Imagination According to Humphrey

by Betty G. Birney

  “Pet-O-Rama,” Gigi replied.

  That word made my whiskers wiggle. “Pet-O-Rama?” I squeaked. “I came from Pet-O-Rama, too! Say, does Carl still work there?”

  “He sure does,” Gigi said. “I kind of miss him.”

  “Being a classroom pet is a lot more fun than living in a pet store,” I said. “You’ll see.”

  The room was getting light. It was time for me to leave.

  “Next time, I won’t come so late,” I told Gigi.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Please come back again.”

  “I will!” I said as I scurried away.

  As I slid under the door, I heard Gigi say, “I’m sorry I thought you were a monster!”

  “I’m sorry I scared you!” I squeaked.

  Once I was back in Room 26, I raced for the cord of the blinds and swung up again.

  “She thought I was a monster,” I told Og as I slid past his cage. “Imagine that!”

  But by the time my friends started streaming into Room 26, I was sound asleep.

  Because hamsters often enjoy sleeping during the day.

  MY WRITER’S RAMBLINGS

  I finally got an idea!

  I really hoped I would.

  But I still have a question:

  Is it any good?

  Ideas Fly

  I was wide-awake again by the time Mrs. Brisbane started to read the dragon book. The author, Cameron Cole, had invented the most clever dragon world. It was close to the human world, but we kept hearing about details that were lots more dragon-ish!

  Think of this: they didn’t need a grill to have a barbecue. Their tissues were made out of foil so they wouldn’t catch fire when they sneezed. And since they could make it rain, they had a special group of fire-fighting dragons to put out accidental blazes.

  Gil enjoyed his tour of their cloud. But one thing bothered him a lot: how could a young knight like him help his new dragon friends?

  Everybody groaned when she closed the book.

  Helpful-Holly raised her hand. “Mrs. Brisbane, how do you think Cameron Cole got all those wonderful ideas?”

  “He must have used his imagination a lot,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “How do you think the author came up with those ideas, class?”

  “He had a gigantic brainstorm—like a hurricane!” Simon said. “Or a brain-icane!”

  My friends giggled.

  “Maybe he saw a real dragon,” Cassie said. I could tell she still wasn’t sure whether dragons were real or not.

  “Maybe he saw a bearded dragon like Pearl,” Nicole said.

  “Maybe he dreamed he had birds’ wings,” Rolling-Rosie said. “Like I do.”

  “Perhaps he did.” Mrs. Brisbane glanced at the clock. “I think this is a good time to get out your writers’ notebooks, class.”

  I was unsqueakably curious to find out what my friends had written.

  “Mrs. Brisbane, is it okay if I changed my mind?” Thomas said. “I was going to fly to Egypt to see the pyramids. But then I had a better idea!”

  I wished I had as many ideas as Thomas did.

  “We’re not that far along,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “I suppose so. Would you share what you wrote with us?”

  Thomas read from his notebook. “If I could fly like an eagle, I could go to any football game I wanted to see. I’d swoop over the stadium, following every play. I could watch one game and fly straight to another game and see it, too.”

  Somebody said, “Cool!” I think it was Simon.

  I have never been to a football game, but I have seen them on TV at my friends’ houses.

  It’s such a confusing game! Maybe if I had wings, I could hover over the field and figure it out.

  “What if it rains?” Tall-Paul asked.

  Thomas thought for a second. Then he grinned. “I’d have waterproof feathers.”

  “Thank you, Thomas,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “Why don’t you add the part about the waterproof feathers?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Thomas answered.

  I climbed up to the tippy top of my cage so I could see all my classmates as they read their paragraphs. It was FUN-FUN-FUN to hear about Rosie flying to the pyramids and seeing that big scary statue called the Sphinx!

  I was HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY to hear about all the places Kelsey would go to watch the ballet.

  And my heart did a little flip-flop when Holly read about how easy it would be to visit her friend Phoebe.

