Trouble According to Humphrey (9 page)

“Very interesting,” he said.

A few minutes and several pages later, he added, “We must plan some stimulating activities for Humphrey.”

Stimulating activities! I liked the sound of it. I jumped on my wheel and started spinning like crazy.

“He’s certainly active for a nocturnal creature,” Art’s dad commented.

“Can I take him to my room?”

“I don’t think you should move that cage around too much.”

“I’ll hold him.” Art opened the door to my cage.

“And you won’t let him get away? I understand hamsters are quick and crafty creatures.” Art’s dad was a pretty smart guy.

“I promise.” Art picked me up and held me with both hands—gently but firmly.

“Come on, Humphrey. Wait till I show you my surprise,” said Art, heading down a long hallway.

In some ways, Art’s room was like most rooms I’ve seen. A bedroom is basically a square box with windows and a bed. Sometimes there’s a desk or a dresser. Art’s room had all those things. In another way, his room was unlike any room I ever imagined because just about every single inch was covered with tracks and bridges and houses and TRAINS-TRAINS-TRAINS! Not big trains but very small trains. There were open cars and passenger cars and cars I don’t even know about because I’d only seen trains in pictures.

There was a big circle of track in the middle of the room with a bridge going across the middle. Inside the center of the circle was a town with houses and trees. On the edge of the town stood a red-and-white tent and a big wheel.

“What do you think, Humphrey?” Art asked as he cupped me in his hands and let me look around.

“It’s unsqueakably sensational!”

“See that lake?” Art pointed to a pool of actual water near the big wheel. “That’s Lake Patel.”

“Blazingly brilliant!” I shouted.

“Ever since I got the train set for my birthday, it’s all I can think about. I’m going to have a town and an amusement park—see, there’s a Ferris wheel—and I’m going to put in a roller coaster and maybe a zoo. Isn’t it great?”

“GREAT-GREAT-GREAT!” I squealed.

It
was
great. But now I knew why Art wasn’t paying attention in class and why he was doodling all the time.
This
was what he was thinking about. I could see why. This world he’d created was Fun with a capital F.

Maybe this Fun was also causing Art to Fail?

Which didn’t seem fair, because you should be able to have fun without failing.

Paul wasn’t failing, but he didn’t act like he was having a lot of fun, either.

This was all very confusing for a small hamster. But when a human has a problem, I always try my best to help, especially if that human is a friend.

Later that night, I was back in my cage and Art was back in his room, probably working on his train layout. I was spinning on my wheel when I heard Art’s parents talking.

“We have to do something. His grades are falling every day,” Art’s mom said.

Art’s dad thought for a while and replied, “I don’t understand it. He’s always been a bright boy. What does his teacher say?”

“She suggested a tutor. I think it’s a good idea even though I’m not sure all the tutors in the world would make Art pay attention in class.”

“It’s that train,” Art’s dad said firmly. “I think we’ll have to take it away from him. Once he started with that, his grades went down.”

I stopped spinning. It made me SAD-SAD-SAD to think of Art losing the train set he loved so much.

Art’s mom sighed. “I’d hate to, but we may have to.”

The Patels sat in silence for a while. Then Art’s mom said, “Paul Fletcher is coming over tomorrow. Mrs. Brisbane suggested he might help Art with his math.”

“Paul? Isn’t he a grade below Art?”

“Sure is. I guess he’s a math whiz. He comes into Art’s class for math every day.”

“I hope it helps,” said Art’s dad. “Those two were best friends when they were little. What happened?”

“I don’t know. Art seems to think Paul’s too young for him to play with. But he’s only seven months younger!”

The Patels both chuckled about that. Soon, they went to bed and the house was quiet.

I had all night to think of a Plan. Somehow, I had to put two and two together to get Art back on track with his math … and with his old friend Paul.

“Look who’s here,” Mrs. Patel announced the next afternoon when the doorbell rang. Paul stood in the hallway, holding his math book and a notebook. “Come on, Art!”

Mrs. Patel took Paul’s coat and hung it in the hall closet while she asked him how he was, how his parents were and how school was going. Finally, Art came into the room. He wasn’t smiling.

“Hi, Paul.”

“Hi, Art.”

They stared at each other for a second. “Come say hi to our houseguest,” said Mrs. Patel, leading the boys toward my cage.

I jumped up on my ladder and squeaked, “HI-HI-HI!”

“It’s Humphrey,” said Paul. He was almost smiling, I think.

