Imagination According to Humphrey (4 page)

Bear? Where?

T
he next day, as Mrs. Brisbane read about the war of the dragons—yes, they now were at war—I thought about what a great imagination Cameron Cole had.

And when my friends shared their paragraphs, which were getting longer, I thought about what great imaginations
they
had.

Small-Paul had such a big imagination that he changed his space shuttle into a time travel machine that would take him into the future.

“It's possible, you know,” he said. “Einstein said that. He was a great scientist with a huge brain.”

“And lots of hair!” Thomas said.

Einstein may have had a huge brain, but Small-Paul was a very smart human with a huge imagination. Imagine—traveling to the future!

“Did you hear that
?
” I squeaked to Og. “Instead of being here today, we'd be here next week!”

“If I could travel to the future, the math test would already be over,” Daniel said.

Everyone laughed about that.

“I think you'd better study anyway,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “In case time travel doesn't work.”

While my friends dreamed of flying to Italy, football games and even the future, I was stuck with a silly idea about a flying squirrel.

I was so busy worrying about my imagination, I didn't even remember that it was Friday and that I'd be going home with one of my classmates.

Near the end of the day, Mrs. Brisbane reminded me.

“Felipe
?
” she said. “Are you all set to take Humphrey home
?
”

“Yes!” Felipe answered with a big smile.

When the bell rang, he hurried over to the table. “My dad will be here any minute,” he said. “He's home today because he's working tonight.”

“Just like Aldo!” I squeaked.

I was looking forward to meeting Mr. Garcia. It turned out that he was actually Dr. Garcia! He soon arrived and helped carry my cage and food out to the car. Felipe's little brother was there, too. His name was Carlos.

“Bye, Og! Have a good weekend!” I shouted to my friend as we left Room 26.

I don't know if he could hear me, because Mrs. Brisbane had put a cloth over my cage. It was chilly outside.

It was nice and warm in Felipe's house, though.

Felipe put my cage in the room he shared with Carlos.

They had interesting beds that were stacked on top of each other. There was a little ladder so that someone could get to the bed on top. It reminded me of the little ladder in my cage!

“I have the top bunk,” Felipe said.

“When I'm bigger,
I
get the top bunk,” Carlos said.

“Now, remember,” Felipe told his brother, “I'm supposed to take care of Humphrey. So don't open his cage or touch him or put anything in his cage, okay
?
Hamsters need to be treated well.”

“THANKS-THANKS-THANKS!” I squeaked, and Carlos giggled.

“Can I look at him
?
” Carlos asked.

Felipe nodded.

“Can I talk to him
?
”

“Yes, you can talk to him, but that's all,” Felipe said.

“Okay,” Carlos replied.

Carlos looked a little disappointed, so I climbed up my little ladder to the top of my tree branch.

“Look!” Carlos said.

Then I leaped from my tree branch to the side of the cage.

Carlos jumped up and down and squealed.

When I scurried down the side of my cage and dropped to the floor, Carlos jumped up and down and giggled. He sure liked to jump!

Since he was enjoying the show, I hopped on my wheel and began to spin.

Carlos jumped up and down and clapped.

“Don't do anything to scare him,” Felipe said.

But I wasn't scared at all!

Later, Felipe's mom came home and his dad went to work at the hospital.

Felipe and Carlos went to talk to their mom and left me alone in his room.

After a while, Carlos came back to see me.

“Hi, Humphy,” he said.

He didn't say my name correctly, but I didn't mind. After all, he was pretty young.

“Here's my friend Bear,” he continued. “Bear, say hi to Humphy.”

I know that a bear is a huge, furry wild animal with large teeth. But I didn't see a bear in the room. In fact, I didn't see anyone except for Carlos.

Carlos looked up.

“What's that
?
” he asked.

Then he paused. “Oh, he's a hamster,” he said to the air. “That's kind of like a mouse.”

I don't think a hamster is very much like a mouse, but I didn't argue.

Carlos paused as if he were listening to someone. But I didn't see anyone or hear anything.

Carlos nodded. “Bear says you're really cute,” he told me. “He wishes he had a hamster like you.”

I scrambled up to the tippy top of my cage and looked down, in case Bear was lying on the floor. I still didn't see anyone but Carlos.

Did I need glasses
?
Do they even make glasses for hamsters
?

Carlos looked up and chuckled. “That's funny! Humphy, Bear made a joke. He said you're
furry cute.
Get it
?
Like
very
cute.
Furry
cute!”

It was funny, but I didn't laugh, because I was trying to figure out where Bear
was.

“Bear makes a lot of jokes,” Carlos said.

“Great!” I squeaked. “But where is he
?
”

Carlos giggled. “Did you hear him, Bear
?
He's talking.”

