In Chap­ter XI, Lester Swan, the bus dri­ver, enjoys chat­ting with his pas­sen­gers. He encour­ages every­one to sit at the front, while Bob­bi and Will Junior sit uncer­tain­ly beside him. Mibs and Fish, who are eager to reach Sali­na because their father is in poor health, sit across the aisle. As Lester dri­ves the deliv­ery bus, he ram­bles about its quirks and a past inci­dent where it broke down. Fish inter­rupts anx­ious­ly, ask­ing how long until they reach Sali­na, prompt­ing a tense real­iza­tion among the group about the urgency of their jour­ney.

Lester checks his watch, real­iz­ing he’s run­ning late for a stop in Bee before con­tin­u­ing on to Wymore and Man­hat­tan to deliv­er mon­ey to a friend. Despite their protests that tomor­row is too far away, Lester insists he can­not sac­ri­fice his job for their urgent need, mak­ing Mibs feel guilty for ask­ing the dri­ver for a favor that could jeop­ar­dize his liveli­hood.

As they arrive in the tiny town of Bee, they find the sole church locked and dark, and Lester grows increas­ing­ly agi­tat­ed. Mibs reflects on mem­o­ries of her moth­er, who taught her that no one is tru­ly per­fect and shared warmth and life lessons while cook­ing togeth­er, rein­forc­ing the idea that the Beau­mont fam­i­ly expe­ri­ences both joy and sor­row like every­one else.

Dis­tract­ed, Mibs steps out­side, dis­tanc­ing her­self from the com­plaints sur­round­ing her in the bus. She thinks fond­ly of the past moments with her fam­i­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly the dream of a porch swing that her father want­ed to build. As Mibs sits on the porch of an old, aban­doned house, Will Junior finds her and inquires about her expe­ri­ences on the bus. Mibs tries to deflect his curios­i­ty, reveal­ing her secre­tive­ness but ulti­mate­ly find­ing solace in shar­ing a light moment about his nick­name.

Their con­ver­sa­tion shifts as Will Junior offers a birth­day gift, a pen set Mibs hadn’t opened yet. As she tries to draw on his hand, a sun sketch mirac­u­lous­ly comes to life, sur­pris­ing Mibs and mark­ing the begin­ning of her blos­som­ing abil­i­ties. The chap­ter encap­su­lates a blend of urgency, child­hood inno­cence, fam­i­ly bonds, and the unfold­ing of Mibs’s unique pow­ers.