Humphrey's Really Wheely Racing Day Read online

  “Hey, buddy, have a treat,” he said. He poked a tiny carrot stick into my cage.

  He dropped a Froggy Fish Stick into Og’s tank. Yuck!

  “I heard the news about a racing day,” Aldo said.

  “BOING,” Og chimed in.

  Aldo began to sweep the floor.

  “That’s one race I’m not going to miss,” he said. “After all, I have to cheer for my buddy.”

  “Thanks, Aldo!” I squeaked.

  I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE it when Aldo comes to clean. But I have to admit, I was happy when he left that night.

  As soon as he was gone, I jiggled the lock on my cage. I call it the lock-that-doesn’t-lock because I know how to get it open.

  The door opened wide and I scurried across the table.

  “I’m going to try to go for a ride, Og,” I squeaked.

  I slid down the leg of the table and ran across the floor to the bookcase.

  There it was. The bright shiny red car!

  I pulled myself up onto the bottom shelf of the bookcase. I gave the car a little push. It rolled off the shelf and hit the floor with a BUMP.

  Then it ROLLED-ROLLED-ROLLED across the floor.

  “Wait for me!” I shouted. I hopped off the shelf and followed the car.

  The car rolled between the tables in Room 26.

  “Stop!” I squeaked.

  “BOING-BOING!” Og sounded worried.

  Just then, the car hit the leg of A.J.’s chair and it stopped.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I stood up on my tippy toes and popped the door open. Then I climbed inside.

  “Here goes, Og!” I squeaked.

  I began to spin the wheel. The car started slowly.

  Then I spun the wheel faster. And faster.

  The car zoomed across the room.

  “BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og cheered.

  I thought about Winky racing next to me in his blue car, so I spun even faster.

  Suddenly, I looked up and saw the wall coming closer and closer.

  “Eeek!” I squeaked. I stopped spinning, but the car kept on going until—BUMP! It hit the wall and stopped.

  “BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og leaped up really high!

  I climbed out of the car. “I’m fine, Og,” I told him. “But I don’t think I can drive the car out of the corner. And there’s no human to turn it around.”

  “BOING!” Og leaped into the water side of his tank and started splashing.

  I have to admit, I was WORRIED-WORRIED-WORRIED.

  Wouldn’t Mrs. Brisbane wonder how the car ended up in the corner? What if she couldn’t find it the next morning? Would she call off the race?

  What if she found out that my lock doesn’t lock . . . and then had it fixed?

  I could never get out and have an adventure again!

  Then I had a good idea.

  I squeezed into the corner and began to push the car toward the bookcase.

  I tried, but it was hard to move the car that way.

  I pushed for a while. Then I rested for a while.

  I pushed and rested for the rest of the night.

  When I finally got the car to the bookcase, sunlight was peeking through the window.

  Of course, I couldn’t lift it up onto the shelf, but at least it was nearby.

  I scurried across the floor to the table. I used the cord from the blinds to swing myself back UP-UP-UP to the table top.

  “That was fun!” I squeaked as I raced past Og’s tank.

  “BOING-BOING!” Og said.

  I pulled the cage door shut behind me and went into my sleeping hut.

  I was so tired, I slept through math, reading and science. After all, I’d had a LONG-LONG-LONG night.

  Right when I woke up, I heard Mrs. Brisbane say, “Class, the great hamster race will be this Friday.”

  “Eeek!” I squeaked.

  “You heard me, Humphrey,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “You’d better practice.”

  She went over to the bookcase to get my really wheely car.

  “What’s it doing on the floor?” she asked. “Maybe it rolled out when Aldo was cleaning last night.”

  Whew! My lock-that-doesn’t-lock was safe!

  A Wheely Big Day

  For the next few days, Mrs. Brisbane let me practice racing my car around Room 26 while my friends took spelling tests and learned about measuring.

  One afternoon, they made little banners on sticks.

  “We can wave them to cheer Humphrey and Winky on,” Mrs. Brisbane explained.

