Raising Faith (6 page)

Morgan missed Emily at church on Sunday. And although she sat with Mom and Grandma, she felt lonely. It seemed wrong not having Emily there, not sitting up in the front pew together. And it didn’t feel right having a whole Sunday afternoon without Emily, and without having a meeting at the clubhouse since Amy was working and Carlie was watching her brothers. But Morgan used the afternoon to sew up more socks. By the time Mom told her to go to bed, she had ten pairs completely finished.

“Can you sell these in your store?” Morgan asked her mom.

Mom examined a pair of red and green socks. “I don’t see why not. Can you think of a way to connect them together so the pairs don’t get mixed up? Maybe make a tag with the size and the price on it?”

“Sure.”

The next morning, Morgan got up early and made tags for her socks. She sewed a piece of yarn to connect the socks and the tags. Then she emptied her scarf basket and filled it with the ten pairs of socks. By the time she
finished, she thought the whole thing looked very professional.

“Here you go, Mom,” she said as she handed over the basket.

“I’ll put it by the cash register,” Mom promised. “People seem to notice things up there.”

“Do you think eight dollars a pair is too much?”

Mom considered this. “I guess we’ll find out.”

Morgan hurried to finish her breakfast and then gathered up her things for school and was just going out the door when Grandma asked why she was going so early.

“I just wanted some extra time to see Emily,” said Morgan. “I want to hear about the ski trip without having everyone else around.”

Grandma smiled. “Oh, yes. I see.”

It was drizzling outside, so Morgan pulled on her hood and jogged over to Emily’s house, knocking loudly on the door.

“Oh, hi, Morgan,” said Mrs. Adams. “Emily’s not here.”

Morgan frowned. “Where is she? Did she get hurt snowboarding?”

Mrs. Adams laughed. “No, but they got home so late last night, Emily spent the night at Chelsea’s.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry. But you’ll see her at school.”

“Yeah …”

Morgan trudged back home.

“What’s wrong?” asked Grandma when Morgan went back into the house and dumped her backpack by the front door.

“Nothing …” Morgan stood near the door, just staring at her somewhat soggy reflection in the hallway mirror. Her glasses were splattered with rain, and her beaded braids looked droopier than usual.

Grandma came over and stood behind her. “Is something wrong with Emily? Is she sick or hurt?”

“She spent the night at Chelsea’s,” said Morgan sadly.

“Oh.” Grandma nodded as she fingered one of Morgan’s beaded braids. “And you’re feeling bad?”

“I guess …” Morgan turned and looked at Grandma. “Do you think I should lose the braids?”

“What?” Grandma blinked.

“My beaded braids. I was thinking maybe I’m too old for them now.”

Grandma smiled. “Well, I think that’s up to you, dear.”

“I think I want to have normal hair now. You know, like my friends.”

Grandma nodded. “Well, I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“Maybe I can use some of my sock money to do that,” said Morgan eagerly. “I mean I don’t know how much it’ll
cost … but I think it will be worth it.” Then she pointed to her glasses. “And maybe I should get contacts too.”

Grandma frowned. “Why are you so interested in changing yourself, Morgan?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it because you’re worried about Emily?” asked Grandma. “You think she might like Chelsea more than she likes you? You think that changing yourself will make a difference?”

Morgan shrugged. “I think I’m just tired of looking like this all the time. I think it’s time for a change.”

“Well, as long as you’re doing it for the right reasons …”

“Doing what for the right reasons?” asked Mom as she came out of her bedroom dressed for work.

So Morgan explained her idea for changing her hair and getting contacts. Mom blinked in surprise. “Wow, that’s a lot to change all at once. And getting your curls relaxed and getting contacts won’t be cheap.”

Morgan pointed to her sock basket. “But I could use some of my sock money. And I could buy more fabric and make more socks.”

Mom grinned. “You certainly are industrious.”

“So, do you think I could do that?”

“Is that what you really want?” asked Mom.

Morgan nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I do.”

“Well, let me give Crystal a call and see if she can get you scheduled for hair. As far as the contacts go, why don’t
you give that a little more thought, Morgan?”

So Morgan agreed. Then, since it was raining even harder now, Mom offered to give her and her friends a lift to school. And as Morgan rode in the front, with Carlie and Amy in the back, she imagined how she would look with her new hair. Her plan was to keep her mini makeover a complete secret. Even from Emily. She would surprise everyone.

“There’s Chelsea’s car,” said Carlie as Mom pulled up in front of the school. And soon all five friends were clustered together in front of their lockers. Chelsea and Emily were telling the others about the spectacular time they had riding the slopes, and how they even met some cute boys who thought they were in high school, and how they’d both gotten really good at snowboarding.

