Ryan replied to his sister Anne, "Jessica isn't crying. I made her not cry."
"What are you talking about?" said his sister.
"Our sister. She isn't crying."
"She doesn't talk!How would she know not to cry when you tell her?"
"But I didn't tell her to stop crying," said Ryan. "I used the universal remote." He pressed the button again, pointing the remote at Anne. Anne tried to say something but no words came out.
He pressed the button again and she screamed "... did you make me do that?"
"It's magic," said Ryan.
"Mom said there isn't really any such thing as magic," replied Anne.
"Let me show you."
He knew he only had a minute or so. Leaving an unattended baby for long periods of time could be trouble. He pressed the button a few times, pointing at the baby, and it sounded like the baby's cry was coming out in beeps almost, because it there were only short time periods when the sound could be heard. Finally he said "Enough of that," and pressed another button. "I wonder what these other buttons do."
He hit the fast forward button and the baby began to blur and enlarge. A number of seconds later he hit "play" and the baby returned to normal, except it wasn't a baby. She was now about eight years old--the same as Jessica, and even wearing appropriate clothes. She and Anne weren't identical, but they could have been twins.
Ryan considered the possibilities. There were all sorts of buttons on a remote. "On/off"? Would that make something disappear and reappear? What would "setup" do?
