Last night I was taking a brother and sister home. They were both sitting in the back seat of my family sedan, separated by Elli's car seat.

Sister: Does your daughter ride in this seat?

Me: Yep.

Sister: Did you take lots of pictures of her when she was a little baby.

Me: We have hundreds of pics of that kid. Her life has been well-chronicled.

Sister: Did you save her cord thingy?

Me: What, her umbilical cord?

Sister: Yeah. That one.

Me: Uh, no. Elli's adopted. Her cord was long gone by the time we got her.

Sister: She's not adopted!

Me: Yes. She is.

Sister: No she's not. That girl has your blood and your wife's blood in her!

Me: I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Regardless, we do not have her umbilical cord.

Sister: My cousin kept her baby's cord. But now it's brown and shriveled up and it looks like some kind of shed reptile skin.

Admit it. You kind of want to work with middle schoolers now, don't you.

Fair Dinkum