Aldo pulled a carrot stick out of his bag and pushed it through the bars of my cage.
“Thanks, Aldo! And thanks to Maria, too!” I squeaked.
I didn’t eat all of the carrot stick right away. I hid some of it in my cheek pouch, which is a handy way for hamsters to store food. I also slipped part of it in my bedding for a lovely midnight snack.
Aldo ate part of his sandwich. Then he said, “You know, Humphrey and Og, Maria’s going to have a baby.”
I DID know that. “Yes, that’s GREAT-GREAT-GREAT!” I told him.
“BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og agreed.
“Thanks, guys. I’m a little nervous about being a dad. And I have some news . . .” Suddenly he stopped.
“What news?” I asked.
Og splashed noisily in his tank.
“Well, I want to tell you, but I can’t,” Aldo said. “It’s a secret.”
Another secret? I was beginning to dislike secrets a lot!
“I mean, Maria told me not to tell anybody yet,” Aldo continued. “It’s a pretty big secret.”
“Tell us, Aldo,” I said. “We’re your friends. We won’t tell anybody.”
Aldo pushed the uneaten part of his sandwich back into the bag. “I know it’s silly. Who would you tell?” he said. “Still, I promised Maria I’d keep it a secret, so I will.”
I was feeling a little upset with Aldo. After all, if I told his secret to my friends in Room 26, all that they’d hear would be “SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK.”
Still, I guess a secret is a secret. And a promise is a promise.
I hopped on my wheel and began to spin.
“Sorry, Humphrey,” Aldo said. “I’ll tell you as soon as I can.”
My wheel was spinning like crazy, so I didn’t even answer.
“BOING-BOING,” Og twanged.
He sounded as curious as I felt.
Soon, Aldo turned out the lights and left Room 26.
I kept quiet until I saw his car pull out of the parking lot.
“What do you think Aldo’s secret is?” I called to Og. “And which student is leaving?”
Og splashed around and didn’t answer.
“And what are the secrets of the Nile?” I asked.
I knew better than to expect an answer from Og.
Then I remembered the film that my classmates had seen earlier in the day.
I had a long night ahead of me, so I decided to take a little trip to the library. If I couldn’t find out who was leaving our class, maybe I could at least learn some more things about Egypt.
As usual, I jiggled the lock-that-doesn’t-lock, slid down the leg of my table and scampered across the floor to the door.
“I’ll tell you everything when I get back, Og!” I squeaked just before I scrunched down and slid under the door.
From the sound of Og splashing in his tank, I think he was happy, too.
At night, only the dimmest lights are on in the halls of Longfellow School, and it’s unsqueakably quiet. But I knew the way to the library, so I hurried as fast as I could.
It’s a tight squeeze under the door—EEEK!—but I made it. There I was, in the library with its shelves and shelves of books and its big glowing fish tank.
During the day, the fish tank probably isn’t eerie at all. But at night, the water is a ghostly blue.
There are brightly colored fish bobbing in the water and lots of bubbles. And then there’s the little sunken ship, lying at the bottom of the tank.
I didn’t like to look at the sunken ship. I was in a boat once and it almost sank!
“Hi, guys,” I squeaked to the fish. “It’s me, Humphrey from Room Twenty-six. Hope you don’t mind me dropping in!”
They didn’t answer, of course, but their mouths moved. Were they trying to tell me something?
I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a fish and live in the water all the time.
Just thinking about it makes me feel all shivery.
But I wasn’t in the library to see the fish. I was in the library to learn about the secrets of the Nile.
I needed to get to the big table, so I scurried over to a series of shelves next to it.
The shelves were like steps and I climbed UP-UP-UP until I reached the top.
I remembered from an earlier visit that there was a big, bumpy remote control on the desk with buttons. If I pushed the right buttons, the big screen in the front of the room lit up.
Whew—it was still there. As soon as I pushed the top button, the big screen lit up brightly.
YES-YES-YES!
The words “The End” came up on the screen and stayed there.
NO-NO-NO!
I didn’t want to see the end until I’d seen the beginning and the middle!
The remote control had lots of buttons in different colors, with arrows going in every direction. And when I pushed the arrow that pointed this way , the picture started to move—backward!
It went unsqueakably fast, so I could hardly tell what I was seeing.
There were people riding camels and lots of sand and a strip of water that must have been the Nile River.
There were some odd-looking buildings, too.
Finally, the picture stopped moving.
Then I pushed the “Play” button.
“Secrets of the Nile,” a deep voice said.
I hunkered down on the desk and watched in amazement. Soon, I’d know the secrets of the Nile, just like my friends did!
And oh, what I saw was pawsitively amazing.
Egypt is a country in Africa, located on the Nile River—the longest river in the whole wide world! It runs through ten countries and that’s not all—there is a White Nile and a Blue Nile.
Ancient Egypt was quite a place.
Thousands of years ago the Egyptians built pyramids, which are buildings shaped like huge triangles, in honor of their kings. The kings were called pharaohs. (“Pharaoh” rhymes with “arrow.”)
The pyramids held a huge secret—there was treasure inside. Lots and lots of treasure!
