Summer According to Humphrey (7 page)

Another difference: there were no tests! I thought this was an excellent idea.

Just like the campers, Og and I got a lot of fresh air and lovely outside sounds and smells. Plus Katie and Ms. Mac got everybody—including me—excited about the wonders of nature.

Yes, I loved the Nature Center very much. I would have loved it more without the snake. I guess it wasn’t his fault, but he made me very nervous.

But at least during the day, I didn’t have time to think about the SKITTER-SKITTER-SKITTER, SCRITCH-SCRITCH-SCRITCH sounds.

And I tried HARD-HARD-HARD not to think about the Howler. But I was always listening for that “owoooooo!!!”

H
umphrey, we worked our fingers to the bone to win you for the night.” That’s what Miranda told me as she carried my cage to the Robins’ Nest the next night.

Her golden hair glistened in the moonlight, but I couldn’t see her bony fingers, because it was dark outside. I was also distracted by someone asking, “Who-who? Who-who?” over and over.

“It’s me—Humphrey!” I finally squeaked back.

Then the someone asked, “Who-who?” again.

“We dusted and swept. Lindsey wanted to wash the windows, but we didn’t have a bucket,” Miranda continued. “We were determined to have you here tonight.”

Inside, the Robins’ Nest was clean as could be. Stop-Giggling-Gail was there along with Miranda and some girls I didn’t know. They all crowded around my cage, squealing with delight.

“He’s
so cute
!” said the girl called Lindsey.

The Robins weren’t there long, though. Ms. Mac came in and said, “Time for our first campfire, ladies.”

The girls seemed very excited, but Miranda had a question. “Shouldn’t we take Humphrey?”

Ms. Mac thought for a few seconds. “Maybe not, Miranda. It might be a little hot and scary for him.”

Miranda seemed to understand and the girls raced out of the cabin, leaving me to wonder why anyone would go
to
a fire. Weren’t fires hot and dangerous things that humans (and hamsters) should avoid?

Yet I knew that Ms. Mac wouldn’t let my friends do anything truly dangerous.

I could smell the faint aroma of smoke in the distance. I jiggled my lock-that-doesn’t-lock to make sure I’d be able to get out in case of danger. And I remembered when a firefighter came to Room 26 and told us if our clothes (even fur coats) caught on fire, we should “Stop, drop and roll.”

But soon, the girls were back, smelling just a little smoky. Whatever the campfire had been about, they’d certainly enjoyed it.

“Poor Humphrey,” Miranda said. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to go. You need to get out sometimes.”

She took out my hamster ball. “Watch this,” she told her friends. She carefully placed me inside, gently set the ball on the floor and there I was, free to roll around the cabin. I hadn’t been in my hamster ball in a while, so it took time to get used to everything being yellow again (from the yellow plastic). And it took a little longer for me to remember how to spin around corners and change directions. Every turn I took seemed to amuse the girls.

“Oh, if only Heidi could see you!” Gail said at one point. She plopped down on her bunk and pulled out a notebook from under her pillow. “I’m going to write her about everything you did.”

Heidi was Gail’s best friend in Room 26. The teacher always called her Raise-Your-Hand-Heidi Hopper, and by the end of the year she did remember to raise her hand most of the time. She wasn’t here at camp, but I noticed that Gail certainly brought up her name a lot.

A little later, while the other Robins followed me around, I glanced up and saw Gail staring down at her notebook with tears in her eyes. Was she sad because Heidi wasn’t here at camp? I managed to roll the ball right up to her bunk, hoping to get her mind off of home.

“Oh, Humphrey! You’re so funny!” Gail reached down to pick up the ball. “When I finish writing Heidi, I’ll write my mom and dad to tell them you’re here.”

Okay. So my idea didn’t work.

Later, after Ms. Mac checked in to make sure the lights were out, it was finally quiet in the Robins’ Nest. But it wasn’t dark for long. There was an eerie light coming from Gail’s bottom bunk.

“Hey, what’re you doing down there?” Miranda asked in a sleepy voice.

“Just finishing my letter home,” Gail answered.

I could see that the light was coming from a teeny-tiny flashlight.

“Lights-out,” Miranda said in a very firm voice. “We can’t afford to get into trouble. We want to spend the night in Haunted Hollow.”

“Okay,” Gail answered. I thought I heard a little sniffling, but the light went out.

After the sniffling stopped, it was quiet again and I relaxed in my sleeping hut. A little later, I heard an even more disturbing sound. Again.

“Who-who? Who-who?”

It was coming from outside the cabin, and the voice was strange and mysterious.

“Who-who? Who-who?”

I was tempted to say, “Me-me! Me-me!” but I managed to keep quiet.

I heard one of the girls roll over on her bed.

“Who-who? Who-who?” the voice called again.

The girl got up and went to the open window. “For Pete’s sake, be quiet, you old hootie owl!” She clapped loudly and it was quiet again.

“Thanks, Kayla,” Miranda said.

“No problem,” Kayla answered.

Even though I didn’t hear “who-who?” again, I heard other words rolling around in my brain.

Hootie owl! That morning in the Nature Center, Katie had talked about owls. They were strange creatures of the night who like to prey on very small furry creatures—gulp—like me!

Slithering snakes, skittering, scratching sounds, haunting, howling and now hooting.

The wonders of nature were starting to get on my nerves.

When I lived in Room 26, I spent weeknights in the classroom and each weekend, I went home with a different student. But at Camp Happy Hollow, I slept in a different cabin every night of the week—and so did Og. But the two of us never ended up in the same cabin.

