As they walk to the car to pick up the bags, Ally looks at the contents with disgust. At the top of one of the bags is a carton of eggs. "Ugh, I hate these." she says.
"Really? Why?" asks Kyle.
"I mean, it should be obvious! They're.. they're..." she struggles to find words.
"Eggs?" Kyle jokes. "They're food!"
Ally makes a face. "It's just, they're just like the ones I lay during my periods."
Kyle is shocked at his sister for being so frank about her period. He decides to take advantage of this.
"Actually..." he begins "I was wondering, how does all of that work? You know, the egg-laying thing?"
Ally sighs, clearly preparing for a long explanation.
"Well, you see Kyle," Ally says, taking a deep breath and beginning to explain in an almost professorial voice, "The human menstrual cycle is actually remarkably similar to that of other egg-laying mammals."
She looks at him as if waiting for some sort of interruption. She continues when he doesn't say anything.
"Now, unlike birds or reptiles who lay their eggs outside the body, ours are held within us until they're fertilized and ready to be born. This is called an embryo."
She pauses again as if she's going to wait for him to say something again. When he doesn't she continues.
"Now, when a woman's body isn't prepared to have a baby, it will shed the unfertilized egg and the lining of the uterus in what we call a menstrual period."
Kyle looks at her with an expression that says "I know all this already," but she just continues.
"And when a woman is ready to have a baby, she will ovulate - release an egg from one of her ovaries into the fallopian tube where it can be fertilized by sperm and become an embryo."
Kyle interrupts for the first time. "So what does that have to do with you laying eggs?"
Ally looks at him like he's stupid.
"Well, Kyle, when a woman is ready to have a baby, her body will prepare itself by releasing an egg into the fallopian tube where it can be fertilized by sperm and become an embryo."
Kyle rolls his eyes. "I know that already! What I meant was..." he trails off as if unsure of how to continue.
Ally looks at him with a smirk.
"You mean you want to know why I lay eggs instead of having babies like normal women?" she asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Kyle nods, looking embarrassed.
"Well, Kyle," Ally says, her tone becoming more serious, "that's because my body is different from other women's bodies."
She pauses for a moment before continuing.
"You see, when I was born, I had a rare condition called 'monotremeitis' which caused me to develop certain characteristics of monotremes - egg-laying mammals like the platypus and echidna."
Kyle looks at her with wide eyes. She seemed quite the expert for someone who had just been hypnotized into believing this.
"So instead of having a menstrual period like other women, I lay eggs." she finishes with a satisfied smile on her face. "I'm told the cramps and hormones are pretty similar though."
Kyle is speechless. He doesn't know what to say or do. He just stares at his sister in disbelief.
Ally looks back at him with an amused expression.
"You seem surprised, Kyle," she says with a smirk. "Didn't you know that I was different from other girls?"
Kyle shakes his head slowly, still trying to process what he's just heard.
Ally laughs lightly and pats him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, Kyle," she says reassuringly. "It's not as weird as it sounds."
She starts walking back towards the house with the groceries in her arms.
Kyle follows behind her, still amazed at how absolutely convinced his sister was about the whole thing. He could hardly believe that a few simple words from him could have had such an effect on her.