  Mrs. Brisbane called on Joey.

  “Mine’s kind of short,” he said.

  She told him to go ahead and read it.

  “If I could fly, I’d go to Africa so I could see animals in the wild.” Joey looked up. “That’s it.”

  “It’s a good beginning,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “Next, why don’t you name some of the animals you’d most love to see and why you like them?”

  Joey looked relieved. “Okay.”

  My whiskers were wiggling when Mrs. Brisbane called on Do-It-Now-Daniel. For one thing, he doesn’t always get his homework done on time. And for another thing, I’m not sure our teacher liked it when he said he wanted to fly back home and go to bed.

  So I was HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY to learn that he had done his homework and he’d changed his topic.

  “If I could fly like a helicopter, I’d go see my favorite author,” Daniel read. “His name is D. D. Denby and his books about a magic backpack are really great. I hope he keeps writing them, because I would never get tired of reading more.”

  “That’s a good start, Daniel,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “I’ll bet you said you wanted to fly home and go back to bed because you wanted to finish a magic backpack book.”

  Daniel grinned and nodded.

  “Tomorrow, I want you to add a descriptive word in front of your noun,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “If you said ‘bird,’ put in a word that describes a bird. Can anyone think of one?”

  A few hands went up.

  “Graceful bird,” Rosie said.

  Felipe said, “Huge bird?”

  Cassie said, “Beautiful bird.”

  “Mean bird,” Simon suggested.

  Mrs. Brisbane said they were all good. I liked them, too, except for the mean bird.

  “Use your imaginations and be as descriptive as you can,” she added.

  Mrs. Brisbane moved on to science and something called gravity. I didn’t understand it all, but if we didn’t have it, we’d all be floating in space. I guess that would be a little bit like flying.

  I decided to take a spin on my hamster wheel. I was HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY that gravity kept me from floating away.

  After lunch, Sophie came into the room first and headed straight for my cage.

  “Humphrey, did you hear me reading about going to the Island of the Parrots and talking with them? Have you ever met a parrot? Do you like parrots? Oh . . . I wish you could talk about them with me!”

  “Me too!” I squeaked, but I knew she didn’t understand me.

  I have to admit, I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with Sophie, because she talks so much and she talks so fast!

  There’s not a lot of time between the end of the school day and when Aldo comes to clean, but I really wanted to see Gigi before she went to sleep, so I took a chance.

  When the school was empty, I jiggled my lock-that-doesn’t-lock and it swung open as usual.

  “Og, I’m going to visit Gigi,” I said. “But I promise I’ll be back before Aldo comes in to clean.”

  “BOING!” Og hopped up and down.

  I know he worries about me when I’m out of the cage.

  I’m glad he worries about me. To squeak the truth, I worry about him, too.

  I scrunched under the door and hurried as fast as I could to Room 12.

  “Hi, Gigi,” I said as I pushed under the door. “Are you
awake?”

  “Oh, yes, Humphrey,” Gigi said in her soft voice. “I don’t think I’ll sleep at all tonight.”

  “Why not?” I asked. “Wait, I’m coming up there.”

  I grabbed onto the blinds’ cord and swung my way up to the table and made the big leap.

  I slid right past Gigi’s cage! “Whoa! Sorry,” I said as I scrambled back. “Don’t worry—it happens sometimes. Now, what’s this about not sleeping?”

  Gigi shivered. “I’m scared, Humphrey.”

  “What are you scared of?” I asked.

  Gigi moved closer to where I was standing. “Ms. Mac said I have to go home with one of the students this weekend.” She stopped shivering and started shaking.

  “That will be fun!” I squeaked. “I love going home with my classmates.”

  Really, that’s the best part about being a classroom pet.

  “It sounds scary to me,” Gigi said. “Humans are so large and so loud and so different. And what am I supposed to do?”

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” I told her. “The humans are nice and they’ll love you. Of course, if you entertain them a little with squeaks and tricks, it makes them happy.”

