These flowers are dead

These are dead flowers.

   Mom consistently works on remembering who the president is. Do you suppose this is because she knows "who is the president" is a question asked of confused people to test how confused they might be?
   Today we had this conversation, over and over. She started it, by the way. She must have been thinking about "who is the president" before I arrived:
Mom: "Obama is the president."
Me: "Yes, we need to enjoy him while he lasts. In two weeks it will be Donald Trump."
Mom: "? ... "
Me: "Obama has to step down. Under the Constitution, he can only have two terms. He had two terms."
Mom: "Obama served two terms?"
Me: "Yes. So we had to elect somebody new, and Trump won the election. He beat Hillary Clinton. So the next president is Donald Trump."
Mom: "How do we spell that?"
Me: "T-r-u-m-p."
Mom: "Obama had two terms. Now we have to learn how to spell Trudeau."
Me: "Now we have to learn to spell Trump. T-r-u-m-p."
Mom: "Obama had two terms. Now we learn to spell ... Garry Trudeau."
Me: "Now we learn to spell Trump."
Mom: "The president is spelled ... ?"
Me: "God help us, it's Trump. T-r-u-m-p. In two weeks."
Mom: "Obama is the president."
Me: "For now. In two weeks we swear in a new president. Donald Trump."
Mom: "And you're sure about that?"
Me: "Yes. It's a done deal. The next president is Trump."
Mom: "Obama had two terms and now we have to learn to spell ... Trudeau."
Me: "Close. It's T-r-u-m-p."
Mom: "And you're sure about that?"
Me: "I'm very sure."
Mom: "Obama is the president."