Raising Faith

by Melody Carlson

  “Oh, I don’t know …” Morgan wasn’t sure she wanted to make her announcement now.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Emily. “I thought you were going to invite everyone —”

  “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea now.” Morgan tried to give Emily a look — a look that was supposed to say “I don’t want to talk about this now.” But Emily obviously wasn’t getting it.

  “Hey,” said Chelsea. “What’s the deal, Morgan? First you’re going to invite us to something, and then you change your mind and un-invite us?”

  “That’s not very polite,” added Amy.

  “Yeah,” said Carlie. “What’s up with that, Morgan?”

  “Fine, fine,” said Morgan, holding up her hands. “I’ll tell you. I was going to ask everyone here if you wanted to go on a ski trip with our youth group. It’s the week after Christmas, it’s for three days and —”

  “All right!” said Carlie, giving Chelsea a high five. “I’m in.”

  “Me too,” said Chelsea. “I can’t wait to show you guys my new board.”

  “I’d like to come too,” said Amy. “I’ve never skied before, but I’d like to try.”

  “How about you, Emily?” asked Carlie. “You’re coming too, right?”

  Emily looked down at her lap. “I don’t know …”

  “Why not?” demanded Amy.

  Emily looked up now, her eyes on Morgan. “Tell them,” she said. “Tell them how much it costs.”

  “Well, I was about to …” Morgan adjusted her glasses and looked at her friends. “But then I got interrupted. Anyway, the trip, which includes transportation, lift tickets, equipment rental, food, and lodging … is two hundred dollars.”

  “That’s not bad,” said Chelsea. “Count me in.”

  “Whoa,” said Carlie. “I don’t know about that …”

  “It’s a good deal,” said Chelsea. “Seriously, I heard my mom saying how much our weekend is costing us — trust me, two hundred dollars a person is not bad.”

  “Maybe for you,” said Carlie. “But I don’t have that kind of money.”

  “Two hundred dollars?” said Amy in a thoughtful voice.

  “Yeah,” said Morgan. “Is that too much for you too?”

  “No …” Amy slowly shook her head. “I think I can afford that. My parents have been paying me for helping in the restaurant lately. And I’ll work a lot during the holidays. Plus, tips are supposed to be good during December. I’ll go.”

  “Not me,” said Carlie sadly.

  “So, I’m not so sure,” said Morgan. “I’ve been having second thoughts about the whole thing. Maybe we should make some kind of pact. Either we all go, or none of us go.”

  “That’s not fair,” said Amy.

  “Well, I don’t know if I want to go …” began Morgan. “I mean, if Emily and Carlie can’t go too. It just wouldn’t feel right to me. It wouldn’t be fun. Maybe we should just forget it.”

  “Wait,” said Emily. “You didn’t tell them everything, Morgan.” She turned to Carlie now. “Our church has ways for kids to earn money.”

  “But I don’t go to your church,” said Carlie.

  “I don’t think that matters,” said Emily. “The youth pastor said we could invite our friends.” Then she told the others about the Christmas bazaar and selling Christmas trees and wreathes.

  “Really?” said Carlie hopefully. “We could do that?”

  “But two hundred dollars is a lot of money,” Morgan pointed out. “And there’s not much time. And anyone who goes needs to pay a deposit of fifty dollars, and I’m guessing that needs to be paid pretty soon. Plus, don’t forget it’s Christmas … it can get pretty busy, you know.”

  Carlie frowned. “Maybe you’re right … maybe I better not try to do this.”

  “Hang on,” said Emily. “You can’t give up that easily.”

  Morgan stared at her friend in surprise. “But I didn’t think you were going to go, Emily.”

  “I never said that.”

  “But you worried about the cost.”

  “Yeah, and you kept telling me to have bigger faith. What happened to your faith, Morgan?”

  Morgan blinked. “I still have it. I just didn’t want to be too pushy … in case some of us couldn’t go.”

  “Well, I’m not ready to give up,” said Emily with a stubborn smile.

  “Really?” Morgan felt a trickle of hope again.

