“..the child as well?”

I was talking to some of my co-workers recently, and I remembered this story :

It was about four years ago, and we were going on a little road trip down south. (we = my sister, her husband, my mom and I). So, my brother-in-law was driving, my sister was in the passenger seat, my mom and I were in the back. As we approached the US border, we were somewhat concerned (it was the post-9/11 time and we are muslims), but in good spirits. Anyways, it was our turn, we slowly pulled up to the tiny little room that is occupied by the “Customs and Border Protection Officer”. As he took our passports, he asked my brother-in-law to put the back window down. Then he started on the usual questions – “where are you going?, Why are you going there?, How long will you be staying?…..”.

Eventually, he asked my brother-in-law, “Citizenship?”. He answered “Canadian”. Then he asked my sister, “Citizenship??”, she answered “Canadian”. The officer then looks into the back seat and asked my mom, “Citizenship?”, she answered, “Canadian”. It was my turn next, and I was ready with my answer. The officer turns to me, looks at me….then, he looks back to my mom, and says, “the child as well??”. She said,”yes”.

I was about 24 years old at the time!!