Spring According to Humphrey (11 page)

I wondered whether he was ever coming back to Room 26. And if not, why hadn’t he at least said goodbye?

That night, I had a dream. I don’t remember it very clearly, but there was a large, soft, furry creature who smelled wonderful. And I was snuggled up against this creature, along with some other small bits of fur.

I felt so peaceful next to her. And I heard her say something to me.

‘Remember this,’ she squeaked. ‘No matter where you go, you’ll always be my special golden boy.’

I woke up with a start and squeaked, ‘Mother?’

The only answer was Og’s loud ‘BOING!’

‘Sorry,’ I told him. ‘I think I had a dream about my mother. And some brothers and sisters, too.’

‘BOING?’ Og replied.

I didn’t tell him the rest of my dream. After
all, he probably didn’t remember his mother and father at all.

And he was green … not a golden boy, like me.

13 Step Right Up!

‘Let’s get our act together,’ Mrs Brisbane said the next morning. ‘We need to make our final plan for Family Fun Night. Here is a list of what some of the other classes are doing.’

Then she read from a sheet of paper:

She stopped reading and looked up. ‘We need to tell Mrs Wright exactly what we’re doing.’

‘Eeek!’ I squeaked.

Was Ms Mac’s class really going to toss clowns? Wouldn’t rings for horses be large? And balloon animals were bound to pop and make a lot of noise.

I wasn’t the only one in Room 26 who was confused.

‘Are they really tossing clowns?’ Daniel asked.

Mrs Brisbane smiled. ‘No, of course not. They have a big board painted with clown faces. There are openings where the mouths are, and people throw bean bags to see if they can get them through the clowns’ mouths. No actual clowns will be harmed.’

My friends laughed and I was relieved, to say the least!

Helpful-Holly waved her hand. ‘What are horse rings?’ she asked.

‘They’re this big!’ Felipe held his arms wide apart.

‘No.’ Mrs Brisbane laughed. ‘It’s a ring-toss game. You have to throw the ring and get it around a horse’s neck.’

‘A real horse?’ Cassie looked VERY-VERY-VERY nervous.

‘No, I think they’re made of clay,’ Mrs Brisbane explained. ‘And it’s not quite as big as a real horse.’ Then she asked us if we were ready to go ahead with the maze and leapfrog games.

‘I guess so,’ Thomas said. ‘If we can’t do the tightrope walking.’

‘We could have a hamster toss,’ Nicole suggested.

Just-Joey raised his hand. ‘I liked the idea of a hamster obstacle course.’

Most of my friends nodded in agreement.

‘I liked the idea of the leapfrog game,’ Sophie said. ‘And of the adults competing against their kids.’

Most of my friends nodded in agreement.

‘BOING-BOING!’ Og said.

‘Very well,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘Simon’s
mother has kindly offered to head up a parents’ group to build what we need.’

‘She’s a really good artist,’ Simon said, and Mrs Brisbane nodded.

‘I’m sending a note home to your parents explaining the whole thing,’ she said. ‘Oh, and if your dad would like to juggle for us, Sophie, that would be wonderful. But no knives. I think Mrs Wright would faint.’

Sophie looked as proud as Simon did.

‘May I be the ringmistress?’ Rolling-Rosie asked.

‘Oh, I want to be a ringmaster, too!’ Felipe said.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘I’ll make up a list of jobs and then we’ll draw names for them. It’s a long evening, so we’ll need several ringmasters and other helpers.’

But will there be a job for Og and me?

Friday morning, Hurry-Up-Harry came into the room complaining. ‘It’s been raining cats and dogs for two days!’

‘Eeek!’ I squeaked, and glanced out the
window. I didn’t see any cats and dogs, thank goodness.

Mrs Brisbane reminded him that rain in the springtime is very good for green and growing things. ‘You know the saying: “April showers bring May flowers”.’

Harry groaned. ‘The way it’s raining, those flowers are going to drown.’

It was still raining when Simon’s mum came to pick us up.

I hadn’t gone home with Slow-Down-Simon before, but I had been to his house. His older sister, Stop-Giggling-Gail, had been in last year’s class.

‘Slow down,’ Mrs Morgenstern said as her son rushed out of Room 26 with my cage. ‘Poor Humphrey will think he’s on a roller coaster.’

I’ve never been on a roller coaster, but it can’t be much worse than sliding around my cage like that!

Simon slowed down, but my tummy was still a bit queasy and uneasy.

