[ There's a stretch of pleased silence while she gets through that, then: ]

Thank you, thank you. Here's another funny thing: my mother's alive. And she has a hundred very good reasons for hiding that from me, so I can't fairly be angry, and yet.

[ Angry is the wrong word. Hurt, more like. But that sounds more pathetic. ]

Do you want to go for a walk or something? I could throw things and you could try to zap them before they fall. I think I'd feel better.