Summer According to Humphrey Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 - The End (of School)

  Chapter 2 - The Beginning (of Summer)

  Chapter 3 - The Mysterious Journey

  Chapter 4 - Camp Happy Hollow

  Chapter 5 - Happy Campers

  Chapter 6 - Cabin Fever

  Chapter 7 - Ghosts, Humans and Other Scary Creatures

  Chapter 8 - Night Owls

  Chapter 9 - Knots to You

  Chapter 10 - Lovey Dovey

  Chapter 11 - The Thing Beneath the Floor

  Chapter 12 - A Sticker-y Situation

  Chapter 13 - Goldenrod

  Chapter 14 - Problems, Problems and More Problems

  Chapter 15 - A Taste of Freedom

  Chapter 16 - Onstage at the Comedy Club

  Chapter 17 - The Case of the Missing Frog

  Chapter 18 - Moonlight Rescue

  Chapter 19 - The Winners After Dinner

  Chapter 20 - Happy Day, Haunted Night

  Chapter 21 - The End and the Beginning

  Humphrey’s Top 10 Things to Pack for Camp

  For more Humphrey adventures, look for

  1

  The World

  According to Humphrey

  2

  Friendship

  According to Humphrey

  3

  Trouble

  According to Humphrey

  4

  Surprises

  According to Humphrey

  5

  Adventure

  According to Humphrey

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  A division of Penguin Young Readers Group.

  Published by The Penguin Group.

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

  Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.).

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  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,

  Johannesburg 2196, South Africa.

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England.

  Copyright © 2010 by Betty G. Birney.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Birney, Betty G. Summer according to Humphrey / Betty G. Birney. p. cm.

  Summary: When summer arrives, Humphrey, the pet hamster of

  Longfellow School’s Room 26, is surprised and pleased to learn

  that he will be going to Camp Happy Hollow.

  [1. Camps—Fiction. 2. Hamsters—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.B52285Su 2010 [Fic]—dc22 2009008532

  eISBN : 978-1-101-15987-3

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  To Desi, with thanks—

  “You can learn a lot about yourself

  by taking care of another species.”

  1

  The End (of School)

  It was a warm afternoon and there was a lovely ray of sunlight beaming into my cage, as golden as my fur. It made me feel so cozy and dozy, I guess I nodded off during science class. The last thing I remembered Mrs. Brisbane saying was “cumulus clouds.” Then I was floating away on my own fluffy little cloud, as peaceful as a hamster can be. Until I was awakened by a LOUD-LOUD-LOUD voice that could only belong to my classmate Lower-Your-Voice-A.J.

  “How many more days are there?” he boomed.

  “Four,” Mrs. Brisbane answered.

  I opened one eye and listened carefully.

  “Just four days until the end of school,” she continued.

  I opened both eyes, jumped up and let out a loud “eeek!”

  “Sounds like Humphrey Dumpty is anxious for school to be out,” A.J. said. “Like me!”

  The end of school? Did she mean that there wouldn’t be school EVER-EVER-EVER again? Or was it just another holiday?

  “I will miss you,” the teacher said. “But it’s time to move on.”

  Move on? Can a school move?

  “Og?” I squeaked to my neighbor. “Did you hear that?”

  Og splashed in his tank a little, then let out a loud “BOING!” That’s the twangy way green frogs like him talk.

  Stop-Giggling-Gail giggled. “I guess Og is ready for summer, too!”

  “Hands, please, class,” Mrs. Brisbane reminded her students. She wouldn’t be able to remind them much longer. “Yes, Kirk?”

  “May I please tell a summer joke?” he asked. At least I-Heard-That-Kirk Chen had learned not to blurt out his jokes without asking.

  “Yes, if it’s short,” Mrs. Brisbane told him.

  “What did the pig say on the beach on a hot summer day?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” the teacher admitted.

  “I’m bakin’! Get it? Like, I’m bacon!” Kirk proudly explained.

  “I get it,” Mrs. Brisbane said.

  Gail giggled again, of course, along with her best friend, Heidi.

  There was a shuffle of feet as the clock moved toward the end of the school day.

  “Wait-for-the-Bell-Garth,” Mrs. Brisbane told Garth Tugwell. He was always the first one out of his chair.

  As soon as he sat down, the bell rang and with plenty of clattering and chattering, my friends in Room 26 hurried out of the room. While they hurried, I worried.

  Was it the end of Longfellow School forever?

  What would everyone do??

  And most importantly, where would Og and I go?

  What does a classroom pet do when his job is over?

  Mrs. Brisbane straightened up her desk, the way she usually did when school was over for the day. She didn’t seem bothered about the end of school. In fact, she was humming a happy tune.

  I didn’t feel like humming.

  Maybe Og and I would go live with Mrs. Brisbane and her husband, Bert. I enjoyed staying at their house, but I didn’t want to be there all the time without my friends around. How I’d miss Sayeh and Art and Seth and Tabitha and Miranda. Miranda! I could hardly imagine not seeing Golden-Miranda again.

