Winter According to Humphrey (9781101591222) (7 page)

“Eeek—it's Aldo!” I scrambled back to my cage and pull the door behind me.

I like Aldo, but I don't want him to find me outside of my cage. A hamster has to have some secrets.

“Greetings, my friends,” he said as he turned on the lights.

He pulled his cart into the room and then came over to our table. “How's my favorite hamster and favorite frog tonight
?
”

“FINE-FINE-FINE,” I answered.

Og hopped up and down. “BOING-BOING!”

“What's this
?
” Aldo asked as he picked up the dreidel. “Oh, I know. Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,” he sang with a smile. “I'd better put this in a safe spot.”

He took the dreidel to Mrs. Brisbane's desk, which is a very safe spot.

But before he went to work, he gave the dreidel a good spin. It was such a good spin, it spun right off the desk and landed on the floor.

I was glad that it hadn't spun onto the floor when I was hanging on to it!

Aldo chuckled and put the dreidel back on the desk.

Later, after Aldo was gone, I looked over at the dreidel.

I love spinning, but I decided to leave it alone for the rest of the night.

On quiet nights in Room 26, I have a lot of time to think. That night, I thought about what all my friends had shared earlier in the day. I thought Mrs. Brisbane was right when she said the holidays were all about family.

But then I had a truly terrible thought.

I jiggled the lock-that-doesn't-lock on my cage and hurried over to Og's tank.

“Og!” I squeaked. “Remember all those things they said in class about families
?
”

“BOING-BOING!” he replied.

“But what about us
?
” I asked. “I don't have a family. I mean, I used to, but I hardly remember them.”

I must admit, I do remember the wonderful smell of my mom. And I remember quite a few tiny brothers and sisters. But that's about it.

“BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og twanged in his weird way.

“Oh, no!” I said. It just slipped out. But I suddenly remembered a lesson on frogs we had long ago, when Og first came to Room 26.

As it turns out, frogs are amphibians. They come out of eggs! So Og probably didn't remember his mom at all. I wondered if he remembered his egg.

Not only that, frogs come out as little tadpoles. They aren't even frogs yet.

I wondered if he remembered being a tadpole.

I stared through the glass at my neighbor, with his green skin, his huge mouth and his googly eyes.

“BOING!” he repeated.

“I know, Og,” I said. “It's okay. I'm sure we'll spend the holiday . . . well, I don't know where, but with some family.”

He began to splash around in his water.

“Besides,” I squeaked softly, “I kind of think that maybe, well, you and I are like a family. Because we live together and we share what goes on here. What do you think
?
”

Og splashed and splashed and splashed some more.

His splashing made me feel a lot better. It turns out that having a frog in the family is a GREAT-GREAT-GREAT idea!

HUMPHREY'S WINTER WONDERINGS:
I wonder if my family ever wonders what happened to me, because sometimes I wonder what happened to them.

8

Sad Lad, Glad Dad

T
he next day, after our morning math and vocabulary, Ms. Lark came back to help our class rehearse for the Winter Wonderland program.

First, the girls practiced their snowflake song. They were getting better and better.

Then the boys sang “Jingle Bells.” They sounded good! Maybe it was because Joey wasn't singing along. He kept his mouth firmly closed.

“You know, Joey, I miss hearing your voice,” Ms. Lark said when the song had finished. “Please join in with the others.”

“That's okay,” Just-Joey said.

“Well, I want you to,” Ms. Lark told him.

“So do I,” Mrs. Brisbane said, smiling brightly at Joey.

I was smiling, too. At least I was smiling inside.

The boys sang “Jingle Bells” again. Joey sang along—in a softer voice—but I have to admit, he did sound a little bit like a frog.

Next, Ms. Lark talked about the costumes.

And what costumes they would be!

The girls would wear white shirts. Then they were going to make big snowflakes to wear on their backs and smaller ones to wear on their wrists. They'd be shiny and glittery and the girls would spin around like falling snowflakes.

The thought of all that spinning made me head straight for my wheel. After all, spinning is something I'm VERY-VERY-VERY good at.

The boys were going to make tails to wear and they'd have bells that would jingle and jangle as they pranced around like horses.

I hopped off my wheel and tried prancing. I'm not sure I looked like a horse, though.

My classmates were as excited as I was about the costumes, and after Ms. Lark left, Mrs. Brisbane had a little trouble getting them to settle down.

But Mrs. Brisbane is such a good teacher, she knew exactly what to do.

She started talking about snowflakes again, and this time, she told us there are seven different types of snowflakes. She showed pictures of interesting shapes and patterns and then my friends got to draw their own snowflakes.

“Og, don't you think snowflakes are beautiful
?
” I squeaked to my neighbor as the class was busily drawing.

“BOING!” he replied. He dived into the water side of his tank and splashed like crazy.

The bell for lunch break rang and most of my friends hurried out of the classroom.

