Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

so happy that Heidi had listened, I did a little hamster dance of my own.
    “Quiet, Humphrey,” said Heidi.
    And I was.
    BEST FRIEND: A SPECIAL-SPECIAL-SPECIAL friend that you want to spend a lot of time with. A true best friend is someone who will tell you the truth (gently) and help you solve your problems. A true best friend isn’t necessarily a human. A hamster can do the job very well.
    Humphrey’s Dictionary of Wonderful Words

Testing, Testing…

    A ny hopes I had that Heidi was cured of her problem vanished quickly once we returned to school on Monday morning. As soon as class started, she blurted out something about how great it was to have me at her house. Okay, she raised her hand in the middle of her sentence, but it was a little too late.
    I had helped solve Heidi’s problem with Gail, but that was only Step One.
    Step Two would be to get Heidi to remember to raise her hand in class. And just like Garth, A.J. and me, she needed practice.
    But I couldn’t do anything to help Heidi for a while because Monday and Tuesday were testing days! For months, my classmates and I had been preparing for these big tests, and now, it was time. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I finally found out: these tests were very long, quiet periods where no one was supposed to squeak up at all.
    No one did, except Heidi, who managed to say, “Mrs. Brisbane?” without raising her hand at least twice a day.
    Unfortunately, I wasn’t given a copy of the test, so Ispent those days catching up on my sleep. Or
trying
to catch up. Just as I would begin to doze off, troubling thoughts would creep into my mind and wake me up. Thoughts about how I missed Ms. Mac. I could still see her huge dark eyes, her bouncy curls and her great big smile. But over time, the picture of her was getting a little fuzzy, which was kind of sad. She was the first teacher who surprised me by going away, and I wasn’t ready for that to happen again with Mrs. Brisbane.
    I guess the contract was just a piece of paper, but I saw it as a SCARY-SCARY-SCARY thing. If Mrs. Brisbane didn’t sign it, what would happen to me?
    Then I thought about Mrs. Wright and her whistle. Whenever I pictured her, I would shudder and concentrate on coming up with a Plan to make Mrs. Brisbane stay.
    The only good news during those days was when recess came and Garth and A.J. happily raced outside to play together. Garth didn’t think A.J. was a dirty rat anymore and neither did I. Another thing that made me HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY was that Aldo was back to his old self: happy, laughing and full of life. I wished I could say
“gracias”
to the person who helped him study for that test! And I also wished I could ask him more about Amy. I tried, but even Aldo couldn’t make out my squeaks.
    I felt for my friends who worked so hard at their tests. It wasn’t easy for Sit-Still-Seth to keep from wiggling or for Pay-Attention-Art to keep his eyes on the paper and not stare out the window. It wasn’t easy forGail not to giggle, Kirk not to joke or Garth not to watch the clock.
    Even super-students like Golden-Miranda and Speak-Up-Sayeh chewed on their pencils and sighed a lot while they stared at their papers.
    “Why do we have to take these tests, anyway?” Don’t-Complain-Mandy Payne grumbled during a break between tests.
    “So you can prove what fabulous students you are,” Mrs. Brisbane explained. “I know you’ll make this school proud.”
    I knew it, too, but it was still hard to figure out how somebody could be graded on filling in little bubbles on paper.
    Mrs. Brisbane, being a good teacher, made sure my friends took time to stand and stretch and relax between tests. Those moments made me feel good, until I remembered that she hadn’t signed that contract yet and there was a very good chance she’d never teach again.

    On Tuesday afternoon, just before the bell rang, Mrs. Brisbane made an announcement.
    “The tests are all over, and tomorrow I have a big surprise for