Value: An allegory about temptation Belinda was a good girl. She tried to keep the right kinds of friends and together they tried to stay away from things they knew their parents and teachers would not approve of. Most of her friends were from the church so they listened closely to the sermons, the Sunday school lessons and other instructions they got at church to make sure they knew what was right. Belinda also did as she was taught and read the bible and prayed even though she didn’t always understand what she prayed and if she prayed with her eyes closed, sometimes she went to sleep. One day daddy brought home a new pet. His name was Pete the Parakeet. For several days, everybody had fun talking to Pete but he didn’t say much. But it was clear that Pete had come to the house to be Belinda’s friend. So he lived in her room. “Wake up Belinda.” Pete suddenly said as she dozed off reading her Bible. “Did you just talk to me?” ...
Value: Lying Lots of us have imaginary friends. John had one and he talked to him every day. John’s imaginary friend was named Duncan. Since John was an only child, he had lots of time for Duncan. Whenever mom and dad were too busy, he and Duncan made up lots of fun games together. They would play in the yard and turn it into a wonderful forest full of wild imaginary creatures. Sometimes they were spacemen fighting the evil Lord Gnulle and his army of mutants. Duncan and John always won. Other times Duncan would just get in his jammies and watch movies with John and make funny remarks about the adults. One day John and Duncan were working on a fort in a part of the yard where nobody ever went. Duncan had already talked John into taking scrap wood from building sites near by even though John didn’t really feel ok about it. “Go ahead.” Duncan said. “Look, they have so much wood. They won’t miss a few boards....