“We had a nice time at Miss McPhearson’s on Saturday,” said Amy, as if that could compete with Chelsea and Emily’s weekend. Then the warning bell was ringing, and they all headed off to their first class.

“I can’t wait until the ski trip,” Emily told Morgan on their way to English. “It’s going to be totally awesome.”

“I started sewing socks,” said Morgan. “It’s not very hard, once you figure it out, and I think it’ll be a good way to make money for the ski trip.”

“I have a plan for making money too,” said Emily.

“What’s that?”

“Babysitting.”

“Babysitting?”

“Yeah, Mrs. Landers has some friends who wanted someone to watch their kids while they go to a Christmas party next Saturday night. I guess it’s supposed to last until really late. Mrs. Landers said I could make a lot of money in just one night. She said it might be close to a hundred dollars if the parents tip me. And the kids will mostly be sleeping.”

“I didn’t know you liked to babysit.”

“I used to babysit sometimes … before we moved here.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, it’s all set,” said Emily as they went into English.

“Cool,” said Morgan. Although she really thought it stunk. She had hoped that she and Emily could do the sock project together. She had imagined them taking turns cutting and sewing, then selling them together at the bazaar. Now it looked like Emily had a completely different plan. A plan that didn’t include Morgan. Still, Morgan knew that she should be happy for her friend. This meant that Emily would for sure be able to do the ski trip. Unless the babysitting thing didn’t work out. Making a hundred dollars in one night did sound pretty farfetched. Besides, that was only half of what Emily needed.

Morgan glanced over at Emily, as they sat across from each other in English. It seemed like something had
changed about her. Oh, she had the same blonde hair, same blue eyes, same petite frame, but something was different. Then it hit Morgan. Of course, she was wearing Chelsea’s clothes. Not only that, but she seemed to be sitting up straighter. Like she had some new sense of confidence. Was it because she was dressed like Chelsea? Or was it something more? Just then, Morgan noticed Mrs. Robertson giving her a warning look, and Morgan knew it was time to pay attention.

Morgan tried to put worrisome thoughts about Emily out of her mind during her morning classes. So what if Emily and Chelsea were friends. Morgan was their friend too. Besides, Morgan still had Amy and Carlie. And they had their clubhouse. Maybe Morgan should plan a meeting for this afternoon.

“We need to try on our elf costumes today,” said Chelsea as the five girls sat together for lunch. “That way if we need to alter any of them, there will be time to get it done before Saturday.”

“Want to do it at the clubhouse?” suggested Morgan. “I thought maybe we should have a meeting today anyway.”

“No,” said Chelsea. “I think you should come out to my house this afternoon. There’s more room to try stuff on there. Besides, I think my mom wants to see us dressed up. In fact, I’ll call her and tell her to order some pizza. And she can give us a ride after school. How’s that sound?”

Everyone, except Morgan, thought that was a great plan. And Morgan didn’t let on that she wasn’t overly thrilled. She wished they could meet at the clubhouse — that things could be the way they had been. But already, Chelsea was letting everyone use her phone to call their parents and make sure it was okay to go home with Chelsea after school.

“Your turn,” said Chelsea, handing Morgan the phone.

Morgan dialed her home number and waited for Grandma to answer.

“I’m so glad you called, honey,” said Grandma happily. “Your mom called a while ago and it looks like Crystal can get you in for your hair today. I’ll pick you up after school and take you over.”

“That’s great,” said Morgan. “See ya then.” She hung up and handed the phone back to Chelsea. Then, putting on a disappointed face, she said. “It looks like I can’t make it this afternoon.”

“Why not?” demanded Chelsea.

“I have an appointment. My grandma has to pick me up right after school.”

“But I thought you were going to help us redesign the elf outfits, Morgan,” said Chelsea.

“Yeah,” said Emily. “You’re really good at that.”

Morgan considered this. In a way it was both flattering and encouraging. “Well, could we do the fitting tomorrow instead?”

Chelsea frowned. “I guess …”

“I can’t,” said Carlie. “I promised Mom I’d watch the boys.”

“I’m out too,” said Amy. “I have to work.”

“Well, what if I came over after my appointment?” suggested Morgan. “Although it might be late … like around five or so.”

“That’s okay with me,” said Chelsea. “We can just hang until you get there.”

“Maybe we’ll even save some pizza for you,” teased Emily.

