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44 pages 1 hour read

Lynda Mullaly Hunt

One for the Murphys

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2012

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Chapters 31-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 31 Summary: “If You’re Going to Lie to Yourself, Be Convincing”

Carley coaches Daniel again on basketball skills, offering him advice to build his courage and confidence. At first he resists, and they spar verbally. Daniel brings up the night when Carley ran out of the house, and Carley agrees that it was a bad night. She tells Daniel, “Your mother has been nice to me…but she’ll never be my mom” (143). Daniel’s demeanor toward Carley changes then; he’s more receptive to her jokes, coaching, and comments. By the chapter’s end, he’s eager to play basketball and try to beat her. 

Chapter 32 Summary: “Reservations for One”

In the cafeteria, Rainer insults Carley and throws cooked carrots at her from the next table. Carley restrains herself, wishing that she could walk out. Toni surprises her by coming to sit at her table. Toni insults Rainer and threatens to beat him so effectively that he stops his behavior and looks away. Carley thanks Toni for her help, and Toni replies with a smart comment and a complaint about a new project in social studies. Carley is relieved: “…I know that we’re okay” (146).

Chapter 33 Summary: “Out on a Limb”

Daniel and Carley are shooting baskets in the driveway when they hear Michael Eric crying three houses down. They run to see him and find the boy who lives there, Jimmy Partin. Daniel threatens him, but Jimmy speaks derisively to Carley. Carley threatens him as well and then turns to leave. The boy says, “You must be a Murphy. All they ever do is turn and run” (149). Carley is secretly happy that someone called her a Murphy but decides to teach the boy a lesson even if it means a punishment. She catches him and hangs him from a branch by his overall straps, telling him that she will hang him from the gutters the next time he bothers one of the Murphys. Back in their yard, Michael Eric says that Carley is his hero.

Chapter 34 Summary: “Defying Gravity”

In Carley’s bedroom, Toni and Carley confide about their parents; Toni says she would rather have a small house if it meant her father would be around more often (instead of devoting travel time to his high-paying job), and Carley tells how her mother promoted “shopping” from the Salvation Army bins. Talking about her mother makes Carley uncomfortable, and they change the subject to Wicked.

Chapter 35 Summary: “Order on the Court”

At Daniel’s next basketball game, Carley encourages him by shouting comments: “You are invincible! Remember that!” (155). Mrs. Murphy is elated that they’re getting along. Daniel applies Carley’s advice, takes more shots, and makes a lay-up and a three-pointer. Carley knows that the respect he earns from his teammates will make a significant difference to Daniel. Mrs. Murphy thanks Carley for her help and influence.

Chapter 36 Summary: “Late-Night Surprise”

The sound of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” wakes Carley on her 52nd night at the Murphys. She discovers Mr. and Mrs. Murphy dancing in the kitchen. Carley can sense how much they genuinely love one another from the atmosphere between them, and she wonders what that kind of love must be like.

Chapter 37 Summary: “Sinking Feelings and Other Plumbing Problems”

Mrs. Murphy gives Carley information about her mother. She’s going to a physical rehabilitation facility to learn how to walk again; once she’s settled there, Carley can go to visit. Because Carley’s mother agreed to testify against Dennis, she won’t be charged for Carley’s abuse. Carley doesn’t know how to feel about the prospect of going to visit her mother; it makes her feel better to think about the chicken casserole that Mrs. Murphy made for dinner. Mrs. Murphy gives Carley her mother’s telephone number at the rehab center. Carley calls that night but doesn’t know what to say. Her mother guesses that it’s her and promises that they’ll soon be together. Carley hangs up after her mother comments, “My girl is not usually at a loss for words” (136).

Chapter 38 Summary: “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Worst”

Mrs. Murphy gives Carley five dollars to spend on a Mother’s Day card for her mother, but when Carley goes to a Hallmark store with Toni, she becomes upset. She doesn’t really want to get her mother a card, knowing now that her mother “does so little” of what “real mothers do” (167). She buys a card without really reading it. When she reads it later, she decides to give it to Mrs. Murphy, as it says, “THANKS FOR ALL THE REALLY BIG THINGS YOU DO, BUT ALSO FOR THE 45 BILLION LITTLE THINGS. BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW I WAS COUNTING” (167). She signs it “Love, Carley Connors.”

Chapter 39 Summary: “Summon the Book Eater”

Mrs. Murphy is ill and vomiting in the bathroom. Carley discovers Adam and Michael Eric outside the door listening. Carley offers to tend to them a while and then cook dinner and handle bedtime. Mrs. Murphy gratefully accepts her offer of help. Carley pretends that the Book Eaters are after them as they head to her secret, safe cave (the family room closet). There, she reads books aloud to the boys. One, The Giving Tree, annoys Carley because the boy in it seemingly doesn’t appreciate how much the tree does for him.

Chapter 40 Summary: “Ironing the Wrinkles In”

While Mrs. Murphy is ironing, Carley works up the courage to ask if she can call Mrs. Murphy “Mom.” Mrs. Murphy looks pained and tells Carley that she doesn’t think it would be healthy or helpful to Carley. She has tears in her eyes as she tries to explain: “You have a mother—a very lucky one. Carley, I’d love to have been your mother” (173). Carley asks about the adoption book, and Mrs. Murphy tells her that Mrs. MacAvoy is sure the courts will send Carley back to her mother when she’s better. Hurt, Carley asks that Mrs. Murphy leave her alone.

Chapters 31-40 Analysis

Carley feels that she gets her answer in this section of chapters—she could indeed be a Murphy. She proves it to herself in many ways: she helps Daniel improve at basketball, like a sister would; she tends to the younger boys when Mrs. Murphy is ill, like a daughter would. She protects the boys from the neighborhood bully and buys a Mother’s Day card for Mrs. Murphy. All these actions make Carley feel as though she’s participating helpfully and is finally a part of the family. To them, she’s dependable, valuable, skilled, and caring—characteristics that she always possessed but that her mother never acknowledged. Michael Eric even thinks of her as a hero; this symbolizes the sharp uptick in confidence and happiness that Carley feels. Even Toni comes around, forgives Carley for misleading her, and wants to be friends again.

Carley is content and settled in her life at the Murphys—so much so that when she hears she can soon visit her mother, she doesn’t know how to feel. With the contentedness of life in the Murphy house comes a new awareness that the fun, bold lifestyle her mother permitted wasn’t based on tenderness or nurturing, which she now identifies as a mother’s role. Carley doesn’t know how to feel about her mother now because she doesn’t think of her as much of a mother. She comes gradually to feel resentment and anger, not just about the night her mother held her foot and allowed Dennis to hurt her but also about her upbringing in general. For example, when she calls her mother at the rehab center, Carley has next to nothing to say. When she goes to the store to pick out a Mother’s Day card, the vast number of cards sends Carley into a slight panic and dull rage.

When Carley realizes that Mrs. Murphy perfectly fits the description on the random card she chose, she turns a sharp corner toward actively welcoming the care and kindness that the family and especially Mrs. Murphy has shown her. Carley wants to put a name on this new openness she feels; much like she often sees things in parts, breakdowns, and components, she wants to feel control over her emotions. She consequently asks Mrs. Murphy if she can call her “Mom.” Mrs. Murphy’s response, though, guts Carley. It’s deeply ironic that just when Carley realizes she could be a Murphy in that she possesses kindness and caring, Mrs. Murphy must tell her she will never actually be one. 

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