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receiver, imitating Mrs. Beeble.
    â€œWhat? What’d you say? Guess what I caught in my Havaheart,” Matthew’s voice said.
    â€œHow come you weren’t in school today?”
    â€œI caught another skunk and when I went to let it out, it sprayed me. My mother’s boiling. She says she’s going to give my traps to the Salvation Army. I told her if she did, I’d run away. I told her I couldn’t go to school. That’s what Miss Carmichael said last week. She said if it happened again, I’d better stay home. So my mother made me sit outside in the car while she went to eat lunch with some ladies. I asked her if I could stay home by myself but she said enough was enough and she wanted to keep me where she’d know what I was doing.”
    â€œWill you smell all right by tomorrow?” Louis said.
    â€œI better. She bought two quarts of tomato juice and put me in the bathtub and poured it over me and now she’s scrubbing out the tub and she’s still boiling,” Matthew said.
    â€œGuess what?” Louis said. “I played football with the sixth graders today.”
    â€œYou did?” Matthew said. “How was it? Did anybody tackle you?”
    â€œIt was pretty rough,” Louis said, “but I did all right. They didn’t want to let me play. They said I was too little. But I played anyway and one kid kicked the ball and it hit me in the stomach and I got sick. I almost got sick again, all over Amy Adams.”
    â€œCool,” Matthew said. “What stopped you?”
    â€œI didn’t have anything left in my insides,” Louis said. He heard a scream from Matthew’s end of the line.
    Then silence.
    â€œI have to hang up,” Matthew said. “She says I’m dripping all over her new rug.”
    â€œO.K.,” Louis said. “Stay away from skunks.”
    Matthew laughed a hollow laugh and hung up.

11
    Tuesday morning Louis woke up feeling very good. Even when he checked his ears and his muscles and they seemed to be too big and too small as they’d always been, he still felt good.
    He tucked his amulet inside his shirt, first rubbing it for luck. He didn’t go anywhere without that amulet. He found a pair of matching socks in his drawer and he could smell bacon cooking. Everything pointed to a super day.
    He wore his helmet to breakfast. From behind his newspaper, his father said, “Take that off while you eat, please.” It was amazing what his father could see from behind that paper.
    â€œHow’d you know I had it on?” Louis said, taking it off.
    â€œHaven’t you?” his father said, still behind his paper.
    â€œNot now,” Louis said.
    â€œCome home right after school,” his mother said. “I’m taking you for a haircut.”
    Louis’ hair reached the tip of his ears. It was just the right length.
    â€œI don’t need a haircut,” he said.
    Nobody answered.
    â€œWhy do I always have to get a haircut just when I like it the way it is?” Louis asked. “How’d you like it if somebody made you get your hair cut every time you thought your hair looked pretty nice? You wouldn’t like it at all, that’s for sure.”
    When he got to school, Miss Carmichael told the class she’d only had two people hand in stuff for the newspaper.
    â€œI had hoped for more contributions,” she said, looking over the top of her glasses. “A little more cooperation is indicated.”
    Amy Adams turned around in her seat and smiled graciously. She gave a little wave like the queen of England. Louis put both hands around his own throat and gagged noisily.
    At lunch, Louis bolted his sandwich and raced out to the field. The same guys he’d played with yesterday were already there throwing the ball back and forth talking big. “Hey Charlie, let’s have it here. Toss it to me and I’ll take it for a hundred yards. Come on, you apes,