When Billy Bouncer was born he looked very odd indeed. The doctors called him a miracle, his parents called him a freak. The problem with Billy was that instead of having a head, he arrived with a suitcase attached to his shoulders, exactly where his head should have been. At birth, it was about the size of a normal head, but over time it would grow to become almost twice the size of Billy's body. It was blue in colour and even had a small lock attached to the handle on the side. The head surgeon believed that he could operate and give little Billy a normal head instead of a suitcase, but after much thinking he changed his mind, saying the operation was just too dangerous. Billy's parents discussed, at great length, what to do with him. They thought about building a dungeon in the basement where they could chain him to the wall and hide him from the world. They also wondered if they could open the suitcase and somehow fold the rest of Billy into it. Then they could carry him around by his handle and nobody would notice, everyone would simply think they were going on holidays. But in the end it was all too much for them. It was during Billy's second month on the planet that they gave him away. They put him in a big box and left him on the orphanage doorstep.

As Billy grew he realised quickly that he was a very different boy. The other children didn't treat him very well at all. Sometimes they would paint a target on the front of his case and throw eggs at it. Other times they would write rude messages on the back of his case, messages like 'oversized luggage', 'Headcase' or 'fragile, handle with car'. This hurt Billy very much and he spent much time hiding under people's beds with other suitcases, that way he couldn't be found. Sometimes he would just stare out the window and watch the birds buzz around and the airplanes fly high in the sky. Billy had always wished he could fly and often dreamt he could just jet away from it all.

Since Billy didn't have many friends he spent a lot of time alone, and because of this he developed many problems. One day when he was coming out of the shower Billy accidentally stepped on another boys foot, the boy looked at him and politely smiled. This made Billy very happy, but also lead him to believe that whenever he met someone he should step on their foot, that way he might get a smile. This created some very difficult situations. Another day as he was taking off his school trousers, the school mistress came through the door. When she saw Billy she quickly screeched and ran out the door. Billy then came to believe that whenever he didn't want to see someone he could simply pull down his trousers and they might just run away. Sometimes when Billy would be introduced to somebody he would step on their toes, and as they shouted at him he would then pull down his trousers. The doctors said it was a strange case of 'obsessive compulsive disorder' and it became quite a big problem for poor Billy.