“That’s an awful thing to say!” Mom said.

I knew that Janet was in trouble and that I could say a lot of things right now and Janet would get the blame for starting it all because she should know better and I was only a child. So I said real quiet and in a voice like little children use, “Mommy, what’s ‘rape’?”

Mom gave Janet a really long look and exchanged glances with Dad, who said to Janet, “Now are you proud of yourself?”

Then Rachael looked at her plate and wouldn’t look up at anyone, even though I kicked her a little under the table to see if I could get her to look at me and start to giggle. Janet looked like Dad when he was discussing who authored the book of Matthew when someone said two people did. And I could see that if we hadn’t been in the pensione dining room and the Bazlintons hadn’t been watching us, Dad would have probably slapped Janet even though she was a teenager now.

Janet said, “I only meant that even worse things might have happened to Rachael than cramps and because it rained they didn’t, because God is sovereign and kept her inside all day playing chess with me.”

But Mom was angry and wouldn’t let her get out of it, especially since I said again, “But, Mom, what is ’rapeʼ?”

Mom said to Janet, “Really, darling!” Then she turned to me with a sweet smile and said, “It’s not your fault, no one is blaming you.”

Then Janet made a big mistake, or rather God did because He’s sovereign. Dad had said many times how the great Reformation hero, Calvin, showed us we are in a state of Total Depravity and so is our free will so we really can’t even think with our fallen minds or choose to do good things because we are so depraved. So God made her say, “I only asked!”

Then God made Dad throw down his napkin and say, “That’s it!” and Janet stood up with her face all red and the pimple on her forehead even redder than before and she walked away even before Mom said, “Go to your room, young lady, we’ll talk about this later.”