Well, elbow grease, Maddie could handle. It was the uncertainty of the plant she didn't know about. It was extremely stinky and pretty much unknown to her. She had no idea what she'd be reaching her hand in there to. She hesitated for a few seconds and decided not to dive right on in. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Spadix? Spathe? ... Was she supposed to know these terms?

The third year stood on her tippy toes and watched to where the professor pointed. Okay, those parts...right. Big chunks were off limits! When the bucket of scrapers made its way to her, she carefully grabbed one then moved out of the way for the next person. As she whirled around, a bucket of cups came her way, and she grabbed one of those, as well.

She had all her materials, and all the directions had been given, so this was it! Time to get up close and personal with a plant. She reached her hand, the one holding the scraper, toward the spadix of the plant. When it was close enough, she began scraping away at it.

*scrape scrape scrape*

Maddie watched the pieces spill into her cup. She moved around trying to get more and more pieces of the plant, all the while checking her cup to see when she had half of it filled. "Got it!" she finally said to herself, and then she backed up to take a better look at her cup. Awesome.