The Rachels

I caught Phoebe with a green candy cane she's been coveting since December. It belong[ed] to Miriam, who hadn't eaten it on account of her braces—she's a rule-follower for sure!

"How'd you get that?" I asked Phoebe. 

"Uhhh...I can reach stuff," she informed me (as if I didn't know). 

"Okay," I said. "But, like, who gave you permission to have it?"

"Rachel did," she said confidently. 

Rachel, who was sitting at the table eating lunch, gawked at Phoebe.

"I did not!" Rachel said.

"Not you," Phoebe said calmly. "The other Rachel—Miriam."

And that about sums up how Phoebe has categorized her older sisters: Rachel is synonymous with "grown-up sister." 

Grown-up sisters can do things like use the oven and drive cars and babysit and go to parties and dances past bedtime. They're as tall as all the other grown-ups around. And mom never asks them if they've brushed their teeth. 

There are two grown-up sisters Rachels in this house: Rachel-proper and Rachel-Miriam. 

(And, yes, Miriam did give Phoebe permission to consume her verboten candy cane. I checked.)