Summer According to Humphrey (14 page)

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Authors: Betty G. Birney

BOOK: Summer According to Humphrey
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That night, I stayed with the Bobwhites. They were still playing crazy songs with their balloons.
Once lights were out for the night, they talked a little bit in the dark about Haunted Hollow.
“Do you really think we’ll get to see the Howler?” Richie asked.
“It’s a cinch,” said Sam. “I’ve got you covered in volleyball, canoeing, swimming and archery.”
“You can handle the outdoor skills, can’t you, Noah?” Garth asked.
Noah’s mind seemed to be far, far away. “Huh? Oh, sure. I know a lot about that stuff.”
“Bobwhites forever!” said Garth.
“Bobwhites forever!” the other boys chimed in.
I squeaked along with them, but by now, I really didn’t know who to root for.
The next morning, right before breakfast, Sayeh slipped into the rec room to visit Og and me.
“I am very tired today,” she told us. “Last night Abby marked up the whole cabin with twigs and rocks so we could practice reading trail markings. We even got in trouble for keeping our lights on too late.” Sayeh sighed. “That won’t help our camp spirit score.”
“MY-MY-MY.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Here I’d been listening to funny balloon music while Sayeh had to work late!
“I tell you, Humphrey, I like Camp Happy Hollow very much, but I’ll be glad when the Clash of the Cabins is over so we can relax and have fun,” she said.
Suddenly, a deep voice spoke. “What’s this? An unhappy camper?”
It was Hap Holloway. He’d been standing at the door, listening.
Sayeh jumped when she heard him, but when she turned to look at him, he had a friendly smile on his face.
“I’m always looking for ways to make Camp Happy Hollow a happier place,” he said. “It sounds like you might have some good ideas, Sayeh. Why don’t you come to my office and we’ll talk for a few minutes?”
Sayeh looked down at the floor. I was hoping for her sake that she didn’t cry.
“You’ll be doing me a favor,” Hap said in a softer voice.
“Okay,” Sayeh said. “If it will help you.”
Then she followed Hap out of the rec room. I watched her through the window, following him up to a cabin where he and the counselors had an office.
She glanced back at me once and I gave her a wave of my paw.
“Good luck, Sayeh,” I said, wishing with all my heart she could hear me.
NOTE TO SELF:
An hour of comedy is FUN-FUN-FUN, but laughs don’t always last.
17
The Case of the Missing Frog
I
kept my eyes fixed on the office building, but it was a long time before I saw Sayeh leave again. Even from a distance, I could see that she was smiling! And she gave a happy wave to Hap Holloway as she skipped back down the path.
How I wished I could have heard their conversation!
At last, it was a peaceful day. Sayeh was still smiling the next time I saw her, and Brad and Gail both seemed more relaxed. Brad talked to lots of people now and so did Gail. Who would have thought a couple of stickers could do that much good?
Garth and the Bobwhites were brimming with confidence that they would be spending the night at Haunted Hollow, and who would doubt it, with Super-Sam on their team? But Abby and the Chickadees stood strong and tall and still thought they had a chance.
Miranda and the other Robins were more relaxed, too, since their skit had gone over well.
I thought maybe it was time for me to kick back and just enjoy camp. I was so relaxed, I took a nice long doze while my friends were off on their hike.
But I was wide awake when Ms. Mac made an announcement at the end of the session. “Tomorrow we start two days of competitions to cap the Clash of the Cabins competition. The nature quizzes will be tomorrow, for anyone who wants to take them,” she said. “Good luck, campers, and have a great time!”
I felt a little shiver of excitement but also uneasiness. So soon? I thought. Were my friends ready? Was I ready?
I hopped on my wheel to relieve my anxiety. It didn’t work.
I spent that night with the Blue Jays, but they left for a while to go to the evening campfire. I wasn’t sure what was special about campfire nights, but my friends were always keyed up when they came back.
“I’ve just got to see that Howler,” A.J. said. “It would be awful if my little brother, Ty, got to see him and I didn’t.”
“We’ve got a good shot,” Richie said.
“Yeah. Blue Jays rule!” That was Brad, and whether or not the Blue Jays got to spend the night in Haunted Hollow, he was still a winner in my book.
Richie took me down to the rec room the next morning. I was there before Og, but I didn’t think anything of it at first. I was busy watching my friends streaming into Happy Hollow Hall, chattering away.
Og still wasn’t there by the time breakfast began. I was puzzled, but I was also interested in how the whole atmosphere of camp had changed. While the kids in different cabins often hung out together during their free time, I noticed that today the campers who shared cabins stuck together.
The place just
sounded
different.
“Bob-whites! Bob-whites!” came the call from one table.
“Chick-a-chick-a-chickadees!” came from another.
A.J. led his cabin’s “Blue Jays rule!” chant.
“Robins! Robins! Rah-rah-rah!” was followed by a lot of giggling.
