I walked over from the car to pick up Charles from soccer practice so he wouldn’t feel abandonded again. As I retrieve him, he said “hello”. One of the other kids heard this and looked up, a stunned look on his face. “Charles spoke!” he exclaimed. He told a couple of other nearby kids this exciting news and he and one of them spent the walk back saying “hi” and “hello” and “say something!” to Charles, but not another word would Charles provide.
The next time I dropped Charles off at practice, one of the kids announced to the entire group “Charles spoke at previous practice!”. The rumours continued to swirl for the next week or so, but I don’t think Charles actually spoke again in their presence.