6. Silence

Chapter 6 Silence Casey didn't say anything for the next five minutes, which had to be a record for her. Marvin felt bad for telling her to shut up. He felt bad for having made such a big deal over her cookie wish. He tried to pretend there was nothing wrong. He bit into a cookie. "Ummm, good cookie!" he said enthusiastically. "I'm sure glad you wished for these." Casey didn't say anything. "So, what should we wish for?" he asked. Casey didn't say anything. She took the crystal from Marvin and put it in her pocket. "Are you mad at me?" Marvin asked her. Casey shook her head.

"Then why won't you say anything?" Casey smiled at him. "Oh, I get it," said Marvin. "Because I wished you'd shut up, now you're pretending you can't talk." Casey didn't say anything. "I know you're just pretending," said Marvin. "I know you can talk if you want to." Casey just smiled. "Besides," said Marvin, "don't you remember? You told me you wished Clarence would stop talking. He can still talk." Casey rubbed her chin. She looked sideways at Marvin. He knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that she had wished Clarence would stop talking about sticking a needle through his thumb. That was different. Marvin had wished for a total "shut up." "I don't see the difference," Marvin said. Casey glanced at him in a way that seemed to say, I can't help it if you're stupid. "You're faking," Marvin accused. Casey shrugged.

"Well, what do you want to do then?" Marvin asked. "You want to watch TV? You don't have to talk to do that." Casey shrugged. "All right, let's watch TV," said Marvin. "Teenage Caveman is on. Let's see if you can watch that without laughing." Casey shrugged. Teenage Caveman was one of Marvin's favorite shows. He knew Casey liked it, too. She could imitate the teenage caveman's voice perfectly. She always made him laugh.

Casey followed Marvin into the family room. He turned on the TV. Casey watched the entire show without laughing or saying one word. Marvin didn't laugh either. The show didn't seem as funny as usual. Casey's father came by at five o'clock to take Casey home. jmkfho. "It was very nice to get to meet you, Casey," said Marvin's mother.

"Bye, Casey," shouted Linzy. Casey smiled at Marvin's mother and waved to Linzy. After she left, Marvin's mother told him that Casey seemed like a very nice girl. "Although she's kind of quiet, isn't she?" Marvin didn't say anything.