Secrets According to Humphrey (13 page)

No More Secrets

F
or a while, school was back to normal. Mrs. Brisbane taught and the students worked. And learned. And had some fun.

I went home with Rolling-Rosie for the weekend and had FUN-FUN-FUN showing her all my tricks.

At the beginning of the next week, Mrs. Brisbane made an announcement. “Class, we're starting a new club in Room Twenty-six, but it won't be secret,” she said. “It's a book club where we all read a book and discuss it. Holly, would you hand out these information sheets to send home to the parents
?
Read it, discuss it, and if you're interested, you can sign up.”

The book club sounded pawsitively wonderful.

But when I saw Helpful-Holly handing out the papers, I felt a pang.

Soon, she'd be moving to Hollywood and I'd never see her again, unless I saw her on TV.

Who would Mrs. Brisbane call on for help
?

And how would we feel without her around
?
How would I feel
?

I saw Thomas and Joey give each other a thumbs-up. They looked happy about the book club, but they didn't know Holly was moving away.

When was she going to go
?

On Tuesday morning, I found out when Holly was leaving.

Mr. Morales came into the classroom before school to talk to Mrs. Brisbane. He had on a tie with tiny flags on it.

“Here's the revised schedule,” he said. “So . . . at ten o'clock you can expect some special visitors. As you can see, the TV reporter, Sandy Starr, will be doing an intro in the hallway beforehand. Then they'll film in the classroom and do some interviews.”

Mrs. Brisbane smiled.
Smiled!
“This will be a day to remember.”

The day Holly was leaving felt like a day I'd like to forget.

“Did you give the schedule to Mrs. Wright
?
” Mrs. Brisbane asked.

“Oh, yes,” Mr. Morales said. “I don't want to get in trouble.”

It was FUNNY-FUNNY-FUNNY to think that Mr. Morales, who is the principal, didn't want to get in trouble with Mrs. Wright, who is a teacher.

Maybe he was afraid of her whistle, too.

I hopped on my wheel and did some spinning to help me calm down a bit.

Og splashed around in his tank. Maybe he needed calming down, too.

My friends all came into class, laughing and talking.

Holly showed Rosie the book she was reading and I heard them talk about joining the book club.

But Holly wouldn't be joining the book club.

Do they have book clubs in Hollywood
?
And isn't it funny that a girl named Holly was moving to a place called Hollywood
?

I watched the hand on the clock inch its way from 8:00 to 8:30 to 9:00 to 9:30.

My friends went out for recess and I spun on my wheel some more.

By the time my classmates were back in their seats, the clock had inched its way to 9:55.

Five minutes until the surprise!

At 10:00, Mrs. Brisbane was talking about the book club again when there was a knock at the door. She acted surprised.

“I wonder who that could be
?
” she said.

As if she didn't know.

She walked over and opened the door. “Well, it looks like we have some special visitors!”

A man and a woman—both wearing uniforms—entered. The woman carried a huge teddy bear. The man had a huge bunch of balloons.

I knew that woman—it was Phoebe's mom! And the man must be Phoebe's dad!

My whiskers wiggled and my tail started twitching. When I glanced over at Phoebe, she looked as shocked and surprised as I was!

“Phoebe . . . we're home!” her mom said.

“We're all going to be together again,” her dad said.

Phoebe raced over to her parents and the three of them hugged and hugged and hugged some more.

“You're here! You're really home!” Phoebe cried.

My friends were buzzing with excitement.

Calm-Down-Cassie was so excited she got up and started jumping up and down and clapping.

Og splashed around like crazy and I let out a loud “Yippee!”

Phoebe's grandmother had come in, too, along with people with cameras and a perky woman with a microphone. It was Sandy Starr from TV!

So many cameras flashed, all I could see were colored dots floating in front of my eyes.

When she was finished hugging her parents, Phoebe hugged her grandmother.

Then Sandy Starr moved in with her microphone. “Phoebe, how does it feel to see your parents again
?
” she asked.

