Mysteries According to Humphrey (8 page)

BOOK: Mysteries According to Humphrey
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It was quiet in the room now—so quiet, I could hear the big clock on the wall tick away the seconds.

TICK-TICK-TICK. TICK-TICK-TICK. I wished that clock would STOP-STOP-STOP because it reminded me of Phoebe's watch.

“Og, I sure wish I could find Phoebe's watch,” I squeaked to my friend.

Suddenly, Og wasn't quiet anymore.

“BOING-BOING-BOING!” he twanged.

“You're right,” I said. “I
should
find it.”

“BOING!”

“I
must
find it.”

“BOING-BOING!”

“I
will
find it!” I stomped my paw.

“BOING-BOING-TWANG!” Og splashed around in his water.

Now I just had to figure out
how
to do it.

 

HUMPHREY'S DETECTIONARY:
One mystery, like what happened to your teacher, can lead to another mystery, like why the substitute teacher isn't really teaching.

10

The Case of the Wandering Watch

W
hen Aldo looked around the room that night, he shook his head—again.

“What a wreck,” he said. “Room Twenty-six was always the neatest classroom in the whole school. Now it's the messiest.”

Once again, Mr. E. had not bothered to ask the students to clean up. In fact, when Helpful-Holly started to collect all the art supplies, he'd stopped her. “We have to use them tomorrow,” he'd said. “Just leave them out.”

Of course, they didn't have to leave paper scraps and glops of glue and piles of shiny glitter everywhere.

But Aldo went to work and soon the floor was clean, the art supplies were stacked and the student tables were straightened.

When Aldo sat down to eat dinner with us, he said, “Guys, I sure hope Mrs. Brisbane is back soon. I'll bet you do, too.”

“Do you think she'll be back, Aldo?” I squeaked. “Or will she become a famous ballet dancer?”

“I know you think she's not coming back, Humphrey, but she is,” Aldo assured me.

I was happy to hear that!

“But this messy room, that's nothing,” Aldo said. “You should see all the stuff kids leave lying around. I take it all to the lost and found. Coats, socks, even shoes. Wouldn't you notice you were missing one shoe? Jewelry and toys. Lots of notebooks and pencils. Why, once I even found a tuba! That's a huge musical instrument.” Aldo chuckled. “I can't imagine losing a tuba, but there it was. No name on it, either. I took it to the lost and found. I take everything to the lost and found.”

“Really? That gives me a GREAT-GREAT-GREAT idea!” I squeaked.

Personally, I keep a close eye on my property: my wheel, sleeping hut, hamster ball, water bottle, food dish, climbing tree and ladder. I know where everything in my cage belongs, including my poo—which is only in my special poo corner—and the food I hide in my bedding. And of course, I always make sure my notebook and pencil are in their place.

Aldo pushed a lovely bit of cauliflower through the bars of my cage. “Time to move on,” he said.

I watched out the window after he left, waiting for his car to leave the parking lot.

There was a big orange moon that looked a lot like a Halloween pumpkin. And the man in the moon looked like a jack-o'-lantern.

In the moonlight, I could see that the trees had lost most of their leaves. It was almost time for Halloween, all right.

Once Aldo was gone, I raced out of my cage.

“Og, Phoebe's watch must be in the lost and found,” I squeaked. “I'd like to go get it, but Thomas said there were claws and hands and snakes in there.”

“BOING-BOING!” Og replied.

“I know. Thomas does exaggerate sometimes. And Aldo didn't mention any of those things,” I said.

“BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!”

I don't really understand frog language, but I could tell what Og was trying to say.

“You're right,” I admitted. “I think I have to go.”

“BOING!”

“But first, I have to find Mrs. Wright's office, because that's where the lost and found is,” I explained.

Og dived down into his water with an impressive splash.

I scurried down the leg of the table and headed toward the door. “Wish me luck!” I squeaked.

“BOING-BOING,” Og said.

I slid through the narrow space under the door and there I was, out in the hallway of Longfellow School.

It's dark in the hallway at night, of course, but there are little lights along the way, so I could see where I was going.