  “Oh.” Gigi sighed. “I don’t know any tricks.”

  “That’s all right,” I assured her. “They’ll think anything you do is a trick. Listen, don’t be frightened. I’ve been to many human homes and I’ve always had a GREAT-GREAT-GREAT time.”

  Gigi shivered again.

  “If you feel scared, remember that your friend Humphrey says everything will be all right!” I tried to sound encouraging.

  Suddenly I noticed the time.

  “Uh-oh! I have to get back to my cage before Aldo comes in to clean,” I said as I slid down the table leg. “Remember what I said!”

  “Thanks, Humphrey. I’ll try!” Gigi squeaked back.

  After Aldo had cleaned the room, Og and I were alone again.

  “Gigi’s worried about going home with a student,” I told him.

  “BOING-BOING-BOING!” he twanged.

  I was sorry I’d said it, because Og doesn’t get to go home with classmates on the weekend the way I do. (Frogs can go without food longer than hamsters.)

  But Og has gone with me to Mrs. Brisbane’s house, which is something we both LOVE-LOVE-LOVE.

  “I think she’ll be all right,” I told Og.

  He didn’t answer back.

  I opened my notebook and read what I’d written the night before.

  “If I could fly, I’d fly like a flying squirrel all over the world,” I read.

  “BOING!” Og said.

  Eeek! I hadn’t realized I was reading out loud.

  “Do you like it?” I asked.

  All I heard was Og splashing around in his tank.

  “I don’t think I like it, either,” I muttered.

  Was it as interesting as Daniel’s helicopter trip to see his favorite author?

  Or Rosie, flying like a bird to see the Sphinx?

  Or Simon, breathing fire on a pizza in Italy?

  Did my big brainstorm turn out to be drizzle?

  I sighed and read it again.

  And after a while, I picked up my pencil and added one word. I put “speedy” in front of “flying squirrel.”

  MY WRITER’S RAMBLINGS

  I liked my idea last night.

  I liked it quite a bit.

  But when I read it back tonight,

  I’m not so sure of it!

  Bear? Where?

  The next day, as Mrs. Brisbane read about the war of the dragons—yes, they now were at war—I thought about what a great imagination Cameron Cole had.

  And when my friends shared their paragraphs, which were getting longer, I thought about what great imaginations they had.

  Small-Paul had such a big imagination that he changed his space shuttle into a time travel machine that would take him into the future.

  “It’s possible, you know,” he said. “Einstein said that. He was a great scientist with a huge brain.”

  “And lots of hair!” Thomas said.

  Einstein may have had a huge brain, but Small-Paul was a very smart human with a huge imagination. Imagine—traveling to the future!

  “Did you hear that?” I squeaked to Og. “Instead of being here today, we’d be here next week!”

  “If I could travel to the future, the math test would already be over,” Daniel said.

  Everyone laughed about that.

  “I think you’d better study anyway,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “In case time travel doesn’t work.”

  While my friends dreamed of flying to Italy, football games and even the future, I was stuck with a silly idea about a flying squirrel.

  I was so busy worrying about my imagination, I didn’t even remember that it was Friday and that I’d be going home with one of my classmates.

  Near the end of the day, Mrs. Brisbane reminded me.

  “Felipe?” she said. “Are you all set to take Humphrey home?”

  “Yes!” Felipe answered with a big smile.

  When the bell rang, he hurried over to the table. “My dad will be here any minute,” he said. “He’s home today because he’s working tonight.”

  “Just like Aldo!” I squeaked.

  I was looking forward to meeting Mr. Garcia. It turned out that he was actually Dr. Garcia! He soon arrived and helped carry my cage and food out to the car. Felipe’s little brother was there, too. His name was Carlos.

  “Bye, Og! Have a good weekend!” I shouted to my friend as we left Room 26.

  I don’t know if he could hear me, because Mrs. Brisbane had put a cloth over my cage. It was chilly outside.

