In the story, Doodle's lies are a manifestation of his desire to have control over his life. Essentially, his lies constitute the vehicle with which he can transcend his disabilities.

In Doodle's stories, everyone can fly, and no one is impeded in any way. Brother relates that Doodle's "favorite lie" is about a boy named Peter, who has a resplendent peacock for a pet. According to Doodle, Peter's golden robe shines brighter than the sun itself, and when he walks past the sunflowers, they turn towards him. In this fantastical lie, the peacock and Peter are connected by their mutual ability to transcend the laws of nature. When Peter falls asleep, the peacock shields him with its magnificent ten-foot tail. In Doodle's favorite lie, Peter is his incarnation; by all indications, Peter represents everything Doodle wants to be: able, powerful, and self-reliant.

To Doodle, the perfect future consists of him and his brother living in Old Woman Swamp and picking dog-tongue for a living. Their house will be built from "whispering leaves" and they will have "swamp birds" for chickens. When they are not picking dog-tongue, Doodle imagines that he and Brother will be swinging through the cypress trees on rope vines. When it rains, both boys will take shelter under an umbrella tree and play stick frog. In Doodle's perfect world, he will marry Mama and Brother will marry Daddy, and all four of them will live happily ever after in their flawless paradise.

In the story, Doodle sometimes lies to his parents as well. Despite his personal challenges, he yearns to be as capable in his fantasies as he is in real life. When his mother forbids him to bury the dead ibis, Doodle promises that he will resist. However, immediately after making the promise, he goes outside to retrieve the ibis and uses a piece of looped string to drag the dead bird to the front yard. There, he laboriously digs a hole next to the petunia bed, where he buries the bird.

Basically, Doodle's lies are a way for him to transcend the limitations imposed by his physical and mental disabilities.

Brother, the narrator of the story, says that Doodle's lies are twice as crazy as his, but Doodle's "lies" are not really untruths; they are imaginary stories of how he wishes life could be.  All of his stories include "birds" and people who can fly.  Obviously, Doodle wishes that getting around was not so difficult, and the wings are a solution to his pain and efforts that he encounters when learning to walk and run.

When Doodle and Brother discuss their future, they talk about living out near the swamp with swamp birds as their chickens.  Even in this "realistic" story, Doodle wants them to be able to

"swing through the cypresses on the rope vines,"

negating the need for him to walk or touch the ground.

In "The Scarlet Ibis," how does Doodle imagine his perfect future?

Doodle is described as "the craziest" of brothers by the narrator of the story. He is physically disabled, such that he has to be pulled around in a cart by his brother; when he was an infant, it was generally assumed that he was probably going to die. As such, Doodle's expectations for himself are lesser than they might be in another child.

Doodle does not want to touch the casket that has been built for him, so we can assume that he is afraid of the idea of dying. He enjoys beautiful things. He knows, however, that he will never be like the other boys if he ever does succeed in starting school. He is able to learn to walk, and he goes along with his brother in trying to learn to swim, but Doodle cannot really conceive of what his future might be like beyond this. He and the narrator fantasize about a childlike future, where they would live in Old Woman Swamp and "pick dog's tongue for a living." Doodle imagines building a house of leaves and keeping the swamp birds as chickens, swinging through the trees on vines and hiding beneath trees when it rained. Doodle imagines that he will marry his mother and that the narrator will marry their father, which the narrator knows to be an impossibility, but the beautiful childlike future Doodle pictures is too "serene" for the narrator to say so.

At the end of the story, of course, Doodle is killed. Whatever future he might have imagined for himself, it never comes to pass.

In "The Scarlet Ibis," how does Doodle imagine his perfect future?

Doodle's mentality is that of a small child.  He thinks that he's going to grow up and marry his mother, and he'll always live with his parents and brother.  Although it sounds crazy, that's his mentality.  He's a dreamer and the symbol of innocence all in one.  Unfortunately, Doodle does not get the future he dreams of, lying in the soft grass of Old Woman Swamp, living in a house make of "whispering leaves," and collecting dog-tongue. 

How old was the narrator when Doodle was born in "The Scarlet Ibis"? How does Doodle imagine his perfect future will be?

The narrator mentions that his younger brother, Doodle, was born when he was six years old. In the narrator's young, naive mind, Doodle was a disappointment from the day he was born. Doodle was born with an unspecified illness, and everyone, including Doodle's parents, believed that he would die as an infant. However, Doodle survived infancy, and his parents named him three months after he was born. As a child, the narrator desperately wished for a perfectly healthy and physically active younger brother. Tragically, the narrator feels ashamed of his disabled brother and even experiences thoughts of murdering him as an infant. As a six-year-old child, the narrator admits that he thought about smothering Doodle—that is, until the moment when his brother smiled at him.

As Doodle grows older, the narrator takes him everywhere he goes and attempts to facilitate his maturation. During their time spend in Old Woman's Swamp, the narrator and Doodle would imagine their future together. The two brothers would discuss how they would live in the swamp and pick dog-tongue for a living. They also imagined how they would enjoy a serene life alongside their parents, whom they would marry. The narrator says,

Of course, I was old enough to know this wouldn't work out, but the picture he painted was so beautiful and serene that all I could do was whisper Yes, yes. (Hurst, 3)

How old was the narrator when Doodle was born in "The Scarlet Ibis"? How does Doodle imagine his perfect future will be?

    Little Doodle was "the craziest brother a boy ever had," according to the narrator of the James Hurst short story, "The Scarlet Ibis." Not expected to live long after he was born, Doodle nevertheless thrived through his big heart and the persistence of his brother, who was six years old when Doodle was born.
    Although Doodle saw little reason to learn to walk, the older brother would

... paint for him a picture of us as old men... and me still pulling him around in a go-cart.

Doodle decided that he wanted to walk and grow older as well. The two dreamed of living together in a house in Old Woman Swamp, where they would swing through the trees and "pick dog-tongue for a living." When it rained, they would stay dry under the umbrella tree and "play stickfrog."

Mama and Daddy could come and live with us if they wanted to. He even came up with the idea that he could marry Mama and I could marry Daddy. Of course, I was old enough to know this wouldn't work out...