I remembered that Mrs. Wright had said that the lost and found was in her office, inside the gym.

I've been to the library, the playground, the principal's office. But I've never, ever seen the gym.

I hurried past the other classrooms, took the turn down another hallway, past Principal Morales's office, and past the cafeteria. That was as far as I'd ever gone in my nighttime adventures at Longfellow School. But that night, I saw that the hallway took another turn past the cafeteria.

I was in uncharted territory when I saw two gigantic doors. I stopped and looked up.

The sign on one door read
Gymnasium
.

Gym
was in the word, so this must be it.

The doors were tall and looked heavy, but there was a narrow space below them. It was a little tight, but I squeezed through.

Even in the dim lighting, I could see that the gym was enormous! Of course, everything looks large to a small hamster, but this was the biggest room I'd ever seen. Ever!

It was TALL-TALL-TALL and WIDE-WIDE-WIDE. I'm not sure what they did in the gym, but there were hoops with nets on poles at either end and a shiny wooden floor. There was a big clock. And a huge sign with numbers on it.

As large as the gym was . . . and as little as I am, I was determined to find Phoebe's watch. There was a smaller door to the right of the main doors. I looked up and saw a sign that said
Mrs. Wright
.

The space under the door was unsqueakably narrow. I took a deep breath, exhaled and then pushed. Ooof! At first I didn't go through at all. But I gave another big push and suddenly, there I was in Mrs. Wright's office.

Now all I had to do was find the lost and found!

One wall had a cabinet with a big lock on it. I hoped that wasn't the lost and found, since I didn't know how to open a lock without a key. Luckily, the sign on it read
Equipment
.

I looked around and saw a desk against the opposite wall. On the shelf next to the desk there was another sign:
Lost and Found
.

“That's it!” I squeaked, even though there was no one around to hear me. At least I hoped there was no one around to hear me!

There was a stack of boxes next to Mrs. Wright's desk. I was able to climb them like steps and make my way to her desktop.

I paused to catch my breath, and I suddenly realized that Mrs. Wright wouldn't be happy to see me on her desk.

Mrs. Wright liked to see everything in its place. And she thought my place was in my cage.

Then I saw something terrible: MRS. WRIGHT'S WHISTLE! It was lying right there on top of her desk.

Funny, I'd always imagined that she wore that whistle everywhere. But I guess she went home without it. (Lucky for her family.)

It was silver and shiny and hard. I walked right up to it—so close I could see my reflection in it.

“You're not so scary!” I squeaked.

The whistle didn't say anything. I hadn't expected an answer, but still, I was relieved.

“You're not so big!” I yelled at the whistle.

Again, the whistle was silent.

“You're not so loud!” I yelled again.

The room stayed QUIET-QUIET-QUIET.

I could have stayed there a lot longer just yelling at that loud, rude whistle, but I had work to do.

Mrs. Wright's desk was tidy, and so was the lost-and-found shelf.

As neat as it was, I thought about the creepy things Thomas said he'd seen, so I decided to check it out from the desk first. I didn't see anything like a snake or a severed hand. Or even anything large, like the tuba Aldo mentioned.

What I did see were large plastic bins labeled
Clothing, Notebooks, Pens and Pencils, Books, Lunch Boxes, Jewelry, Other
.

Jewelry? Phoebe's watch could be in that bin.

I was able to hop directly from the desk to the lost-and-found shelf. As I hurried toward the jewelry bin, I could see through the little holes in the other boxes I passed.

In the clothing bin, I saw a sweater with blue polka dots, one striped sock, a green mitten, a pink backpack, a single red sneaker.

The next bin held dozens of pens, pencils, notebooks, a dictionary, and a book of music.

Then there was the bin filled with plastic lunch boxes and a thermos.

I finally reached the bin marked
Jewelry
and stopped to peer inside.

OH-OH-OH! There were chains of gold and silver, sparkly rings and those things girls wear in their hair and big, bright shiny things.

But I was only looking for one thing: Phoebe's watch. I needed to take a closer look.

