Spring According to Humphrey Read online

  That seemed strange, because hamsters like me LOVE-LOVE-LOVE adventures.

  My friend yawned. ‘Sorry, Humphrey, but it’s my bedtime. Nighty-night.’

  She crawled into her cage and I pushed the door shut.

  Yep, the lock looked locked, just like mine.

  When I got back to Room 26, Og greeted me with a series of BOINGs. I was used to the strange sound he makes, but he was unusually loud.

  ‘Sorry I was gone so long. I was just, um, hanging around,’ I said.

  I tried to make a joke, but dangling in mid-air hadn’t been funny at all.

  I’d never look at a blinds cord the same way again!

  Later, I got out my little notebook to write about my fur-raising experience. I loved writing by the warm glow of the street light. Hamsters and guinea pigs may understand one another, but we’re different in so many ways.

  My classmates and I spent a lot of time looking for signs of spring, but we didn’t come up with much.

  ‘My mum ordered seeds for her garden,’ Felipe said one day. ‘But she can’t plant them yet.’

  ‘I’d still say that was a sign of spring,’ Mrs Brisbane said.

  March was a funny month. We’d have sunshine and warmer weather for a few days. Then suddenly, it would rain and turn cold and gloomy.

  ‘Og, have you seen one single sign of spring yet?’ I asked after two weeks of feeling frustrated.

  He replied with a very bored-sounding ‘BOING.’

  ‘Me neither,’ I said.

  My friends were as frustrated as I was.

  ‘You’d think the leaves would be budding,’ Holly complained.

  Not-Now-Nicole sighed. ‘You’d think the flowers would be blooming.’

  ‘Where are the robins?’ Rosie wondered.

  Mrs Brisbane smiled. ‘They’ll be here soon. The first day of spring is coming up.’

  Small-Paul raised his hand. ‘I was reading about the average temperatures for March here, and this is completely normal.’

  There were several loud groans.

  ‘It’s not my fault,’ Paul said. ‘It’s a scientific fact.’

  ‘We don’t blame you, Paul,’ Rolling-Rosie said. ‘But why does science have to be so … scientific?’

  At least she made everybody laugh.

  A few days before the first day of spring, it snowed … again.

  ‘This is not fair!’ Harry groaned.

  Daniel agreed. ‘At least it could have snowed enough for them to call off school!’

  Mrs Brisbane went on to talk about maths problems and I gazed out at the snow. It wasn’t very deep and there were patches of brown showing through.

  White and brown. Brown and white. White and … purple?

  ‘Look!’ I squeaked. ‘LOOK-LOOK-LOOK!’

  I knew that the purple thing could be a wrapper from somebody’s lunch. Or anything someone might have dropped. I climbed to the tippy top of my cage for a better look.

  ‘Humphrey seems excited,’ Mrs Brisbane said, hurrying to the table. ‘Is something wrong?’

  ‘NO-NO-NO!’ I squeaked. ‘It’s a sign!’

  She didn’t understand me, of course, but Og joined in with a ‘BOING-BOING!’

  ‘They’re looking outside,’ our teacher said. ‘But what are they looking at?’

  The students rushed to the window to look.

  Og and I continued to make a lot of noise.

  ‘It’s purple! It’s spring!’ I squeaked.

  ‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ Og added.

  Rosie leaned forward in her wheelchair and pressed her nose against the window. ‘Look!’ She pointed. ‘It’s a purple flower coming through the snow!’

  The classroom buzzed with excitement.

  ‘Where?’ Thomas asked.

  ‘Yeah, where?’ Sophie said.

  ‘I see it.’ Mrs Brisbane pointed, too. ‘Over there, near the base of the tall tree.’

  I heard lots of oohs and aahs.

  ‘I think we should go out and see for ourselves,’ Mrs Brisbane said.

  ‘Yes, we should!’ I squeaked.

  It seemed to take them forever to put on coats and hats, boots and gloves, and then tramp outside to see the flower.

  My friends were excited and so was I – until I realized that Og and I weren’t going outside with them.

  The cold isn’t good for either one of us. I knew that, but I couldn’t help but wish that I could put on a coat and hat and boots and gloves and join them!

  Og and I silently stared out the window until we saw Mrs Brisbane lead my friends to the little spot of purple.

