He held up his right hand, rolled up his sleeve, and concentrated.  It began as thin white wisps swirling around his fingers as he slowly waved them in an undecipherable pattern.  The wisps turned translucent orange.  Finally, a blue tinge licked at the edges.

“How…?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I just started noticing smoke around my hand.  When I looked at it long enough, it turned to flame.”

Disbelief hung like a cloud over his friend.  “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Me?  No.  But it does burn other things.”

“Can it cover your whole body?”

“Just my hands.  At least, so far.”

His friend sat there, staring at the fire.  Worried someone might come along, he willed the flame away.

“You’re like…  a superhero.  What’s your codename going to be?”

“I’m not a superhero.”

“Oh come on!  This is so cool.  Let’s see… uh…  the human…  No.  Can’t use that.  Probably copyright laws.  Um…”

“I’m serious.  No superhero.  This is just something weird happening to me.  I don’t know why, but I’d like to find out.”

“Why?  Think of how much good you could do?  Or at least fame.  And probably money.”

“What good could I do?  Light people on fire?”

“Just the bad guys.”

“What bad guys?  Under what circumstances would it be okay to set someone on fire?  And how would I do that without hurting other people?”

“But this ability…  It’s got to have a purpose.  You can do something nobody else can.”

“So can a grandmaster in chess.  That doesn’t make her a superhero.”

“Well, what are you going to do, then?”

“I don’t know.  Stage magician?  Stuntman?”

“Lame.  Superhero’s better.”

“Never mind.  Should have kept it to myself.  Let’s go get some food.”