  “Me neither,” said Carlie. “I might even see if I can do some babysitting for my mom again. There’s a whole week of no school right before Christmas. My mom might pay me to watch my little brothers so that she can get some things done before Christmas.”

  “So, it’s settled?” asked Morgan, still feeling surprised.

  “Everyone who wants to go on the ski trip, raise your hand,” said Amy.

  Everyone’s hand, except Morgan’s, shot into the air. Then Morgan sheepishly raised her own hand.

  “This is going to be so cool,” said Carlie. “I can’t wait.”

  “I’ll get the sign-up forms for everyone tomorrow,” said Morgan. “I’ll bring them to the clubhouse after school.”

  “When do we pay our deposit?” asked Amy.

  Morgan considered this. “I guess whenever you can.”

  “I’ll bring a check for the whole thing tomorrow,” said Chelsea.

  Morgan nodded. “Okay …” But even as she said this, she wondered whether the check could be refunded if things didn’t work out. Cory hadn’t said anything about that. But it might be pretty weird if Chelsea was the only one to come up with the full payment for the ski trip — and she had to go all by herself. Of course, Chelsea would probably refuse to go alone. And her parents probably wouldn’t even care if she didn’t get her money back. Morgan couldn’t imagine how it would feel to be that rich.

  “Will boys be there?” asked Chelsea suddenly.

  “Boys?” Morgan considered this. “Well, yeah, sure. The youth group is both guys and girls.”

  “What are we going to wear?” asked Carlie. And that’s when Chelsea started giving them fashion tips on winter wear.

  “I’ll bring some magazines,” said Chelsea. “That’ll give you guys some ideas of what’s cool right now and what’s not.”

  “That reminds me,” said Morgan. “My grandma has a pattern for socks.”

  “Huh?” said Chelsea.

  “Polar socks,” continued Morgan. “We can sew them and sell them at the bazaar.”

  Chelsea frowned. “You’re going to sew socks?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” said Morgan. “I’m going to experiment with it. See how long it takes, how much the fabric costs … and if it seems profitable or not.”

  “Hey, I’m not too proud to sew socks,” said Emily.

  “Me neither,” said Carlie.

  Chelsea shrugged. “It might even be fun.”

  “I don’t know,” said Amy. “I think I better stick with waiting tables for now.”

  “I’ll practice with the sock pattern,” said Morgan. “And if it works, we can set up a workshop here at the bus. The church bazaar is less than two weeks away. We don’t have any time to waste.”

  “Speaking of two weeks from now,” said Chelsea. “My dad told me to see if you guys want to be in the Christmas parade.”

  “Doing what?” asked Amy with suspicion.

  “Just riding on the bank float,” said Chelsea, and then she giggled. “Dressed as elves.”

  “Elves?” Carlie frowned. “Like tights and pointy shoes?”

  “Yeah. Dad will provide the costumes.”

  “I think it sounds like fun,” said Morgan. “I’ll volunteer to be an elf.”

  “What about the church bazaar?” asked Emily. “Isn’t it the same day?”

  “I don’t think we actually have to be at the bazaar,” said Morgan. “I bet we just have to get our stuff there and set things up. My grandma does the bazaar every year and she usually just works a few hours, not all day.”
>
  “So, it’s set?” asked Chelsea. “Five elves for Daddy’s float?”

  “Does he pay?” asked Amy.

  Chelsea laughed. “Are you kidding? My dad thinks we should all be honored just to ride on his precious float. But I can probably talk him into lunch afterward.”

  “It’s a date,” said Carlie.

  So it was settled. The five girls would play Santa’s elves in the parade and then work like elves the rest of the time. Morgan just hoped that there would be enough time to do everything. She knew that it wasn’t up to her to make sure that this all worked out, but she couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible. Mostly she didn’t want to see any of the girls lose money on the ski trip. Well, besides Chelsea … and only because she could afford it.

  The rain had almost completely stopped by the time the group started to break up. Amy had to leave early to help at her parents’ restaurant. Chelsea had to go because her mom was picking her up, and Carlie had to get home to help her mom watch the boys. Then it was just Emily and Morgan.