  Everyone crouched down to stare at the purple bloom. Mrs Brisbane snapped a photo.

  And then she did something wonderful. She looked right up at our window and waved.

  I don’t think she could see me, but I waved back.

  ‘BOING!’ Og twanged. ‘BOING-BOING!’

  I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE Mrs Brisbane. And at that moment, I knew that she LOVED-LOVED-LOVED me.

  And Og, too, of course.

  When my friends returned to Room 26, their cheeks were rosy and their eyes sparkled with excitement.

  ‘What did you call that flower, Mrs Brisbane?’ Tell-the-Truth-Thomas asked.

  ‘I believe it was a crocus,’ she said. ‘Let’s look it up.’

  Once the gloves and hats and boots and scarves were off, Mrs Brisbane opened a big book and turned page after page.

  ‘Here,’ she said. ‘What do you think?’

  My friends all leaned in around her desk, where she had opened the book.

  ‘I wish I could see it,’ I told Og.

  ‘BOING-BOING!’ he replied.

  ‘It’s definitely a crocus,’ Helpful-Holly said. ‘And to think, it poked its little head up through the snow.’

  The door to Room 26 swung open and in walked the Most Important Person at Longfellow School, our headmaster, Mr Morales!

  ‘I saw you all tramping through the snow,’ he said. ‘I wondered what you were looking at.’

  He was smiling, so I knew he wasn’t upset.

  ‘There’s a purple crocus in the snow!’ Stop-Talking-Sophie said. ‘It’s the first sign of spring – and it was beautiful! I’ll show you!’

  She led Mr Morales to the window and pointed. ‘It’s that little bit of purple near the tree.’

  Mrs Brisbane was behind us. ‘Humphrey and Og seemed to spot it first,’ she said.

  ‘Because they are very wise and observant,’ Mr Morales said.

  ‘Thank you,’ I squeaked.

  ‘BOING!’ Og said.

  Then I heard voices chanting, ‘It’s spring! It’s spring! It’s such a wonderful thing!’

  I looked over and saw Rosie, Holly, Nicole and Kelsey joining hands and repeating, ‘It’s spring! It’s spring! It’s such wonderful thing!’

  Mr Morales smiled and said, ‘I agree. I sit in my office and work at my desk and talk on my phone, and sometimes, I never even look out the window. Thank you for showing me a wonderful thing.’

  It’s funny how a little purple flower in the snow can make people so happy. Hamsters and frogs, too!

  After Mr Morales left, my classmates started writing about the first sign of spring.

  Mrs Brisbane wrote ‘crocus’ on the blackboard. She also passed around purple crayons for my friends to share.

  They were VERY-VERY-VERY quiet until they left for lunch.

  While they were gone, I took out my notebook and began to write.

  I didn’t have a purple crayon, but I think I did a pretty good job of drawing a crocus without one!

  At the end of the day, Mrs Brisbane handed out flyers to all my friends. ‘This is the information about Family Fun Night. Please share it with your family so they can mark the date on their calendars.’

  As soon as the papers were in my friends’ backpacks, the bell rang and they raced out of the room.

  Slow-Down-Simon was the first student out, as usual.

  Hurry-Up-Harry was the
last student to gather up his coat and hat and leave Room 26.

  Mrs Brisbane straightened the papers on her desk. Then she came over to the window and looked out. ‘I hope we see more signs of spring soon,’ she said. ‘We usually do by now.’

  ‘We saw the crocus!’ I reminded her.

  Mrs Brisbane looked at me and smiled. ‘I imagine that you’re ready for spring, too.’ She looked over at Og. ‘How about you, Og?’

  Og didn’t answer. He just dived into the water side of his tank and started swimming.

  Mrs Brisbane chuckled. ‘At least you have a swimming pool all year round.’

  Hamsters like me don’t like swimming, but I guess humans and frogs do.

  After Mrs Brisbane was gone for the day – and before Aldo came in to clean – I told Og I was going to visit Gigi. I wanted to make sure she saw the flower in the snow before it was dark.

  ‘Hi, Humphrey!’ Gigi happily squeaked as I slid under the door.

  I scurried over to the table and swung myself up.

  I was a little out of breath when I said, ‘Did you see the first sign of spring?’

  ‘No,’ Gigi said, looking around her cage. ‘Where is it?’

