On the way I ran up the front stairs and went down the back stairs, then went up to my room instead of just straight down the hall past the place where the little Madonna is in the wall with the plastic flowers in front of her and the red glass thing with a candle in it.

But I was too slow and I was sure God knew I’d go this unusual way even from before the creation of the world. It was no use, the whole thing was part of His plan, even the things we did to get out of His plan, like the thing with the salt shaker I did, were really part of His plan so you had to do it, and I couldn’t have left the salt shaker alone even if I had wanted to.

I started to wonder why Dad would spank me for saying God made me do it when he always said Calvin was right and the people who didn’t accept the sovereignty of God were not really Christians and that “free will” simply meant we were free to recognize God’s plan, even though we could never change it or understand it because of our Total Depravity.

When the door opened and Dad came in, I had that watery feeling in my legs and I could not get my mouth to stop turning down at the corners all quivery. Then Dad said, “I’ve been talking it over with Mother, and we think that because this is the last night of the vacation, you’re probably a little upset. So I’ve decided not to spank you this time but don’t let me ever hear you say anything like that again.” Then he gave me a hug and a kiss, and I hugged him back. When he left my room I was very glad and sat down and thought about how much I loved my pop. Then I wondered if God had known he would change his mind and not spank me and if this was part of the plan.

Chapter 16

THE THREE SPEAR POINTS and barbs on my spear gun each had a wine bottle cork stuck firmly on them for safety, and the nylon cord was wrapped around the handle so it wouldn’t catch on anything.

Dad was in a bad mood because Mom hadn’t been ready to catch the 7:33 A.M. bus from Paraggi to Santa Margherita. We had all stood at the bus stop while Rachael ran inside to tell Mom that the bus had arrived, and the Italian driver was shouting at Dad because he was keeping one foot on the bus stair so the driver couldn’t close the bus door and leave without Mom.