A voice began calling names over a loudspeaker, and one by one the group diminished. Hope felt like sand running through April’s fingers. “Wait,” she said. “I have to get on that plane.”

“Your story can’t be any worse than the rest of ours,” a man said. He left quickly, hearing his name called.

“No! You don’t understand!”

The woman holding the picture put a hand on April’s shoulder. “I have a son with leukemia. I’ve been here all day, and I mean, all day. My family needs me, and I need them,” she said. “Is your situation worse?”

April tried to weigh the words in her mind. But how could she? Of course this woman needed to go home! April shook her head.

The last name was called. The happy recipient of the invitation skipped—literally skipped—to the gate, waving as he departed.

“Sorry,” the woman at the counter said, leaving her post.

April was stunned. “I didn’t make it,” she said to the woman with the picture.

“It’ll all work out,” the woman said, biting her lip.

April watched as she walked away. She waited for a minute, waited for a miracle. And then she began the slow journey to the exit. She cringed, thinking about seeing the people she’d passed in line. They would laugh, say something about karma or universal justice. They’d be glad to see that she had failed.

She was almost halfway down the airport corridor when she heard a voice call out behind her. She spun around. Was someone calling her name?

“April Adams?”

“Yes?”

It was the woman from the gate. “Can’t believe I found you! I thought you’d probably already be gone!”

“What’s going on?”

“Something happened,” the woman said, a little out of breath. “Follow me. I’ll explain at the gate.”

April boarded the plane, beaming. She really didn’t know why. She had no reason to be happy. She was flying directly into a maelstrom, but just getting on the plane felt like the accomplishment of a lifetime.

Everyone from the standby list was aboard the aircraft, including the woman with the photograph, who was especially ecstatic. “I guess we got that miracle,” April said to her, stopping for a brief second on the way to the back row.

“Who knew the Boy Scouts would come to the rescue?” she said.