CHAPTER 19

The next morning, everyone was talking about the stolen vote and the runaway turtle.

“Yesterday did not go as we had planned,” Miss Greer said. “It was rather stressful, but I think it will be okay. Like I said to myself this morning, ‘Lila, those shoes don’t match!’ But that’s not important. The other thing I said to myself was ‘Democracy is important, and we will figure this thing out!’ So today we will learn what we can and go from there. Like Rosie says, ‘The only true failure can come if we quit.’”

The class cheered.

Miss Greer continued, “Before we start, let’s do one final search to see if that ballot can be found.”

They searched high and low for the vanishing vote.

The ballot did not turn up. Finally, Miss Greer called off the search. They would put the election aside for a day. She asked Sofia to research what happens when there is a tie in other elections.

After that, they turned to reading, spelling, and math, but Sofia couldn’t focus. She couldn’t stop thinking about the vanishing vote—and how she’d noticed that one person had sat reading a book while everyone else hunted for it.

At last, it was recess. The class left the room and headed down the hall toward the playground. Sofia heard laughter and squeals of joy as her friends burst out the door and onto the playground. But with each step, her heart grew heavier and heavier. At last, she stepped onto the playground and stood with a sad look on her face as she watched one student swinging happily back and forth on the swings.

“Oh, my friend,” she said quietly. “What have you done?”