Page 127 of The Vanishing Place
She was sitting on her bed, looking out the window. There was nothing to see but trees and sky and thick bush. But she kept staring at the glass. Daniel’s old bush hut was out there—a few branches and wooden planks that he’d turned into a den—although it was too deep in the trees to see.
“I missed you,” said Dinah.
Adam stepped toward her. “What did you do?” he asked.
She turned. A dark purple bruise—not nice to look at—covered one side of her jaw.
“Dad caught me watching TV through the neighbor’s window.”
Adam frowned. “But you’re not allowed to watch TV.”
Dinah just smiled at that, her lips stretched thin and straight.
Dad said that Dinah didn’t know how to behave, that she allowed the outside world to poison her thoughts. Dad said that Dinah made God angry.
Adam hopped onto the small bed. The bed was the only thing in Dinah’s room. No toys. No books. No spare clothes. Nothing to distract her from saying sorry. Adam bit into his tongue, a little afraid of the purple-blue smudge, but Dinah shuffled over and pulled him in for a hug.
“Aren’t you scared of him?” asked Adam.
“Of Dad?”
“No.” Adam shook his head and pulled away. “Of God.”
“Why would I be afraid of God?”
“Cos he’s mad at you.”
“God isn’t mad at me.”
“Dad says that God wants to punish you for being bad…for not doing the right girl things.” Adam frowned. Maybe Dinah didn’t understand. Maybe if he helped her, then she could be good again. “When girls are bad,” he said slowly, “God won’t let them go to heaven.”
“And what do good girls do?”
“Well, they always look after their family…” Adam paused to think. “And they don’t do anything sinful, like talking and eating with outside people, or watching TV, or wearing pants.”
“And why can’t I wear pants?”
Adam frowned. “It just…it just makes God real angry.”
“I see.”
“And when God’s angry, he’s real scary and he stops loving you.”
“God isn’t someone to fear, Adam.” Dinah smiled. “God loves me no matter what. And he loves you too.” She touched his cheek. “God’s love is so big and so strong that he has enough love for everyone. For every single person in the whole world, even people who sin. God made us who we are, and he loves us. He doesn’t need us to be perfect.” She reached out and took Adam’s hand. “Because he is perfect.”
“No.” Adam snatched his hand back, shaking his head fiercely. “Dad said that—”
“Dad doesn’t know anything about God or God’s love. Dad just wants to control us and keep us afraid.”
Adam inched away. Dinah was making it worse; she was making God madder.
“Dad twists things and makes things up,” she said, “and then he says it comes from God. But it’s all a lie.”
“Stop saying that,” Adam begged. “He’ll punish you.”
“Dad might punish me, yes. But not God.”
Dinah’s voice sounded different, louder and bigger, and Adam didn’t like it.