But there were also mummies, which were bodies all wrapped up from head to toe.
“EEEK!” I squeaked when I saw pictures of them. These mummies were not like mothers or fathers or anything I’d seen!
That’s not all. There was also a strange-looking statue of a very odd creature. It had a body like a huge lion, but the head was like a human!
This was a Sphinx. (Which rhymes with “inks,” “pinks” and “winks.”)
The voice said that in ancient Greece, they had a legend about a Sphinx.
The Sphinx guarded a city. When a traveler wanted to enter the city, the Sphinx asked him a riddle. If the stranger didn’t know the answer, then he couldn’t come in—or worse!
By the time the words “The End” came up again, my tail was twitching, my whiskers were wiggling and my fur was standing up on end.
I hit the top button on the remote control and the screen went black.
I scurried down the shelves, slid under the door a little more easily and RAN-RAN-RAN through the halls of Longfellow School.
Believe me, I was happy to get back to Room 26, where there were no mummies or pyramids and not one single Sphinx.
Of course, there was a frog waiting to hear all about my adventure. He greeted me with a “BOING-BOING-BOING!”
I scurried across the room, grabbed the cord of the blinds and swung myself back up to the table.
By the time I got to Og’s tank, I was out of breath.
“Og!” I panted. “Desert, treasure, Sphinx, a riddle! And a mummy is not somebody’s mother!”
My froggy friend splashed loudly. “BOING-BOING-BOING!”
I guess frogs don’t like the desert, where it’s very dry.
I yawned. “I’ll explain it al
l tomorrow.”
I was unsqueakably tired and the sky was getting light outside. So I hurried over to my cage and was very happy to close the door behind me.
I checked to make sure that the lock-that-doesn’t-lock was fastened tightly.
Then I dived under my soft, warm bedding and fell asleep right away.
Humans might think that hamsters don’t dream, but they’d be wrong.
In my dream that night, I rode a camel with a huge hump across the desert, past the pyramids and right up to a gigantic Sphinx.
And you know what? It talked to me!
“Tell me your secrets,” the Sphinx said in a ghostly voice. “And I’ll tell you mine.”
“But I don’t have any secrets,” I squeaked to him.
“Then you cannot pass,” the Sphinx said. “You will stay here in the desert . . . forever!”
And then he or she or it laughed.
It laughed so hard, I woke up—thank goodness.
It was almost time for school to start, so I decided it would be better to stay awake than to stay in ancient Egypt with the Sphinx forever.
I grabbed my notebook from behind the mirror and began to write down all the secrets I’d learned so far.
HUMPHREY’S TOP SECRET SCRIBBLES
Just thinking about meeting up with a mummy
Makes me feel funny in my tummy.
3
Secret Guest
Even if I’d wanted to forget about ancient Egypt for a while, I couldn’t. Everything we did in Room 26 had something to do with that subject!
Mrs. Brisbane divided the class into four groups: the Scribes (those were people who wrote things down), the Builders, the Traders and the Artists. Each group was assigned to study one part of Egyptian life and do a project and a report on the subject.
“What group would you want to be in?” I squeaked to Og during recess.
He splished and splashed.
“You like water,” I said. “I guess you’d like to be a Trader so you could travel up and down the Nile.”
It wasn’t easy for me to figure out what I’d like to be.
I like writing in my notebook, so it would be fun to be a Scribe.
Scribes wrote with a strange alphabet using little pictures instead of letters. They’re called hieroglyphics, a word that is pronounced hire-oh-GLIFF-ix and doesn’t rhyme with anything.
On the other paw, it would be fun to be a Builder and make a model pyramid.
The Traders were going to have a GREAT-GREAT-GREAT time building a model boat and learning how ancient Egyptians traded their goods for things they needed from other places.
Oh, but the Artists would get to make all kinds of beautiful pots, jars and statues.
Luckily, as classroom pets, Og and I got to see what all the groups were doing.
We watched them huddling together in their groups, traveling back and forth to the library, planning and laughing. Suddenly, I remembered that one of my classmates would soon be leaving!
And when she’d heard about it, Mrs. Brisbane had said she couldn’t be happier.
I’d be sad if any one of them left.
I’d miss watching Helpful-Holly pass out homework and the big smile on Forgetful-Phoebe’s face when she remembered hers.
I’d miss Rolling-Rosie popping wheelies in her wheelchair and the way Just-Joey likes to talk with me alone.
Class would be duller without Calm-Down-Cassie and the way she blurts out, “Oh, no!” whenever something unexpected happens.
How could Small-Paul get along without his best friend, Tall-Paul? Or the other way around?
I’d certainly miss Fix-It-Felipe, who always knows how to fix a torn page or prop up a wobbly chair leg. (Although I worry that someday he’ll also fix my lock-that-doesn’t-lock.)
Room 26 would be sad if anyone stopped coming every day. There wasn’t one student in Room 26 that I wouldn’t miss.
And I hoped that there wasn’t one student in Room 26 who wouldn’t miss me!
(Og, too, of course!)
So, as the week went on, I watched my friends working in their groups and wondered which one would be going—and how my life and the lives of all my friends would change.
