Read Online Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Betty G. Birney
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in a while, Garth came in with a big smile on his face. Tabitha slapped him on the back and said, “Good game!” Then A.J. high-fived Garth.
I guess all that practice over the weekend paid off, and I was GLAD-GLAD-GLAD.
But I didn’t feel so happy later in the day. Mrs. Brisbane became extremely annoyed when Heidi Hopper blurted out answers—not once, not twice, but three times! (I was a little annoyed with her, too.) If Mrs. Brisbane had talked to her parents, it hadn’t done any good.
After lunch, our teacher announced that we were going to have a surprise guest! That got my brain spinning as fast as my wheel. Could it be a magician like the surprise guest at Richie’s party? Or maybe it would be Firefighter Jeff to help us practice Stop-Drop-Roll. (I hoped it would be him.) Just as I was getting excited, I realized that the guest could be somebody not so nice. It could be Mrs. Wright and her really loud whistle. Or it could even be a space alien!
I decided to wait in my sleeping hut. A small hamster can’t be too careful.
It wasn’t long before the mystery was solved, and no one was more surprised than Miranda—because the surprise guest turned out to be her father! I was almost as surprised as she was.
Mrs. Brisbane introduced him to the class and said, “Mr. Golden is an accountant. That means he works with numbers all day long. So he volunteered to spend the afternoon helping us with our math drills for the exams coming up.”
Mrs. Brisbane is perfectly fine at teaching us all aboutnumbers and the things you can do with them, but it was interesting to see the way Mr. Golden taught. He and my friends played a cool quiz game that just happened to use all the math that would be on the test. Paul, who usually only comes into Room 26 for math in the morning, joined us for the fun. Even Pay-Attention-Art paid attention, and so did I.
I’d had a pretty exciting day, and by the time the last bell rang, I was looking forward to a quiet evening and nice, long doze.
Then I remembered the room cleaning. Would Aldo be back? Or would the space alien return? Would she be taking us with her?
I suddenly didn’t feel like dozing, not one bit.
“Og? You know what to do?” I asked my friend later that night. It was dark outside, and someone would be coming to clean the room any minute.
He splashed around, which I decided meant “yes.”
I’d used the time since school was out wisely and come up with a Plan.
I waited, I watched, I wiggled my whiskers.
And then I heard the squeaking of the cleaning cart.
“Remember,” I told Og, “it’s Aldo, we yell, ‘Welcome back!’ If it’s you-know-who, we hide and stay perfectly still.”
As usual, the lights were blinding when they were first switched on, but I made out the silhouette of someone too short to be Aldo. It was HER! I dove down andburrowed under the bedding in my cage, completely covering myself.
Things were quiet from Og’s direction, so I figured he remembered his part of my scheme, which was to crouch down and hide behind a big rock.
If we both stayed perfectly still, the creature might not notice us and forget all about taking us back to the mother ship.
I could hear her moving chairs around, sweeping, probably dusting, emptying the two wastebaskets. I even heard her make that strange, otherworldly sound. Was that music—or vibrating signals from the mother ship?
“Yo,” I heard her say. “Yeah, still cleaning.”
Then she paused. “No. Just a few more days. Thursday’s the big day for Aldo. Talk later.”
I heard a click. There was more shuffling, then the lights went out and I heard the door close.
She was gone. That was good.
She was moving on soon. That was good, too.
But if Thursday was Aldo’s big day, did that mean he was moving on with her? Because that was a VERY-VERY-VERY bad idea.
“DID YOU HEAR THAT?” I asked Og once the coast was clear.
“BOING!” I knew that was a “yes.”
“Aldo’s big day is Thursday.
I guess all that practice over the weekend paid off, and I was GLAD-GLAD-GLAD.
But I didn’t feel so happy later in the day. Mrs. Brisbane became extremely annoyed when Heidi Hopper blurted out answers—not once, not twice, but three times! (I was a little annoyed with her, too.) If Mrs. Brisbane had talked to her parents, it hadn’t done any good.
After lunch, our teacher announced that we were going to have a surprise guest! That got my brain spinning as fast as my wheel. Could it be a magician like the surprise guest at Richie’s party? Or maybe it would be Firefighter Jeff to help us practice Stop-Drop-Roll. (I hoped it would be him.) Just as I was getting excited, I realized that the guest could be somebody not so nice. It could be Mrs. Wright and her really loud whistle. Or it could even be a space alien!
I decided to wait in my sleeping hut. A small hamster can’t be too careful.
It wasn’t long before the mystery was solved, and no one was more surprised than Miranda—because the surprise guest turned out to be her father! I was almost as surprised as she was.
Mrs. Brisbane introduced him to the class and said, “Mr. Golden is an accountant. That means he works with numbers all day long. So he volunteered to spend the afternoon helping us with our math drills for the exams coming up.”
Mrs. Brisbane is perfectly fine at teaching us all aboutnumbers and the things you can do with them, but it was interesting to see the way Mr. Golden taught. He and my friends played a cool quiz game that just happened to use all the math that would be on the test. Paul, who usually only comes into Room 26 for math in the morning, joined us for the fun. Even Pay-Attention-Art paid attention, and so did I.
I’d had a pretty exciting day, and by the time the last bell rang, I was looking forward to a quiet evening and nice, long doze.
Then I remembered the room cleaning. Would Aldo be back? Or would the space alien return? Would she be taking us with her?
I suddenly didn’t feel like dozing, not one bit.
“Og? You know what to do?” I asked my friend later that night. It was dark outside, and someone would be coming to clean the room any minute.
He splashed around, which I decided meant “yes.”
I’d used the time since school was out wisely and come up with a Plan.
I waited, I watched, I wiggled my whiskers.
And then I heard the squeaking of the cleaning cart.
“Remember,” I told Og, “it’s Aldo, we yell, ‘Welcome back!’ If it’s you-know-who, we hide and stay perfectly still.”
As usual, the lights were blinding when they were first switched on, but I made out the silhouette of someone too short to be Aldo. It was HER! I dove down andburrowed under the bedding in my cage, completely covering myself.
Things were quiet from Og’s direction, so I figured he remembered his part of my scheme, which was to crouch down and hide behind a big rock.
If we both stayed perfectly still, the creature might not notice us and forget all about taking us back to the mother ship.
I could hear her moving chairs around, sweeping, probably dusting, emptying the two wastebaskets. I even heard her make that strange, otherworldly sound. Was that music—or vibrating signals from the mother ship?
“Yo,” I heard her say. “Yeah, still cleaning.”
Then she paused. “No. Just a few more days. Thursday’s the big day for Aldo. Talk later.”
I heard a click. There was more shuffling, then the lights went out and I heard the door close.
She was gone. That was good.
She was moving on soon. That was good, too.
But if Thursday was Aldo’s big day, did that mean he was moving on with her? Because that was a VERY-VERY-VERY bad idea.
“DID YOU HEAR THAT?” I asked Og once the coast was clear.
“BOING!” I knew that was a “yes.”
“Aldo’s big day is Thursday.
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