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think I’m young. Say, it looks like you girls are doing a fantastic job here. I’m impressed.”
    Carlie sniffed. “Well, Mr. Greeley didn’t seem very impressed. He just came by to make sure we threw the bags in the trash bin so the stuff doesn’t get blown all over the place again.”
    Cleo laughed. “That’s just his way, Carlie. He’s not what you’d call a happy camper. But I’m sure, deep down he appreciates what you’re doing.”
    “Maybe really deep, deep down. So deep that even he doesn’t know it,” suggested Morgan.
    “So, what are you girls going to do next?”
    “Flowers!” exclaimed Carlie, throwing her arms into the air. “We need to plant lots and lots of flowers. But first we’ve got to earn some money to buy them.” She kicked the toe of her tennis show in the dry dirt. “And we can’t wait too long. Because it’ll start getting warmer soon, and we’ll miss the best part of the growing season.”
    “Next week should be our money-drive week,” said Morgan.
    “Yeah,” chimed in Amy, turning to Morgan’s mom with a big smile. “We made a list of ways to make money. Maybe we should get started right away.”
    “We could start collecting pop cans tomorrow.” Morgan glanced at her mom. “After church, that is.”
    Cleo smiled. “I wonder if any of your friends would be interested in visiting our church, Morgan. Remember, we have that special music group coming tomorrow.”
    Morgan’s eyes lit up and she turned to her friends. “Oh, yeah. It’s this really cool group of college kids from Canada, and they sing and do skits and stuff. You’d probably like it—if you want to come.”
    “It sounds like fun, but we usually go to Mass on Sunday,” said Carlie. “Mass is sort of boring, but we always go out for pizza afterward.”
    Amy scratched her head. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to church before. Not that I can rememberanyway. It sounds sort of interesting. And I do like music.”
    “Great, you want to come then? How about you, Emily?”
    Emily’s cheeks grew red. “Well, it sounds nice—”
    “Great then,” interrupted Morgan. “It’s settled. Be ready by nine thirty tomorrow morning, and we’ll pick you up. Now let’s go dump these bags before Mr. Greeley has a cow.”

chapter seven
    After they threw the bags into the trash bin, Emily and Morgan walked back to their end of the park together. Emily was quiet again, and Morgan wanted to ask her what was wrong. Instead, she invited her to come home with her.
    “I want you to see how that dress turned out,” she told Emily. “You remember the batik material? I just finished it last night, and it’s so cool, you’ve just got to see it.”
    “I’ll bet it looks great,” said Emily as she followed Morgan into the house.
    Morgan pulled the dress out of the closet. “The hemline looks uneven,” she explained, just as she’d done with Grandma. “But it’s supposed to be like that.”
    “It looks really good, Morgan. I bet it’ll be even cuter on.” Emily collapsed into Morgan’s beanbag chair and sighed. She looked tired. Morgan suspected it wasn’t from working so hard today.
    “What’s wrong, Em?” Morgan sat on the futon across from her. “I can tell that something’s bugging you. Did I do anything to make you mad? I mean, I know how I sometimes say things too quickly. I hope I didn’t hurtyour feelings. Mom is always telling me to think before I speak—”
    “No, Morgan. Nothing like that.” Emily sighed again.
    “Well, what then? You can tell me, Emily. I’m your friend. Maybe I can do something to help.”
    Emily shook her head. “I don’t see how.”
    “Well, you’ll never know if you don’t talk to me. You know this is exactly what friends are for.” Morgan fingered the braids in her hair. “I haven’t had a really good friend since Mom and I moved here to live with Grandma. I was sort of hoping that you and I could become good friends, ya know?”
    Emily leaned