Summer According to Humphrey Read Free Page B

next two weeks because, although it was nice to be with Ms. Mac again, our lives weren’t really that exciting.
    Ms. Mac liked to cook and the apartment always smelled of YUMMY-YUMMY-YUMMY things. She had a lot of friends over and they ate the yummy food and listened to loud music and sometimes Ms. Mac played the bongo drums.
    To my surprise, Og liked to BOING-BOING along with the bongos!
    Still, I have to admit I missed Mrs. Brisbane and my friends in Room 26. Nobody called me “Humphrey Dumpty,” the way A.J. did. No one spoke as softly and sweetly to me as Sayeh. And no one giggled like good old Gail!
    I was beginning to think my life was going to be an endless round of bongos and BOING-BOINGs when one day, Ms. Mac got out a large suitcase.
    “Og?” I called to my neighbor, whose tank was next to my cage on Ms. Mac’s coffee table. “I think she’s leaving again! I hope she’s not going back to Brazil!”
    Og splashed madly. “BOING-BOING!”
    I could tell that he had come to love Ms. Mac as much as I did.
    “Calm down, guys,” Ms. Mac said. “This summer, you’re going wherever I’m going. And I think you’ll like the place we’re going—a lot!”
    “Did you hear that, Og?” I was almost crazy with delight. I started my wheel spinning at warp speed. “We’re going with her!”
    “BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!” Og twanged.
    Even though I had no idea where we were going, I was unsqueakably happy that Og and I were included.
    “Of course, we’ll have to drive a long way,” Ms. Mac continued. “And you’ll be in very unfamiliar territory. In fact, it will be just a little bit wild. ”
    As soon as she said “wild,” I stopped spinning, which is never a good idea because I tumbled off the wheel and landed in a soft pile of bedding, a little closer to my poo corner than I like.
    I thought about what I’d seen in the library just a few weeks earlier. Fierce animals with sharp teeth and sharp claws. They were marvelous beasts, but somehow I knew they wouldn’t be friendly to small furry creatures like me. Or small green, furless creatures like Og.
    Especially at dinnertime, if you get my drift.
    Ms. Mac didn’t seem worried, though. She was too busy washing clothes and sewing little labels into them.
    She packed her clothes and got more food and supplies for Og and me. “We won’t be near a town,” she explained. “I’ll bet you guys will like getting out in nature as much as I will.”
    “Wait!” I squeaked. “Exactly what do you mean by ‘getting out in nature’?” I asked. Because about the only time I’d been out in nature (in A.J.’s backyard), I was inside my hamster ball. And even so, something BAD-BAD-BAD almost happened to me.
    “The call of the wild must be answered.” Ms. Mac laughed. Then she closed her suitcase and zipped it. “We leave first thing in the morning.”
    I had to spin on my wheel for a long time that night, trying to get the thought of lions and tigers out of my head. And I tried to tell myself that Ms. Mac was a wonderful human who loved me.
    I could trust her. Couldn’t I?

    When Ms. Mac said first thing, she meant it. The sun was barely up when Og and I were in the car, cage and tank nestled among boxes and bags and pillows and bongo drums.
    BUMP-BUMP-BUMP went the little car as it chugged down the road.
    THUMP-THUMP-THUMP went my heart (and tummy) with every bump we hit.
    We drove and drove and drove some more. I couldn’t see out the window, so I didn’t know if there were any gorillas or lions around. I believe lions can make a lot of noise, but even if they were roaring right next to the car, I couldn’t have heard them because Ms. Mac had loud music playing.
    After several hours, the tummy-thumping BUMP-BUMP-BUMPs became slower BUMPETY-BUMP-BUMPs and I knew that we had turned off the main road.
    Ms. Mac turned off her music. “Ah, there’s the sign,” she said. “We’re almost there.”
    I crossed my paws and hoped that was good news.

    When