Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

with him? Bees are annoying, noisy insects. And a huge bee-plus would be even more annoying.
    My eyes got used to the light and oh—it was wonderful to see Aldo in his usual work clothes, his lovely mustache bobbing up and down above his smiling lips. He waved a paper in the air.
    I got a B-plus on my Spanish exam!” He walked right up to my cage and waved the paper at me. “Okay, okay, I usually get A’s on most of my tests. But this B-plus makes me very happy because I thought I might fail.”
    I couldn’t imagine Aldo failing at anything. And now I understood that he was talking about a grade, not a buzzy insect.
    “Congratulations, Aldo!” I shouted with unsqueakable happiness.
    Og bounced up and down like the goofy frog he is. “BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!” he twanged.
    “Gracias, amigos,”
Aldo answered. Then he looked around Room 26. “Say, the place looks pretty good. My niece, Amy, did a fine job.
¡Muy bueno!
”
    “She did,” I answered. “But I thought she was a space alien and I thought she captured you and I was SO-SO-SO worried!” I exclaimed.
    Aldo laughed heartily, which made his mustache bounce. “I think you missed me, Humphrey. And you know what? I missed you, too.”
    Then Aldo, who has done some very funny things, such as balancing a broom on one finger, did something even funnier. He began to snap his fingers. Humming a peppy tune, he lifted his arms above his head and began dancing between the desks, tapping his feet wildly.
    “Go, Aldo!” I shouted.
    “¡Olé!”
he shouted.
    “¡Olé-Olé-Olé!”
I chimed in.
    I was so happy to have Aldo back, I forgot that Mrs. Brisbane might not come back at all.
    At least for a minute, I forgot.
    CONTRACT: A piece of paper that you sign as a promise that you’ll do something, like teach school or pay your bills. Signing a contract is a very serious thing, and you should think carefully before you sign one. (Except for Mrs. Brisbane, who should sign that paper without thinking for one more second!)
    Humphrey’s Dictionary of Wonderful Words

Hoppin’ with Heidi

    S ome things are not surprises at all. Like the fact that as soon as we got in the car after school on Friday, Heidi asked her mother if Gail could come over to spend the night. Heidi and Gail are BEST-BEST-BEST friends and do just about everything together (except once when they had a
bad
argument).
    I wasn’t surprised when Mrs. Hopper said “yes,” either, because she’s a very nice mom.
    As soon as I was comfortably settled in Heidi’s room, Gail arrived with her backpack. It wasn’t long before the two girls were giggling.
    “Let’s dress up!” said Heidi.
    “Okay,” said Gail.
    Heidi opened a big square box and the girls pulled out all kinds of hats and scarves and jewelry. “Let’s be princesses.”
    Gail put on a firefighter’s hat. It was just like Jeff Herman’s hat, only this one was red. “Stop, drop, roll!” she shouted.
    So I did. I dropped down in my bedding and rolled over three times. The girls didn’t notice.
    “No, Gail. Find something fancy,” Heidi said. She had a shiny gold crown on her head.
    Gail took off the firefighter’s hat and poked around in the box. Soon the girls had on all kinds of lacy, frilly things and sparkly jewelry.
    After a while, Heidi took off her crown. “Let’s play a game.”
    “Okay,” said Gail. “Let’s play—”
    “Cards!” Heidi interrupted.
    Soon the girls were playing a game where they slapped down playing cards really fast. They were having such a good time, I decided to take a little nap.
    I woke up when Heidi said, “I’m tired of this. Let’s do something else.”
    “I have an idea,” said Gail.
    I never found out what Gail’s idea was because Heidi said, “Time for smoothies,” and raced out of the room. Gail sighed, but she followed her friend.
    The girls returned a while later, with glasses full of something that was bright pink and looked delicious.
    “Here, Humphrey. I brought you a