  “Did you mind what I said?” asked Emily as they were putting on their raincoats.

  “About what?”

  “You know … about all of us going on the ski trip. I saw you giving me the evil eye.”

  “I guess I was just surprised. I was ready to give it up and just forget it.”

  “After your big speech about faith?”

  “I just wasn’t sure whether I was having faith in God or faith in Morgan.”

  Emily laughed. “Maybe it was both.”

  “I just hope it works out.”

  “Sure, it will,” said Emily. “We’ll be praying about it, won’t we?”

  “Of course.” Morgan glanced at Emily. “What made you change your mind like that? I mean, this morning you seemed so sure that you couldn’t make enough money to go … and now you’re all cool with it.”

  “I got to thinking about Cory and Janna …”

  “Huh?”

  “I was just thinking about how much I’ve learned in youth group these past several months … and I thought maybe Amy, Chelsea, and Carlie would like to be around them for a while too. I mean, not to recruit them into our church or anything …”

  “I get it,” said Morgan as she locked the bus door.

  “Is that weird?”

  Morgan shook her head. “No, that is very cool.” She smiled at Emily. “I think your faith is bigger than mine.”

  “No way,” said Emily.

  “Way.”

  “Hey, I asked my mom about going to your house for Thanksgiving … and you know what she told me?”

  “No.”

  “She said she’d love to come, except that she already invited Mr. Greeley to come to our house for Thanksgiving.”

  “Really?” Morgan tried to imagine old Mr. Greeley sitting at the kitchen table with Emily, her mom, and her sixteen-year-old brother, Kyle.

  “Pretty weird, huh?”

  “No … I mean Mr. Greeley is a nice old guy. And I know he really likes you and your family, Em.”

  “Still, it’ll be sort of odd … I mean he’s not exactly talkative. And Kyle is still kind of afraid of him.”

  “That’s just because he doesn’t know him.” Morgan remembered how she used to be afraid of strange Mr. Greeley too — back before he gave them the keys to their clubhouse. “I know!” said Morgan suddenly. “Why don’t you guys just bring Mr. Greeley over to our house for Thanksgiving? You know, the more the merrier.”

  “That sounds good to me. I’ll check with Mom and get back to you.”

  “Hopefully, you guys can come. I have it all planned out,” said Morgan. “I should have figured out the socks by then, and you and I can get a head start by cutting out a bunch of them.”

  “And can I sew them too?”

  “Sure,” said Morgan. “You were doing really good on my sewing machine when we made the pillows and stuff for the bus.”

  “Cool.” Emily gave her a high five. “And I’m so excited about the ski trip. It’s going to be awesome!”

  Morgan hugged Emily. “I’m so glad you changed your mind about the ski trip,” she said happily. “I guess my faith was starting to shrink. I think I would’ve given up on the trip if you hadn’t said something just when you did.”

  Emily grinned. “Guess that’s what friends are for, huh?”

  Morgan thought about that as she walked home. It was hard to remember what life had been like before Emily moved here last spring. It seemed like they’d been friends forever, but in reality it had only been about six months, give or take. Still, Morgan knew that theirs was a friendship that would last forever. And if for some reason Emily was unable to go on the ski trip, Morgan would gladly forfeit her spot as well. She wouldn’t care if it was completely paid for, or if all the other girls were going. Morgan would stay home with Emily.

  She just hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. And she’d be praying extra hard to make sure that it didn’t!

  chapter three

  “I’m so bummed,” said Carlie as the four friends walked to school on Monday.

  “What’s up?” asked Amy.

  “Chelsea called me last night — I couldn’t believe it — she invited me to go with her and her family to the ski resort.”

  “Wow,” said Emily. “That sounds awesome.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Morgan, “Why are you bummed about that?”

  Carlie kicked a stone off the sidewalk. “Because my parents said ‘no way, José.’”

  “Why?” asked Emily.

  “Because it’s Thanksgiving,” said Carlie. “My parents are so old-fashioned. They think the world will come to an end if all of our family — I mean aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone — isn’t together under one roof for that entire day.”