  “Eeek!” I squeaked. Again. It just slipped out.

  Mrs. Brisbane heard me and walked over to the table by the window where Og and I lived.

  “I guess you fellows are wondering what you’ll be doing when school is over,” she said.

  “RIGHT-RIGHT-RIGHT!” I replied, although all that came out was “SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK” as usual.

  “Well, I can’t tell you because it’s a surprise,” she said.

  And then, humming her little tune, Mrs. Brisbane left Room 26 for the day, and left me with a lot to think about.

  While my mind raced, I suddenly noticed that it was warm in Room 26. Even a little bit hot. I almost wished I could take off my fur coat. Or that I could swim around in nice cool water like Og. (Not that I ever would, since hamsters should never, I mean never, get wet.)

  And I’d been noticing for a while that the sky was staying light longer, which makes life a little difficult for a nocturnal creature like me, who looks forward to nighttime.

  One reason I l
ook forward to nighttime is because Aldo comes into Room 26 to clean.

  “Greetings, friends! You are looking at a happy fellow,” he announced as he pushed his cleaning cart into the classroom.

  Aldo always seemed like a happy fellow, but that night, he seemed even happier than usual.

  “Hi, Aldo! What’s new?” I squeaked.

  Og added a friendly “BOING!”

  “School is out for me! It’s over!” He was beaming happily. “And my grades were very good. Even Spanish!”

  “Way to go, Aldo!” I squeaked. Aldo cleans at night but goes to school during the day so he can be a teacher someday. He had a little trouble with his Spanish class earlier in the year, so I was happy for him.

  I thought for a moment, trying to remember the Spanish word for “good.”

  “¡Bueno!” I added.

  “School’s out, school’s out. Teacher let the mules out,” he said with a laugh.

  I had no idea there were mules at Aldo’s college!

  Mrs. Brisbane had been humming earlier in the day and now Aldo whistled as he briskly swept the floors and dusted the furniture. The end of school sure made people musical.

  When he was finished, he pulled a chair up close to my cage and Og’s tank and took out his dinner.

  “No more eating out of paper bags for a while,” he said, taking a large bite out of his sandwich.

  I liked to watch Aldo eat. His big black mustache made it difficult to see his mouth, so when he ate, the food just seemed to disappear.

  “No, my friends,” he said. “When Longfellow School closes next week, I’m leaving town! I’m out of here.”

  I shivered, even though it was hot. There would be no more school and no more Aldo?

  “Here, buddy, have a carrot,” Aldo said, slipping me a crunchy treat as he did every night.

  No more treats, either, I thought.

  It wasn’t just the end of school. It was the end of life as I’d known it.

  “Can you believe it, Sue?” our principal, Mr. Morales, asked the next morning before class began. “Three days until it’s all over.” Mr. Morales had a collection of special ties, and today, he was wearing a blue one with bright yellow suns on it.

  He seemed happy about the end of school, too. But what does a principal do if he doesn’t have a school to go to every day?

  “The whole family’s going to hit the road,” he said. “What about you and Bert?”

  “We’re leaving, too,” she said. “Jason’s getting married in Tokyo and we’re going for the wedding.”

  Mrs. Brisbane was positively beaming with joy. Jason was her son, and he lived in Tokyo, which is FAR-FAR-FAR away.

  So I guess she was going FAR-FAR-FAR away, too. Was that her surprise—everybody was leaving?

  “What about us?” I squeaked to Og.

  He splashed loudly in his tank.

  “I guess we’ll have to hit the road, too,” I said. But it didn’t sound like fun.

  That night, I dreamed about Og and me on the open road. It was a scary dream because we had to dodge huge cars and trucks that were whizzing by. Once, I saw Principal Morales and his family speed right past us. Then I heard a loud engine buzzing. I looked up and saw Mr. and Mrs. Brisbane waving to us from an airplane. Later, a big bus passed us and a lot of my friends from Room 26 shouted and waved: Golden-Miranda and Repeat-It-Please-Richie and Don’t-Complain-Mandy Payne.

  Og and I walked and hopped for hours and hours, but we didn’t get very far. I was glad to wake up, I can tell you that. And I was tired from all that walking.

  But I was happier than ever to see my friends the next morning. I looked around at them. They were smiling, fidgeting, whispering. They looked unsqueakably happy. Why was I the only one who was upset that Longfellow School was closing down?

  Nobody seemed to mind the End of School . . . except me and possibly Og.

  The next night, after Aldo’s visit, I opened my cage’s lock-that-doesn’t-lock (it just looks locked, which allows me to get out and have adventures without anyone knowing) and wandered over to Og’s tank.

  “Whatever happens, Og, let’s stick together, okay?” I suggested.

  It’s always a little hard to tell if Og is listening, because he just stares with those googly eyes and a huge frozen smile on his face.

  “BOING-BOING,” he said, jumping up and down.

  I can’t understand everything Og says, but that sounded like he agreed with me.

  At least I wouldn’t be alone. That was the good news.

