School Days According to Humphrey (5 page)

He came up to the table and gazed down at me.

“You're a sight for sore eyes, Humphrey,” he said, reaching in his pocket. “Here, have some sunflower seeds.”

Yum! I'm always happy to get my favorite treat.

Aldo found a jar of Froggy Food Sticks for Og and sprinkled some in his tank. “Here you go, Og. Enjoy them in good health!”

Og swam around, gathering the little sticks in his huge mouth. I'm sorry he doesn't get tasty sunflower seeds like I do, but he doesn't seem to mind.

“So it's back to school for all of us,” he said. “Back to work at night and back to college in the daytime for me.”

Aldo was going to college so he could be a teacher someday.

“I have some good courses this year,” Aldo continued. “Including biology. That's where I'll learn about critters like you.”

I chomped away on a sunflower seed, thinking that biology
must
be an interesting course.

“Say, I saw Richie after school. I think he's a little worried about his new teacher, Miss Becker.” I stopped mid-chomp. Repeat-It-Please-Richie Rinaldi was Aldo's nephew and a former classmate in Room 26.

“Miss Becker? Where is she? How can I find Richie?” I squeaked. “Why is he worried?”

I guess Aldo didn't understand. “I'll tell him you said hello,” he answered.

Suddenly, the sunflower seed didn't taste so good, because Richie was worried. Even if he wasn't in Room 26 anymore, he was still my friend.

Then Aldo got to work cleaning Room 26. He was wonderful at his job. I thought he'd be an unsqueakably good teacher someday, but I knew that once he was teaching, Room 26 would never be quite as clean again.

Watching Aldo got my mind off my worries until he saw that red hamster ball sitting on Mrs. Brisbane's desk.

“Hey, who's this? Are they replacing you, Humphrey?” Aldo laughed, but I didn't think that was funny.

He turned the switch on and roared as the ball twirled and looped and flashed and the music blasted. “Rockin' Aki! Rock 'n' roll rules!”

As Aldo watched, he did a little dance just like Aki.

After a while, he switched Aki off.

“That's funny,” he said. “But don't worry. Nothing could replace you, Humphrey.”

“Thank you,” I squeaked.

“Richie would like one of those,” Aldo said.

I wished he hadn't reminded me of Richie. I didn't like to think about my old friend being worried.

After Aldo left and I saw his car pull out of the parking lot outside my window, I decided to investigate the school and find out where Richie and my other old friends had gone.

“Don't you think I should find out where this Miss Becker's classroom is, Og?” I asked.

“BOING-BOING!” Og is always encouraging, at least most of the time.

Of course, Longfellow School is a BIG-BIG-BIG place, so I probably couldn't cover it all in one night. But I was at least going to try.

I pushed on my cage door. Thanks to my lock-thatdoesn't-lock, the door swung wide open. To humans, that lock always looks tightly fastened. But I know that a little gentle pressure opens the door and I'm free to come and go as I please.

I climbed out, grabbed hold of the leg of our table and slid down. After I landed, I shook myself and scampered to the door.

“I'll be back to give you a full report, Og!” I told my friend. “Wish me luck!”

“BOING-BOING!” he answered.

I crouched down and slid through the narrow space between the bottom of the door and the floor.

It was dark in the hallway except for some very faint lights, which cast ghostly shadows on the walls. I shivered a little, but nothing was going to keep me from my mission.

I took a left turn and skittered along until I reached the next doorway. I looked UP-UP-UP and saw Room 28 on the door. I wasn't sure what had happened to Room 27, but I didn't want to waste time thinking about that.

After taking a deep breath, I slid under the door into Room 28. When I stood up, I was surprised to see that Room 28 looked almost exactly like Room 26—except that everything was backward! Well, not exactly everything. The chalkboards and windows were on the same side as in Room 26, but the cloakroom, the teacher's desk and the clock were all in the wrong place.

“Eek!” I squeaked.

I scurried between the desks, but since Aldo had just cleaned, there weren't many clues around to tell me who was in the room. I stopped to glance up at the chalkboard. Luckily, the moonbeams coming through the windows hit at just the right angle and I saw Mr. Michaels written on the board.

This wasn't Miss Becker's room after all.

I didn't want to waste time in the wrong room, so I slid back under the door and continued up the dimly lit hallway to the next classroom on the left, Room 30.

Here goes nothing, I thought as I pushed under the door.

Oddly enough, Room 30 looked more like Room 26 than Room 28. The cloakroom, the teacher's desk and the clock were in the same place as in Room 26.

But there were some differences. For one thing, the tables were placed in a great big circle. Mrs. Brisbane had her tables lined up in rows.

Along one of the walls was a huge tree going all the way up to the ceiling. It was made of paper, and each of the brightly colored paper leaves had a name on it.

It was hard to read the names in the darkened room, but I saw an Emma and a Margaret, a Christopher and a Ben. I didn't know any of those names, so this was probably the wrong room.

I escaped under the door and hurried to the room across the hall—Room 29.

It was unsqueakably dark in this room because the blinds were shut tightly. I could hardly even make out the shadowy shapes of tables and chairs. When I looked up, I let out an extra-loud “SQUEAK!” because there were large round objects hanging from the ceiling, giving off an eerie glow. I felt shivery and quivery until I figured out that they were models of the planets in our solar system. Thank goodness Mrs. Brisbane taught us about them last year, so I knew what they were.

I began to look for clues to find out if my friends had moved into this room. I darted to the front of the class near the teacher's desk. When I looked UP-UP-UP, I saw a sign sitting on top of the desk. Mrs. Murch, the sign read.

Wrong room again!

I hurried back out of Room 29 toward the next room.
There
was Room 27!

