Right Thing

by Stephanie Perry Moore

Overview

The Morgan Love Series is a chapter book series written for girls, 7 – 9 years old.  The series provides moral lessons that will aid in character development.  It will also help young girls develop their vocabulary, english and math skills as they read through the stories and complete the entertaining and educational exercises provided at the end of each chapter and in the back of the book.

Morgan learns the hard way that it is not a good thing to disobey her parents. When she lets her best friend, Brook talk her into doing something her mommy tells her not to do, she gets caught and finds herself in trouble.  But that does not stop Morgan from disobeying her mommy again.  When Morgan ignores her mommy and decides to take her ipod to school, she not only gets in trouble but is badly hurt by one of the older girls.  When Morgan hears her stepdad Derek talk about the Ten Commandments and obedience one Sunday at church, she remembers the times she has disobeyed her mommy.  She realizes that when she does not do what her mommy and daddy tell her to do or when she does what they tell her not to do, she is not only letting them down but God too. The next time Brook tries to talk Morgan into doing what she knows is wrong,  Morgan decides to do the right thing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802477774
Publisher:	Moody Publishers
Publication date:	06/01/2011
Series:	Morgan Love Series , #4
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

STEPHANIE PERRY MOORE is the author of many Young Adult Christian fiction titles, including the Payton Skky series, the Laurel Shadrach series, the Perry Skky Jr. series, the Faith Thomas Novelzine series, the Carmen Browne series, and the Beta Gamma Pi series. She is also the co-editor for the impactful BibleZine, REAL. Mrs. Moore speaks with young people across the country, showing them how they can live life fully and do it God's way. Stephanie currently lives in the greater Atlanta area with her husband, Derrick, a former NFL player and author, and their three children. Visit her website at www.stephanieperrymoore.com.
STEPHANIE PERRY MOORE is the author of many Young Adult Christian fiction titles, including the Payton Skky series, the Laurel Shadrach series, the Perry Skky Jr. series, the Faith Thomas Novelzine series, the Carmen Browne series, and the Beta Gamma Pi series. She is also the co-editor for the impactful BibleZine, REAL. Mrs. Moore speaks with young people across the country, showing them how they can live life fully and do it God's way. Stephanie currently lives in the greater Atlanta area with her husband, Derrick, a former NFL player and author, and their three children. Visit her website at www.stephanieperrymoore.com.

Read an Excerpt

Right Thing

Morgan Love Series Book 4

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By Stephanie Perry Moore, Kathryn Hall

Moody Publishers

Copyright © 2011 Stephanie Perry Moore
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8024-7777-4

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CHAPTER 1

Some Good

"No, Morgan, you are not going to watch that scary movie. It's not allowed in our home and you know that," my mother said firmly.

"Oh, come on, Mrs. Randall," Brooke begged. "Pleeeease. It'll be all right."

"No, sweetheart. It won't be all right. As I said, Morgan is not allowed to watch certain types of programs. I recommend you guys pick something else to watch. I want you girls to have a good time, but the rules are the rules. Morgan thinks she can handle those creepy movies, but she can't."

I went up to Mom and placed my arm around her waist to soften her up. "I can handle them, Mommy. I promise. I won't be afraid."

She stepped back from me, like I had a bad cold or something. "There's more to it, Morgan. That movie is rated PG-13 and it has scenes in it that you aren't ready to see yet."

"But my mom lets me watch them at home. And Morgan and I are the same age. Please, Mrs. Randall," Brooke pleaded again.

"No, girls. I said no and that's final," Mom said in her strong voice.

Both Brooke and I stomped off in a huff. We stomped hard. We were too upset at the moment to be respectful.

"You know what. Come here," Mom said, not being too happy with us. "I'm glad that you're staying over tonight, Brooke. And your mom told me that I could speak to you like I speak to Morgan. You're in my house and she knows I care about you. So, you little ladies need to listen up good. You must be polite when an adult says no. It's not the end of the world. Just find something else to do. And if you girls don't hurry up and turn those frowns into smiles, I'm going to put you to work."

"Work? I cleaned up everything," I said to Mom, still frowning.

"No, that Summer Bridges book I bought for you to work in over the summer has several pages that you haven't done. How about you and Brooke go and do that. Come back to me after a while so I can check how much you've done."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, trying hard not to show her how unhappy I was.

When Brooke and I went to my room, Brooke complained, "Wow, I can't believe she won't let us watch the movie."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm a big girl and I want her to quit acting like I'm a baby. She keeps treating me like I'm little and can't handle anything. It makes me so angry."

