To talk things through.” “And what did you tell him?” my mother asked.

I took a slow sip of my coffee, and looked out the window at the cherry blossom tree blooming in the backyard.

“I told him that all communications must continue through my legal representation,” I said.

“I don’t speak to strangers.” And my mother reached across the counter and patted my hand, with a deep and quiet pride that said more than any words could have.

I meant it quite literally, what I said about strangers, and it is worth explaining, because it was not a cruelty or a cute line; it was the simple truth of where I had arrived.