[ the voice that comes over the line is an affable one, with a southern-sounding accent. but then again, voices can be deceiving.

strangely, though, he can almost relate to the fear of mothers (not that he'd known the woman in question was his mother at the time, but still)... ]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say everyone's already explained what's going on, kid.

[ a pause. ]

I'll also take a wild guess that your mother wouldn't be too happy with your language.

[ it's lightly teasing, of course. he's not the worst with kids, after all. ]