Atrocious

- The Beginning -

"That's nothing special."
"What do you mean?"
"Look. I'm pleased about your enthusiasm and your relief that the child now has a specialty, but I'd like you to settle down here with me and tell you that it's nothing special."
The atmosphere became uncomfortable and cold.
"Do you have a lot to do with families and children?" she asked, gently stroking her daughter's brown-haired pigtails.
Today, red bows had been put in them, with little decorative stones in the colors of the symbol of peace. All Might.
"Yes," the doctor replied dryly, visibly unsure of how to place his hands on his lap to appear as confident and self-assured as possible.
"Then you should actually be practiced in how you deal with families. Surely you've examined hundreds, or let's say thousands, of children and noticed specialties or not. But nothing special? That's still
She still decides!" she said indignantly, sitting her daughter on her lap, adjusting her bright red skirt and taking a deep breath.
"How she feels about it, how she deals with it and which path she wants to take is still up to her. I'm proud of my little girl and you should change your choice of words!"
The praise of her daughter and the criticism of the doctor in the same sentence made him shudder for a moment.
He leaned forward and apologized taciturnly.
The little girl opened her hand to grasp the doctor's outstretched hair and immediately a smoky haze lifted from her fingers, as if it had been a sheath that had closed tightly around her skin and was now literally going up in smoke.
She rubbed her fingers as she thought she had gotten close enough to the ends of her hair to play with it and pull on it with relish, when suddenly it hissed.
"Anna! No!"
Anna's eyes grew as big as pie plates as it sparkled and crackled red, yellow and orange in front of her.
The ends of the man's hair had caught fire.
She laughed.
"I apologize profusely. We'll have to train her to handle it now," said her mother, lowering her eyes.
The doctor tapped the ends of his hair briskly until the small fire was out and only the smell of burnt hair remained in his nose. He laughed.
"That's all right. An occupational hazard! And I deserve it for my behavior, too."