  It was nice and warm in Felipe’s house, though.

  Felipe put my cage in the room he shared with Carlos.

  They had interesting beds that were stacked on top of each other. There was a little ladder so that someone could get to the bed on top. It reminded me of the little ladder in my cage!

  “I have the top bunk,” Felipe said.

  “When I’m bigger, I get the top bunk,” Carlos said.

  “Now, remember,” Felipe told his brother, “I’m supposed to take care of Humphrey. So don’t open his cage or touch him or put anything in his cage, okay? Hamsters need to be treated well.”

  “THANKS-THANKS-THANKS!” I squeaked, and Carlos giggled.

  “Can I look at him?” Carlos asked.

  Felipe nodded.

  “Can I talk to him?”

  “Yes, you can talk to him, but that’s all,” Felipe said.

  “Okay,” Carlos replied.

  Carlos looked a little disappointed, so I climbed up my little ladder to the top of my tree branch.

  “Look!” Carlos said.

  Then I leaped from my tree branch to the side of the cage.

  Carlos jumped up and down and squealed.

  When I scurried down the side of my cage and dropped to the floor, Carlos jumped up and down and giggled. He sure liked to jump!

  Since he was enjoying the show, I hopped on my wheel and began to spin.

  Carlos jumped up and down and clapped.

  “Don’t do anything to scare him,” Felipe said.

  But I wasn’t scared at all!

  Later, Felipe’s mom came home and his dad went to work at the hospital.

  Felipe and Carlos went to talk to their mom and left me alone in his room.

  After a while, Carlos came back to see me.

  “Hi, Humphy,” he said.

  He didn’t say my name correctly, but I didn’t mind. After all, he was pretty young.

  “Here’s my friend Bear,” he continued. “Bear, say hi to Humphy.”

  I know that a bear is a huge, furry wild animal with large teeth.
But I didn’t see a bear in the room. In fact, I didn’t see anyone except for Carlos.

  Carlos looked up.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Then he paused. “Oh, he’s a hamster,” he said to the air. “That’s kind of like a mouse.”

  I don’t think a hamster is very much like a mouse, but I didn’t argue.

  Carlos paused as if he were listening to someone. But I didn’t see anyone or hear anything.

  Carlos nodded. “Bear says you’re really cute,” he told me. “He wishes he had a hamster like you.”

  I scrambled up to the tippy top of my cage and looked down, in case Bear was lying on the floor. I still didn’t see anyone but Carlos.

  Did I need glasses? Do they even make glasses for hamsters?

  Carlos looked up and chuckled. “That’s funny! Humphy, Bear made a joke. He said you’re furry cute. Get it? Like very cute. Furry cute!”

  It was funny, but I didn’t laugh, because I was trying to figure out where Bear was.

  “Bear makes a lot of jokes,” Carlos said.

  “Great!” I squeaked. “But where is he?”

  Carlos giggled. “Did you hear him, Bear? He’s talking.”

  And so it went.

  Bear told jokes and Carlos laughed.

  Then Carlos whispered something to Bear and burst out laughing.

  It would have been a lot of fun except for one thing: there was no Bear . . . not anywhere I could see!

  Then I had an idea. Maybe Bear was invisible, like a ghost. I don’t even want to think about ghosts!

  I raced into my sleeping hut.

  Later, Mrs. Garcia put Carlos to bed first.

  “Good night, Mama,” Carlos said. “Will you say good night to Bear, too?”

  His mother smiled. “Where is he?”

  Good question!

  “He’s right here, next to me,” Carlos said. “He likes it better here than his cave.”

  Carlos tugged at the blanket. “Don’t hog the covers, Bear,” he said.

  Mrs. Garcia smiled. “Good night, Bear.”

  She turned down the lights and left the room. I stayed in my sleeping hut and kept my eyes on Carlos’s bed, in case Bear was a ghost.

  A little later, Felipe climbed the ladder to the top bunk.