"Are you listening, Simon?" Simon's teacher asked. It was a pretty usual question.
Simon shook his head, smiling. He hardly listened or tried hard in class. Talking was so much fun. He wanted to be heard rather than listen.
"Listen, and you'll learn something." Mrs. Jacobs tried every day, but Simon never paid attention.
That evening, his throat really hurt. The next morning, when he opened his mouth to say "Good morning", nothing came out but a croak.
Simon's mother looked at him. "Honey, you've lost your voice."
"Can I stay home?" He tried to ask, but words didn't come out. Instead, his mother checked him for a fever and decided it was good for him to go to school, even if he couldn't talk.
When he got to school, Mrs. Jacobs said "Hello" to him, and he just nodded. When his friends asked him what TV shows he watched last night, he just shrugged. By the time the bell rang for class, almost everyone was looking at him as if he'd grown a third eye.
Penny raised her hand. "Mrs. Jacobs, why isn't Simon talking?" "He never stops talking." Richard said worriedly.
Everyone started talking at once. They were excited, worried, and surprised.
Simon sat in class, bored. He watched them talk to each other as if the teacher wasn't there, but he couldn't even do that. In math class he could hold up fingers if the answer was less than 10, but that wasn't fun. He decided to try to pay attention.
He could do his homework that night. It gave him TV and game time with his work all done.
The next day, even though his voice came back, he stayed quiet again. The third day, he could talk fine, but he listened and raised his hand to speak.
What a difference that one day made!
