Keeping It Real (Literal)

On Saturday, my son twelve year old son was on the phone with Catherine and I was in the kitchen, and we were ironing out lunch plans-- either I was going to cook something or Catherine was going to pick something up on her way home-- and it was one of those awkward, ugly attempts at communication: Alex was talking on the phone and I was trying to follow the conversation from my end, but only hearing one side of it, and so I was yelling things to Alex so that he could convey them to Catherine, and finally, I needed some logistical information so I could figure out the options-- and I should point out that my son Alex is a smart kid-- and I asked him-- "Where is mommy right now?" and he replied, "On the phone!"