  ‘Outside,’ I replied.

  Luckily, the blinds were open. Gigi looked towards the window and twisted her head from side to side. ‘I don’t see anything but a little snow on the ground.’

  ‘Open your door,’ I said. ‘Remember how?’

  Gigi leaned against the door, wiggling and jiggling until it popped open.

  ‘I can’t believe that really works,’ she said.

  The two of us moved close to the window and looked out.

  ‘Look over to the right, near that tall tree. There’s something purple on the ground,’ I explained.

  Gigi squinted and stared, and then she said, ‘What is that?’

  I explained about the crocus being the first flower of spring, pushing through the snow.

  ‘I didn’t think flowers grew when it was cold,’ Gigi said.

  I explained that they usually don’t, but sometimes they pop up right through the snow.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Gigi whispered.

  We sat for a while, staring out at the little speck of purple in the white snow.

  Finally, I asked, ‘Did Ms Mac tell the class about Family Fun Night?’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Gigi said. ‘It sounds like fun, but will there be a lot of people there? And will it be noisy?’

  ‘Yes.’ I laughed. ‘I think there will be a lot of people, and when people are having fun, they’re usually noisy.’

  Gigi giggled. ‘That’s true.’

  She paused for a while, and then she said, ‘Families are awfully nice.’

  I nodded. ‘I’ve been to homes with lots of wonderful families. I always get a warm feeling in my toes when I see families together.’

  ‘Me too,’ Gigi agreed. ‘Of course, I don’t have a family.’

  ‘I don’t have one, either,’ I said. ‘But I must have had a family sometime. I mean, as mammals, we had a mother and a father and probably brothers and sisters.’

  ‘I can’t remember.’ Gigi sounded sad.

  ‘Neither can I,’ I said. ‘But everybody has a family somewhere.’

  Gigi went back into her cage. I helped her shut the door so it looked as if it hadn’t been opened.

  ‘I’m sorry the blinds are open,’ I said.

  ‘At least I saw the crocus,’ she said. ‘And Ms Mac said she left a note for Aldo to close the blinds when he’s done cleaning. She knows I need my sleep.’

  Trust Ms Mac to understand a classroom pet.

  ‘Sleep well,’ I told her.

  When I got back to my cage in Room 26, I told Og all about my visit.

  ‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ he twanged when I talked about families.

  ‘Do you remember your family?’ I asked him.

  He didn’t answer. He just dived into the water with a huge splash.

  ‘I’m sure you had a nice one,’ I said as I returned to my cage. ‘I’m sure we all did, if we could only remember.’

  When Aldo cleaned the classroom that night, he was restless. As he swept the floor, he muttered to himself, but, of course, Og and I could hear him.

  ‘It’s all happening at once,’ he said. ‘Final exams, graduation, job hunting and two new babies! It’s too much.’

  My whiskers wiggled as I heard him talking. Didn’t Aldo want to graduate from college, get a better job and be the father of twins?

  Aldo emptied the floor sweepings into the rubbish bin. ‘What if I fail?’ he said.

  ‘You won’t!’ I squeaked. ‘NEVER-NEVER-NEVER!’

  Og chimed in with a very loud ‘BOING-BOING!’

  I was surprised when Aldo laughed.

  ‘You two,’ he said. ‘You never let a friend down, do you?’

  ‘I certainly hope not!’ I squeaked back.

  Even though Aldo couldn’t understand me, I was warmly rewarded with a sweet and tender piece of lettuce from the sandwich he ate during his break.

  ‘Thanks, pals,’ he told us as he threw a Froggy Fish Stick into my friend’s tank.

  ‘You’re welcome, Aldo,’ I replied.

  On Friday afternoon, I saw the biggest grin I’ve ever seen!

  It was Joey smiling when Mrs Brisbane announced that I’d be going home with him for the weekend.

  I was delighted to see him so happy, but I was also a little worried. Sometimes he talked about his dog, Skipper, who was very good at catching a Frisbee with his teeth. Skipper must have large and sharp teeth to catch something flying through the air at great speed.

  I’m not fond of dogs with large, sharp teeth because I’ve had bad experiences with them in the past.

  ‘I never thought it would happen,’ he said as he picked up my cage. ‘I wish we could go home right away, but I have to go to after-school club. You can come with me.’

