Summer According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

my mind.
    “I know, I know.” Noah acted as if he understood me, though he clearly had not. “You want to be free! I’ll get you out of here.”
    I got that shivery, quivery feeling again, but Ms. Mac was talking and I tried to forget what Noah said. It wasn’t long, though, before he was waving his hand.
    “Yes, Noah?” Ms. Mac said.
    “If we can’t free the animals, couldn’t we at least let Humphrey get some fresh air?” he asked.
    Ms. Mac looked puzzled. “This classroom is in the open air. The front wall is completely open.”
    “He could walk around in his hamster ball,” he suggested.
    Everyone, including Katie and Ms. Mac, seemed to think this was a good idea and soon, I was lazily spinning my way through the rows of chairs. Ms. Mac switched off the lights so she could show some slides of flowers. As I rolled down the aisle, I passed by Garth’s chair just as he was stretching his leg and I bounced off his foot. I then rolled to someone else’s chair leg, bounced again and picked up speed. Everyone was watching the slides—except me—as my hamster ball rolled through the open wall of the Nature Center onto a small porch.
    I stopped moving my paws and let the ball coast slowly across the porch. It was bright outside and the air was very fresh. The rough boards made my ride a little bumpy, but it was lovely being out of my cage and experiencing freedom, like Noah had said. (As long as I had the sturdy plastic hamster ball to protect me.)
    Then I hit an especially big bump, took a sharp turn and bounced down three little steps. BUMPITY-BUMP-BUMP!
    The ball picked up speed and whirled and twirled its way down a path, veering off to the side into thick underbrush. THUMPITY-THUMP-THUMP!
    I was feeling pretty anxious when the ball came to a sudden stop against the trunk of a tree, hitting with such force that the lid of the ball popped open! If I’d wanted to, I could have hopped out of the ball and disappeared into the wild.
    I was pretty sure I didn’t want to.
    While I was trying to figure out my next move, I heard that sound again.
    SKITTER-SKITTER-SKITTER.
    SCRITCH-SCRITCH-SCRITCH.
    “Hello?” I squeaked.
    “Eeek!” a familiar voice squeaked.
    “Eeek yourself,” I squeaked back. “Can you help me?”
    That’s when I saw the little brown mouse with big, dark eyes peek out at me from behind a tree trunk.
    “Oh, it’s you,” the mouse said. “What are you doing in that . . . thing?”
    “It’s not a thing. It’s a hamster ball.” I was a little annoyed with it for even asking. But then I had an amazing revelation. Unlike Og, or Lovey or Jake (who actually didn’t make any sounds at all), I could understand this creature, just as I’d been able to understand Winky, the hamster I’d met a while back. Maybe we were related.
    “Would you happen to be a hamster?” I asked.
    “A what ?” it replied. “Don’t be silly. I’m a mouse! A girl mouse.”
    “I knew that,” I admitted. “I’ve seen mice before. But they were in cages at Pet-O-Rama.”
    “Eeek!” she squeaked again, her big eyes blinking. “Cages?”
    “Never mind,” I said. “Can you help push me back toward the Nature Center? I think I’ve rolled off course,” I explained. “If you could push down the lid of this thing, it would help.”
    The mouse came a few steps closer, but she was definitely on her guard.
    “Who are you?” she asked.
    “I’m Humphrey. I’m a hamster. A classroom hamster,” I added proudly.
    “Oh,” she said. “I’m not sure what that is, but you look a lot like a mouse. Why don’t you come out of that thing?”
    It was an interesting question.
    “Don’t you want to come out into the wild?” she asked.
    Out in the wild—me?
    “Well . . .” I stalled for time. “Um, I live in a school, in a classroom.”
    She was clearly horrified. “With humans ? Inside? ”
    “What’s wrong with humans?” I asked.
    She shuddered. “They don’t like mice, for one thing. Besides,