So it was settled. And Morgan thought maybe it was a good plan after all. She could show up with her cool new hair and surprise everyone at once. It was hard to concentrate on school during the afternoon. Morgan kept wondering what her new hair was going to look like. And what would it feel like? And what if something went wrong? Finally, during math, she realized that worrying wasn’t doing her one bit of good. So she shot up a quick prayer. It didn’t seem like too much to ask. God could help to make sure that her hair turned out okay.

“How are you feeling?” Morgan asked Grandma when she got into the car.

“Oh, so-so …”

“I hope it’s not wearing you out to take me to —”

“No, no … driving isn’t a problem at all. And Cleo said to just drop you off and you can walk over to the shop
when you’re done and ride home with your mom.”

“No problem.”

“Good luck,” said Grandma as she pulled in front of Crystal’s salon. “I hope it’s all that you want it to be.”

Morgan crossed her fingers. Then she told Grandma that she’d already prayed about it. Then Grandma waved and drove away. Still, Morgan felt a little uneasy as she walked into the salon.

“Hey, Morgan,” said Crystal. “I hear you want a new do.”

Morgan nodded as she removed her coat. “Do you think it’ll look good?”

Crystal patted Morgan on the back. “You’re such a cutie that I think anything would look good on you.”

“I don’t want to see it,” said Morgan as she got into the chair. “Not until you’re all done.”

“Deal.”

Morgan’s eyes got big as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Is that really me?” she asked, feeling slightly horrified at the balloon of dark brown hair encircling her head. It was such a change after the beaded braids.

“Don’t worry,” said Crystal, “the curls should continue to relax.”

Morgan nodded, but didn’t feel convinced.

“Your mom already paid me, so you’re free to go.” Crystal handed her a bottle of something. “Put some of this on before you go to bed. Not too much. Read the directions.”

Morgan stuffed the bottle into her backpack and glanced at her watch. She suddenly remembered her promise to join her friends at Chelsea’s house. Now she wasn’t so sure. She wished she had a hat to put on, something to flatten out her really big hair. But she thanked Crystal and headed over to Mom’s shop.

“Oh, my,” said Mom when Morgan walked in. “You look so different, Morgan.” She came over to see it close up. “Do you like it?”

Morgan frowned. “I’m not sure. The curl is supposed to relax more.”

Mom nodded as she gave Morgan’s curls a squeeze. “Yes, that’s how mine is after I get it done too.”

“Oh, Morgan!” squealed Maureen, the high school girl that Mom had just hired to help out part-time during the holidays. “Look at you, girlfriend.”

Morgan rolled her eyes and let out a groan.

“No, it’s cute,” said Maureen. “I like it.”

“Thanks.” Morgan turned to Mom. “I’m supposed to go to Chelsea’s to try on our costumes for the parade. Can you give me a ride?”

“You’re going to be in the parade?” asked Maureen.

“Yeah … we’re going to be elves.”

Maureen laughed. “Well, you’ll be a cute elf, Morgan. Hope you can keep that hat on with all that hair.”

Morgan was silent as Mom drove her up to Chelsea’s house.

“You’re not sorry you did it, are you?” asked Mom when she pulled into the driveway.

“Kind of …”

“You’ll get used to it, sweetie.”

“Yeah, sure …” Morgan didn’t want to talk about her hair, didn’t want to think about her hair and, more than anything, she didn’t want to show her friends her hair. She wished that she’d never gotten it changed. What had she
been thinking? “Thanks for the ride.”

“Call me when you’re done,” said Mom.

“Thanks.”

Then, feeling like a lamb being led to the slaughter, Morgan trudged up to Chelsea’s front door.

“Morgan?” said Chelsea’s mom. “Is that you?”

Morgan nodded. “Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Did you change your hair?”

“Don’t ask.”

Mrs. Landers chuckled. “Well, I suppose it might take some getting used to, but I think it’s really pretty, Morgan. Just look at all that curl.”

“Yeah,” said Morgan. “Just look.”

“Morgan!” cried Chelsea from the top of the stairs. “What happened to your hair?”

“Your hair!” screeched Emily. “What have you done?”

Soon all four girls were clustered around her. Staring and touching and expressing their regrets.

“I loved your beaded braids,” said Emily. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“Me neither,” said Carlie. “I hate my own curls. Why would you trade your braids for curls?”

“The curls are supposed to relax more,” said Morgan.

“Do you like it?” asked Amy.

“Of course not,” said Morgan.

“Then why did you do it?” demanded Emily.

“I don’t know …” Morgan felt on the verge of tears now.

“It’s going to be okay,” said Chelsea. “Morgan’s probably right, it should relax more. In fact …” Chelsea patted her own red curls. “I might have just the thing for you. Come on, Morgan, let’s play beauty shop.”

