Prompt: Believer in reincarnation, hospital waiting room, extremely hairy person, unexpected package

Stefan ignored the furtive glances of the others in the waiting room. He’d had a lifetime of experience ignoring them, and more. A little girl -- five or six, he guessed, for all he knew about kids – climbed down from her chair and clattered over to stand in front of him. The clatter was from her red sparkly shoes, which she had stylishly paired with baby blue fleece pants and a Lion King sweatshirt. Stefan looked up from his months-old magazine to see her staring at him intently.

“Are you Dorothy?” he asked her quietly.

She got it, looking down at her shoes and rocking back on her heels. With a grin, she said, “No, I’m Emma. Are you a werewolf?”

Closing his magazine, Stefan pretended to think about this, stroking his long cheek hair with one furred hand. “I don’t think so. How would I know?”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Well,” she said seriously, “do you turn into a wolf?”

“No.”

“Howl at the moon?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” Emma copied his movements, stroking her cheek with her hand. Stefan saw the hospital ID band and a tell-tale bandaid-covered IV port. “I guess you’re not a werewolf, then.”

“I agree with your diagnosis,” Stefan said, a twinkle in his eye. Kids never bothered him, the ones who weren’t mean. Curious wasn’t mean. And they were honest about it.

Emma laughed, a happy, high-pitched tone. The man she had been sitting with looked up, and Stefan nodded to him. Don’t worry. I’m not a freak. I won’t hurt your little girl. The man went back to his magazine.

Emma climbed up next to Stefan, making herself comfortable. He slid the magazine into the empty chair on his other side, since she obviously planned to be awhile. “I’m Stefan.”

Emma shook his hand very seriously, then turned it over in her hand, studying the hair on his fingers and back of his hand. “Hi Stefan. Why do you have so much hair?”

There. Honest and direct. “It’s called hypertrichosis. It makes my hair grow crazy fast and long. Why are you here?” Turn about was fair play, he figured. And children usually thought so too.

“I’m giving one of my kidneys to my brother,” Emma said, sitting up proudly. But Stefan heard the little tremor in her voice and saw the shadow cross her face. Her hand, still holding his, clenched a little.

Emma was afraid. He looked back to the man, reading and not paying attention to this beautiful young girl. Surely not the brother. Her father? Pay attention! Stefan wanted to shout. He looked back down to Emma, who looked up at him patiently.

“You’re very brave,” Stefan said. “I would be scared.”

Emma leaned forward to whisper, cupping her left hand to her mouth. Stefan bent down to hear her. “I am scared, Stefan. I was hoping you were a werewolf so you could help me.”

Stefan pulled back in surprise. “Help you? How?”

Dogs in house	Houdini
Music	Frozen Soundtrack
Time writing	~30 minutes, including research
January word count	14,255