Read School Days According to Humphrey Online

Authors: Betty G. Birney

School Days According to Humphrey (12 page)

BOOK: School Days According to Humphrey
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Again, Mrs. Brisbane was silent for a while. “I can see you don't need much help, Rosie. But maybe Holly does,” she finally said.
“Holly?” Rosie sounded REALLY-REALLY-REALLY surprised.
“She likes to help,” Mrs. Brisbane explained. “I think she'd be pretty upset if I said you didn't need her anymore.”
“Maybe she could help someone else,” Rosie suggested.
“Let's give her one more chance, Rosie,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “I'll have a word with her and see if things improve. Okay?”
Good old Mrs. Brisbane. She really knew how to handle students. “Now, we'd better eat. I'm going down to the lunchroom, too,” she said.
As they headed out of the classroom, I couldn't wait to talk to Og.
“Were you listening, Og?” I asked my neighbor. “Helpful-Holly will be upset if she gets fired.”
I knew that because I'd be unsqueakably upset if I got fired from my job as a classroom hamster.
“BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og agreed, splashing in his water.
I thought the day would never end, but at last the afternoon bell rang. As the students gathered up their backpacks, Mrs. Brisbane took a sheet of orange paper and approached Phoebe.
“Phoebe, I have an idea to help you remember your homework,” she said. “Each day, we'll put a big, colorful reminder in your backpack so you won't miss it. What do you think?”
“Okay,” Phoebe said.
“I've written your homework assignment on it. All you have to remember is to bring it back,” Mrs. Brisbane continued.
Phoebe nodded. “I will,” she promised.
“You can do it, Phoebe!” I squeaked. Then I hopped on my wheel and started spinning as fast as I could.
I think she was smiling when she left the room.
The day took a turn for the better after school when some of my old friends from last year came back to Room 26. There was Raise-Your-Hand-Heidi Hopper and her best friend, Stop-Giggling-Gail Morgenstern, along with Repeat-It-Please-Richie Rinaldi.
I was spinning on my wheel when they came in and I was so glad to see them, I stopped suddenly and almost tumbled off. (Please don't make sudden stops when you're spinning on a wheel.)
“HI-HI-HI!” I squeaked. I'm not sure they could hear me over the loud splashing sounds Og was making.
“Humphrey! My favorite hamster!” Heidi said as she rushed up to my cage.
Gail giggled. “Og! My favorite frog!” she said as she hurried to my friend's tank.
“And you're my favorite teacher,” Richie told Mrs. Brisbane.
“Thank you, Richie,” she replied. “But you have to give Miss Becker a chance. She's an excellent teacher.”
“I know,” Richie said. “But she doesn't have any classroom pets.”
Heidi leaned in close to my cage. “I'm doing pretty well raising my hand this year, Humphrey,” she told me. That was unsqueakably good news. Mrs. Brisbane and I had worked hard to help her end her bad habit.
“BOING-BOING!” Og twanged, sending Gail into peals of laughter. I don't think Gail could ever stop giggling completely. At least I hoped not.
I was so glad to see my old friends from last year, I jumped on my wheel and started spinning fast, which made them
all
giggle.
“Go, Humphrey!” Richie said.
Then Og decided to dive into the water side of his tank and made an extra-big splash, which made them giggle even louder.
“Awesome, Og!” Heidi said.
“I think Og and Humphrey are glad to see you,” Mrs. Brisbane said.
“Oh, Mrs. Brisbane, we miss them so much,” Heidi said. “We came to ask you something important.”
I slowed down the wheel.
“You say it, Richie,” Gail said.
“Okay.” Richie suddenly looked serious and he cleared his throat. “Mrs. Brisbane, we don't think it's fair that you have two classroom pets in Room Twenty-six and we don't have any in Room Eighteen. We were hoping you'd donate one of yours to Miss Becker.”
Thank goodness I'd hopped off my wheel or I'd have fallen over. I was REALLY-REALLY-REALLY surprised—and so was Mrs. Brisbane.
“Goodness! I don't think my students would like that,” she said. “If Miss Becker wants a classroom pet, she can get her own. But I'm not sure she wants one.”
“She'd like Humphrey or Og! Everybody does,” Gail said.
“And Og came here from another classroom,” Heidi said.
“At least ask her.
Please,
” Richie begged.
Mrs. Brisbane was unusually quiet. I was, too, and I didn't hear a BOING or a splash from Og.
ʺPlease.ʺ
Gail looked so serious, I could hardly believe it was her speaking.
“Please,”
Heidi added.
At last, Mrs. Brisbane spoke. “To tell you the truth, I can't imagine giving up either one of them. Don't you think they'd miss each other?”
