Spring According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney Read Free Book Online Page A

paper. He stared at the paper for a few seconds.
    Then he said, ‘Wow!’
    ‘What’s the “wow”?’ I asked.
    ‘Thank you, Mrs Brisbane,’ he said.
    He stared at the paper some more and shook his head. ‘Wow.’
    After a while, he came over to our table and said, ‘I just want you to know that Mrs Brisbane is the nicest human being on earth!’
    ‘I couldn’t agree more,’ I squeaked.
    Aldo was smiling as he left.
    I was happy for him but sorry that he’d takenthe piece of paper with him. I had no idea what Mrs Brisbane had written!

    Much later, after Aldo’s car left the car park, I took out my notebook and tried to think about circus activities for Family Fun Night.
    I thought and thought, but I didn’t write anything down. I was still thinking about the envelope Mrs Brisbane had left for Aldo.
    ‘Og?’ I asked my neighbour. ‘Do you know anything about circuses?’
    Actually, I was surprised when he replied with a loud ‘BOING!’
    It was the first sound I’d heard coming from him in days. At least he hadn’t lost his voice.
    ‘I think there are funny people dressed as clowns,’ I said. ‘And maybe tightrope walkers. But what else?’
    Og dived off a rock into the water side of his tank and began to splash.
    ‘Animals,’ I said. ‘I think animals perform. Like horses and dogs and maybe even tigers and leopards …’
    I stopped cold and glanced at the aquarium.Joey had told me the specks would turn into leopard frogs.
    ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Og, do you remember? The specks – I mean tadpoles – will be leopard frogs?’
    Og splashed like crazy. I raced to the far side of my cage to avoid the water. Hamsters don’t like to be wet!
    ‘But you’ll still be the only green frog in Room Twenty-six,’ I squeaked.
    The splashing didn’t stop.
    Mrs Brisbane had told us that Og was a green frog called Rana clamitans. It was a fancy name for a plain old frog, I thought.
    ‘Of course, I think green frogs are the nicest,’ I said. ‘Just wanted to let you know.’
    Og stopped splashing and floated in the water. At least he’d calmed down.
    ‘I’m sure our friends will come up with GREAT-GREAT-GREAT ideas for Family Fun Night,’ I said. ‘They are unsqueakably clever.’
    ‘BOING!’ he agreed. It was the first time he’d agreed with me in a while.
    Since Og seemed calmer, I opened my lock-that-doesn’t-lock and scurried over to his tank.
    ‘Og, do you remember being a tadpole?’ I asked. It was a very personal question, but I needed to know.
    Og didn’t answer. Not a BOING, not a splash. He didn’t even look at me. He acted very strangely – even for him.
    ‘Tell me what you’re thinking,’ I said. ‘I’m worried about you.’
    I think he nodded his head a little bit.
    ‘Look,’ I squeaked. ‘It doesn’t bother me that you were once a tadpole. It doesn’t bother me at all.’
    I crossed my toes because what I said wasn’t exactly true.
    ‘Like Joey said, it’s kind of wonderful,’ I added, even though I still wasn’t sure about that. I crossed my toes harder.
    ‘BOING,’ Og replied.
    He didn’t make another sound the whole night.

    In the morning, all my friends entered Room 26 and ran straight to the aquarium to see if the tadpoles had grown.
    Slow-Down-Simon groaned when he got there. ‘They haven’t changed a bit!’
    ‘It’s going to take a while,’ Joey reminded him.
    Simon groaned again.
    Only one student didn’t look at the tadpoles: Calm-Down-Cassie. She went right to her chair and stared down at the top of her table.
    Once class began, Mrs Brisbane said, ‘I know you all studied last night, so why don’t we take the maths test now and get it out of the way?’
    There were groans. There always were when our teacher said the word ‘test’.
    ‘Now?’ Do-It-Now-Daniel asked.
    Mrs Brisbane smiled nicely and said, ‘Yes.’
    Soon, my friends were bent over their papers, scribbling away. All except for Cassie.
    She stared at the paper with her arms