Read the excerpt from “Raymond's Run.” “You signing up for the May Day races?” smiles Mary Louise, only it’s not a smile at all. A dumb question like that doesn’t deserve an answer. Besides, there’s just me and Gretchen standing there really, so no use wasting my breath talking to shadows.

The narrative voice in this passage shows that Squeaky

jenkins wanted the narrator to write a ghost story for his magazine. he wanted the narrator to give the readers a story based on the supernatural. he wanted him to give the readers real 'horror' stories and not the type of live ghosts which he had presented in his earlier stories.

иσ σиє тяυℓу киσωѕ ιf нє ∂ιє∂, кαωαкι кιℓℓє∂ нιм ιи тнє мαиʝα тнσ

wheres the passage with the idiom underlined

im not sure what it is