On Friday, Mrs. Brisbane said, “I can’t remember who’s taking Humphrey home for the weekend.”
Phoebe’s hand shot up so fast, it was a blur.
“I am!” she shouted. “It’s my turn!”
She was happy and so was I!
Phoebe Pratt lived with her grandmother, Mrs. Lawson, while her parents were in a faraway country. I’d met her grandmother, who was an unsqueakably nice human. I was pretty sure I’d have a great weekend, unless Phoebe happened to have a large, fierce animal, such as a dog or a cat.
“Humphrey, I hope you know how special you are,” Mrs. Lawson said when she came to pick us up after school. “My boss actually let me leave work early to pick you up.”
“THANKS-THANKS-THANKS,” I squeaked.
“See, Gran, he talks,” Phoebe explained.
Gran laughed. “If you say so, Phoebe.”
“BOING!” Og chimed in.
“May we take Og home, too?” Phoebe asked.
“I’m afraid it’s too cold to take him outside to the car,” Mrs. Brisbane said. “He doesn’t have a fur coat like Humphrey.”
“BOING-BOING.” Og dived into the water side of his tank and began to swim.
“Sorry, Og,” I said.
Mrs. Lawson covered my cage with a small blanket and picked it up.
“Stay warm this weekend, Og!” I squeaked. “Bye!”
I’m not sure he heard me through the blanket.
Phoebe and her grandmother lived in an apartment, so we had to ride the elevator. We got to the fifth floor so fast, I felt like my tummy was left on the first floor!
“Where do you want him?” Gran asked.
“My room, of course!” Phoebe said. “Right on my desk.”
I was happy to find out that Phoebe and her grandmother did not have any large animals roaming around the house.
And I was so pleased to see a huge smile on Phoebe’s face. In fact, I’d never seen her so happy.
“Wait until I tell my mom and dad I have you home for the weekend,” she said. “I wish they could meet you.”
Suddenly, Phoebe didn’t look so happy.
I knew how much she missed her parents, and how FAR-FAR-FAR away they were. So I did everything I could think of to cheer her up.
First, I climbed up the side of my cage and leaped to my tree branch.
Phoebe giggled. “Go, Humphrey,” she said.
Next, I swung from branch to branch to branch.
“Go, Humphrey, go!” Phoebe was grinning again.
Then, I dropped down into my bedding and did a triple somersault.
Phoebe laughed out loud.
Finally, I hopped on my wheel and spun it as fast as I could.
“Way to go, Humphrey!” She clapped her hands.
I kept on spinning, feeling unsqueakably happy to see Phoebe smiling again.
“Did I hear giggling?” Gran popped her head in the door.
“Humphrey’s so funny,” Phoebe said. “Watch.”
Mrs. Lawson came in close to the cage.
I couldn’t let Phoebe down, so this time, I scrambled up to the tippy top of my cage and made my way from one side to the other, paw over paw.
“He’s very strong,” Gran said.
Then I let one paw go and held on with the other paw.
“Oh, my!” Gran said.
Next, I dropped down onto my tree branch and scrambled DOWN-DOWN-DOWN.
“Wow!” Gran exclaimed.
Again, I ended up on the wheel, spinning as fast as my small hamster legs could go.
�
��You’re right, Phoebe,” Gran said. “He really knows how to put on a show.”
I was pleased that Phoebe and her grandmother were impressed, but I wasn’t sure I had enough energy to keep them smiling all weekend!
“I was going to ask if you wanted to see a movie, but Humphrey’s much more entertaining,” Gran said.
“Gran, could I invite someone over?” Phoebe asked.
“Sure. Who do you want to ask?” her grandmother replied.
Phoebe glanced at my cage and giggled.
“I’ll tell you in the kitchen,” she said. “It’s a secret.”
“Tell me!” I squeaked. “Please!”
But they’d already left the room.
There was nothing to do but wait, so I crawled into my sleeping hut and closed my eyes.
I didn’t open them again until Phoebe raced back in.
“She’s coming tomorrow, Humphrey! Surprise!” she said.
“WHO-WHO-WHO?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Phoebe answered. “Just wait.”
Surprises can be a lot of fun.
But what if the surprise was something like a dog or a cat?
I didn’t have much choice, so I waited.
The surprise was Kelsey Kirkpatrick.
I call her Be-Careful-Kelsey because she doesn’t always think before she does something.
“Look before you leap,” Mrs. Brisbane sometimes says.
Kelsey tends to leap and not look at all, but she’s been working on being a lot more careful.
Kelsey has long legs and bright red hair, and when she raced into Phoebe’s room, she said, “Hi, Humphrey! Surprised to see me?”
“Yes,” I said. “And it’s a good surprise.”
“I was hoping we could go to the zoo,” Gran told the girls. “But it’s pouring rain out there. I’m sure you’ll think up something to do.”
I’ve heard about the zoo. There are animals even larger and more ferocious than dogs and cats.
I shivered just thinking about that place! I was GLAD-GLAD-GLAD that we weren’t going there!
The girls spent most of the day in Phoebe’s room, which was great for me.
It didn’t take long before they were talking about ancient Egypt.
Secrets According to Humphrey Page 2