Heidi and Gail glanced at each other.
“They weren't always together. Humphrey was alone in the beginning,” Richie said.
I had to squeak up for myself. “But it was so lonely at night. Even scary!”
I'd almost forgotten how loud the clock sounded in the empty room and how long the nights were without someone splashing nearby.
“BOING-BOING!” Og agreed. “BOING-BOING-BOING!”
That made Gail giggle, of course.
Mrs. Brisbane smiled. “I'll tell you what. I'll think about it. And I'll talk to Miss Becker about classroom pets. But I'm just not sure it's a good idea to separate Humphrey and Og and take one of them away from my class.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Brisbane. We really miss them,” Richie said.
They chatted with the teacher for a few more minutes, and then it was time for them to go home.
After they left, Mrs. Brisbane leaned in close to my cage and stared at me.
“To tell the truth, I can't imagine teaching without you and Og to help me,” she said. “Am I just being selfish?”
“NO-NO-NO!” I squeaked at the top of my tiny lungs.
Mrs. Brisbane chuckled. “I don't think Arlene Becker wants any classroom pet—not even you,” she said. “So don't worry.”
“Thanks,” I squeaked. “I won't.”
But I did. I worried and worried and worried some more. And even though he hatched from an egg and was cold-blooded, I could tell that Og was worried, too.
HUMPHREY'S RULES OF SCHOOL:
It's actually possible to be too helpful.
11
Brisbane's Buddies
W
orried? Did I say I was worried? It was worse than that. I was WORRIED-WORRIED-WORRIED and worried some more!
“Og!” I said when we were alone in the classroom. “Do you understand what they were talking about?”
“BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!”
Okay, so Og understood.
“I'm not sure it's a good idea,” I said. “I mean, I miss our old friends.” I had a funny little pang in my heart every time I thought about them. “And I'd like to see what they do during the day,” I continued.
“BOING!” Og replied. So he still agreed with me.
“But what about Mrs. Brisbane? I'd miss her, too,” I said. “And this Miss Becker person doesn't really seem to like animals very much. Mammals
or
amphibians. Maybe even fish.”
There were fish in the tank in the library that I like a lot.
“And even if they did seem a little strange in the beginning, these new students are pretty nice. I'm making Plans for some of them. And wouldn't they be upset if one of us disappeared?” My mind was spinning like a hamster ball. “And don't forget, Mrs. Brisbane said she can't imagine teaching without us. She needs us, Og!”
“BOING!” Og said, taking an impressive (and splashy) dive into the water side of his tank.
“So, she's got to say no,” I ended. “Doesn't she?”
“Richie called me and told me his goofy idea,” Aldo said as he dusted the tables that night. “Imagine, moving one of you to Room Eighteen. It's a bad idea! I told him that!” The tables bounced up and down as he gave them a brisk dusting.
“I think you're right, Aldo,” I squeaked. “But it would be nice to see Richie every day.”
“If Miss Becker wants a classroom pet, she should get her own,” he said. “There are other hamsters and frogs looking for homes.”
I suddenly thought back to my early days at Pet-O-Rama . . . and of the hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, rats and chinchillas all hoping to find nice homes. (I never saw any frogs there. I guess the amphibians were in another section.)
“You're so right, Aldo!” I shouted, climbing to the top of my cage. “Tell Richie that!”
Surprisingly, Aldo stopped and chuckled. “Still, those kids just love you and Og,” he said. “I guess I can't blame them for trying.”
I couldn't blame them for trying, either.
Once Aldo had left for the night, I could hear Og gently floating in his tank—making the slightest-possible splashing sounds.
My mind was still racing. I worried about the new kids in Room 26 and all their problems. Didn't they need both Og and me to help them?
I worried about Mrs. Brisbane, who was
not
selfish. She was just telling the truth: she needed us to help her.
I worried about something else, too. Even though we were different species, even though I was warm-blooded and he was cold-blooded, even though I had fur and he didn't . . . I would miss Og if we got separated.
I crossed my toes, hoping that he'd miss me, too.
I felt restless and uneasy, so I decided to take a little stroll down to Room 18 to find out what my old friends were doing in class. Last time, I'd left in a hurry when there was the thunderstorm.
BOOK: School Days According to Humphrey
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