  “That’s kind of nice,” said Morgan. “I can’t imagine having that much family around.”

  Carlie let out a long sigh. “Yeah, there’s like eighty people. They all come to my aunt’s house, which usually seems pretty roomy, but it’s so crowded in there you can hardly breathe. And noisy? Have you ever been to a Latino celebration? Man, your ears are ringing for three days afterward.”

  The girls laughed.

  “Well, my parents are old-fashioned too,” said Amy. “But not about holidays. For my parents, the holidays are just a time to make money in the restaurant. I’ll be working on Thanksgiving.”

  “Really?” asked Emily. “Do very many people eat Chinese food on Thanksgiving?”

  “You’d be surprised,” said Amy. “I think most of our holiday customers don’t have family around. But at least they’re generous with their tips. Even so, I’d give anything to have Carlie’s problem. I wish Chelsea would invite me to go skiing with her.”

  “Maybe she will,” said Carlie sadly.

  They were almost at Boscoe Bay Middle School now.

  “Well, cheer up,” said Emily, “At least you have the ski trip after Christmas to look forward to.”

  “Yeah,” said Carlie. “After my parents nixed my chances of going with Chelsea, I asked about the ski trip, and it sounded like it might be okay. My mom even agreed to pay me to watch the boys while she gets ready for Christmas, and my dad offered to help us to go cut down Christmas trees to sell at the bazaar.”

  “That’s great,” said Morgan. “Maybe that whole thing with Chelsea helped to soften them up.”

  Carlie laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.”

  “Speaking of Chelsea,” said Amy, pointing to the Mercedes that was just pulling up in front of the school. “There she is.”

  “Hey, Chelsea,” called Carlie, waving.

  Chelsea came over to join them as they went up the steps to the front entrance. “I’m still mad at you,” Chelsea said to Carlie with a pouting face.

  Carlie shrugged. “Hey, I can’t help what my parents say.”

  “At least we still have the ski trip to look forward to after Christmas,” Morgan reminded her. “I’m
going to pick up the forms today.”

  “I already have my deposit money,” said Amy. “It’s at home, but I counted it out last night and I have just enough.”

  “And my dad will give me a check for the whole thing,” said Chelsea.

  “And I was just telling these guys that my parents said I can go to that — since it’s not actually on Christmas,” said Carlie as they went inside the school. “My mom even offered to advance me some babysitting money so I can pay the deposit.”

  Emily glanced at Morgan with an uneasy expression as they walked to their lockers. Morgan could tell that she was still a little worried about the money. But Morgan smiled at her in a way she hoped was reassuring.

  “It’s going to be so cool,” Morgan said to her friends. “All five of us up there, skiing and riding and having a totally great time.”

  “I think I want to try snowboarding,” said Carlie.

  “Yeah, and I should be pretty good at it by then,” added Chelsea.

  “I’m going to ski,” said Amy. “I think it looks more graceful.”

  “Snowboarding’s more fun,” said Emily.

  “How do you know?” Amy asked her.

  “Because I’ve done it.”

  Morgan blinked. “You’ve gone snowboarding before, Emily?”

  “Yeah, when we lived in Idaho.” Emily got a worried look now, and Morgan knew that it was because she didn’t like to mention where they’d moved from. “I mean when we were in Idaho … we went a few times.”

  “Have you been to Sun Valley?” asked Chelsea.

  “No,” said Emily. “Not to ride anyway. We went there once just to check it out.”

  “My sister has been there. She says it’s awesome.”

  Just then the warning bell rang, and the girls scattered off toward their first-period classes. But as Morgan and Emily went to English, Morgan had to ask. “You’ve really been snowboarding before?”

  “Yeah, I thought I told you.”

  “No.” Morgan shook her head. “Are you any good?”

  Emily shrugged. “Not the first time … but I kinda got the hang of it. It’s not that hard, really. And you’re pretty athletic, Morgan, so you shouldn’t have any problem. Have you ever skateboarded?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.” Emily grinned. “My brother taught me to skateboard when I was like six. I could probably borrow Kyle’s board and give you some lessons. It’s all about balance.”