Soon Morgan was seated in front of Chelsea’s dressing table. Chelsea was putting something in her hands, rubbing it around and then she was rubbing it into Morgan’s hair. She twisted and tugged and rubbed and slowly, slowly, Morgan’s hair began to settle down.

“Wow,” said Emily. “That’s looking really good, Chelsea.”

“Yeah, maybe you should become a beautician,” said Amy.

“Chelsea’s helped me with my hair,” said Carlie, putting a hand on both Chelsea’s and Morgan’s shoulders. “We curly-heads need to stick together.”

“Guess we straight-heads should stick together too,” said Amy as she put her arm around Emily. Then they all laughed.

“Thanks, Chelsea,” said Morgan as she stared at her image in the mirror. “That really is better. Although I wish I had my beaded braids back.”

“You’ll get used to it,” said Chelsea.

“I’m actually starting to like it,” said Emily.

Morgan felt a little better. And soon they were all trying on their elf costumes, which really did need some help.

“I don’t know about you guys,” said Morgan as she looked at herself in Chelsea’s full-length mirror. “But I am not going out in public with my rear end showing through these green tights.”

“Exactly,” said Chelsea.

“The hats and shoes are cute,” said Emily.

“But we need shorts or skirts or something,” said Morgan. She took off the oversized felt collar and held it at her waist like a skirt. “Something like this would work, if it was a little longer.”

Before long, Morgan had taped together some newspapers to make a pattern for a circular skirt. “Tell your mom to buy enough felt to make five of these in red,” she instructed Chelsea. “I’m sure the lady at the fabric store can help her. And get, let’s see, about ten yards of red ribbon to use around the waist.” Then Morgan took the scissors to the huge collars and after a bit of trimming and shaping, they didn’t look too bad.

The girls explained their plan to Mrs. Landers and she completely agreed. “Morgan, you really are good at design.”

“And Chelsea is really good at hair,” said Morgan as she patted her tamed-down curls.

“I’ll pick up the fabric tomorrow afternoon,” said Mrs. Landers. “Can I drop it by your house after school then, Morgan?”

“Sure,” said Morgan. “And maybe we can have a fitting by Thursday.”

Soon the girls were downstairs eating pizza, and Morgan kept telling herself that she should be happy. Here she was with her good friends, having a good time … but something was still bugging her. She couldn’t help but notice the connection that seemed to be growing between Chelsea and Emily. They made what seemed like private jokes about things that happened on the slopes. They talked about clothes as if Emily could actually afford to buy them. Finally, just when Morgan felt she couldn’t stand it any longer, Mrs. Landers announced that Amy’s sister was here to pick her up.

“Anyone need a ride?” offered Amy.

“Sure,” said Morgan.

“Me too,” said Carlie.

“My mom is picking me up after work,” said Emily. “But that’s not for an hour. Maybe I should go ahead and ride with —”

“That’s okay,” said Chelsea. “Stay here until your mom comes, Em. I want to show you this snowboarding website my brother just emailed me about. They have some awesome stuff and the graphics are totally amazing.”

So Emily stayed and the others left. And as An drove them back to the trailer park, Morgan tried not to feel jealous.

“Hey, you’re home,” said Mom when Morgan came in. “I thought I was going to pick you up.”

Morgan explained about the ride. “And we had pizza, so I’m not really hungry.” She looked around the living room. “Where’s Grandma?”

“Resting.”

“Oh …”

“I’m so glad you made that doctor’s appointment for her,” said Mom. “I plan to take her in tomorrow afternoon, and then I’ll stick around to hear what’s really going on.”

Morgan nodded.

Mom patted Morgan’s hair. “Hey, it looks better already. I think I’m getting used to it.”

“I forgot to ask, Mom, did any socks sell today?”

Mom frowned. “It was pretty quiet in the shop. But then I suppose that’s because so many people were out shopping during the weekend. It’ll pick up though. Don’t worry.”

“I guess I should go make some more socks,” said Morgan. “The church bazaar is Saturday.”

“What about homework?”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Morgan. “I’ll do that first.”

By the time Morgan finished her homework, she only had time to sew up two pairs of socks. At this rate, she wondered how she’d have many pairs to sell at the bazaar. Or if she’d even make enough money to go on the ski trip.

The next morning, as they were walking to school, Carlie invited the girls to go with her and her dad to cut down Christmas trees on Sunday afternoon. “Dad found out that the Christmas tree permits are only to use for your own family. The trees can’t be sold or anything.”

