mom's suspicions

the funniest conversation happened at my dinner table not twenty minutes ago. my mom, thirteen-year-old brother, and i were eating pizza for supper. mom and i were each busy with a book; well, i had a magazine (The Wittenberg Door--a satirical religious mag worth checking out if you're fed up with the church and religious fanatics of today) and mom was looking over a crossword puzzle. Bro was the only one not visually occupied, and, as usual, was peppering the silence with random sentences or observations. here's how one of these went:

Bro: I made a new friend today.
Mom: Oh? How?
Bro: blahblahblah (i was tuned out again)

short silence while Mom went back to her crossword.

Bro: His name's Hubert.
Mom: (Pause) Is he imaginary?

at which point i looked up from my magazine, made eye contact with mom, and burst out laughing. i'm laughing again now as i type this. hysterical.
that was my favorite part of today.