August Through the Peephole
Olivia describes her brother’s appearance in detail: his eyes are too low, and they are oddly slanted. They sit crooked on his face, and they bulge out from too-small eye sockets. His top eyelids hang halfway over the eyes even when he is wide awake, and his bottom eyelids droop to reveal the red skin below. He has no eyebrows and no eyelashes. His nose is a huge blob. His face is pinched in at the sides as if it has been crushed. He has no cheekbones, so his skin sags. He looks “melted, like the drippings on the side of a candle.” Surgical scars surround his mouth. He has an overbite, and his teeth stick straight out.
When August was little, he looked even...