diff --git a/xmantissa/tdb.py b/xmantissa/tdb.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/xmantissa/tdb.py
+++ b/xmantissa/tdb.py
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ class TabularDataModel:
             # hasNextPage and hasPrevPage methosd.  We gracefully handle it
             # anyway simply because we expect multiple frontends for this
             # model, and multiple frontends means lots of places for bugs.
+            self.totalItems = self.totalPages = 0
             return
         self._currentResults = results
         self._paginate()
ensure "totalItems" and "totalPages" are always attributes of the TDM, even if their values are 0.