Don't Speak (Edna's Story)

Kids should be seen and not heard...or something like that.  I am not really sure what that is supposed to mean, but I have heard it alot.  Sounds kind of dumb to me, but whatever, to each their own.

There is one kid, in particuluar, that I would love to hear the next time I see her.  Silence is deafening sometimes.  Hearing nothing can be really loud.

She talked on January 11th.  She talked January 10th and 9th too.  She talked alot of days before that day.  January 12th she stopped talking.  She hasn't talked since.

What is there about her silence that is so loud it keeps me awake at night?  I was on a porch with 24 girls, 23 of whom say "Daddy Matt..." followed by a question like 3 times every minute.  There was so much noise it sort of sounded like a swarm of bees was buzzing around.  It was that 24th girl, the one who hasn't talked in 9 months that was driving me nuts.  Her silence was a drum pounding in my head...it still is.

What is there in silence that gives her comfort?  What does it allow her to forget?  Maybe she just doesn't have anything to say.  She is only two, so it is not like I expect brilliant philisophical thoughts...but a word or two would be nice.  The house mom tells me that she has the ability to talk, just not the desire to.  What did she see that she doesn't want to talk about?  Her parents died in the earthquake.  Maybe she saw them die, maybe she didn't.  Who knows?  It is not like she has told anybody.  Either way they are gone.  Maybe she doesn't want to talk to anybody else except them.  Maybe she just doesn't know what to say.

Who can blame her?  What would you say in her shoes?  What would I say?  What is there to say?  The more I try to think about it, the more I side with her.  Maybe saying nothing is the best way to say everything.  If she talked I wouldn't be writing this.  You wouldn't know much about her story.  Silence...sometimes it says alot.