  But hamsters and frogs have very different likes and needs. That was the bad news.

  I decided it was time to take a final walk through the halls of my beloved Longfellow School. Such a fine building—why on earth would humans close it down?

  I felt a little sorry for Og as I started my journey. After all, he isn’t able to get out of his tank and roam freely, the way I do. Even if he could, he’d probably start to dry out after a while, which wouldn’t be comfortable for a frog.

  After bidding Og farewell, I slid down the leg of the table and scampered across the floor. I took a deep breath, then slipped through the narrow space under the classroom door.

  It was DARK-DARK-DARK in the hallway, though there were some low lights around the school. There was a time when Longfellow School at night seemed mysterious and even scary, but not anymore.

  I visited the library first, sliding under the door. Even in the semidarkness, I could see the big aquarium, glowing and alive with brightly colored fish. I scurried forward to take a peek at the little sunken ship lying at the bottom of the tank. It always gave me a thrill—and a chill.

  I wondered what would happen to the fish when Longfellow School was no more.

  Then I hopped up a series of shelves next to the desk until I reached the top. I pulled hard with all my might and raised myself up onto the desktop. It was a few quick steps to the remote control that was always there. I hit the “on” button and was thrilled to see pictures appear before me on a big screen as music played.

  I never knew what I’d see on my trips into the library at night.

  This time it was an exciting but frightening movie about a dense jungle with beautiful, dangerous creatures, such as lions, gorillas, tigers and brightly colored parrots. I was gripped by all the howls and growls, the teeth and claws!

  When the show was over, I tapped the “off” button, a little reluctantly since I didn’t know when—if ever—I’d have the chance to see a movie like that again. I hurried back down the shelves to the floor of the library. Without bothering to glance back at the aquarium and the sunken ship, I scurried out into the hallway, to have one last look around.

  I strolled along the darkened hallways, past other classrooms, down to Principal Morales’s office. I looked up at the sign that said Principal, the glass window and the suggestion box hanging high up on the big door.

  I couldn’t reach the suggestion box, but if I could have, I know what my suggestion would have been: Don’t close school!

  On my way back, I passed the big double doors to the cafeteria. That’s where my friends had lunch every single day. I’d always wanted to see it, and this was my last chance. I slid under the door but was disappointed to find that it was a large empty room with tables folded against the wall and not a crumb of food left on the floor!

  By the time I got back to Room 26, I was pretty tired, because the hardest part of my adventures comes when I return to my table. I can slide DOWN-DOWN-DOWN my table leg, but I can’t slide UP-UP-UP. Instead, I have to grab onto the cord to the blinds, which is very long, then swing it back and forth until I’m up to the table level.

  Then I cross my paws, close my eyes and leap onto the table. Whew!

  Still, as tired as I was, I had a lot of thinking to do. So I took out the little notebook I keep hidden behind my mirror, and the little pencil that goes with it, and I began to write.

  NOTE TO SELF: Unlike hamsters, humans love to make big changes. Unfortunat
ely, they almost always forget to tell their pets what’s going on.

  2

  The Beginning (of Summer)

  The last few days passed quickly.

  Mr. Fitch, the librarian, came to Room 26 and collected all the library books. Every last one of them. This was unsqueakably sad to me, because I love the library and I love to hear Mrs. Brisbane read to us. But now, that was over.

  Then Mrs. Wright, the physical education teacher with the loud, shiny whistle, came in with a list of games and equipment that my friends had checked out. (I guessed I wouldn’t miss her too much.)

  At the end of the day, Mrs. Brisbane told all of us about her upcoming trip to Tokyo and showed pictures of the wonderful places she would visit—without me.

  The next day would be the last day of school. That night, when the door swung open and Aldo said, “Give a cheer, ’cause Aldo’s here,” I felt happy and sad and all mixed up inside. I was happy because I was always glad to see Aldo. But I was sad, because I didn’t know when—or if—I’d ever see him again.

  “This is it, pals,” said Aldo. “Tomorrow, school is over.”

  “Don’t remind me,” I squeaked.

  “I’ll be here tomorrow night,” Aldo continued. “I’ll be waxing the floors. But you guys will be gone . . . somewhere.”

  He suddenly stopped twirling his broom. “Where will you be?”

  My heart skipped a beat. Aldo didn’t know where we’d be and I certainly didn’t know where we’d be. So who did know?

  Aldo chuckled and started sweeping again. “I’ll bet Mrs. Brisbane has cooked up something special for you. She’s one nice lady.”

  Aldo got through his work early and hurried through his dinner, but he remembered to give me a bit of lettuce. I wasn’t very hungry, though, so I hid it at the bottom of my cage. I’d been saving food all week—just in case Mrs. Brisbane hadn’t cooked up something special for us the way Aldo said.

  Way back in September, when a beautiful woman named Ms. Mac brought me from Pet-O-Rama to Room 26, I was excited and amazed to find myself surrounded by so many bright and bouncy students (no frogs yet). Learning about humans was FUN-FUN-FUN, and I also learned to read and write.