Summer According to Humphrey (8 page)

“And hamsters are related to mice and rats. He’d probably be happier out in the woods,” he said.

“Not necessarily!” I squeaked. As much as Noah knew, he didn’t understand everything about hamsters.

“I’m impressed with how much you know about animals,” Katie said. “But I’m not sure Humphrey would be safe outside. What do garter snakes eat?”

Noah looked up, thinking. “Bugs, worms, frogs, small rodents . . .” he began.

“Hide!” I yelled to Og as I darted into my sleeping hut.

But Noah wasn’t finished. “I think we should let them out.”

“No!” a chorus of voices called.

“Not if Jake’s going to eat Humphrey and Og!” Ty shouted in a voice almost as loud as his brother A.J.’s.

“Calm down now,” Ms. Mac said gently. “We hope to get Lovey back outside this summer, if she’s ready. But Humphrey and Og are classroom pets. And Jake is kind of the camp mascot.”

“Animals weren’t meant to live in cages,” Noah argued. “They should roam free.”

The thought of roaming free at Camp Happy Hollow made me feel all shivery and quivery. Without a cage, what chance did a classroom hamster have when there were hootie owls and Howlers? And when I thought of Jake out there, the shivers and quivers turned to shakes and quakes.

“We’ll talk more about it when we take our nature hike,” Ms. Mac said. “Thanks for all the information, Noah.”

Noah seemed satisfied . . . for now.

That night, I ended up in the Chickadees’ Nest. Sayeh carried me there, and on the way she said, “You’ll make it more fun, won’t you, Humphrey?”

She knew I’d at least try.

I must say, the girls in the Chickadees’ cabin were very welcoming. Miranda’s stepsister, Abby, was one of them. Once upon a time, I thought Abby was mean and crabby, but it turned out that I was wrong. (Sometimes it’s good to be wrong!)

I didn’t know any of the other girls except Sayeh, but they seemed quite nice. They all watched me climb my tree branch and “oohed” and “aahed” and said how cute I was—perfectly normal behavior for humans.

I think I made the cabin more fun. But then, as on the other nights, the girls left me alone while they went to the campfire. I was still surprised that Aldo and Ms. Mac and the other counselors would take my friends to a dangerous fire. I will NEVER-NEVER-NEVER understand humans (but I’ll never stop trying).

Once they were back (smelling a little smoky), Abby clapped and said, “Listen up, Chickadees.”

She sat on a large trunk and the other girls gathered around. “Do you know that a girls’ group hasn’t gone to camp out at Haunted Hollow for five years?” she asked.

A girl named Val groaned. “No way!”

“No fair—right?” asked Abby. “But this year,
we’re
going to win. I’m sure of it.”

“But how can you be sure?” Val asked.

“Because,” Abby began, leaning in close to the circle of girls gathered around her. “I figured it out last year. And I’ve worked all year to make sure we win.”

Abby had my attention, too. “How? What? Huh?” I squeaked.

“Knots.” Abby gave the word great emphasis. “Nobody thinks about knots.”

The other Chickadees looked as puzzled as I was.

“There are seven areas where cabins get points: Camp spirit—which means stuff like good sportsman-ship, cleanliness, being on time—swimming, canoeing, volleyball, softball, archery and outdoor skills,” Abby explained. “We’re okay in volleyball but probably can’t win against the Bobwhites in swimming or canoeing.”

“Not with Sam on their team,” Val said.

“Yeah, but softball and volleyball are team sports, so he might not be able to carry the whole team. Then there’s archery,” Abby continued. “A.J.’s good, too. And his brother, Ty.”

The other Chickadees all nodded.

“But we could wipe them out in outdoor skills.” Abby spun around so she was face-to-face with Sayeh.

“There’s a quiz on all that stuff like animal tracks and habits,” she said. “Sayeh, you can ace any test, so my money’s on you to win that.”