  I’d never heard of after-school club before, but anything that has to do with school is FUN-FUN-FUN to me.

  Joey carefully carried my cage (and his coat) down the hall.

  The gym is an enormous room with benches and a stage. It wasn’t my first time there, but it was my first time there for after-school club.

  I was happy to see many of my friends. Calm-Down-Cassie, Tell-the-Truth-Thomas, Hurry-Up-Harry and Helpful-Holly from my class were there. But so were some friends from last year’s class: Raise-Your-Hand-Heidi, Don’t-Complain-Mandy, Pay-Attention-Art, Speak-Up-Sayeh and Sit-Still-Seth.

  They all seemed so happy to see me. As soon as Joey put my cage down on a table, everyone gathered around.

  ‘Humphrey the Hamster,’ Art said.

  ‘It’s Humphrey Dumpty,’ Mandy said. That was the nickname A. J. had given me.

  ‘No, he’s the Humster,’ Harry said. That was a new nickname I’d never heard before.

  ‘The Humster! The Humster!’ my friends began to chant.

  I liked my silly new nickname.

  Their chanting stopped suddenly when a loud whistle blasted and my small hamster ears began to vibrate.

  ‘Ow!’ I squeaked.

  Of course, I knew who blew that whistle. I’d seen it – and heard it – many times before.

  Mrs Wright, the PE teacher and owner of the whistle, leaned over my cage. ‘What is the hamster doing in my gym?’

  I hopped on my wheel and squeaked, ‘Getting some exercise!’

  I braced myself in case she blew the whistle, but instead, she moved a little closer.

  ‘Well, at least it’s getting some exercise.’ Then she stood up and looked around. ‘Who brought this animal to the gym?’

  Joey stepped forward. ‘I did. I’m taking him home for the weekend, but my mum won’t be here until five-thirty. So I thought I should bring him along.’

  Mrs Wright shook her head. ‘I wish Mrs Brisbane would clear these things with me. Couldn’t he have stayed in the classroom?’

  ‘Yes,’ Joey answered. ‘But Mrs Br
isbane locks the door when she leaves, so how would I get him out?’

  ‘Yes, how?’ I squeaked at Mrs Wright, even though, to squeak the truth, I’m a bit afraid of her.

  ‘No pets allowed in the after-school programme,’ she said. ‘Can you imagine what this gym would be like with dogs and cats and rabbits and hamsters running loose around the gym?’

  When she put it that way, I could see her point. I didn’t want to be running around with dogs and cats in the gym or anywhere else!

  Joey looked down at my cage. ‘What should I do?’

  Mrs Wright sighed. ‘Well, he’s here now, so I guess this time he’ll have to stay. But never again.’

  Sometimes Mrs Wright’s voice made me shiver and quiver, because I’d worry that she’d blow that loud whistle.

  ‘I have an idea,’ Joey said to Mrs Wright.

  She had her hand on the whistle as she looked down at him.

  ‘We could build a hamster maze for Humphrey,’ he said. ‘He loves that.’

  ‘A hamster maze?’ she asked in a way that made me think she didn’t approve of hamsters or mazes.

  ‘We put up books or bricks or whatever to make the maze and watch Humphrey run through it. Maybe we could make a human maze, too,’ Joey said.

  Mrs Wright thought for a moment. ‘I guess that would keep us all active and out of trouble,’ she said.

  Keeping active was REALLY-REALLY-REALLY important to her. That’s one thing we have in common!

  Before I knew it, there was a lovely maze on the gymnasium floor, made of gymnastics mats and backpacks and cones and I don’t know what!

  There I was, running through it as fast as my paws would take me.

  And there were my friends, all cheering me on.

  It wasn’t until I got to the end that Mrs Wright blew her whistle.

  Eeek, that was loud! But when my friends shouted, ‘Yay, Humster! Yay, Humster! Yay, Humster!’ I felt hamster-iffic!

  Next, my friends all ran through the maze, and I think Mrs Wright was pretty happy to see them moving.

  ‘Faster, Harry! You can do it! Go for it, Mandy!’ she shouted.

  When she wasn’t blowing her whistle, she actually seemed like a very nice human.

  The time passed quickly, so when Just-Joey’s mum showed up, I couldn’t believe it. It was 5.30 and time to go home.