Surprises According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney Page A

treat,” Heidi said. And what a treat it was: a big, juicy strawberry!
    “I brought a treat, too,” said Gail. She pushed a perfect little raspberry through the bars of my cage.
    “THANKS-THANKS-THANKS!” I squeaked, which made both girls giggle.
    “How about we draw pictures of Humphrey?” Gail suggested. I thought it was a very fine suggestion.
    Heidi shook her head. “Not now. Let’s watch the princess movie.”
    “Oh, I’ve seen that a million times,” Gail said.
    Heidi grabbed Gail’s arm and pulled her toward the door. “So have I. It’ll be fun!”
    The girls were out of the room for quite a while, which gave me time to think. They were having a lot of fun, but I’d noticed something odd. No matter what Gail suggested—or tried to suggest—Heidi interrupted her with her own idea. And they always ended up doing whatever Heidi said. I was sure that Heidi didn’t mean to be so bossy. In fact, I don’t think she even knew she did it. But I was starting to wish that Gail could get her way for once.
    That’s when I came up with a Plan. I do like making Plans, so while I nibbled on the strawberry, I thought about what I could do to help Heidi see what she was doing.
    I slipped my notebook out of its hiding place behind the mirror and turned to the page that said
    A PLAN TO HELP HEIDI

1.
    And I started to write.

    Much later that night, my notebook was back in its hiding place and the girls were ready for bed. While they were in the bathroom, brushing their teeth, I opened thelock-that-doesn’t-lock, quietly slipped out of my cage and hid under Heidi’s desk.
    The girls were giggling when they came back in. “I’ll take the top,” said Heidi.
    “Okay,” said Gail.
    Heidi’s bed was very unusual, because it was really two beds, with one stacked on top of the other.
    Gail was already climbing into the bottom bed when Heidi said, “We’d better tell Humphrey good night.”
    Heidi leaned over my cage and said, “Good night, little Humphrey.”
    What she saw was an empty cage with an open door.
    “Humphrey?” she said in a much louder voice. “Humphrey, where are you?”
    From my vantage point under the desk, I could see the look of panic on her face as she twirled in a circle, searching every corner of the room with her eyes.
    Gail leaped up. “He’s not there?”
    “No, look,” said Heidi. “He’s out of his cage.”
    Gail looked frightened, too. “I’m sure the door was closed.”
    “I know,” Heidi agreed. “But he’s not there! Oh, if anything happens to Humphrey, I’ll never forgive myself!”
    Gail looked around. “He has to be in this room.”
    Soon, the girls were crawling around the room on their hands and knees, calling my name. Finally, Gail spotted me. “There he is,” she told Heidi in a loud whisper.
    “Whew,” said Heidi. “I’ll get him.” She crawled over to the desk and reached out to grab me, but I was way ahead of her. I skittered away to a spot I’d picked out under the bed.
    Heidi looked pretty frustrated. “Humphrey! Why did you do that?”
    I wanted to squeak up and say, “To help you,” but I stayed quiet.
    Gail closed the door to the room. “I have an idea.”
    Heidi jumped up. “I’ll chase him out into the open and you catch him.” She was already crawling to the bed.
    “Come on out, Humphrey,” she said.
    She swung her arm under the bed. I came out, all right, and dashed under the dresser.
    “Humphrey!” Heidi sounded irritated. “Come here!”
    “He’s not going to come to you,” said Gail. “Listen…”
    But Heidi didn’t listen. “I’ll get a cup and catch him in that. Keep an eye on him.”
    She raced out of the room. Gail sighed and stared at me. Heidi was back in a flash with a large plastic cup in her hand. “You chase him out into the open and I’ll put the cup over him.”
    We played that game for quite a while. Gail chased me out from under the dresser. Heidi tried hard to put that cup over me, but I was too quick