Sayeh looked startled. But after a few seconds she nodded and said, “I will try.”

So, there were tests at camp after all!

“Trail reading is part of outdoor skills, too. We’ve got to work on that. But since this is my third year here, I think I can train a winning team there.” Abby sounded very confident.

“And then we come to knots. Like I said, nobody pays much attention to the knot-tying competition, so I’ve been practicing all year on my knots. I can tie knots blindfolded and behind my back. If I ace the knot tying, we’ve won outdoor skills,” she concluded triumphantly. “We just need to hold our own in the other events. Anybody good at archery?”

Val pointed to a tall girl with long braids. “Marissa got a bull’s-eye today.”

Abby walked over to Marissa. “Fantastic!” she said. “Then we’re counting on you. Any questions?”

I raised my paw. I guess I forgot I wasn’t in Room 26. But Marissa asked Abby the question I was thinking. “Can we see you tie some knots?”

Abby reached in her trunk and pulled out a handful of rope pieces of different lengths and widths. “Anybody got a watch with a second hand?” she asked.

Sayeh did.

“Time me, Sayeh,” Abby said. “First, a square knot.”

I scampered up to the top of my tree branch to get a good look as Abby took two ropes and began tying.

According to Sayeh, it took her four seconds.

The sheepshank was next. It took a second or two longer. The bowline looped around and around. Abby went so fast, I could hardly see how she did it. The sheet bend was a very fancy knot, and the Alpine butterfly was most impressive.

“Go, Abby!” I squeaked in encouragement. It was quite a sight to watch her, and no knot took more than about ten seconds.

The other girls clapped and cheered when Abby finished.

“You are amazing!” Val exclaimed. “Even Sam couldn’t top that!”

“Thanks,” Abby replied. “But let’s keep quiet about this. What goes on in the Chickadees’ Nest stays in the Chickadees’ Nest. And that means you, Sayeh.”

Sayeh looked completely surprised. “Me?”

“Yeah. I don’t want you blabbing to Miranda about this,” Abby said. “I made sure she never saw me practicing.”

Miranda’s dad was married to Abby’s mom, so Miranda split her time between her dad’s house and her mom’s apartment.

“I won’t blab,” said Sayeh, but I must say, she looked miserable.

The door swung open and Katie poked her head in the door.

“Lights-out in ten minutes, ladies,” she said. “You too, Humphrey.”

After the door closed, Abby made everybody raise a hand and promise to keep their plans a secret.

I raised my paw, too. Amazing Abby just might show Super-Sam a thing or two, which might be good.

But Sayeh looked unhappy, which was definitely bad.

I
t was raining a little bit the next morning.
Sprinkles,
humans call them. Thankfully, not enough to get me wet on my way to the Nature Center.

“I don’t like keeping secrets. Especially not from Miranda,” Sayeh said as she carried my cage. I clung tightly to the bars of my cage and watched the trees along the path bob up and down.

“I can understand that,” I managed to squeak back, though my throat was as wobbly as my tummy.

“I’d love to tie knots with Miranda. We’re always braiding each other’s hair. It’d be fun if we all got good at knots, but I don’t want to let the other Chickadees down,” she continued.

“Eek!” I said as Sayeh turned a corner abruptly. “I mean, of course not.”

Sayeh sighed. “I guess I’ll concentrate on doing well on that test.”

“You can do it!” I said, and I believed it, too.

When we had reached the Nature Center, Sayeh placed me next to an empty spot on the table. The spot where Og’s tank usually sat. I’d been all set to tell him about Sayeh’s dilemma and he wasn’t there! Besides, his tank was usually between my cage and Jake the Snake, and not having him there made me just a little jittery. I hoped Jake had been fed that morning.

Sayeh moved on and found a place to sit. Counselor Katie was already in the room, setting up a small projector.

“I think you’ll be interested in what I’ve got for today, Sayeh,” Katie said.

I thought I’d be interested, too, as long as it didn’t involve snakes.