“Oh.” Morgan sighed. “Well, the youth group is still going to a tree farm on Friday afternoon. Anyone who helps cut trees to sell at the bazaar gets to apply the profits toward the ski-trip expense.”

“Are you going?” Emily asked Morgan.

“I don’t know …” Morgan considered this. “I think it might be a better use of my time to make socks.”

“Last night, Mrs. Landers told me that she might have a babysitting job lined up for me on Friday as well as Saturday,” said Emily. “So maybe I should pass on the tree thing too.”

“I’m going to pay my deposit for the ski trip today,” said Amy. “I don’t want to take any chances of missing out.”

“I need to go in and pay mine too,” said Carlie. “My parents signed the form and everything. Maybe we should go together.”

“How about you guys?” Amy asked Morgan and Emily.

“Mine is taken care of,” said Emily.

“Huh?” Morgan turned and stared at her. “How’d you do that?”

“Actually, Mrs. Landers paid it for me. She said I can pay her back after my babysitting job. Chelsea was worried that I wouldn’t get it in on time …”

“Oh.” Morgan frowned.

“Have you paid your deposit, Morgan?” asked Amy.

“Not yet.”

“Well, you better get on it.” Amy shook her head with disapproval. “I mean it was your idea in the first place.”

Morgan mentally calculated how many pairs of socks she’d need to sell to get fifty dollars. Seven would cover it. She wondered how long it would take for seven pairs to sell at her mom’s shop. She’d consider asking Mom for a loan, but Mom had already covered her at the hair salon. And Grandma had already helped her with buying fabric. No, Morgan decided, she was on her own now. Still, it was hard not to feel envious of Emily. It seemed unfair that Chelsea’s mom had covered for her. Wasn’t this ski trip supposed to be about having faith and trusting God to provide? Still, Morgan wasn’t even sure how strong her own faith was at the moment. It seemed more impossible than ever right now.

No one was home when Morgan came home from school. Then she remembered that Mom had taken Grandma to the doctor. Morgan prayed that it would go well, and that the doctor would figure out a way to make Grandma feel better. Then Morgan sat down to sew socks.
She was just starting the first pair when she heard knocking at the door.

“Here you go,” said Mrs. Landers as she handed a large plastic bag to Morgan. “I got just what you said to get.” She laughed. “In fact, I nearly cleaned out the fabric store of their red felt. The ribbon is in there too. And I got some red thread and pins and things just in case.” She smiled. “It’s so nice of you to help like this.”

Morgan nodded and looked down at the bulky bag. “Sure, Mrs. Landers. No problem.” But as she closed the front door, she wasn’t so sure. How was Morgan supposed to create five elf skirts
and
sew enough socks to pay her way for the ski trip? This just didn’t seem fair. Normally, at a time like this, she might ask Grandma to help. But if Grandma was still feeling tired … well, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

Morgan took the pile of red felt and spread out the fabric all over the beige living room carpet. One good thing was that she could use the whole room without worrying about getting in anyone’s way. Then she took out her circular newspaper pattern and laid it out and began cutting. At least it was a very simple design. And being that it was felt fabric, it wouldn’t involve much sewing. By five o’clock she had all five skirts cut out and ready for their ribbon waistbands to be attached. The only problem was that little pieces of red felt were all over the rug. She
didn’t want Grandma to come home and see the mess. So before she could even begin sewing, she would need to vacuum. But before she could vacuum, she realized she would need to replace the vacuum cleaner bag. And when she attempted to replace the vacuum cleaner bag, she accidentally dropped the full bag on the kitchen floor. Just as she was attempting to clean up this mess the phone rang.

“Morgan,” said Mom. “We’re running late. The doctor sent us over to the hospital for some special tests for Grandma, and it’s taking longer than we expected.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” said Morgan, relieved that she had more time to clean up her mess.

“What I was hoping is … could you start dinner? I know that Grandma is hungry, and she had some hamburger thawed out that she was going to make spaghetti sauce with.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“I know. But there’s a package of Hamburger Helper that you could put it with.”

“I don’t know how to do that either.”

“It’s easy. You just follow the directions. You
can
follow directions, can’t you?”

Morgan sensed the impatience in her mother’s voice. “Yes.”

“And make a little green salad too.”

“Okay.”

“We should be home after six.”

As she hung up the phone, Morgan looked at the messy kitchen floor and then over at the living room rug, scattered with streaks of red and looking as if a wild animal might have been slaughtered on it. And yet she hadn’t sewn a single sock yet. It seemed like her chances of making it to the ski trip were getting slimmer and slimmer.