“That’s right. I guess you know him from coming into Room Twenty-six for math,” said Mrs. Patel. “And speaking of math, why don’t you boys settle in the kitchen to study? I’ll fix some hot chocolate.”

Neither of them moved.

“Art,” said Mrs. Patel. “Take Paul to the kitchen.”

Art grudgingly led Paul to the kitchen and out of my sight.

I could hear Art’s mom say, “Here’s your hot chocolate, guys. Now, you know how to study together?”

“I thought we could work out a few problems,” Paul said.

Art didn’t answer. I heard papers shuffling. I heard Paul and Art mumbling, but it was pretty clear—there wasn’t all that much happening in the kitchen.

Mr. and Mrs. Patel were down in the basement. I heard her say something about “organizing the boxes.”

There were occasional sounds from the kitchen. Once, when Paul made a suggestion to Art, I heard a piece of paper being crumpled up. “I don’t get it. I’m not like you—some kind of genius.”

Paul quietly said he wasn’t a genius. He just liked math.

“I hate numbers. They’re just squiggles on paper. They don’t mean anything!” Art burst out.

Then things were VERY-VERY-VERY quiet.

I had my Plan, but it was risky. The last time I’d left
my cage, I’d caused some Big Trouble, especially for my friend Miranda. Still, I felt I had to take a chance in order to help Art. After all, he was my friend, too.

So I opened my good old lock-that-doesn’t-lock, grabbed on to the table leg and slid down to the nice soft carpeting. I quickly darted under the table to make sure that no one was around. I could hear the boys in the kitchen and I hadn’t heard Art’s parents since they went down into the basement.

I took a big huge breath and scampered across the living room, turned left at the hallway and ran straight back to Art’s room. Thank goodness the door was open or my Plan would have ended right then and there.

The maze of train tracks looked much different from a hamster’s eye level. There were many tracks going this way and that way and a string of colorful cars attached to a big, shiny engine.

My Plan was a simple one, as most good plans are. I thought the boys would eventually find that I’d gotten out of my cage. They’d search for me and end up in Art’s room. When Paul saw Art’s amazing train layout, they’d start working on it together and remember how much they’d liked being friends a few years ago. Art would be willing to let Paul help him with math and his grades would go up. We’d all live happily ever after! (Except Miranda, of course. I was still feeling guilty about getting her in trouble.)

Maybe it wasn’t such a simple Plan after all.

It was taking the boys a long time to discover that I
was missing. I realized it could take them hours. Or possibly, they’d never notice that I was missing at all. I yearned for my comfy cage that offered so many fun things to do, like spinning on my wheel, climbing my tree branch, swinging from my ladder or dozing in my sleeping hut.

I was feeling sleepy right then and I saw a bed that was exactly my size. It wasn’t really a bed, just an open car on the train. I scurried over to it and was easily able to pull myself up the side and settle down inside. Yes, it fit me perfectly and what a thrill it was for me to be sitting in a train for the first time in my life! Ahead of me was a tank car made of gleaming metal. Ahead of that was a passenger car with tiny plastic people looking out the windows. And in front was the powerful engine with a whistle on top!

I was too excited to take a nap. Instead, I stretched my paws, and as I did, I accidentally hit some kind of switch or lever. I didn’t have time to see what it was because when I touched it, the train lurched forward and began to move around the track.

Once I realized I was going on a train trip, I decided to sit back and enjoy it. I loved the way the train’s wheels went clickety-clack on the track and the way it traveled in a wide curve past the general store and the tall pine trees. The train picked up speed and I could feel the breeze in my fur. Everything went dark—completely dark—for a long time. (At least it seemed long.) A tunnel! I hadn’t seen that coming.

When I came out the other end, the train veered left and began to climb UP-UP-UP. I could look straight down on the roof of the general store and the tops of the tall pine trees. That Art was certainly clever to be able to build a bridge.

The train stopped climbing and moved across the straight center of the bridge. The pine trees looked small from what felt like the top of the world. But straight ahead, what I saw was Trouble! As the train started down the incline on the other side of the bridge, the bright shiny engine tumbled off the side, pulling the passenger car with its tiny people off the edge and then the shiny metal tank car. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was headed for a huge fall, … and I was about to land right in the middle of Lake Patel!

HUMPHREY SPENDS WEEKEND
WITH ART!

Classroom pet makes his first visit
to Patel house.

The Humphreyville Herald

M
y whole (short) life flashed before me: my days at Pet-O-Rama, Ms. Mac bringing me to Room 26, the days when Mrs. Brisbane was out to get me, the day Og arrived and the faces of all the friends I’d helped since I’d come to Longfellow School.