Read Online Trouble According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney - Free Book Online Page B

instead I heard the guys cheering. When I opened my eyes, Art and Paul were high-fiving each other. “We did it!” said Art.
    “Way to go,” said Paul.
    Mrs. Patel appeared in the doorway, smiling. “What’s going on in here?” she asked.
    “Paul helped me fix the train,” said Art.
    “Art did all the work,” said Paul.
    “That’s great! But how about the math?”
    “We studied for a while,” Paul said.
    “I don’t quite get it yet. Could you—I mean, would you help me some more?” Art asked Paul.
    “Sure,” Paul quickly replied.
    “Tell you what. I’ll call your mom and see if you can stay for dinner,” Art’s mom suggested. The boys thought it was a great idea.
    “First, maybe you could clean up in here?” Mrs. Patel suggested.
    Soon, Art’s train layout looked neat and the extra track was put away.
    “We’d better take Humphrey back to the living room,” said Art, picking up my cage.
    “Say, how’d he get out of that thing, anyway?” asked Paul.
    “Maybe I wasn’t paying attention when I closed it,” said Art. “But it’s not the first time. Miranda got in a lot of trouble when Humphrey got out the last time. She might not get to take him home again.”
    Never, ever again? My whiskers wilted when I heard that news.
    Paul seemed surprised. “Miranda? That doesn’t sound right. Let me check that lock.”
    Art put the cage down and Paul bent over and checked my cage door. I shivered a bit because Paul was one smart kid. He might actually uncover the secret of my lock-that-doesn’t-lock.
    “Looks fine to me,” he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
    But I only felt relieved for a while. After I was back in the living room and the boys were off studying, I wasn’t thinking about trains or numbers or even the fact that I had narrowly escaped a disastrous accident.
    I was thinking about Miranda and the trouble I’d caused her. Mrs. Brisbane had said there would be “consequences for her carelessness.” Miranda was suffering the consequences, but the carelessness was all mine.

    Paul ended up staying for dinner
and
spending the night
and
studying with Art on Sunday. In the afternoon, Art’s dad told them he thought they needed a break and the three of them went into Art’s room to work on the train layout. They were in there a LONG-LONG-LONG time. Finally, they came out with big smiles on their faces.
    “Humphrey, we have a surprise for you,” said Art. He opened the door to my cage.
    Surprises are sometimes nice things, like birthday parties or an especially juicy strawberry. Surprises can also be scary things, like being snowed in and hungry, or strange things, like suddenly having a frog as a next-door neighbor. So as Art carefully picked me up and took me out of my cage, I had a queasy, uneasy feeling all over.
    With Mr. Patel and Paul following him, Art carried me down the hallway to his room.
    “It’s all finished!” he said.
    I peered over the edge of Art’s hand. The train layout was amazing! The town now had streets and even streetlights, along with the houses and trees. Between the red-and-white tent and the big wheel were an elephant and a clown. It looked like a real town, although I could have done without the lake or the dark tunnel.
    “Everything’s working now,” Art said. “So we thought you’d like a real train ride.”
    Sometimes humans imagine that they know what you’re thinking.
I
was thinking I could skip riding a train ever again!
    “We tested it with a weight to make sure that the car won’t tip over with you in it,” said Paul.
    “Maybe Humphrey doesn’t want a ride. Did you think of that?” asked Mr. Patel.
    Art placed me in the open car. “He’s the one who had the idea in the first place.”
    Paul pushed the switch and said, “All aboard!”
    I clenched my paws along the side of the car as the train started chug-chugging down the track and around the wide curve, past the town, the general store and the tall pine trees. The train