754 words.
                                                        “The Nose”

           Joe always got along fine with just about anybody and was satisfied with all his attributes, which were many. He was excellent in sports and excelled in academic work as well. He pushed himself hard, working out at the gym four days a week and participated in three different sports. His many activities didn’t leave him much time for dating. When he got the time there were always willing girls just dying to date him.
On his sixteenth birthday his father gave him a brand new Ford Mustang convertible. Life just couldn’t get much better for Joe and it didn’t. It got much worse because of some moron on the opposing basketball team. Joe was breaking for the basket when the kid yelled, ”Hey stop big nose before he scores.” Big nose Joe thought, where’d that come from? The kid yelled it over and over that night. Stop big nose! Big nose has the ball! Big nose sucks. That did it Joe ran over to where he was and punched him right in his nose. The kid yelled as loud as he could, ”Big nose can’t take it. Joe punched him again to shut him up. Finally the ref separated them and the coach told Joe to go to the locker room.
Once in the bathroom the first thing he did was to look in the mirror and was shocked to see his nose. He’d never noticed before but it was big and slightly hooked. He looked straight in the mirror and flexed his muscles. He liked what he saw and forgot about his nose and changed into a t-shirt and went to sit in the stands to watch the rest of the game. His team lost as Joe was sorely needed to play if they were going to win.

      The next day as he walked into the lunch room his buddy yelled “Hey big nose, sit over here.” It was a well-intended joke but when Joe heard it he turned red from embarrassment. Many noticed his shame and human nature being what it is, the weakness was exploited. Joe must have heard, “Big nose a hundred times that day.” If that wasn’t bad enough, each time he looked in a mirror his nose seemed to have grown bigger. Yesterday he thought of himself as normal and today he was a nose with a face attached to it. A real Pinocchio he thought, it grows every time a mirror sees it.
Joe refused to attend school or partake in any activities whatsoever. All he could do was look in the mirror every few minutes to see how much his nose had grown. He couldn’t believe it but it seemed every time he looked it had gotten just a little bit bigger. Finally he went to see his doctor. When he told the doctor how much his nose had grown the physician told him this was a common problem with boys his age and it just meant he was becoming a man. Also he had a cure that was guaranteed to work. Joe was overjoyed to hear he was going to be cured. The doctor discussed the procedure telling Joe he would put him under anesthesia and coat his nose with a formula that’s used by the South American Indians to shrink heads. “For real?” Joe asked.
“Yeah but you can’t tell anyone that I used it because it’s illegal in this country. But it works for shrinking noses that are too large and it’s guaranteed to work.”
      “Go for it doc, let’s get it done.” Joe woke up an hour later with a bandage on his numb nose. He jumped up went to the washroom, looked in the mirror and ripped the bandage off. He gasped; it worked! It worked he screamed to himself. Joe went out to the office and thanked the doctor profusely for helping him. The doctor just smiled slyly and told him if it gets to small to come and see him for an adjustment.

       Now as Joe passes a mirror he’ll glance to check his nose hasn’t shrunk too much. He’s been back in school for a week and as he proudly walks the grounds, not one person has used that derisive phrase, “Big nose,” since he had his nose shrunken The world is a good place again and Joe thinks it’s amazing how something like a flawed nose could ruin a life.

     The doctor thinks it's amazing how easy it was to cure big nose by applying a psychological cure.