[It's comforting nonetheless, the second time in his life he's commiserated abnormalities with someone (and let's face it, at certain times he may very well agree with that analogy.) He nods in promise of confidentiality, cementing it with - ] I won't tell anyone.

[There's a pause at the question, remembering the time his father had ended up sobbingly confessing that it was his fault Hank had ended up deformed - had he been drunk? He wasn't the type of man to drink often - until his mother had shooed him away. She hadn't done anything to refute that view, merely smoothed it over in her timid way, and then they'd all continued living their lives. Sometimes he couldn't help but notice the absence of siblings and wonder.]

More or less. My parents thought it was the result of radiation poisoning - Dad was at risk, where he worked - which...that's one type of mutation. I realised there could be other reasons once I was old enough, but it was only until Charles came along that I really started to believe it was wider-scale evolution. Naturally occurring. [As opposed to one erroneous incident.] And then I saw enough blood samples to prove it. It's like they say, sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees.