Secrets According to Humphrey (6 page)

I have to say, I don't want to read books about mummies, either, because they sound unsqueakably scary!

Mrs. Brisbane wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Joey, I'd like you to challenge yourself with your reading. Will you try
?
”

Joey stared down at his desk, but he nodded his head. “Yes,” he whispered.

“Great!” Mrs. Brisbane said.

The bell rang and Mrs. Brisbane stood up.

“I'm so glad we had this talk, aren't you
?
”

Joey nodded.

I think Just-Joey is a very honest person, but at that moment, I'm not sure he was telling the truth.

And then he spoke up. “Mrs. Brisbane
?
Maybe I'm not very good at reading.”

Mrs. Brisbane looked surprised. “Really
?
Your grades could be a little better, but they're not that bad.”

Joey shrugged again. “I don't know,” he said. “But when I read a book, I never seem to get anywhere.”

Mrs. Brisbane looked at Joey for a while before she answered. “We'll work on that,” she said. “Together.”

Joey looked a little happier then.

But I have to squeak the truth: I felt BAD-BAD-BAD.

“You won't tell anybody, will you
?
About my not liking to read
?
” Joey asked.

“No, it will be our little secret,” Mrs. Brisbane answered.

After school was over, I jiggled my lock-that-doesn't-lock and scrambled over to Og's tank.

“I can't imagine not liking to read,” I squeaked.

As soon as I said it, I realized something
. I
can read (because I'm an unsqueakably smart hamster) but Og probably can't. Not because he's not smart. It's because he's a frog—and books don't hold up well in water!

“I've got to find a book Joey likes,” I said.

“BOING-BOING!” Og agreed.

But I'd have to wait until later that night, after Aldo left.

As soon as Aldo came into the room, he said, “Guys, I really want to tell somebody my big secret.”

“Tell
us
!” I squeaked. “Please!”

“I promised Maria I wouldn't tell anybody yet,” he said. “But I'm about to burst!”

“Don't burst!” I said. “That sounds messy!”

In the end, though, Aldo didn't tell us his secret.

And Mrs. Brisbane didn't tell me her secret about what student would be leaving.

Not knowing someone's secret can make you feel terrible.

I'd seen the look on Rosie's face when she saw Phoebe and Kelsey with their secret signal and heard about their club.

And yet, I had my own secret: a secret mission.

I had to find a book for Joey.

And it couldn't be about Robot the Rabbit.

HUMPHREY'S TOP SECRET SCRIBBLES
Sometimes you have to LOOK-LOOK-LOOK
To find the very perfect book.

Secret Books, Secret Looks

W
hen I got to the library, I was tempted to look at the
Secrets of the Nile
video again, but I was there to find a book for Joey.

It wouldn't be easy. I wasn't even sure what kind of book he would like.

And even if I knew, how would I possibly find the right one in the rows and rows and rows of books in the library
?

“Don't mind me,” I greeted the fish swimming in the glowing tank. “I'm here to get a book.”

I REALLY-REALLY-REALLY hoped that I would find the right book for Joey.

And I REALLY-REALLY-REALLY hoped it would be on the bottom shelf, because it would be unsqueakably hard—or even impossible—to get to the high shelves.

Even just looking at the books on the lowest shelves would take a long time, because the library is a big place.

And it's not easy to read the titles when you're a small hamster on the floor and the names of the books on the shelves are sideways. I have to squinch my neck to one side to read them.

As I scurried along, I noticed that books were grouped together by subject. All the art books were together. All the history books were together. And all the sports books were together.

Mr. Fitch was a very smart man to think of that!

But then suddenly all the books were different and I couldn't make sense of the titles. They weren't alike at all.

When I saw a Robot Rabbit title, I realized that these books weren't about real things, like the art books and the history books. These books were stories!

Fiction. That's what the big label above the shelves said.

But the names on the books, next to the titles, were all grouped together.

So there were the B names: Babcock, Bedarski, Benjamin, Bowman.

Farther on, there were the K names: Kantor, Kelly, Kendricks.

Those must be the authors' names and they were in the order of the alphabet, so BE came ahead of BO. And KA came before KE.

Mr. Fitch was even smarter than I thought before. I'll bet he can find any book in the library.

But could I find the right book for Joey
?

I spent a good part of the night roaming around the library, hoping I'd see something that Joey would like.

When I saw light coming through the library windows, I scurried back to Room 26.

“I'm back!” I squeaked as I slid under the door.

“BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og sounded excited.

I glanced up at the clock.

Mrs. Brisbane would be arriving soon!

I raced across the floor as fast as my legs could carry me, hopped up to grab the bottom of the long blinds' cord, and began swinging and swinging until I was level with the table.

Then I let go and leaped to the tabletop.

“I didn't find a book for Joey,” I squeaked to Og as I hurried to my cage. “But I learned something about the library. I'll tell you later.”

I closed the door behind me and dived under my bedding.

Just then, I heard Mrs. Brisbane say, “Good morning, Humphrey and Og.”

I squeaked weakly and promptly went to sleep.

I took a longer nap than usual and when I woke up, Room 26 was buzzing with activity.

My friends had split up into their groups and were working on their projects.

Tall-Paul, Felipe and Holly were using modeling clay to make something that looked like a boat that curved up on the ends. They were with the Traders.

Sophie, Nicole and Small-Paul were in the group lining up jars and bottles of different sizes that would be painted. Of course—they were the Artists.

I knew that Phoebe was a Scribe, so the squiggly things she was drawing along with Cassie, Thomas and Daniel must have been the figures for the alphabet.

The Builders were using blocks of different sizes to make pyramids, but they were having a hard time getting the right shape.

“Slow-Down-Simon,” Kelsey said. “We need to start over because it's going to be too small.”

“Yeah. We want a BIG pyramid,” Rolling-Rosie reminded him.

“Okay,” Simon said.

Then Rosie did a very odd thing. She looked over at Sophie and, when she caught her eye, she circled her hand around her face, touched her shoulders with both hands and nodded. Sophie did the exact same thing. And then they both giggled!

I wasn't the only one who noticed.

“What are you doing
?
” Kelsey asked.

“Oh, it's just a secret sign for our club,” Rosie said.

Kelsey looked surprised.

“What club
?
” Simon asked.

“I can't tell you because you're not in it,” Rosie said.

Simon shrugged.

“You're copying Phoebe and me,” Kelsey said. “You don't even know what our club is about.”

“And you don't know what
our
club is about,” Rosie replied. “There's Sophie and Cassie and me, so far.”

“Come
on
. We'll never get anywhere if we don't get this started,” Simon complained.

“BOING-BOING!” Og twanged.

“I know,” I squeaked back. “Rosie was upset when Kelsey and Phoebe wouldn't let her in the club, so she made up her own. But none of them are acting very nice.”

I glanced around the room. The Artists seemed to be a lot happier than the Builders.

Just-Joey seemed to be the happiest of all.

“I'm going to make a lion, because that's my favorite animal,” he said.

“That's good,” Small-Paul said. “The Egyptians decorated a lot of things with animals.”

“I'm sure glad I'm an Artist then,” Joey said. “Because I like animals a
lot.
I think they're more interesting than people.”

“Oh, no!” I squeaked loudly. “Humans are incredibly interesting!”

“Well, I want to put flowers on my jar,” Sophie said.

“Flowers
?
” Small-Paul replied. “I don't think the Egyptians did that.”

Suddenly, I heard a lot of laughing and looked over at the Scribes.

“I've got another one,” I heard Thomas say. “What did the pyramid say to the baby pyramid
?
”

“What
?
” Cassie asked.

“How's your mummy
?
”

Everyone laughed again, including me.

“How about this one
?
Why are mummies good at their jobs
?
Because they get wrapped up in their work!” Thomas said.

That got an even bigger laugh.

“Where did you learn all these mummy jokes
?
” Daniel asked.

“In a joke book. I love joke books,” Thomas said. “I love all kinds of books.”

“So do I,” Daniel said. “Can I look at yours
?
”

“Sure,” Thomas said. “Hey, here's another one: What do you call a mummy who eats cookies in bed
?
”

“I know that one,” Daniel replied. “A crummy mummy!”

Mrs. Brisbane came over to remind them to work on their hieroglyphics.

When she turned away, I saw Phoebe look over at Kelsey. She waved her right hand, wiggled her fingers and winked.

“What was that, Phoebe
?
” Mrs. Brisbane asked.

I guess she saw her out of the corner of her eye.

Phoebe swallowed hard. “I was waving to Kelsey.”

“That's a funny way to wave,” Mrs. Brisbane said, but she didn't say anything more.

She continued on to the Artists' group. “You're making a lot of progress,” she said. “I can already tell that's a lion you're making, Joey.”

“Do you like my flowers, Mrs. Brisbane
?
” Sophie asked. “I'm going to make them all different colors.”

“I do, Sophie,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “But I'm not sure if the ancient Egyptians actually put flowers on their jars. Joey, why don't you go ask Mr. Fitch if he has more books with pictures of ancient Egyptian jars
?
Or something to show what kind of animals they had in Egypt back then.”

Joey looked surprised. “He'd have a book like that
?
”

“I think so,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “Just ask him.”

Joey actually looked happy as he headed out the door.

He looked even happier when he came back with a BIG-BIG-BIG book.

“Wait till you see,” he told the other Artists. “Falcons and baboons and
jackals
!”

He pointed to pictures in the books while Sophie and Small-Paul leaned in around him.

I was glad there was at least one book Joey liked.

But I still wanted to find him a book with a story in it that he liked.

One that wasn't about Robot the Rabbit.

“We should have a meeting for our secret club,” Rosie told Sophie and Cassie when they came back from lunch. “Here's the sign for when we want to have a meeting.”

Then Rosie tapped the top of her head three times.

Sophie and Cassie giggled and tapped their heads three times.

Tall-Paul was listening to them talking, and soon I heard him ask Small-Paul if he wanted to start a secret club.

“We could make up a code and a secret signal. We could even make it Egyptian,” Tall-Paul explained. “Maybe Felipe could be in it, too.”

“Great idea! But we need a name,” Small-Paul said. “How about the Flying Pharaohs
?
”

Tall-Paul nodded and the two boys huddled together, so I couldn't hear any more.

“What's going on
?
” Thomas asked as he headed toward his table.

Tall-Paul and Small-Paul looked at each other, then looked at Thomas.

“Nothing,” Tall-Paul said.

“Nothing,” Small-Paul said.

Luckily, just then Mrs. Brisbane told everyone to take a seat so she could give out the homework assignment.

I was unsqueakably surprised when I heard what it was.

The homework was a riddle, but this riddle wasn't about a mummy.

It was about the Sphinx.

I loved learning about the pyramids with their treasures inside. I thought the mummy jokes were funny. And I loved pictures of the graceful boats that sailed down the Nile.