I called my mother to wish her a happy birthday. First Dorian and then Maya joined me on the phone. “You know,” she said when I took the receiver from Maya, “I am reading about Thomas Mann. His daughter, who is in her eighties now, claims that her father was not a homosexual, as is often claimed. Now she lives in Canada…” “Mother,” I interrupted her, “we will see you in a couple of hours.” She did not want any presents, but we are going to Reading to take her out for lunch. She is exactly ninety today.