A few more campers trickled in. I climbed up to the top of my cage to see if Og was coming. Just as I was feeling quite worried, Brad, from the Blue Jays’ cabin, entered, carrying Og’s tank.

“HI-HI-HI!” I squeaked as Brad plunked the tank down on the table.

“BOING!” Og replied.

“Dumb frog,” Brad muttered.

I was stunned. Og . . . a
dumb frog
? Brad clearly didn’t know what he was talking about.

“He doesn’t even say
ribbit
like a normal frog,” he complained.

I scampered down to the bottom of my cage and looked up at Brad. “Now see here,” I squeaked. “That’s because he’s not an ordinary frog. He’s a very special frog with a very special sound!”

I wished he could have heard more than just “SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK.”

Brad wasn’t paying a bit of attention to me. He was checking out the Nature Center.

“Welcome, Brad,” Katie greeted him. “You picked a great day to come.”

“Is this the whole thing?” he asked. “A frog, a bird, a hamster and a plain old snake? My other camp practically had a whole zoo in theirs,” he said. “They had a hawk and . . . a raccoon and a boa constrictor!”

Katie kept smiling.

“We try to keep the animals in the wild as much as possible,” she explained. “Of course, Humphrey and Og are pets. Some of the workers found Jake under some boards. And Lovey here was a rescue. You’ll learn more about her today. Just take a seat.”

Brad sat down next to Gail, who was busily writing a letter. She might as well have been at her desk in Room 26. I guess she would have been happier in Room 26.

When the session began, Katie explained that while she was hiking one day, she found Lovey lying out in the woods. It was obvious that her wing was broken.

Then she dimmed the lights and started showing slides. I must say, seeing the lovely Lovey on the ground with one wing just hanging limply was a sad, sad sight. There were even a few drops of—gulp—blood.

“Look at this, Og!” I rushed to get a better view of the screen.

Katie said that it’s not a good idea to get close to a wild bird who might be injured. But in this case, it was obvious that the dove was in trouble. When she approached slowly and the bird didn’t fight her, she scooped it up with a net and put it in a box. She’d read that mourning doves panic in a cage with bars, which is a little strange to me, since I think the bars on my cage give me wonderful protection from dogs and cats and other scary things.

The next slide showed Katie examining the broken wing with her friend Dr. Singleton at the local Wildlife Refuge. He was a veterinarian who specializes in birds. It made me think of Dr. Drew, who helped me and helped my hamster friend Winky find a new home with one of my friends from Room 26.

The two of them washed the wing and put medicine on it. Then they VERY-VERY-VERY carefully taped the wing back into its original position.

“Og, isn’t Lovey very brave?” I squeaked to my neighbor, who took a long, noisy dive into the water in his tank. I could tell he was as impressed as I was.

They gave Lovey food and water and let her rest.

Katie turned off the projector and turned the lights up again. The rain was heavier now, pounding on the roof of the Nature Center.

“Lovey’s wing is just about healed now,” she told the campers. “If things go well, before you go home, we’ll be able to free her back into the wild. Anyone who’d like to be part of Lovey’s release, let me know.”

“ME-ME-ME!” I squeaked. But there was so much talking, no one could hear my hamsterish squeaks. In fact, all the campers gathered around Katie, begging to be part of the release.

I looked over at Lovey in her crate. She didn’t look like anything was broken anymore. She looked strong and proud.

“Did you hear that, Lovey?” I squeaked at the top of my lungs.

I know birds can’t smile, but the look on Lovey’s face was as close as a bird could come to a big, fat grin. I think I was smiling a little bit, too, as the other campers left the Nature Center, chattering away.

Brad stayed seated with his arms folded. How could he not think that would be exciting? Ooh, he made my whiskers twitch!

And Gail was still writing nonstop. She didn’t even look up.

Ms. Mac went over to talk to her. “You certainly are taking a lot of notes,” she told Gail.