That is a very good point about the ending—I had interpreted it as being meant very bleakly, but I suppose you're right that she is making her own decisions, even if the circumstances of that are rather tragic.

I really enjoyed the queerness of the story, as well! As I said to liriaen above, I found myself kind of reading Miss Amelia as queer in a nebulous sort of way that fits in with her general 'oddness' and the sense of her as someone existing sideways-on to (straight) social standards of normality. And the story of her 'marriage' is certainly an impressive and memorable example of a woman not fitting into the heteronormative role at all... Disability is another interesting aspect of the story, although I wasn't really sure what to make of Cousin Lymon either from that angle or in general—I suppose we don't see things from his perspective as much as from Miss Amelia's.

Heh, the randomness of Hudson's writing is rather charming in its way, and I do think it went well with a book of reminiscences—that's true that it feels more like a story he might be spontaneously telling to the reader.