  “I let Winky ride his car every night,” Mandy said.

  “Good,” I squeaked. “May the best hamster win.”

  As soon as I said it, I realized that in the end, Winky might end up winning.

  But at least I’d give the race my best.

  Friday was a very surprising day!

  First, Mandy arrived at school with Winky. She put his cage on the table by the window next to mine.

  Winky had never been to school before.

  After sitting through the morning lessons, Winky told Og and me that he thought being a classroom pet was wonderful.

  “But I still love being Mandy’s hamster,” he said.

  Of course he did!

  After lunch, Mrs. Brisbane announced that the race was about to begin.

  The whole class lined up and went out into the big hallway.

  Mandy carried Winky’s cage. Miranda carried my cage.

  “What about Og? He’ll feel left out,” A.J. said.

  “No, he won’t,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “I have a surprise for Og.”

  A surprise for Og? What could it be?

  Some of the other classes from Longfellow School were already lined up on both sides of the hallway.

  Down the middle, rows of wooden blocks divided the lanes.

  There were two red lines taped to the floor.

  One line was marked “Start.” The other line was marked “Finish.”

  Some of the students had stopwatches, rulers and notebooks.

  I am not sure what they were going to do, but they looked excited about the race.

  Mr. Morales stood by the line marked “Finish.” He wore a tie with little race cars on it.

  “Students, the great hamster race is about to begin,” he said.

  My classmates cheered and waved their banners.

  “Here you go, Humphrey,” Mrs. Brisbane said as she put me in my really wheely car. She closed the top and set the car on the start line.

  Mandy put Winky in his blue car and set it next to mine.

  “Good luck, pal!” I squeaked.

  “Same to you, Humph!” Winky replied.

  Mr. Morales said, “Ready, set, go!”

  Mrs. Brisbane gave both cars a gentle push.

  I didn’t waste any time in getting the wheel spinning. I kept my eyes straight ahead as I spun faster and faster.

  “Go, Humphrey, go!” the students called.

  “Roll, Wink, roll!” they cheered.

  I looked back at Winky’s lane. I was ahead, but Winky’s car wasn’t far behind me.

  I spun my wheel even faster.

  And then a terrible thing happened.

  I was spinning as fast as I could, but my really wheely car wasn’t moving!

  It had rolled up against a wooden block.

  I was stuck!

  I heard people moaning, “Oh, no, Humphrey!”

  I heard the crowd shout, “Go, Winky! There’s the finish line!”

  Winky was going to win.

  I spun and spun, but the car didn’t budge, so I did the only thing I could think of. I reached up and pushed the lid of the car as hard as I could.

  Suc
cess! The top opened and I crawled out of the car.

  Maybe I couldn’t win the race in my car, but I could still cross the line first!

  The cheering got louder and louder.

  As I raced for the finish line, I saw the banners waving above me.

  I glanced up over the wooden blocks. Winky’s blue car was just inches ahead of me. I ran and ran as fast as my paws could carry me and I passed the blue car!

  The finish line was right in front of me, so I sprinted across it.

  Winky’s blue car crossed the line a few seconds later.

  I had won!

  Or so I thought.

  “Humphrey! Humphrey! Humphrey!” the crowd cheered.

  Mrs. Brisbane scooped me up and held me in her hand.

  “Quiet, everyone!” Mr. Morales said.

  Since he is the Most Important Person at Longfellow School, the crowd quieted down.

  “Humphrey crossed the finish line first,” he said. “But he wasn’t in his car. This was a hamster car race, so I think Winky is the winner.”

  “No!” I heard some students say.

  “Winky was the first hamster to cross the line in his car,” he said.

  “But Humphrey was so smart,” Golden-Miranda said. “He knew he was stuck and he still found a way to get to the finish line first.”

  Mr. Morales nodded. “That’s true,” he said. “And I’m proud of Humphrey. But I still think that Winky won.”

  “I have an idea,” another voice said.

  I knew that voice.