I heard it all, but Og didn’t. Because Og had never arrived.
“Maybe somebody already took him over to the Nature Center,” Ms. Mac said as she carried my cage down the path after breakfast. Sure, somebody took him over to the Nature Center, I figured. But who?
As soon as we entered, I knew something was VERY-VERY-VERY wrong. Og’s tank was there all right . . . but Og wasn’t in it. I could see right away that he hadn’t popped the top himself, because it was firmly in place.
Lovey, who was usually calm and quiet, was flapping her wings and making excited sounds. Even Jake wiggled more than usual.
Ms. Mac set my cage down and checked the tank to make sure Og wasn’t hiding behind a plant.
Some of the campers were gathering to take their nature quizzes. Ms. Mac asked them if they’d seen Og, but no one had.
Katie came in and she was pretty upset at the news. She organized the kids and they searched every inch of the room, under chairs and in potted plants.
“Og! Where are you!” I squeaked at the top of my lungs. “Og! Come out! We’re worried!”
I waited to hear a friendly “BOING-BOING,” but it didn’t come.
The rest of the morning was a blur. The very loud bell rang to call all the campers to the dining hall. Thank goodness, Ms. Mac took me, too.
Once everyone was gathered, Hap Holloway got up onstage and explained that Og was missing. That caused quite a stir. I thought Miranda was going to cry!
Hap asked if anyone knew what had happened to him.
There was a lot of shuffling and whispering. Finally, Noah stood up.
“I know,” he said.
You can bet that all eyes were on Noah. He didn’t seem very happy about it.
“Where
is
he?” I screeched.
Hap motioned for him to come up to the stage. “Come on up here, Noah, and tell me.”
Noah slowly made his way to the stage.
“Well,” he said, “sometimes I get up early and go down to the lake. I guess that’s against the rules, but it’s beautiful at that time of day. The birds sing more then and I even saw some deer one morning.”
Hap nodded. “We’ll discuss that later. So what happened?”
“I was sitting on the shore and watching these frogs swimming and hopping in the shallow water. They looked so happy, I thought Og might like to meet some other frogs and play in a real lake,” he explained. “So I came back to our cabin and I borrowed him. Everybody was sleeping.”
“And you let him go at the lake?” Hap asked.
Noah looked a little frightened. “No, I didn’t mean to! I just thought I’d let him play there awhile. But as soon as I put him down, he hopped off into some tall grass and disappeared. I looked and looked, but I couldn’t find him.”
There was a lot of commotion among the unhappy campers. No one was as unhappy as me.
“So I just took his tank over to the Nature Center,” Noah continued. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“You should have told us,” Hap said. “It’s not easy for pets that are used to being fed to find their own food.” He sounded firm but kind.
Noah hung his head. “I’m really sorry. I looked for him, honest.”
The noise in the dining hall had grown to an uproar.
Then it came, that ear-piercing blast of a whistle. Mrs. Wright joined Hap on the stage.
“Do you know where you left him, young man?” she asked Noah in a voice that wasn’t as kind as Hap’s.
Noah nodded.
“We should organize a search party,” she announced. “You can take us down to the spot you last saw him. All right with you, Holloway?”
“It’s all right with me!” I squeaked. “Great idea!”
And I thought Mrs. Wright didn’t like Og! I guess I judged another book by its cover.
There wasn’t much Hap could do except agree with her. He nodded and soon the counselors were organizing the campers into groups. They gathered up nets and buckets, sunscreen and caps, and Noah and Mrs. Wright led them out of the hall.
“Sam will find him,” I heard Garth tell Simon. “He can do anything.”
I hoped he was right.
Just as I feared, they left me behind. Ms. Mac took me to the rec room and told me not to worry. But she didn’t tell me
how.
I nervously peered out the window for hours and hours and hours. Maria came in from the kitchen once and gave me some lovely veggies, but I couldn’t think of eating until my old friend was safely back in his tank.
When they returned from lunch, I could tell by the faces of the searchers that they hadn’t found Og. The dining hall was a lot quieter than usual.
After lunch, Hap Holloway had the kids vote to decide if they wanted to go back and look some more. Apparently, they all did.
Before they left, they sang the Camp Happy Hollow song.
I tried to sing along, but a big lump in my throat made it unsqueakably difficult.
The afternoon seemed to go on forever, and when the campers returned, they still weren’t smiling.
Ms. Mac came in the rec room and pulled up a chair next to my cage.
“Humphrey, we didn’t find him. I’m sure he’ll be fine there in the lake with the other frogs,” she said. Her eyes looked all wet. “But I know he misses you as much as you miss him.”
Sayeh and Miranda came in, arm in arm.
“May we see Humphrey, please?” Miranda asked.
“Sure,” Ms. Mac said.
“I’m sorry, Humphrey,” Miranda finally said. “We really tried. I looked so hard, my eyeballs hurt.”
“We’re going back tomorrow,” Sayeh said. “I’m never giving up. Never.”

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