Imagination According to Humphrey (6 page)

Soon, I was scurrying down the hallway again.

All the rumbling, crashing and flashes of light made my whiskers wiggle, but I didn't turn back.

Once I was in Room 12, I raced toward Gigi's cage. I figured she wasn't sleeping this time!

“Gigi!” I squeaked at the top of my lungs, but there was a huge crash that rattled the windows and I don't think she heard me.

So I grabbed the cord and swung UP-UP-UP and leaped onto the table.

“Gigi, it's all right,” I said. “It's a thunderstorm. It's part of nature, like we are!”

My friend was huddling in the corner. I think she was shaking.

“Don't be afraid,” I said, even though the thunder made my small ears throb. “It won't last long. And it won't hurt you.”

“Are you sure
?
” she softly squeaked.

“Pretty sure,” I replied. After all, I had to be honest. “I'll stay here with you until it goes away.”

It wasn't long before the crashes sounded farther away and the flashes of light weren't as bright.

“See
?
” I said. “It's moving on.”

The rain continued, but after a few minutes, there was no more thunder and lightning.

“Thanks for staying with me,” Gigi said. “You're a good friend.”

“Anytime, Gigi,” I answered. “You're a good friend, too. But I'd better see how Og is doing.”

“I hope to meet him someday. Tell him I said hello.”

“I'll do it!” I said as I slid down the table leg and headed back to Room 26.

“Og, are you all right
?
” I asked when I got back to our table.

I guess he was, because he was swimming around in the water side of his tank.

“Gigi said to tell you hello,” I told him. “And she hopes to meet you someday.”

Just then, Og leaped up out of the water and said, “BOING!”

I guess he wanted to meet Gigi, too. But how could a frog in a tank and a guinea pig with a lock-that-does-lock ever come face-to-face
?

I rested for a while, and after a snack and a nice drink of water, I opened my notebook again.

That thunderstorm had really rattled my brain. In fact, I'd felt like the thunderstorm was
in
my brain, like a brainstorm!

And a brainstorm was just what I needed.

Mrs. Brisbane had said to write about things we like to do. She also said to write down any idea that came into our heads without stopping.

So I wrote this down:

Things I Like to Do:

I took a deep breath, and then there was a rumbling in my brain. Under that heading, I wrote:

Be a classroom pet

Help my friends with their problems

Go to my friends' houses

Go to all kinds of interesting new places

Help my teacher with her problems

Have adventures outside of my cage

Meet new friends

Try new things

Visit old friends, like Phoebe

Help everybody with their problems

My paw was getting tired, so I stopped and read what I'd written. It was pretty clear that I liked to have adventures and help my friends. If I could combine those two things, I'd be unsqueakably happy.

“Og, I think I had a brainstorm,” I squeaked. “Or at least a brainshower.”

“BOING-BOING!” Og sounded cheerful.

“And a brainshower is a start,” I added.

MY WRITER'S RAMBLINGS
At first there was some drizzle,
and then a lot of rain.
Then finally I had it:
a big storm in my brain!

Little House in Sophie's Room

H
umphrey, I hope you can come home with me this weekend,” Sophie told me on Tuesday morning. “Because you've never been to my house and it would be so much fun to have you there and I'd take really good care of you.”

Sophie paused. Once she gets started talking, she hardly ever pauses.

“Of course, there's
Timothy,
” she said.

“Oh,” I squeaked. “Who is Timothy
?
” I wondered if Timothy was an imaginary bear.

“But we'll have fun anyway,” she said. “I promise you! I have so many things to show you—my room, my family, my games, my panda . . .”

Sometimes, I stare at Sophie's mouth because it moves and moves and moves. Really, I don't know how she can talk like that.

I guess Joey doesn't know, either, because he walked by while Sophie was talking.

“What's going on
?
” he said.

“What do you mean
?
” Sophie asked.

“Why are talking so much to Humphrey
?
” Joey said.

“Because . . .” Sophie replied. “Because I hope he's coming home with me this weekend. It's my turn!”

Joey scratched his head. “I wish he could come home with me. I've never had him at my house. Either my mom is too busy or my dad is coming to visit. He lives out of town and I don't see him a lot.”

“I know!” I squeaked.

Just then, Mrs. Brisbane asked everyone to sit down. Joey moved on, but Sophie kept talking to me.

“I'll clean your cage and give you treats!” Sophie continued. “I'll tell you all about the dream I had. And I'll tell you . . .” Sophie stopped talking because Mrs. Brisbane came right up to her and told her it was time to sit down.

Sophie looked so downcast, for a second I wasn't very happy with Mrs. Brisbane. I knew she had to start class again, but Sophie lights up when she's talking.

But I have to admit, she talks a TINY-TINY-TINY bit too much.

I wonder why
?

I didn't have too much time to think about Sophie, because we talked about our assignment on
homonyms
or
honomyns
or
homynomynyms.
My friends had come up with all kinds of funny combinations.

