existential tin foil

We were watching tv together. Caroline turned to me and cleared her throat.

Caroline: We're real, right?

Mama: Oh definitely. We're real.

Caroline: We aren't drawings or characters, right?

Mama: Right.

Caroline: We're real and we think our own things. And we live a real life, right?

Mama: Yes, I promise you that you are real and alive.

Caroline: And no one controls our thoughts.

Mama: No one.

Caroline: [suspiciously] No one that you know, anyway.