Our pal Doc is a genius.

Just take the other day, and all of us were gathered up and coffee’d at the Mule Barn truck stop coffee shop and world dilemma think tank, and ol’ Doc just proved it again.

Steve noticed them first, the young couple who had just pulled into a parking space outside the “efaC” window. From the outside, it reads “Café.”

“Say,” said Steve, “isn’t that Bobby and Carol Ann?”

“Yep,” said Jimmy, “and if I ain’t mistaken, there’s three of ‘em today.”

Sure enough, Carol Ann reached into the back seat and unstrapped a brand-new baby from the car seat and smiled at it as they carried the baby to the front door.

“Boy or girl?” Herb asked. No one seemed to know.

“Look for clues,” Dud chipped in.

One blue blanket, one pink blanket. No obvious ribbon Scotch-taped to baby’s head. If we didn’t know the baby’s name, how would we tell? And with today’s names, how would you tell anyway?

The creased foreheads took over at the counter.

“This will embarrassing,” Dud said.

“No problem, Dudley,” said Doc.

Sure enough, here came Bobby and Carol Ann, all smiles, with the bundle.

“Hi Guys!” said Carol Ann, “look what we have!”

And Doc, who sometimes unofficially leads because he has more degrees than a thermometer, stood up, looked down at the little one and said, “Now THAT’S what I call a baby!”

Doc’s a genius. No argument.