Mystery of the Missing Heart

Written by Mike Wever, Published on 10/29/2008, Re-published on 5/7/2010

I was helping to clean up after the school play, “How the Scarecrow Got His Heart.” Mrs. Tillman wrote the play herself and this was the seventh year in a row that the sixth grade had put it on. Tonight's show got a standing ovation and everyone was in a good mood.

"Did you see all those people clapping?" Eric said, as he swept up the straw that was scattered over the stage. "I love it! I'm going to be an actor when I grow uh...uh...ah CHOO!"

"What's wrong, Eric?" Jenny Jackson asked. "Is your straw allergy acting up?"

It was true. The lead actor in “How the Scarecrow Got His Heart” was allergic to straw. He broke out in a horrible, itchy rash after the first rehearsal and we had to stuff his costume with paper strips instead of straw.

"No," Eric said. "I only get an allergic reaction when I touch straw."

"He's just allergic to work," said Jimmy. He was Jenny's twin brother.

"Give him a break," Wendy LaRue said as she struggled to move one of the big scarecrow props. "Learning all the lines isn't exactly easy, either."

"I guess not," Jimmy said. "It's good of you to help, Eric. I would've gone to the party with the rest of the cast if I was you."

"I guess I just want to spend a little more time here on stage," Eric said. "Being part of the play was so much fun. I'm going to miss it."

"I'll miss it, too," Wendy said. "But right now, I've got to go. I'm supposed to be at dinner with my parents in twenty minutes."

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.

She was talking about the central prop for the play. It was a cardboard heart about as big as my chest, all covered with gold foil and plastic beads.

"That's too bad," I said. "But you can always make a new one, right?"

"Yes," Mrs. Tillman replied. "But this one was very special to me. I made it for the very first production and I've used it every year since. It has a lot of memories attached."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Tillman," I said. "Is anything else missing?"

"No," she said. "Just the heart."

"Well, I really am sorry it's lost," I said.

"It's not your fault," Mrs. Tillman assured me. "You didn't take it."

Those words got me thinking. That night in bed, my mind kept replaying that evening over and over. It was so unlikely that only one prop, which was awfully big and hard to miss, would go missing. Someone must have stolen it. But why, and how? It would have been quite a trick to sneak that thing out of the room without anyone noticing. Before I finally fell asleep, I promised myself that I would get to the bottom of the mystery the very next day.

The next day was unusually warm. I wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to school for the first time all spring. The nice weather put me in a good mood and I was optimistic about solving the mystery of the scarecrow's heart.

I caught up with the twins just before the first bell. I didn't have time to beat around the bush.

"I think someone stole the scarecrow's heart," I said.

"Do you really think so?" Jenny asked.

"I do," I said. "Mrs. Tillman said that the heart was the only thing that was missing. It was too big and shiny to get lost."

"Shiny?" Jimmy asked. "That prop was ugly."

"Yeah," Jenny added. "Why would anyone want to steal that gaudy thing?"

The bell rang and we all had to hurry to our first class. As I made my way through the halls, I thought about what the twins said. Why would anyone steal that heart?

I didn't see Eric until lunchtime. He was sitting alone at a table in the corner and was already done with his food before I joined him.

"You must be cold-blooded," I said as I sat down.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Because you're about the only kid I've seen today wearing a long-sleeved shirt."

Eric looked down at his shirt and nodded. "I've been hearing that all day," he said.

I leaned in close to him and whispered because I didn't want the whole cafeteria to hear me.

"I think someone stole the scarecrow's heart," I said.

Eric's eyes grew wide and he whispered back, "Do you really think so?"

I wondered how many people were going to ask me that. I went through the same explanation I gave the twins.

"I see what you mean," Eric said. "Do you think she's really upset about it?"

"Sure," I said. "She was really proud of how that heart has been part of the play all seven years that she's done it."

"Well, maybe it will turn up after all," Eric said. Then he scratched his arm and stood up, saying, "I've got some homework and stuff that I need to get done. I'll see you later."

I said, "Sure thing," and he headed off to empty his tray. Eric prided himself on getting all of his homework done at school. I don't think he ever took any of it home.

Wendy sat down just then.

"Where is Eric going?" she asked.

"To do homework," I answered.

"That figures."

Wendy started eating. Just like with the twins and Eric, I came right out and said that I thought someone had stolen the heart.

Her eyes flicked up from her burrito and she asked, "Do you really think so?"

I should have known she'd ask that. I held in a groan and said that I did think so and explained why. She put her fork down and looked me straight in the eye.

"Do you think I stole it?" she asked.

"I hope not," I said.

"Well, I didn't." Her eyes dropped back down to her food and she picked up her fork again.

"Do you think someone else might have done it?" I asked.

"Maybe you," she said, without looking up.

I decided that she was too angry to be of much help. We finished our meals in silence. As soon as I was done, I emptied my tray in the trash and looked for the twins. I found them in the library.

"Hi guys," I said.

"Hi," they both answered at once.

"How's it going?" Jenny asked.

"Did you figure out who stole the heart?" Jimmy said.

"Not yet," I said, "but I think I'm close. I just have one more question for you two."

"Okay," Jimmy said, and Jenny added, "Shoot."

"When was the last time you saw the heart?"

"I saw it when we were cleaning up all the other props," Jimmy said. Jenny thought for a moment and added, "It was probably about fifteen minutes before we left."

I nodded and said, "Thanks. That was just what I wanted to hear."

I knew who did it and there were still five more minutes left in lunch period.