I was pretty sure I already knew the answer to that.

“Oh, I'm so happy!” Phoebe's voice quivered as they hugged her again. “It's just what I wished for.”

“Are you home to stay
?
” the reporter asked Phoebe's parents.

“Yes,” her dad said. “We're all moving back to Winfield.”

For the first time, I looked at my other classmates. Some of them looked happy and some looked surprised. Kelsey was actually crying.

Mr. Morales and Mrs. Wright came into the classroom to shake hands with Phoebe and her parents.

Phoebe hugged her grandmother again. “You didn't tell me!” she said. “Oh, but I'll miss you.”

“Don't you worry,” her grandmother said. “I'll come visit you all the time!”

Sandy Starr asked Phoebe and her parents a lot of questions. She interviewed Mrs. Brisbane and Mr. Morales, and then went to talk to some of the other students.

“How do you feel about Phoebe's good news
?
” she asked Tell-the-Truth-Thomas.

He looked surprised to have a camera in his face, but he smiled and said, “I'm happy for her. But I'll miss her.”

Sandy Starr turned to Holly. “Were you surprised by what happened today
?
”

Holly looked directly at the camera. “Yes, I was,” she said. “I'll miss Phoebe so much, but I know she'll be happy to be with her parents again.”

It looked like Holly was going to be on TV after all!

Then the man with the TV camera said he wanted to get some shots of our room. So he moved all around, filming my friends and Mrs. Brisbane, and he even brought his camera over to our table.

“HI-HI-HI!” I squeaked as he passed by. Everything happened so fast, I could hardly keep up. Then suddenly, all the cameras and guests—and even Phoebe—were gone.

“Class, I know this day has been an exciting roller coaster,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “Let's talk about it.”

“YES-YES-YES!” I squeaked, which made everyone laugh.

I've always known that Mrs. Brisbane was a great teacher, but that day, I knew it even more.

She talked to my friends about how difficult it had been for Phoebe to be so far away from her parents. But her parents had an important job to do for the country.

“Don't forget, lots of children have parents serving in the military,” she said.

Then she talked about how Phoebe's grandmother had helped her deal with her loneliness and her worries about her parents. And she told my fellow classmates that their friendship with Phoebe had been a big help to her whole family.

“We'll all miss Phoebe,” she said in a shaky voice. “But we can be happy for her at the same time.”

My whiskers wilted and my tail twitched.

I felt as sad as I had when Ms. Mac left and went FAR-FAR-FAR away.

But I was happy for Phoebe.

The next morning, Phoebe came to school as usual.

Once class began, Mrs. Brisbane asked her if she had anything to say to her friends.

“Today is my last day in Room Twenty-six,” she said. “I'll miss you all so much, but I'm so excited to move back home with my mom and dad. Can we keep in touch—please
?
”

My friends all said they'd keep in touch, but I didn't know how I could do that.

At the end of the day, when her parents came to pick her up, Phoebe came over to the table where Og and I live.

“Humphrey and Og, I know I've sometimes been forgetful this year,” she said. “I was always thinking about my parents. But I want you both to know that I'll never, ever forget either one of you.”

Then she gave me a little piece of carrot and she threw some Froggy Fish Sticks into Og's tank.

“BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og thanked her as he dived for the food.

“Thanks, Phoebe,” I squeaked. “I love you.”

I know she couldn't understand me, but for some reason she said, “I love you too, Humphrey.”

Room 26 was very quiet on Thursday.

Mrs. Brisbane announced the first book for the book club—it took place in Egypt!

I could tell that Kelsey especially missed Phoebe. After all, they'd been Sisters of the Nile. But the other girls spent more time with her and by the end of the day, she even smiled a little bit.

I spent a lot of time spinning on my wheel.

I was HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY that Phoebe was with her parents. I'd heard her say how much she missed them.

But I was SAD-SAD-SAD to lose a friend.