The night after I slept in the Robins’ Nest, I ended up staying with the Bobwhites. They had taken to imitating the bird they were named for and liked to get in a group and shout, “Bob-
white
! Bob-
white
!”

My old friend Garth was in this cabin as well as A.J.’s brother, Ty, who was only a year younger. It was funny, but A.J. and Garth were best friends and now Ty and Garth were hanging out together.

Then there was Noah. It was a good name for him because he seemed to Know-a-Lot, at least about nature.

“I wish they let us sleep outside,” he said, looking out the window.

“Ouch! Mosquitoes.” Garth swatted an imaginary insect. “I’ll take the cabin.”

“I’ll bet there are caves out there,” Noah said. “I’d sure love to see some bats.”

“
Vampire
bats?” Garth asked in a shaky voice.

“Oooh,” the other boys said.

I shivered. I’d learned a little bit about bats in school and I’d seen a vampire movie at Kirk’s house once. So I knew that a vampire bat was something I NEVER-EVER-EVER wanted to see.

“Not around here,” Noah explained. “Just regular bats. They won’t hurt you. They’re good for the environment.”

“The only bat I want to see is a baseball bat,” a boy named Sam said.

“Me too!” I squeaked.

“I want to see the Howler,” Ty added. Of course, all the Bobwhites went, “Owoooo.”

Like the Robins and the Blue Jays, the Bobwhites spent a lot of time talking about winning the Clash of the Cabins and spending the night in Haunted Hollow. Unlike the other groups, the Bobwhites were pretty sure they’d win, because of Sam.

Super-Sam was what they called him. As in, “You should see him canoeing—super!” Or, “Did you see him pitch today—wasn’t he super?”

Apparently everything Sam did was super and he excelled in horseback riding, swimming, diving, softball, volleyball and tennis.

I was happy for the Bobwhites to have such a super—I mean outstanding—camper in their group. But it got a little tiring after a while.

Especially when Garth said, “Turn out the lights, Sam. Super!”

But the next morning as Garth carried me to the Nature Center, I understood why he was so glad to have Sam around.

“You know I’m not very good at sports and things,” he said. “No matter how hard I try, my legs just don’t go as fast as the other boys’.”

“You’re not so bad,” I squeaked, even though I knew he wasn’t so good, either.

“The only way I have a chance of spending the night in Haunted Hollow is if a guy like Sam is in our group. He’s so good at everything, we can’t lose a game.” He continued, “And I
really
want to spend the night in Haunted Hollow.”

I wanted Garth and all my friends to get to spend the night in that scary-sounding place if that’s what they wanted.

I just wasn’t sure I wanted to be there with them.

Who-who
was afraid of meeting up with the Howler? Me-me!

H
umphrey . . .” Sayeh’s soft, sweet voice woke me from a short afternoon doze as I waited in the Nature Center for the next group to come in.

I dashed out of my sleeping hut and hurried to the side of my cage where she was peering in at me.

“Sayeh!” I squeaked. “Glad to see you!”

Sayeh smiled, but it was a sad smile. “I wish you could talk to me.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Because I could tell from her face that she needed a friend.

“You know how to get along with people so well,” she said. “I’m never sure what to say.”

“Just speak up, Sayeh,” I advised her. But I know all she heard was “SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK,” which is one of the most frustrating things about being a hamster.

Sayeh didn’t like to speak up. When I first came to Room 26, Mrs. Brisbane was always telling her, “Speak-Up-Sayeh.” And over time, with Mrs. Brisbane’s help (and mine), she gained the courage to squeak up in class and became friends with many students, especially Miranda.

But she was still what humans would call
quiet.

“Tell me, Sayeh,” I told her. “What’s wrong?”

Sayeh pulled up a chair so she could be close to my cage.

“You probably don’t even know about the Clash of the Cabins,” she said.

“I do!” I squeaked back.

“I was helping Miranda with her backstroke—that’s a swimming stroke. But she’s a Robin and I’m a Chickadee. Now the other Chickadees say I shouldn’t help her.” Sayeh sighed. “We were just having fun like in the Happy Hollow song they taught us.”

Then Sayeh began to sing softly in her beautiful, sweet voice.

Sayeh’s big dark eyes turned on me. “You hear that, Humphrey? ‘One for all and all for fun’? Wouldn’t it be more fun if we could
all
do things together no matter what cabin we’re in?”

“It’s only a song,” I squeaked weakly, but I knew she was right.

“Well, thanks, Humphrey.” Sayeh pushed her chair back and stood up. “It’s nice to know
somebody
will listen.”

I hopped on my wheel for a good, hard spin. While I was spinning, I talked to Og.

“I
like
to help humans. You know that, Og. But I don’t see how one small hamster can make a whole big camp more fun,” I said. I was huffing and puffing a bit, partly because I was spinning hard, but partly because I was getting a little worked up.

“BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og splashed wildly in his tank.

“Okay, okay, I’ll think of something,” I told him.

Suddenly, the next group of campers streamed into the Nature Center, along with Counselor Katie and Ms. Mac.

“Okay, kids. Who’s ready to learn some more about the wonders of nature?” Katie asked.

A hand shot up and Ms. Mac called on Noah. He was the boy from the Bobwhites’ cabin who liked bats and knew a lot about nature.

“Why are these animals in cages?” he asked, pointing to our table.

Ms. Mac explained that Lovey and Jake had been rescued and that Og and I were pets.

Noah wrinkled his nose. “Garter snakes live outside and they can get along almost anywhere.” My, Noah did know a lot.