Free The Ears of Louis by Constance C. Greene

1
    Louis had been doing fine in life until he hit first grade. He could crack his knuckles really loud, he could skip a stone over the water so it bounced five, sometimes six, times.
    He also wasn’t bad at mumblety peg.
    That was four years ago.
    Then cousin Marge came calling from Cincinnati. She and Louis’ mother were drinking tea in the living room when he got home from school.
    â€œMy, my,” cousin Marge said, peering sharply at him, “haven’t seen you since you were a pup. You’ve grown some but not as much as I would’ve thought.”
    â€œI was never a pup,” Louis said.
    â€œWhere do you suppose he got such big ears?” cousin Marge said, as if he hadn’t spoken. “Certainly not from my side of the family.”
    â€œLouis’ ears aren’t big,” his mother said in a stiff voice. “Besides, remember Clark Gable.”
    â€œWho’s Clark Gable?” Louis asked.
    â€œHe was a famous movie star and very handsome,” his mother said. “He always got the girl.”
    The last thing in the world Louis wanted was to get the girl. Still, a famous movie star.
    Next, Louis could remember sliding down the slide at school. He closed his eyes against the rush of air and the ground crowding up at him. It was like flying.
    â€œHey, Elephant Boy,” a voice said, “you’d better watch it. The wind gets tangled up in those ears, you might wind up in Alaska.”
    Louis had opened his eyes to a ring of mouths, all opened wide, laughing. He had put his hands over his ears to shut out the sound, or maybe to hide them. He wasn’t sure. All he knew was they were laughing at him.
    Louis thought that if he kept quiet and pretended he didn’t mind, they’d stop and life would be as it had been before.
    What made it worse was you’d never notice his mother and father’s ears, his brother Tom’s were teeny and his baby sister’s you could hardly see, they were so small. It was a wonder she heard anything at all.
    Some days were worse than others. On a bad day, Louis went home and kicked his bed until his toe throbbed. Then he hid the blanket Tom couldn’t go to sleep without and once, he even punched his baby sister in the stomach. Her stomach was so fat she hardly felt a thing. She blew spit bubbles at him which made him madder than before.
    Louis started taping his ears to the side of his head with Scotch tape. He’d wait until Tom fell asleep in the next bed. He didn’t want Tom to know. When he’d finished taping, he’d kneel down beside his bed and pray to God to make his ears small and his muscles big. In the morning, his ears were still big and his muscles small.
    It was a bad combination.
    Skinny Ernie was the worst. He’d lie in wait behind a tree, then pop out, shouting, “You’re some sweet kid, Sugar Bowl!”
    Louis would crack his knuckles, yell “Race you!” and run like the wind. Away from one tormentor and into the path of another.
    â€œDumbo, Dumbo, how’s about a sack of peanuts for lunch?” someone else would taunt.
    That was why Louis needed big muscles. To knock their blocks off.
    After times like these, Louis always had the same dream. In it, he was winning a race. He was passing everybody, he was way out ahead. He was first crossing the finish line. Before he could stop himself, he took off into the air, the wind caught in his ears, and he dipped high and low, like a kite, on his way to Alaska.
    Down below, they were laughing again. The sound billowed up at him and his face was hot with shame. When he woke, his mother was standing by his bed.
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Louis? You were shouting in your sleep. Are you all right?” she asked anxiously.
    â€œI’m O.K.,” Louis mumbled, so she’d go away and leave him alone. “I’m fine.”

2
    Louis’ friend Matthew lived far out in the country in a house so old