"Well, you have to show her that you're a big girl instead of just telling her."

Looking around my room for the workbook, I said, "What do you mean, Brooke?"

"Here's the deal. When she goes to sleep, we'll watch the movie anyway," Brooke said, as she spotted the workbook on my bookcase and handed it to me.

"Huh?"

"That's how I got my mom to let me watch them. At night I would watch a movie and in the morning when she woke up I would tell her all about it."

"She didn't get mad that you watched somethin' you weren't supposed to watch?" Brooke looked at me and smiled. "Well, I never really asked her."

"What if we get caught?" I was really scared because the whole plan sounded so risky.

"If she's asleep, how is she gonna know?" Brooke said, giving me a slick look and a wink.

Shrugging my shoulders I said, "I don't know."

"Let's just get these pages over with," Brooke said, as she snatched the book away from me and opened it to the last page I'd done. "We'll have her all buttered up so when she goes to sleep, she'll never know."

I heard what my friend was saying and I didn't want Brooke to think staying over at my house was lame. I wanted her to know that I'm cool and so is my mom. But I should have known that Mom wouldn't let me do everything Brooke could do at her house. We were both growing up, and I just wished Mom would accept that.

But for now, there was only one problem for me. After Mom said no, I didn't think I should do something that she told me not to do. Then again, I couldn't help but wonder, Would it really be that bad?

I looked at the Summer Bridges book, and my mom was right. I did have a lot of pages left to finish and summer was nearly over. I was going back to school next week to be in the third grade! I was definitely not a baby anymore. The first page we turned to was about homophones.

"H-o-m-o-p-h-o-n-e-s. Homophones."

"Okay, what are homophones?" Brooke asked me. "They are words that sound the same but mean something different. Like your, which means you own something. Or you're, which stands for 'you are.'"

Brooke said, "Oh, I get it. And like two, the number two and the word too, which means 'also' or 'very.'"

"Exactly. And you use the pronoun their when you're talking about more than one person. Or the word there, when you're talking about another location. Or the word they're, which is short for 'they are.' Whew!"

"Wow. Homophones are tricky."

"Yep."

Brooke looked at the workbook. "Here's a sentence: They herd/heard that sailors leave their families and sail away." As she read aloud, we were both looking at the page. We knew we had to circle the correct choice from the underlined words. But I just put my head down.

"Daddy," I said quietly, as I started feeling sad.

Brooke could tell that I was thinking about him. "I'm sorry, Morgan. It's just a sentence," Brooke said, patting my shoulder.

"I know, but it makes me think about how much I miss my dad."

"Well, it's okay to think about him. I'll do the sentence. The answer is heard, which means to hear something. Herd means a group of animals."

"Yeah, that sounds right to me. Next sentence: I did not have any sodas four/for months. Four means the number and for means—"

"It means that for is the right one," Brooke said, as we laughed.

"Yep. Here's another one: Children should always try to make the write/right choices."

"Write means to write something down, but right is the correct answer because it means the opposite of wrong. Right?" Brooke said, smiling. We really were enjoying learning homophones together.

We kept on laughing as we finished the lesson and rushed downstairs to show my mom our work. She was pleased with what we had done. Then Mom helped us bake some cookies. With our treats in hand, we headed to the basement for our girls' night of fun.

After a while, Brooke tiptoed over to the stairs and whispered softly, "All the lights are off up there. Your parents are probably asleep now, so we can watch the movie. She's not gonna come downstairs."

I didn't follow my own instincts and say no to my buddy. I just let my friend turn the channel to the scary movie. We sat close together as the weird music began. Knowing it was the wrong thing to do, I could feel trouble coming.

Not long after the movie started and the actors' names came across the TV screen, the light in the room came on too. That scared us so bad that Brooke almost jumped into my lap. Was it the bad man from the movie coming to get us? No! It was worse.

Mom yelled out, "I know that's not the movie I told you not to watch! Morgan, turn that TV off! You girls go upstairs and get in the bed right now! I said move!"

I looked at my friend. Brooke looked at me. I hung my head low and clicked off the TV. Walking upstairs, I knew I was in trouble with my mom for sure. And it was bad.

* * *

"Morgan, I'm sorry," Brooke said, as we were lying in my bed.

I didn't even say anything to her.

Later that night, we were both tossing and turning. It was a mess. Neither one of us could sleep.

When I couldn't take it any longer, I sat up in the bed and said, "I thought she was asleep.