Gail met us at the car. ‘Hi, Humphrey!’ she said. ‘Oh, I’ve missed you!’

‘I miss you and your classmates, too!’ I squeaked.

On the way home, Mrs Morgenstern explained that she had started on the signs for our booth. She said some of the other students and their parents were coming over to help out.

‘But it’s
raining
,’ Simon groaned.

Gail giggled. ‘They’re working out on the back veranda. It has a roof. Besides, it’s not going to rain forever.’

It was still raining on Saturday, but lots of people showed up to help. Of course, they were on the back veranda and I was in Simon’s room. I was still unsqueakably curious about what everyone was doing.

I dozed off after a while and was dreaming about my friends from Mrs Brisbane’s previous class. The dream was so clear, I could almost hear A. J.’s booming voice say, ‘Hi, Humphrey Dumpty!’ That was my first nickname, before the Humster.

I heard Gail giggling. Maybe this wasn’t a dream after all.

I opened my eyes and poked my head out of
my sleeping hut. And there they were: Garth and A. J., Heidi, Sayeh and Gail!

At the beginning of the school year, they used to stop by and say hello to Og and me. But as the year went on, I saw them less and less.

They all leaned down and smiled at me.

‘Come on out, Humphrey,’ Speak-Up-Sayeh said softly.

I raced out of my hut. ‘HI-HI-HI, old friends!’ I squeaked loudly.

Gail wasn’t the only one who giggled.

‘I remember when Ms Mac first adopted Humphrey and brought him to Room Twenty-six,’ Garth said.

Now I understood. I was adopted by nice people, just like Thomas!

‘I remember when Mrs Brisbane came back,’ Heidi said.

I remembered that really well because she wasn’t too sure about having a classroom hamster back then.

Gail and her friends settled in on the bed and chairs and talked about me.

‘My whole family loves Humphrey,’ Sayeh said. ‘He’s so funny!’

‘Mine, too,’ A. J. said. ‘We wanted to keep him.’

They all agreed that they’d like to have me as a family pet.

‘But Humphrey belongs to us all,’ Heidi said. ‘And the kids in Room Twenty-six now.’

‘Yeah! He has a really big family,’ Gail said. ‘All of us!’

Later in the afternoon, the parents took a break and came in to say hi to me.

Heidi’s mum, Mrs Hopper, said, ‘I understand our favourite hamster is here! Hi, Humphrey!’

‘Thanks,’ I said. I didn’t tell her she had purple paint on her cheek.

‘You’re going to love your booth,’ she added.

Sophie’s dad gave me a huge smile. ‘Poor Humphrey didn’t get much sleep at our house because baby Timothy was teething. He’ll have to come again.’

‘Anytime!’ I squeaked.

Garth rushed in to check on me. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked when he saw all the people gathered around.

‘We’re just visiting Humphrey Dumpty,’ A. J. said.

‘He has a new nickname now,’ Simon told A. J. ‘We call him the Humster!’

‘The Humster?’ A. J. thought for a few seconds. ‘I like it!’

I liked all of my nicknames and all the students and all the parents.

It’s nice to be in such a great, big family!

Late in the afternoon, everybody gathered in the kitchen. Luckily for me, Gail brought me along! Mrs Morgenstern announced, ‘We all did such a fabulous job today, we’re going to get cleaned up and go out for pizza. On Thursday morning, Daniel’s dad will bring a truck to pick up everything and take it to school so we can set up.’

‘Yay!’ Gail said. ‘Can Humphrey come for pizza, too?’

‘Very funny,’ her mum said.

I didn’t think it was funny at all. I would LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to go out for pizza – even pizza with mushrooms on it.

Once I was alone in the house, I started thinking about all the work they’d done on the booth. ‘
Your
booth,’ Heidi’s mum had said.

My curiosity grew and grew and grew some more.

I wasn’t sure what the back veranda looked like or where it was, but I decided to take a chance and find it.

I jiggled the lock-that-doesn’t-lock and scampered through the doorway. This room had a couch and TV and bookshelves.

It also had a big glass door. I was unsqueakably disappointed that it was the kind of door that slides, because it was impossible for me to crawl under it. But if I stood very tall on my tippy toes, I could see the back veranda.

And what I saw made my whiskers wiggle with excitement!

There were stacks of tall boxes painted bright colours and a very tall board painted with red and white stripes to look like a circus tent. A doorway was cut in the middle of the board, and over the opening, painted in big red letters was: