blue whale

Little Salt had small ears. 

Well, they were less than small. 

They were minute. 

He used to be self-conscious about them. 

When he stepped into a classroom for the first time, his glasses slipped off one of those ears and hung crooked across his face. 

Everyone laughed.

His ears weren't big enough to hold his glasses.

"We come from a family with little ears but big hearts," said his abuelo one day as Little Salt was moping down a row of tomatoes, thinking about the laughter of his classmates. 

"Good thing you don't talk. You can use your brain for listening. Your ears won't help you much.”

As he grew older and fell in love with whales, though, he discovered that blue whales, which are the biggest animals to have ever lived on earth, have ears the size of the point of a pencil. 

"The blue whales know how I feel," he thought. 

And that made him feel better.

He did have a big heart, though.

Literally. 

One day, when he was a toddler, he fell at the end of a row of tomatoes and bruised his ribs on a jagged rock. 

His abuelo and his mamí took him to the free medical clinic. 

His abuelo wrapped his arms around him and placed his giant calloused hand on his chest to keep him still. 

He took quick, shallow breaths because if he breathed slowly and deeply his whole body hurt. 

When they looked at the x-ray, Doctor Maria exclaimed, "His ribs are bruised but, my God, look at the size of his heart! I've never seen a heart so big in a child so small!”

An echocardiogram confirmed it.

"It's rare in children,” said Doctor Maria, "But his heart in enlarged because his heart muscle isn't squeezing well and his heart has grown bigger to compensate. 

The good news is, we can treat him.

The bad news is, he won’t be able to play professional fútbol.

He'll have to use his heart in different ways than other people.”

Later, by his bedside, his abuelo said, "I want you to have listening ears and a big heart, mi nieto. 

It seems as if nature is helping my wish come true. 

Don't you worry. 

I'll always love you just the way you are. 

You're perfect to me and for the world."

He kissed him lightly on the forehead.

It comforted him again when he learned that a blue whale has the biggest heart on earth. 

It's as big as a Volkswagen Beetle.

"I have a heart like a blue whale," he thought.

He smiled.