But I knew it was wrong for me watch that anyway. And I knew I would get in trouble for it, but I went along with you."

"You could have told me to turn it off, Morgan. Don't get mad at me!"

"I'm not mad at you, Brooke," I said, knowing that my friend was right. But I really did do it because I wanted to please her, not because I wanted to watch the movie. Though I didn't have to go along with it, she didn't have to throw it in my face either.

"We're both in trouble. Okay?" said Brooke. "I feel so bad. I wanna go to your mom right now and tell her I'm sorry." Then she thought about it some more and added, "But in the morning when she's calmed down. Anyway, I'm in double trouble."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"My mom doesn't let me watch those movies either."

"Then why did you tell my mom that she did?"

"Because I never asked my mom if I could and she doesn't even know I watch them. I guess she lets me because she never comes to check and see what I'm lookin' at in the middle of the night."

"Maybe after my mom talks to her, she'll start."

We both lay back in the bed and closed our eyes. When we opened them again it was morning. All we could hear was the sound of my mom's loud voice.

"Girls, get up! Now!"

I looked over at the clock and it was only 7 a.m. It wasn't even a school day, and I wanted to argue. But, for sure, we didn't need to make it worse since we were already in trouble.

"Uh-oh, she sounds really mad. We'd better hurry up," Brooke said.

Getting out of the bed, I prayed, Lord, I don't even deserve to pray to You because I was wrong. But can You make Mom not so mad, please?

"Morgan, what's taking you so long? Come on!"

Mom had us follow her down to the laundry room. There were piles of freshly washed clothes waiting for us. "Okay, get to sorting. Brooke, you'll fold towels and pillow cases. Morgan, you can handle your jeans and shirts. Now get to work."

She didn't say anything more, but she didn't leave us in the room by ourselves either. My mom just quietly watched us. And her silence was worse than any words.

Finally, I turned around to her and said, "Mom, I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what, Morgan? Sorry that you got caught doing something I told you not to? Sorry that you didn't get to see the movie? What are you sorry for?"

"No, ma'am, I'm sorry that we disobeyed you in the first place."

"You're not sorry about that."

"Yes, I am."

"If I hadn't come downstairs, you would have kept watching the movie, right?"

"But even the music had me a little jumpy," I added.

"That's one of my points, Morgan. You think you're a big girl and I can see that you're growing up. But if you're not careful, you're going to do more harm than good. If you keep acting like you know better than me, you'll miss out on some good times. I promise you."

"What does that mean, Mom?"

"Girl. I'm so mad at you," she said, gritting her teeth. "And Brooke—"

"Yes, ma'am?" Brooke said.

"I want Morgan to have friends who can help her do the right thing. Not ones who talk her into doing something wrong. I know last night you were a part of the reason for her doing the wrong thing. And I have a problem with that. I'm not sure if you're the type of friend Morgan needs to be around because together the two of you are creating some bad habits."

I went over to my mom and threw my arms around her. "No, Mom, we're good for each other."

"Well, if you're good for each other, then why are you doing things that are so wrong?"

"It's my fault," Brooke said. "I didn't tell you the truth. I told you that my mom let me watch those movies, but she doesn't even know I watch them. I figured since you were asleep, you wouldn't—"

"Come and check on you," Mom said, finishing my friend's sentence.

"Right. Yes, ma'am."

"But, Brooke, that's no way to be, sweetheart. Even when adults don't catch you doing the wrong thing, God is always there watching you."

"I didn't even think about that," Brooke said, as her eyes started to tear. Mine were beginning to do the same.

"Exactly. You have to think about the consequences to your actions. Would God want you doing something wrong? There's a reason why those movies are rated the way they are. Neither one of you girls is thirteen. Without you even knowing it, whatever you're watching on TV gets into your spirit. Then when you're not even watching TV, you can get tense and nervous about things. And I want to help you avoid times like that. Instead, I want you to deposit positive memories in your life."

"You're gonna talk to my mom, aren't you?" Brooke said with her head down.

My mom lifted her chin and said, "No, sweetie, you are. You're a big girl. And because you're a big girl, I expect you to tell her what's going on. I want her to call me and let me know that you did the right thing. But if I don't get a phone call soon after you go home, then I'll tell her. It's not because I want you to get in trouble for this. It's because I don't want you to get in trouble for something worse than this. We need to be able to trust you young ladies. You all should hold each other accountable."

"Accountable?" I said, unsure of what that meant.

Mom said, "It means that you help each other do what's right so you'll never, ever do what's wrong. It's not good for you to break the rules, because God is not pleased with that kind of behavior. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now, finish folding these clothes. Then come on up and get some breakfast. I love you both, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," we said again.

