Spring According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney Page A

leg at a time.
    Sophie asked, ‘Can Humphrey and Og be in the gym, too? And the tadpoles?’
    Mrs Brisbane said, ‘Mrs Wright won’t like that. But I think Mr Morales will. And after all, he is her boss. I’ll see what I can do.’
    There were cheers and applause.
    Mrs Brisbane wasn’t finished. ‘Since we’re getting ready for Family Fun Night, I have an assignment that has to do with families and how they grow.’
    She asked Holly to pass around sheets of paper.
    ‘We’re all going to make family trees,’ she said. ‘A family tree shows the people who livein your family now. And it also shows your relatives from the past. You’re going to build yours branch by branch.’
    I was confused. I may not remember my family, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t grow on trees. And neither do human families.
    ‘To start with, for your homework tonight, I want you to write your name at the bottom of the tree – there’s a space for it.’ She continued, ‘And then on the lowest branch, write the name of your mother on the right side and your father on the left side.’
    Holly raised her hand. ‘You mean Janet and Steve? Those are my parents’ names.’
    ‘Their full names, including your mother’s maiden name,’ Mrs Brisbane replied. ‘That’s her last name from when she was a girl. Some mums keep their last name and some take their husband’s.’
    Daniel frowned. ‘I have no idea what my mum’s maiden name is.’
    ‘Ask her,’ our teacher said. ‘Then, I want you to draw apples hanging from the tree to show your brothers and sisters, if you have any. Write their names in the apples.’
    Sophie was already at work. ‘Timothy,’ she
    said as she wrote on her paper. ‘Mrs Brisbane, I have a half-sister,’ Nicole said.
    A half-sister? I’d never heard of such a thing! Which half was she?
    ‘My mum and dad got divorced,’ she continued. ‘My mum married my stepdad, and they had my sister. Where do I put her?’
    Oh! So that’s what a half-sister is.
    ‘Make an apple on the tree for her. All kinds of sisters and brothers should be included,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘You don’t have to do it now. Bring it in tomorrow.’
    As usual, I didn’t get a sheet, so I wasn’t sure what a family tree looked like or why brothers and sisters were apples!
    My friends raced out of the room, but Thomas hung back with a worried look on his face.
    ‘Mrs Brisbane,’ he said when all of the students were gone, ‘I don’t know what to put on my tree because I’m adopted.’
    ‘That doesn’t make any difference,’ she said. ‘Do you live with someone that you call Mum or Dad?’
    Thomas nodded. ‘Both.’
    ‘And do you love them and they love you back?’ she asked.
    Thomas nodded again.
    ‘Then those are your parents,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘The people who love you and take care of you. Write their names on the family tree.’
    ‘Okay,’ Thomas said.
    I wasn’t sure what that was all about, so I hopped on my wheel for a good, long spin to try to figure things out.

    After my spin, I crawled into my sleeping hut, and by the time I woke up, it was dark outside.
    It was too late to visit Gigi, even though I wanted to tell her about our Family Fun Night plans.
    Og was quiet, so I sat and waited for Aldo to arrive. I was eager to see what he thought of the tadpoles. They were quiet, too.
    Suddenly, the door opened and the lights came on.
    ‘Greetings, Aldo!’ I squeaked. After all, I hadn’t seen my friend for more than a week.
    I was SHOCKED-SHOCKED-SHOCKED to see that the person pulling his cleaning cart into Room 26 wasn’t Aldo at all. It was a complete stranger!
    ‘You’re not Aldo!’ I squeaked.
    ‘BOING-BOING!’ Og chimed in.
    The tadpoles didn’t make a sound, of course.
    The stranger was much shorter than Aldo and he didn’t have that nice, furry moustache that Aldo has. But he did have rusty-coloured hair and a rusty-coloured beard to match.
    He pulled in the cart and looked around the