  Aldo stepped forward. “What if we call it a tie?” he asked.

  Mr. Morales thought for a moment. “We could do that,” he said.

  Suddenly everyone began to cheer. “Tie! Tie! Tie!”

  Mr. Morales raised both hands to quiet them down. “All right,” he said. “I think we can call this a tie. Is that all right with you, Mandy?”

  “They both did a great job,” Mandy said. “They just got to the line in different ways. So I think . . . it’s a tie!”

  The cheering was so loud, it hurt my small hamster ears.

  “Humphrey and Winky will each receive a first place certificate and a box of Hamster Chew Chews from Pet-O-Rama,” Mr. Morales said.

  I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE Hamster Chew Chews.

  The crowd got noisy again, but Mr. Morales raised his hands. “We have one more contest this afternoon,” he said. “Longfellow School has two classroom frogs, so we’re going to have a frog jumping contest.”

  “BOING-BOING-BOING!” I heard Og say.

  The crowd cheered.

  “George is the classroom pet in Mrs. Loomis’s class,” he said. “Og is the pet in Mrs. Brisbane’s class. We’re going to place them each at the starting line. The winner is the frog that jumps the farthest in one minute.”

  I remembered George! He was the reason that Og came to Room 26 in the first place.

  George was in Mrs. Loomis’s class already when she brought Og in. George is a huge bullfrog with a BIG-BIG-BIG voice. He didn’t like Og and started making so much noise during class that Mrs. Loomis couldn’t teach.

  She gave Og to Room 26 and he’s been here ever since.

  “BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og shouted.

  I could tell he was ready for the frog jumping contest.

  Mrs. Loomis set George down on the starting line.

  Mrs. Brisbane set Og down in his lane.

  Og had a nice smile on his face.

  George had a mean leer on his face.

  And he was HUGE.

  Could Og jump farther than a great, big bullfrog?

  Mr. Morales said, “Remember, no one can touch the frogs, but you all can cheer. Now, ready, set, jump!”

  Mrs. Loomis let go of George and Mrs. Brisbane let go of Og.

  Nothing happened at first. George sat on the starting line and so did Og.

  Suddenly, George took a giant leap forward.

  The crowd cheered, but Og didn’t budge.

  “Go on, Og! You can win,” I squeaked.

  Og still didn’t move.

  “Go, Og, go!” the students chanted.

  I was WORRIED-WORRIED-WORRIED until, suddenly, George let out a loud noise.

  “RUM-RUM-RUM!” he bellowed in his deep voice.

  And then Og did it!

  He took a huge leap forward.

  He leaped past George. Then he leaped again. And again!

  “Go, Og, go! Go, Og, go!” the crowd cheered.

  “Yay, Og!” I squeaked. “I knew you could do it.”

  I wasn’t sure he heard me until I heard him answer, “BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!”

  Even though everybody could see that Og had jumped the farthest, the students measured the distance.

  “The winner is Og!” Mr. Morales said. “He will receive a jar of Froggy Fish Sticks from Pet-O-Rama.”

  Luckily, George didn’t argue.

  “BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og twanged.

  “I want to thank you all for our very first Racing Day,” Mr. Morales said. “I think Longfellow School has the best classroom pets in the world.”

  “Yes!” I squeaked.

  Winky and Og were GREAT-GREAT-GREAT pets.

  I tried hard to be a great pet, too.

  I’m not so sure about George.

  Later that day, Mrs. Brisbane made an announcement. “This week, I didn’t assign a student to bring Humphrey home for the weekend,” she said.

  “Eeek!” I squeaked.

  After all, I love going home with students on the weekend.

  “Instead, I’m taking Humphrey and Og home with me,” she said. “They deserve a good rest.”

  I love going home with Mrs. Brisbane. I love it when Og can come, too.

  The day had been full of surprises, but this was the best one of all.

  “Doesn’t that sound like fun, Og?” I squeaked to my friend.

  “BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!” he replied.

  I knew exactly what he meant.