When Mom went upstairs, Brooke said, "I'm sorry, Morgan. I shouldn't have pushed you into doing something that was wrong. I really do care about you."

"It's okay. I'm sorry I didn't stand up to you and tell you that there's no way I was gonna disobey what my mom said. But at least we're learning right from wrong."

"Yeah. We've got to do better."

* * *

"Oh, so you got caught watching some bad movies?" Papa said to me. Jayden and I were staying the night since my parents were celebrating their two-year anniversary. I didn't like it when Mom told her parents on me, but I was wrong and I would have to own up to it sometime.

"Get off of her back," Mama said to Papa. "Morgan, now you know that was something you weren't supposed to do, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. I know when Mommy tells me not to do something that I shouldn't do it, Mama."

"Speaking of the TV, go and turn that thing off. Don't you hear all that lightning and thunder outside, young lady?"

I did hear a little bit of thunder, but I didn't think it was that bad. That was one thing I didn't like about coming over to my grandparents' house. You had to sit still and be quiet when it was storming outside. You couldn't even move. I didn't like that because it made me focus more on the storm than anything else. At least when I was watching TV, I wasn't worried about the loud crackling of the lightning bolts.

The next day I went to church with Mama and Papa. During service, we prayed for Miss May's niece because her son, Billy Wood, got struck by lightning. My face looked very serious and I felt my insides quaking.

"Billy Wood from my class?" I asked Papa, whispering loudly.

Papa shushed me and asked, "You know him?"

"Yes, Billy is my friend. He was in my class."

Then I started praying. Lord, please let Billy be okay.

Right after church, Papa asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital and see Billy. I remembered the hospital from a year ago when I had to go and visit my mom. She and baby Jayden weren't doing too well. Pretty soon they were okay and didn't have to stay too long. Since I was over it now, I told Papa we could go.

When we got to the hospital, Mama and Papa were talking to Billy's mom and his aunt. I found out that if you weren't the mom, dad, grandparents, or another close relative, you had to have a special pass to go into a patient's room. So I went and sat in the waiting room. There was a girl sitting next to the remote control. The TV was off but I wanted to turn it on and watch something.

"Excuse me, can I have the remote control?"

"No," she said, sounding angry.

I could tell she was a little older than me. I didn't know why she was being so mean. I had never done anything to her and didn't even know her. So I tried again.

"Can I please get the remote control?"

She stood up from her seat, walked over, and looked in my face. The remote control was still in the seat. She pushed me just a little and said, "I told you no the first time."

"You don't own the TVs in this hospital."

Before she could say anything back, Mama walked up and said, "Morgan, come on, sweetheart. They're going to let you see your friend."

"Okay."

"Why do you have that look on your face?" Mama asked.

I couldn't even give Mama an answer. But out of the corner of my eye, I could see the mean girl looking at me like, HA, HA, HA! You didn't get the remote! She even stuck her tongue out at me. I just shook it off. It wasn't that important to me and I didn't want to go into Billy's room upset about anything.

"They said you can go in for a little bit. He's awake and he just finished his lunch. He's going to be okay, honey."

I pushed open the door to see Billy sitting up with the TV on.

"Billy!"

"Hey, Morgan, you came to see me?"

"Yeah, and the whole church is praying for you. What happened?"

"I was in the garage and I was supposed to be sitting down. All I remember was I didn't want my bicycle to get wet. The next thing I knew, I woke up here. They said it could have been worse. But I'm cool."

"Oh, Billy. I'm glad you're okay."

"I love it! It's making my sister crazy mad that I'm getting all this attention."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah. My mom said she's in the waiting area. She's tall and always has a mean look on her face. Her name is Bridget."

"Yeah, I met her," I said, looking sad and mad all mixed up together like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Don't worry about her. She's not so tough. I did learn one thing, though. When your parents tell you to do something, just do it. Or, you could end up getting struck by lightning, or worse. Even though it knocked me out and I ended up in the hospital, I wasn't hurt too bad. So in the end, my nightmare turned out to have some good."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Right Thing by Stephanie Perry Moore, Kathryn Hall. Copyright © 2011 Stephanie Perry Moore. Excerpted by permission of Moody Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1. Some Good
Chapter 2. Never Bad
Chapter 3. No Warm
Chapter 4. Always Trouble
Chapter 5. Maybe Awesome
Chapter 6. Kind Enough
Chapter 7. Added Charm