Meg relates how many people assume that Charles Wallace was dumb, or slow, because he hadn’t started speaking until he was four years old. Meg’s father had told her that both she and Charles Wallace were special, and that their development would proceed at a different pace than others. When Charles Wallace did begin to speak, he used full sentences and had a very extensive vocabulary. Their mother joins the two children in the kitchen and Charles Wallace makes some cocoa and sandwiches for them.