We all told her to go and wished her a good time. Even with just four of us, it took almost another hour to finish storing away all the backdrops. The real work was dragging the two man-sized, straw-stuffed scarecrows out to the dumpsters. After that was done, the other three students headed home and I stayed to sweep up the stage one last time. I was about to go myself when I noticed that the big smile had disappeared from our teacher's face.

"What's wrong, Mrs. Tillman?" I asked.

"I can't seem to find the scarecrow's heart," she said.