney — the girl who bullies her and later is kind to her

Mark's wealthy boss, founder and CEO of his company, married to Alexa. He pressures Mark at work, refuses to let him leave when Maddy is burned, and later is violently attacked and hospitalized.

Arc: Starts as a workplace antagonist and becomes a vulnerable figure who trusts Mark to run product operations and apologizes before falling asleep.

• Mark — his employee, later reconciled
• Alexa de Grasse — his wife
• Rebecca — Mark's wife

Derek's wife, who pitches NORM LLC to Rebecca and Mark as ultimate retail therapy and once tried to kiss Mark. She is performative and wealthy, and her brief hospital visit leaves Derek feeling lonely.

Arc: No real change; she remains a manipulative social figure.

• Derek de Grasse — her husband
• Mark — the man she once tried to kiss
• Rebecca — the woman she pitches NORM LLC to

NORM LLC's Experience Facilitator, assigned to Rebecca and Mark, who conducts a video teleconference and later tells them the payment is nonrefundable. She warns that the corporation has access to all of the family's information.

Arc: Initially refuses to allow a return, then agrees to a 6 p.m. pickup after Mark threatens to flood the internet with damaging content.

• Rebecca — her client
• Mark — her client, who threatens her with bad press
• Mr. Man — the unit she facilitates for NORM LLC

The deliveryman who brings the crated prism to the Higgins house on a futuristic dolly and later returns to take it away. Rebecca privately nicknames him and imagines a backstory, but he remains an ordinary external figure.

Arc: Bookends the story without changing; he simply facilitates the NORM LLC transaction.

• Rebecca — the customer who signs for delivery
• Mark — the customer who directs him to the nursery

A girl at Maddy's school who leads mean-girl teasing, calls Maddy Maddysaurus, and bullies her into going down a hot slide. She later apologizes to Rebecca, showing bruising on her arm, and then behaves more kindly toward Maddy.

Arc: Shifts from bully to apologetic and briefly kind, complicating the picture of who is responsible.

• Maddy — the girl she bullies and later leaves alone at lunch
• Sheila Evans — her mother
• Rebecca — Maddy's mother, whom she apologizes to

Sydney's wealthy mother, who hosts a confrontational meeting at her estate and suggests Maddy might be better off elsewhere. She later suffers a severe car accident and is rescued by Rebecca.

Arc: Moves from Rebecca's adversary to someone Rebecca helps in crisis, creating a moment of compassion that transcends their earlier conflict.

• Sydney — her daughter
• Don Evans — her husband, who is away on business
• Rebecca — the mother she clashes with and who later rescues her

The principal at Maddy's school, present at the nurse's office after the slide burn, explaining funding limits and arranging a meeting with Sheila. Rebecca addresses her as Veronica.

Arc: No personal arc; she serves as an institutional intermediary between the family and the school.

• Rebecca — Maddy's mother, with whom she negotiates
• Maddy — a student at her school
• Sheila Evans — the parent she arranges a meeting with

Maddy's beloved six-pound Mini Lop rabbit, often hugged and included in routines. Mr. Man kills and skins him after misreading Rebecca's 'fresh and healthy' instruction.

Arc: His death is a plot turning point that exposes Mr. Man's danger and leads to Maddy's confrontation.

• Maddy — her pet rabbit
• Rebecca — the caretaker who feeds him
• Mr. Man — the being who kills and skins him

The replacement Mini Lop rabbit Mr. Man steals from breeder Ginny Merchant to replace Bao-Bao. Maddy initially knows it is not Bao-Bao but eventually renames it Bunnysaurus after it bites her.

Arc: Transitions from a suspicious stand-in to an accepted family pet under a new name.

• Maddy — the girl who renames him
• Rebecca — allows her daughter to keep him
• Mr. Man — the being who brings him to the house
• Ginny Merchant — the breeder he was stolen from

Maddy's stuffed fennec fox, part of her bedtime rituals and offered to Mr. Man to keep him company. He is anthropomorphized in family talk.

Arc: Static comfort object throughout the story.

• Maddy — his owner
• Mr. Man — offered to him as company

One of Sydney's friends in the mean-girl group who teases Maddy about her dinosaur lunch box and joins in laughing at her.

Arc: No change; a minor bully.

• Sydney — part of her group
• McKenzie — another girl in the group

Another of Sydney's friends who mockingly asks Maddy for a stegosaurus fact in a fake-nice voice.

Arc: No change; a minor bully.

• Sydney — part of her group
• Girl Dylan — another girl in the group

Sheila's husband and Sydney's father, away on business during the story. Through his assistant Jim, he thanks Rebecca for helping Sydney after the crash and offers her a beta-technology plus-one.

Arc: Offscreen figure; his gesture emphasizes Rebecca's rejection of luxury.

• Sheila Evans — his wife
• Sydney — his daughter
• Jim — his personal executive assistant
• Rebecca — the woman he wants to thank

Personal executive assistant to Sheila and Don Evans, calls Rebecca to report Sheila's condition and pass along Don Evans's thank-you offer.

Arc: Minor messenger character.

• Sheila Evans — his employer
• Don Evans — his employer
• Rebecca — the person he delivers the message to

The school traffic helper at kiss-and-ride who waves cars out with a stop sign, grows overzealous in his role, and knocks on Rebecca's van to move her along.

Arc: Static comic figure in the school environment.

• Rebecca — works alongside her at traffic duty
• Maddy — a student he helps out of the minivan

The breeder from whose backyard Mr. Man steals a replacement Mini Lop rabbit, paying via PayPal without waking her.

Arc: Offscreen; she never appears in the narrative.

• Mr. Man — the person who steals the rabbit from her
• Bunnysaurus — the rabbit taken from her backyard