I scrambled up the side of the bin, clinging to the edges of the holes. When I got to the top, I crossed my paws, held my breath . . . and dived right in!

I landed with a CLATTER-CLATTER-CLATTER and began to make my way through a sea of jewelry. It wasn't easy, because the items kept shifting beneath my toes.

I poked around with my paws and carefully began to dig through the tangle of rings, bracelets and necklaces. If only their owners had thought to check the lost and found!

Then I spied something round that had numbers on it in a circle. Yep, that was a watch all right. I liked the red band and the stars in between the numbers. I flipped it over. There was no name on it except Timewell, which I think was the name of the company that made the watch. At least I didn't know of any students at Longfellow School named Timewell.

It was a very nice watch, but it didn't fit Phoebe's description.

After some more poking, I found another round clock face. I tugged it out of the pile. It had a gold band, and in the center of the clock face was a smiling yellow flower. There was no name at all on the back of that watch.

I heard Phoebe's voice in my head. “My daisy watch,” she'd called it.

Even Kelsey had called it “your daisy watch.”

Well, a daisy is a yellow flower. This had to be Phoebe's watch!

To humans, I'm sure a child's watch doesn't seem too big, but it looked HUGE-HUGE-HUGE to me! I tried using my teeth to drag it an inch or two, but I soon realized that if I dragged it all the way back to the classroom, it would probably get scratched and dented.

I might get a little scratched and dented, too.

So I stopped and looked at the watch. The band was a stretchy circle, and it wasn't very big.

I put my front paws into the center of the circle and lifted one side over the back of my head. The band just fit around my middle. I took a few steps and was relieved that the watch didn't fall off.

Getting out of the bin took all my strength, because the watch made my body heavier.

Once I was out, I scurried across the shelf and leaped onto the desk. The weight of the watch made me slide and I just missed running into Mrs. Wright's whistle. Scary!

I came to a stop next to a pad of paper that had this word on it:
Military
.

Normally, I wouldn't have paid attention, but I'd just heard Phoebe talking about her parents being away in the military and how much she missed them.

So I took a closer look. The paper read:

 

MKC: MILITARY KIDS CLUB

A brand-new club!

If you are a student with a parent in the military, join us for weekly fun outings, tasty treats, thoughtful discussion groups and a chance to make friends with kids who are just like you!

 

There was a telephone number to call at the bottom.

The Military Kids Club sounded perfect for Phoebe. She needed fun outings, and if she had friends to talk to who were going through the same things she was, maybe she would be able to relax. Maybe she wouldn't be so forgetful.

And everyone—even me—loves tasty treats!

But how could I get the information to Phoebe? I certainly couldn't carry a whole pad of paper back to Room 26.

Gently, I took the bottom edge of the top paper and tugged. It tore off the pad and I could see that there were identical notes beneath it.

So with the note for Phoebe in my teeth and her watch around my body, I started down the stair-step boxes but—whoa! The heavy watch made me feel all wobbly and I had to slow way down. I landed hard on the floor and made my way to the door.

I'd forgotten how small the space was under the door. With the watch around my middle, I couldn't fit. So I wiggled my way out of the watch and pushed it under the door.

I squeezed through the gap next. Once I was on the other side, I put the watch back on.

The trip back
from
the lost and found took twice as long as the trip
to
the lost and found, and the watch felt heavier and heavier with every step.

When I got back to Room 26, I had to push the watch under the door again.

By the time I finally slid under the door to Room 26, it was already getting light outside.

“I found it, Og!” I squeaked.

Of course, as soon as I opened my mouth, the paper fell out, but I managed to grab it with my teeth again.

“BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og replied. He must have been awfully worried about me while I was gone.

There was no time to waste, and I was exhausted. But I still had to make sure Phoebe got the watch.

“BOING-BOING!” Og warned.

I looked up at the clock. School would start soon, and I didn't want to be caught outside of my cage!

It would take a long time to climb all the way to Phoebe's table, leave the watch and get back down again.

BOOK: Mysteries According to Humphrey
7.19Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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