Summer According to Humphrey

by Betty G. Birney

  “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!

  NOTE TO SELF: Beware of things that hoot and howl-especially at night!

  9

  Knots to You

  Humphrey . . .” 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.

  Happy Hollow—a place close to my heart.

  Happy Hollow—we loved it from the start.

  Where we work hard, play hard and have lots o
f fun,

  Where it’s one for all and it’s all for fun.

  We’ll remember forever these happy magic days.

  We’ll remember forever our sharing, caring ways.

  And for all the days and weeks and years that follow,

  We’ll remember happy days at Happy Hollow.

  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.

  “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.

  NOTE TO SELF: Humans aren’t so good at climbing, squeaking or spinning, but they have some VERY-VERY-VERY unusual talents.

  10

  Lovey Dovey

  It 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.”