[ WP ] Wait- being born with horns is natural ... Right ?

I was eight the first time I noticed. 
 
 Not the horns themselves, mind you. Those had been a constant bane of any shirt I had ever tried to wear, and given that they had seemed to only grow progressively longer - well let's just say I was getting used to wearing flannel. 
 
 I was eight when I first noticed the stares. 
 
 It's weird, how something so a part of me just seems to make sense. Of course I have horns, I've ALWAYS had horns. Sure my long hair normally hides them, and if not that back then I could still pull off a hat. Well, put one on really: 
 
 You could consider it a form of obliviousness, but it's more just a simple fact of understanding normalcy within my own relative frame of existence. Horns were normal for me, and it did n't make me question why others DID N'T have them. Until they questioned me. 
 
 It was a younger kid who asked me what was up with the weird bumps, and if it was the same acne his brother had. I simply told him they were my horns, and he asked if he could pull on them. When he felt they were n't coming off, he ran to his mom with joy. She ran away clutching her cross necklace....but whatever. Racist. 
 
 I remember that was the day I asked my parents. Being born with horns is natural, right? I mean, I had n't noticed anyone else with horns before... but then again I never really paid any attention to it. Like a kid with a pushed in sternum does n't really notice that others DO N'T have them, they just think their chest is a little different - at least that's what my friend Greg said... 
 
 My mom looked at my dad, I remember. Like she knew it was coming. The Big Not-Sex Question. My dad got down on a knee, patted me on the head and gave me the little rub like he did whenever he came home. He was soft with me, but firm. Maybe that's why it stuck with me. Or maybe some truths are things you ca n't let go. The more true it is, the more it burrows inside of you. 
 
 `` It's natural for you son, and that's all that matters.'' 
 
 That's all I've cared about since.