And so it went.

Bear told jokes and Carlos laughed.

Then Carlos whispered something to Bear and burst out laughing.

It would have been a lot of fun except for one thing: there was no Bear . . . not anywhere I could see!

Then I had an idea. Maybe Bear was invisible, like a ghost. I don't even want to
think
about ghosts!

I raced into my sleeping hut.

Later, Mrs. Garcia put Carlos to bed first.

“Good night, Mama,” Carlos said. “Will you say good night to Bear, too
?
”

His mother smiled. “Where is he
?
”

Good question!

“He's right here, next to me,” Carlos said. “He likes it better here than his cave.”

Carlos tugged at the blanket. “Don't hog the covers, Bear,” he said.

Mrs. Garcia smiled. “Good night, Bear.”

She turned down the lights and left the room. I stayed in my sleeping hut and kept my eyes on Carlos's bed, in case Bear was a ghost.

A little later, Felipe climbed the ladder to the top bunk.

I'm usually asleep for part of the night, but that night I kept my eyes wide open all night long.

Things were quiet for several hours, and then I saw it: a pale white form floating around the room . . . just like a ghost. And it was as big as a bear. In fact, maybe it
was
a bear!

First, it bent over Carlos's bed and hovered over it.

Then it reached up to Felipe's bed and hovered over
it.

I crossed my toes and hoped that it wouldn't hover over my cage!

I remembered how I'd told Gigi there was nothing to worry about when visiting humans' homes. I didn't tell her there might be ghosts!

Then the white bear shape whispered, “Sleep well, my boys.”

The ghost floated out of the room and didn't come back again.

But I kept my eyes on the door all night long.

I must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing I knew, the sun was streaming through the windows, and when I poked my head out of my sleeping hut, the boys' beds were empty.

“Eeek!” I squeaked, thinking the bear ghost took them away.

But right after that, Felipe and Carlos came back into their room, fully dressed. And they were arguing.

“Just 'cause you can't see Bear doesn't mean he's not real,” Carlos said.

Felipe was annoyed. “He's
imaginary.
He's your
imaginary
friend. He's not
real.
”

“Yes, he is!” Carlos argued.

“Yes, he is!” I squeaked. “I think I saw him last night.”

Mrs. Garcia came into the room. She was wearing a long white robe. “Boys, let's not argue, all right
?
” she said. “You'll upset Humphrey.”

She came up close to my cage and looked down at me. “Humphrey, I hope I didn't scare you when I came in last night to make sure the boys were warm enough. I must have looked strange with my robe and my shower cap!”

“You looked like a big white bear!” I squeaked, but I know she didn't understand me.

She turned toward her sons. “Why don't you settle down, you two
?
Felipe, I think you probably have some homework to do.”

Felipe nodded.

Mrs. Garcia led Carlos out of the room and Felipe flopped down on his bed.

“That imaginary friend drives me
loco,
” he said. “Crazy. Does he actually believe Bear is real
?
”

I thought for a moment.
I
had believed he was real.

“I need to work on my paragraph,” Felipe said. “I'll read you what I have so far.”

He picked up his notebook from his desk and opened it.

“If I could fly, I'd fly like a glowing lightning bolt and go straight to the theme park, all by myself. I'd ride the Thunderbolt roller coaster over and over again,” he read. “Then I'd ride the Raging Rockets and the swinging pirate ship. I'd move into the fun house and live there forever—and I'd never have to wait in line.”

Felipe let out a huge sigh. “Mrs. Brisbane wasn't sure whether lightning actually flew, but she said she liked it. I'm not sure it's as good as it could be.”

“It's GREAT-GREAT-GREAT,” I said. “A lot better than mine.”

I suddenly felt terrible, because I hadn't even written a whole paragraph.

“Don't listen to Carlos and his talk about the imaginary friend,” he said. “Mom and Dad say he'll grow out of it. They say lots of kids have imaginary friends.”

I moved closer to Felipe. “They do
?
”

“Don't pay any attention to him,” Felipe added.

It was hard not to pay attention to Carlos. For one thing, he was nice. And his imaginary friend was interesting, even if he was a little scary.

For the rest of the day, Felipe and I had fun.

He made a maze with blocks and let me roll through it in my hamster ball.

I didn't even mind when Carlos said, “Look, Bear! Look at Humphy go!”

There was no Bear, except in our imaginations.

And later that night, when the boys were tucked in bed, I realized that I had an imagination after all.

Otherwise, I would have never seen Bear!

MY WRITER'S RAMBLINGS
I have to say this weekend,
I had a great big scare.
But I was scared of something
that wasn't even there!