You’ve Found Mom’s Kryptonite

(I’m watching Justice League (Unlimited) on TV. My sister and mother are sitting in the adjoining room. My mother is at her computer, not paying full attention.)

Me: *to my sister* “So in this episode, it’s Superman’s birthday. Batman brings him cash, asking, “What do you get ‘For The Man Who Has Everything’?””

Mother: *without looking up* “Kryptonite.”

(My sister and I turn to her in shock.)

Sister: “Do you know what you just said?”

Me: “That would be like getting from your son a birthday present of a gun with a single bullet.”

Mother: *now fully attentive* “But that’s not the same thing. I don’t have the urge to use that.”

Me: “If you knew your son felt that way about you, you just might.”