Harry wrote a sentence about a
pale pail.

Nicole wrote about a hairless bear: a
bare bear.
(Of course, the thought of Carlos's imaginary Bear still made me shiver.)

Thomas had this sentence: “The football player was injured and had to
heal
his
heel.
”

Kelsey had almost the same sentence, but hers was about a ballet dancer.

“I
see
the
sea,
” Cassie read.

“
Rows
of
roses
rose
from the ground,” Tall-Paul said.How clever to come up with one word with three meanings!

Joey's was simple, but also clever. “Number
one won
the game.”

I didn't have a chance to read mine out loud, of course. But I had one: “I had
pain
in my paw when I broke the window
pane.
” I was proud of that!

During the week, I kept working on my idea in my little notebook.

I'd written about how I like to help my human friends. So even though the weather was calm, I tried to brainstorm about how I'd like to help my friends.

— 
Help Holly visit Phoebe

— 
Help Mrs. Brisbane visit her son Jason in Japan

— 
Help Joey see more of his dad

— 
Help Cassie go to the ocean

— 
Help Sophie go to the parrot island

— 
Help Simon go to Italy

— 
Help Kelsey go to the ballet

As you can see, it was a LONG-LONG-LONG list!

On Friday morning, Sophie handed Mrs. Brisbane a piece of paper. “Here's my permission slip! I was really worried that my parents would say no, because they're so busy, but I promised them I'd do all the work and there wouldn't be any mess or any noise.”

I was pretty sure I knew what that permission slip was all about. And I vowed that I'd do my part to make sure she kept that promise.

For the rest of the day, Sophie kept glancing over at my cage.

While my friends were working on their vocabulary words and math problems, she sneaked peeks at me. Once she even waved. (Luckily, Mrs. Brisbane didn't notice.)

When the rest of the class—including me—was listening to an amazing chapter from the dragon story, Sophie just stared at me.

Later, while the other students read from their writing journals, Sophie didn't pay a bit of attention. Instead, she was smiling at me.

Mrs. Brisbane had to call her name three times when it was her turn to read her work. I knew our teacher was annoyed, but after she heard Sophie's paragraph about flying like a parrot to join other parrots on an island, she said, “Excellent work.”

That made me smile, even though the idea of being alone on an island with large and noisy birds is not my idea of fun!

“Oh, Humphrey, we're going to have so much fun,” Sophie said after school as Mrs. Brisbane helped her carry my cage and other important items such as my Nutri-Nibbles and Mighty Mealworms.

“I'm sure we will!” I squeaked.

I only wished I didn't have to leave Og behind.

“BOING-BOING!” he called as I was carried out of Room 26.

“I'll be back soon,” I called back.

Usually a parent or grandparent comes to pick me up. Sometimes I take the bus (which is noisy and bumpy).

But this day, the parent of another student picked us up.

His first name was Carter. His last name was George. So he really had two first names. Or two last names. He wasn't a student in Room 26, but he lived next door to Sophie.

Of course, I couldn't see Carter or his mom, because Mrs. Brisbane had put a cloth over my cage to keep me warm. It was COLD-COLD-COLD outside.

“I get to have Humphrey all to myself,” Sophie told her friend.

“Can I see him
?
” Carter picked up a corner of the cloth and peeked at me. I still couldn't see him. All I could see was a giant eye. It was a friendly giant eye, though.

“I sure wish I had a hamster,” he said. “Or a classroom hamster. Our room is really boring.”

I can't imagine a classroom
without
a pet! Even a frog like Og would be more fun than not having a pet at all.

When we got to her house, Sophie's mom opened the door and whispered, “Come on in, but please be quiet.”

Sophie set my cage on a table in the living room and took the cloth off.

“Come see him, Mom,” she said. “Isn't he cute
?
”

“Shhh,” Mrs. Kaminski said softly.

I looked up at Sophie's mom. She was holding a rolled-up blanket.

“Hello,” I squeaked softly.

“Isn't he cute
?
” Sophie whispered. “I'm going to clean his cage and feed him and give him fresh water and . . .”

“Sweetie, tell me later,” Mrs. Kaminski whispered.

Sophie kneeled next to the low table so her face was on the same level as mine. “Welcome to my house, Humphrey,” she said. “I'm so happy you're going to stay here.”

“Me too!” I squeaked.

Sophie stood up. “Mom, Mrs. Brisbane really liked my paragraph. She said it was excellent!”

Suddenly, the blanket made a very loud noise. “Waaah! Waaah!”

It was so loud, my whiskers wiggled and my ears shook.

Mrs. Kaminski sighed. “Oh, no.” She jiggled the blanket. “It's all right, baby.” She made funny clicking sounds with her tongue and asked Sophie to take me to her room.

“Okay,” Sophie said, but she didn't sound happy.

She put my cage on a small table right next to her bed. “Welcome to my room,” she said. “Don't worry. Timothy has his own room.”

Even so, I could still hear him wailing.