And after some more groaning he said, “Yes.”

Then Mom said, “How bad is it?”

“I think I’ve broken my leg and—Ow! I can’t move because I’m stuck in something,” said Jonathan. Then he cried out in pain. I whispered to Mom, “That would be the cactus.”

Mom whispered to me, “What shall we do?”

I wanted to say, “I’ll go get Dad,” but I didn’t because Mom already looked scared enough.

So I called out to Jonathan Edwards, “Climb down to the road, it’s just below you.”

There was a long silence. Finally Jonathan Edwards said, “Who’s that?”

So Mom said, “It’s Calvin.”

Then there was such a long silence I thought maybe he had gone unconscious. And Mom said, “Jonathan, are you all right?”

And then there was more groaning and finally he said, “Elsa, why is he here?”

Mom looked at me, a sort of question.

So I lied.

“I felt sick and got up to go down the hall to the toilet and I saw you leaving your room when I came back and I followed you because I was worried about you and didn’t want you to be alone if you were in some kind of trouble or Dad was being mean or something.”

Mom hugged me and said, “I wish you hadn’t, but it’s not your fault.”

Jonathan called out again, “I said, why’s he here?” And this time there was an edge to his voice like the tone Dad used to Mom when he asked her a question he knew the answer to but asked anyway just to make Mom admit something. Like when he’d say, “Excuse me but what time do you say it is?” when Mom was late.

Suddenly Mom got mad, real mad, and she yelled at Jonathan Edwards, “Because he’s my dear son! That’s why! Because he has every right to be! He’s a good and faithful boy! Because he loves his mother! Because he trusts me! Because we have family! That’s why!”

Mom burst into tears and since Rachael and Janet weren’t there I had to comfort her. She put her face on my neck and got it all wet with her tears while Jonathan Edwards groaned and finally shouted out, “God damn it! Won’t someone help me!”

Mom sniffed and wiped her tears and called back, “I will not have that sort of language used in my presence or in my child’s presence!” From the way she was talking I figured she would not be kissing Jonathan Edwards much from now on.

Mom said to me, “I’m going to have to do some explaining to you about all this. I realize that. And if you hate me for what I’ve done I won’t blame you. But will you help me just this once?”