very basic text messaging question

[speck]

I am feeling pretty stupid right now - but I can't figure out how to send a text message from my Pro. On the 'messages ' tab, I've tried the menu 'new' and 'reply', I've tried clicking the 'new' icon in the upper right. I've tried 'send text message' from the contacts screen. NOTHING happens. What am I missing? I assumed I'd get a text input area, I tried opening the keyboard, both hardware and on-screen. Nothing.

I feel really, really dumb right now, but could someone tell my obviously defective brain what I am doing wrong?

Thanks!