Read Online Trouble According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney - Free Book Online
Authors: Betty G. Birney
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the nice soft carpeting. I quickly darted under the table to make sure that no one was around. I could hear the boys in the kitchen and I hadn’t heard Art’s parents since they went down into the basement.
I took a big huge breath and scampered across the living room, turned left at the hallway and ran straight back to Art’s room. Thank goodness the door was open or my Plan would have ended right then and there.
The maze of train tracks looked much different from a hamster’s eye level. There were many tracks going this way and that way and a string of colorful cars attached to a big, shiny engine.
My Plan was a simple one, as most good plans are. I thought the boys would eventually find that I’d gotten out of my cage. They’d search for me and end up in Art’s room. When Paul saw Art’s amazing train layout, they’d start working on it together and remember how much they’d liked being friends a few years ago. Art would be willing to let Paul help him with math and his grades would go up. We’d all live happily ever after! (Except Miranda, of course. I was still feeling guilty about getting her in trouble.)
Maybe it wasn’t such a simple Plan after all.
It was taking the boys a long time to discover that Iwas missing. I realized it could take them hours. Or possibly, they’d never notice that I was missing at all. I yearned for my comfy cage that offered so many fun things to do, like spinning on my wheel, climbing my tree branch, swinging from my ladder or dozing in my sleeping hut.
I was feeling sleepy right then and I saw a bed that was exactly my size. It wasn’t really a bed, just an open car on the train. I scurried over to it and was easily able to pull myself up the side and settle down inside. Yes, it fit me perfectly and what a thrill it was for me to be sitting in a train for the first time in my life! Ahead of me was a tank car made of gleaming metal. Ahead of that was a passenger car with tiny plastic people looking out the windows. And in front was the powerful engine with a whistle on top!
I was too excited to take a nap. Instead, I stretched my paws, and as I did, I accidentally hit some kind of switch or lever. I didn’t have time to see what it was because when I touched it, the train lurched forward and began to move around the track.
Once I realized I was going on a train trip, I decided to sit back and enjoy it. I loved the way the train’s wheels went clickety-clack on the track and the way it traveled in a wide curve past the general store and the tall pine trees. The train picked up speed and I could feel the breeze in my fur. Everything went dark—completely dark—for a long time. (At least it seemed long.) A tunnel! I hadn’t seen that coming.
When I came out the other end, the train veered left and began to climb UP-UP-UP. I could look straight down on the roof of the general store and the tops of the tall pine trees. That Art was certainly clever to be able to build a bridge.
The train stopped climbing and moved across the straight center of the bridge. The pine trees looked small from what felt like the top of the world. But straight ahead, what I saw was Trouble! As the train started down the incline on the other side of the bridge, the bright shiny engine tumbled off the side, pulling the passenger car with its tiny people off the edge and then the shiny metal tank car. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was headed for a huge fall, … and I was about to land right in the middle of Lake Patel!
HUMPHREY SPENDS WEEKEND
WITH ART!
Classroom pet makes his first visit
to Patel house.
The Humphreyville Herald
Test Distress
M y whole (short) life flashed before me: my days at Pet-O-Rama, Ms. Mac bringing me to Room 26, the days when Mrs. Brisbane was out to get me, the day Og arrived and the faces of all the friends I’d helped since I’d come to Longfellow School.
“Help!” I squeaked.
I heard the muffled voices of Art and Paul.
“Maybe he’s in
I took a big huge breath and scampered across the living room, turned left at the hallway and ran straight back to Art’s room. Thank goodness the door was open or my Plan would have ended right then and there.
The maze of train tracks looked much different from a hamster’s eye level. There were many tracks going this way and that way and a string of colorful cars attached to a big, shiny engine.
My Plan was a simple one, as most good plans are. I thought the boys would eventually find that I’d gotten out of my cage. They’d search for me and end up in Art’s room. When Paul saw Art’s amazing train layout, they’d start working on it together and remember how much they’d liked being friends a few years ago. Art would be willing to let Paul help him with math and his grades would go up. We’d all live happily ever after! (Except Miranda, of course. I was still feeling guilty about getting her in trouble.)
Maybe it wasn’t such a simple Plan after all.
It was taking the boys a long time to discover that Iwas missing. I realized it could take them hours. Or possibly, they’d never notice that I was missing at all. I yearned for my comfy cage that offered so many fun things to do, like spinning on my wheel, climbing my tree branch, swinging from my ladder or dozing in my sleeping hut.
I was feeling sleepy right then and I saw a bed that was exactly my size. It wasn’t really a bed, just an open car on the train. I scurried over to it and was easily able to pull myself up the side and settle down inside. Yes, it fit me perfectly and what a thrill it was for me to be sitting in a train for the first time in my life! Ahead of me was a tank car made of gleaming metal. Ahead of that was a passenger car with tiny plastic people looking out the windows. And in front was the powerful engine with a whistle on top!
I was too excited to take a nap. Instead, I stretched my paws, and as I did, I accidentally hit some kind of switch or lever. I didn’t have time to see what it was because when I touched it, the train lurched forward and began to move around the track.
Once I realized I was going on a train trip, I decided to sit back and enjoy it. I loved the way the train’s wheels went clickety-clack on the track and the way it traveled in a wide curve past the general store and the tall pine trees. The train picked up speed and I could feel the breeze in my fur. Everything went dark—completely dark—for a long time. (At least it seemed long.) A tunnel! I hadn’t seen that coming.
When I came out the other end, the train veered left and began to climb UP-UP-UP. I could look straight down on the roof of the general store and the tops of the tall pine trees. That Art was certainly clever to be able to build a bridge.
The train stopped climbing and moved across the straight center of the bridge. The pine trees looked small from what felt like the top of the world. But straight ahead, what I saw was Trouble! As the train started down the incline on the other side of the bridge, the bright shiny engine tumbled off the side, pulling the passenger car with its tiny people off the edge and then the shiny metal tank car. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was headed for a huge fall, … and I was about to land right in the middle of Lake Patel!
HUMPHREY SPENDS WEEKEND
WITH ART!
Classroom pet makes his first visit
to Patel house.
The Humphreyville Herald
Test Distress
M y whole (short) life flashed before me: my days at Pet-O-Rama, Ms. Mac bringing me to Room 26, the days when Mrs. Brisbane was out to get me, the day Og arrived and the faces of all the friends I’d helped since I’d come to Longfellow School.
“Help!” I squeaked.
I heard the muffled voices of Art and Paul.
“Maybe he’s in
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