Adventure According to Humphrey Read Free Page A

mine—when he turns out to be a pirate called Jolly Roger and he decides to teach them to be pirates, too! Then they set sail to find lost pirate treasure. My fur tingled and I was hanging on every word when the teacher suddenly closed the book.
    The other students groaned and I was unsqueakably disappointed until Mrs. Brisbane said she wanted to tell us exciting news.
    “Og, did you hear?” I squeaked with delight. “Exciting news.”
    “BOING!” my neighbor answered in his odd, twangy voice that green frogs like him have, but he didn’t sound particularly excited.
    “The reason we talked about what floats is that tomorrow, we’ll start a project about sailing,” she said. “We’ll be doing sailing problems in math and science, and then you’ll start building your own model sailboats.”
    My friends murmured excitedly while Mrs. Brisbane paused and then cleared her throat.
    “Three weeks from tomorrow, if the weather is good, we’ll go to Potter’s Pond for a contest to see which of your sailboats can get across the water first. We’ll have a picnic and prizes and maybe . . .” Mrs. Brisbane paused again. “Hidden treasure!”
    Potter’s Pond. Picnic. Prizes. Treasure! My heart pounded at the possibilities, and my classmates’ cheers were almost deafening.
    “What are the prizes?” Heidi asked.
    “Raise-Your-Hand-Heidi,” Mrs. Brisbane answered. “The prizes will be a surprise.”
    My friends groaned again, and I let out a bit of a squeak myself.
    By afternoon, Mrs. Brisbane had written the rules for the sailboat contest on the chalkboard.
    1. Each student will work with a partner.
    2. The boat must be powered by the wind; no batteries or remote controls can be used.
    3. All students will be given the same materials for their boats, but they will be allowed to add one item of their choosing (except batteries).
    4. Materials will include wood, cardboard, cloth, paint, glue, markers and other art supplies.
    5. The first boat to make it from the starting point to the opposite shore of Potter’s Pond will win the grand prize for Most Seaworthy.
    6. There will be a prize for Most Beautiful Boat.
     
    At the end of the day, my friends were still chattering away about sailboats as they rushed out of class.
    Once the coast was clear, I shouted to my neighbor. “Og? Did you hear all that? She said all students . I wonder if . . .” I didn’t dare finish that thought. Most of the time, I did everything my friends in Room 26 did, like taking tests and learning new things. Sometimes we even had games or parties, and I was right there with the rest of them.
    But sometimes, I was left out. Recess. Lunch. PE. Field trips. Still, I could hope.
    I was so busy hoping, I didn’t realize that it was nighttime until the door flew open. The lights came on and a familiar voice said, “Give a cheer, ’cause Aldo’s here!”
    “Greetings, Aldo!” I answered as he wheeled in his cleaning cart. “Did you hear about our wonderful contest?” As usual, all that came out was SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK.
    I’m not sure if he understood me, but as he cleaned the room, he noticed the vocabulary words on one chalkboard and the rules for the contest on the other.
    “So that’s what you’re worked up about, Humphrey!” he said with a hearty laugh. “I’d like to be part of that!”
    “Me too!” I answered, and Og splashed wildly.
    “That gives me a great idea!” Aldo announced.
    I waited breathlessly for him to say more. Instead, he started sweeping up the aisles of the classroom. Occasionally, I’d hear him chuckle, but I had no idea what he was thinking.
    “Squeak up!” I finally insisted.
    “You’ll see,” Aldo answered. “All in good time.”
    “What was that all about?” I asked Og after Aldo was gone.
    “BOING-BOING!” Og replied. Then he leaped into the water side of his tank. While he was splishing and splashing, I daydreamed about life on the open sea, riding the waves, going up and down and up and