All except Hurry-Up-Harry. He came over to my cage and said, “Hey, Humphrey, I've got a song for you!” Then he sang, “Jingle bells, your feet smell . . .”

“Hurry-Up-Harry! We've got to get to lunch,” Slow-Down-Simon shouted.

“See you later, Humphrey,” Harry said.

After he left, I sniffed my paws. Harry was right. My paws smelled like strawberries and carrots and my favorite Nutri-Nibbles. I think they smelled hamster-licious.

When I woke up a little later, I heard a voice say, “Are you in there, Humphrey
?
I can't see you.”

I poked my head out of the sleeping hut, but all I could see was a gigantic eyeball!

I didn't dare leave my little house with a thing like that outside.

But then the eye blinked and then a face moved and I could see that the eyeball belonged to Just-Joey.

I scurried out to show him I was there after all.

“Hi, Joey!” I squeaked.

“Oh, there you are,” Joey said. “Mrs. Brisbane said I could give you some fresh water.”

A giant hand reached in the cage and removed my water bottle. “I'll be right back.”

It's a little disturbing when someone removes my water bottle, but so far, no one has ever forgotten to bring it back, not even Forgetful-Phoebe.

Sure enough, Joey quickly returned and put it back in place.

“Here you go, Humphrey,” he said. “It's raining, so we couldn't go out for recess.”

I looked out of my cage and saw that the rest of the class was busy drawing and cutting things out and talking to each other.

“Mrs. Brisbane said we could work on our costumes for the Winter Wonderland show.” Joey sighed. “I wish there wouldn't even be a Winter Wonderland show.”

I wiggled my nose. Did he mean that
?

“What's the point
?
I can't even sing because my voice is so bad,” he said.

“It's not that bad,” I squeaked, but Joey didn't understand.

“Just as well,” he said. “My dad doesn't think he's going to be able to come. He lives far away, and he doesn't know if he can get off work on time. And the roads will be bad if it snows.”

“Eeek!” I squeaked. I knew that Joey wished he could see his father more.

“Come on, Joey. We've got to work on our tails,” Thomas said.

When the break was over, Mrs. Brisbane made my classmates put away their costume pieces and talk about science again.

“It's too bad it's raining and not snowing,” she said. “Then we could go out and gather snowflakes and study them.”

“Wouldn't they melt right away
?
” Sophie asked.

“Yes, but I have an idea about that. We would have to look at them quickly,” Mrs. Brisbane said.

She went on to explain how snow actually helps crops grow by protecting them from the cold.

It was interesting, but for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about how the Winter Wonderland program was making everybody feel GOOD-GOOD-GOOD except for Joey.

It was making him feel BAD-BAD-BAD.

When Og and I were alone after school, I was still thinking about the problem. “I think Joey sings fine, don't you
?
” I said.

“BOING!” Og replied.

“Not like a frog at all,” I said. Then I quickly added, “Not that there's anything wrong with the way a frog sings.”

Og dived into the water and splashed around.

A little later, Aldo came into the room to clean. He greeted us as usual, then went about his work, dusting and sweeping Room 26.

And, since Aldo is generally a happy human, he even sang a little song about a reindeer with a red nose.
That
would be something to see!

But he didn't talk until it was time for his dinner break.

Then he pulled a chair close to the table by the window where Og and I live and took out his paper bag.

“Well, fellows, the holidays are almost here,” he said.

“YES-YES-YES!” I squeaked.

Aldo took a tiny carrot out of his bag and pushed it through the bars of my cage. “Season's greetings,” he said.

I didn't say anything, because I was busy chewing my crunchy treat.

“I always love Christmas,” Aldo said. “But this year is a special one.” Aldo looked at us and smiled a big smile that made his furry mustache look like a half-moon on its side.

“You see, boys, I got some exciting news from Maria,” he said. “She's going to have a baby in the coming year. That means we're going to be a real family! I'm going to be a
dad
!”

Aldo's smile just grew and grew!

“That's wonderful!” I shouted, wishing with all my heart that he could understand me. “Isn't it, Og
?
”

My neighbor was strangely silent.

“Og, didn't you hear that
?
Aldo and Maria are having a baby!” I repeated.

I guess Og heard me that time because he suddenly leaped up and said, “BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!”

That made Aldo's smile even bigger and he let out a loud laugh. “Thank you, fellows,” he said. “Your congratulations are appreciated.”

Then Aldo took out a huge sandwich and began to eat.

I stopped eating and hid some of the carrot in my cheek pouch.

I wasn't in the mood to eat right then. I was too busy thinking about Aldo and Maria and their baby.

“Yep, next year this time, we'll be celebrating with our own baby,” Aldo said. “Isn't that amazing
?
”

I absolutely, pawsitively thought that it was!

I only wished that Joey could celebrate with his dad
this
year.

HUMPHREY'S WINTER WONDERINGS:
I wonder if Aldo's baby will have a mustache like his. If so, I hope it's
not
a girl!