In June Kate’s daughter Megan came home to Massachusetts from college in a strangely exalted state her mother had never seen before. Her husband advised Kate to remain calm. “Much will be revealed,” he said after supper the first night. Walter was a high school guidance counselor. Sometimes his all-purpose utterances were comforting and other times they made Kate want to kick him. In this case Walter was right: Megan announced the next morning that she had been saved.

“Saved from what?”

“You know, Mom. Saved. Born again. Slain in the spirit.”