I took a deep breath and slipped under the door.

It was a little brighter in this room because the blinds had been left open and moonlight streamed through the windows. But a quick glance at the board told me I was in the wrong room again.

Miss Loomis was written out in large letters.

But next to the teacher's name was a list of students, and some of them were very familiar.

Miranda, Garth, Seth, Sayeh, Art, Mandy. They'd all been in Room 26 last year. So some of the students had gone to Miss Becker's class and some of them had moved to Miss Loomis's class.

Then I remembered something.

“This is where Og came from!” I squeaked out loud.

It was true. Og had once lived in Miss Loomis's class. The day she brought him to Room 26 to stay was quite a shock to me, I can tell you that! But over time, I've gotten used to my funny green friend.

I was thinking about those early days with Og when suddenly a strange sound boomed out of the darkness.

“RUM-RUM. RUM-RUM.”

It was very loud and very deep—so deep, it made my ears twitch.

“RUM-RUM. RUM-RUM.”

The sound came from the corner, and I could make out the shape of a tank sitting on a table.

“RUM-RUM! RUM-RUM!” the voice bellowed.

I cautiously edged my way toward the table. Yes, it was a tank, all right, and sitting in that tank was a huge frog, way bigger than Og! Instead of a pleasant smile, like Og's, he was leering. Or was he sneering?

“Hello, George!” I squeaked. “I'm a friend of Og's. Remember him?”

“RUM-RUM! RUM-RUM!”
George answered. He certainly didn't sound friendly. I recalled that Miss Loomis had gotten Og to keep George company, but George didn't like Og, so she'd brought him to Mrs. Brisbane's class.

“RUM-RUM-RUM-RUM!”
George was getting louder and louder. I guess he didn't like me, either, so I ran away as fast as my small legs could carry me and slid under the door.

Whew! I could still hear George out in the hall. I was lucky to get away from him, but I was worried about my friends who were stuck in class with him every single day. They must be miserable!

I was tempted to race back to Room 26 so I could tell Og about my discovery, but the next door was marked Room 25. It was right across the hall from my classroom, so I decided to check to see if that was Miss Becker's room.

For some reason, there was very little space between the bottom of this door and the floor, so I had to flatten myself as much as I could and push myself through. The problem was, halfway through the door I just stopped.

I was stuck!

“Eek!” I squeaked. Not that it mattered. There was no one around to hear me.

I pushed again, but I didn't budge. My head was in Room 25 and my tail was in the hallway!

My mind raced as I imagined spending the night under the door while Og worried about what had happened to me. Then I thought about morning, when someone would come to open the door. They might not even see me! I might get squashed as the door opened or stepped on by students. I might never ever see the inside of Room 26 again!

Then I remembered that at camp, the counselors always told us campers to stay calm in case of emergency.

“Stay CALM-CALM-CALM,” I told myself, although it's hard to be calm when you're stuck under a door.

After a few seconds, I felt relaxed enough to look at the room in front of me. I couldn't see much except a jumble of desks and the usual chalkboard. I couldn't move my head, but I could move my eyes, so I looked all the way to the right and saw desks. Then I looked all the way to the left and saw the cloakroom. In front of the cloakroom wall was a large cart filled with books. I had to squint to read the sign on it:

So this wasn't Miss Becker's room. I didn't have to explore Room 25 after all. When I tried backing out from under the door, I didn't have a bit of trouble. If I'd stayed a little calmer, I might have realized sooner that although I couldn't slide forward, I could easily back out.

“Whew!” I sighed as I stopped in the dark hallway, listening to my heart pound. When my heart slowed down, I hurried across the hall to Room 26 and slid under the door.

“Og, I'm back!” I squeaked. “I'm not stuck under the door!”

Og splashed wildly in his tank. “BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!” he called to me.

I dashed across the floor toward the table. It's unsqueakably difficult and dangerous for me to get back up to my cage, but tonight, I wasted no time. I grabbed onto the long cord that dangles down from the blinds and began swinging back and forth, pushing with all my might. The cord began to swing higher and higher until I was level with the tabletop. Then I let go of the cord and slid onto the table, zooming right past Og's tank.

Once I got my footing, I hurried into my cage and pulled the door closed behind me.

For the first time all evening, I felt safe. You have no idea how comforting it can be to have a nice cage for protection.

“Okay, Og,” I said when I could breathe again. “Our friends are not in Rooms Twenty-eight, Thirty or Twenty-nine. I didn't quite make it into Room Twenty-five, but I could see that it wasn't Miss Becker's class.”

“BOING!” Og seemed surprised.

“However, some of them are in Room Twenty-seven. That's Miss Loomis's class—remember her?” I asked.

“BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!” I guess Og remembered.

“George is still there, and he's not one bit friendly!” I complained. “Garth and Miranda and a whole bunch of students from the old class are there with him!”

Og took a giant dive into the water side of his tank and madly splashed around.

The more I thought about George, the happier I was that Og moved to Room 26. When Og stopped splashing, I told him more about my adventure—even the scary part where I got stuck under the door.

“BOING-BOING-BOING!” he said when I was finished.

I sighed and relaxed. I glanced around the room and saw that red hamster ball sitting on Mrs. Brisbane's desk.

The thought of Aki singing and dancing made me laugh. I began humming—or at least my way of humming.

“Rockin' Aki! Rock 'n' roll rules!” I squeaked as I hopped onto my wheel and gave it a good spin.

Then Og joined in. “BOING-BOING!” he twanged. Then he dived into his water and did some unsqueakably wild splashing.

After a while, though, I stopped spinning and crawled into my sleeping hut to rest.

It turns out that investigating
and
rocking and rolling can make you VERY-VERY-VERY tired.