Cinnamon’s loss of speech

Cinnamon’s loss of speech is an unexplained and permanent change that begins just before his sixth birthday. The sudden silence resists medical and psychological explanation, leaving Nutmeg and the doctors with no remedy beyond waiting and observation.

The Sudden Silence

Nutmeg recalls that Cinnamon stopped speaking in February, shortly before the age when he would have entered elementary school. The change went unnoticed until nightfall: although he was never especially talkative, she realized that he had not said a word all day. She tried speaking to him and shaking him, but nothing prompted a response. She could not determine whether he had lost the ability to speak or chosen to stop. From then on, he never spoke or made another sound; even pain and tickling elicited neither a cry nor laughter.

Attempts to Find a Cause

Nutmeg took Cinnamon to several ear, nose, and throat specialists. They found that his hearing was intact and that the condition was not physical. A psychiatrist likewise found no clear explanation. Cinnamon’s IQ was unusually high, and the doctor found no evidence of emotional problems. The possibility that he had experienced a shock or witnessed violence was raised, but Nutmeg could recall no such incident.

The change followed an ordinary day. Cinnamon had eaten, talked with Nutmeg, and gone to bed as usual; he had had no trouble falling asleep. Nutmeg and her mother watched over him, and neither had struck him. With no identifiable cause, the psychiatrist could offer no treatment: Nutmeg was asked to bring Cinnamon for weekly observation, while the family waited to see whether his speech might return on its own.

A Silence That Endures

The hoped-for recovery never came. Nutmeg describes Cinnamon as never rising again to the surface of his deep ocean of silence. The image gives shape to a condition that the examinations could describe only by what they ruled out: his hearing remained intact, his intelligence was not impaired, and no cause emerged, yet speech did not return.

The episode also establishes the defining contrast in Cinnamon’s presence: he is perceptive and highly intelligent, but cannot communicate through speech or vocal sound. Its unexplained onset and permanence leave the event unresolved, while the family’s waiting becomes the only response the doctors can recommend.