Faber & Faber

‘Twas the week before our holiday break and all through the classroom, a small creature like me had to squeak VERY-VERY-VERY loudly to be heard, because there was so much excitement!

First of all, it was snowing inside Room 26. Outside, the sun was shining but inside, big lacy snowflakes were taped to the glass in the windows. Cut-out snowman and toy soldiers marched across the top of the bulletin board and there were big drawings of brightly-wrapped holiday gifts.

Gail brought in a dreidel, which is a top you spin. It made me dizzy just watching as she showed the class a game she and her family play for Hanukkah.

And, when I listened closely, I could hear my fellow classmates whispering among themselves about gifts. It seems they all made special holidays gifts for our teacher and they couldn’t wait to see her face when she opened them.

It was fun to hear everyone whispering and giggling, but Og and I felt a little left out. I guess because Og is a frog and I am a hamster, they didn’t ask us take part, but still, we are important members of Room 26.

Being classroom pets, we also found out a little secret that our friends didn’t know. Early one morning, Mrs Brisbane brought in a box, put it in the cabinet, then locked the door.

‘Those are presents for my students. They’re very special pens,’ she told us. ‘Now, don’t say a word, Humphrey. You either, Og.’

‘I WON’T, WON’T, WON’T!’ I assured her. (I don’t think she understood me, though.)

On the morning of the last day of school before the holidays, there was a pile of brightly wrapped presents on Mrs Brisbane’s desk. The taller the pile grew, the worse I felt because I didn’t have anything to give her.

There was also a small wrapped package on each student’s desk. Those were from Mrs Brisbane.

Once the bell rang for the day, Mrs Brisbane said, ‘Before you open your presents, I think you have a special gift to give. Sayeh?’

Sayeh took a box from under her table and walked toward Og and me.

‘Humphrey? Og?’ she said in a whisper.

‘Speak-Up-Sayeh,’ Mrs Brisbane reminded her.

Sayeh took a deep breath. ‘On behalf of the whole class, I’d like to give you these holiday gifts,’ she said in a loud, clear voice. ‘We want to thank you for being the best classroom pets ever!’

Everyone in Room 26 cheered and clapped.

‘THANKS-THANKS-THANKS!’ I squeaked at the top of my lungs.

‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ Og twanged.

Then Miranda and Richie got up to help Sayeh. They took a wonderful little tree and put it in Og’s tank, and dropped shiny blue stones in the water. Og splished and splashed wildly.

Next was my gift. It was a little wreath made out of yummy things I like to eat: broccoli and carrots, with a little red bow made of tomato.

‘Happy Christmas, Humphrey,’ Miranda said. I could tell she really meant it.

Soon, my classmates hurried outside for break and Mrs Brisbane had to watch over the playground. Og and I were alone in Room 26.

‘Our friends have been unsqueakably kind,’ I told Og. ‘There must be some way to thank them.’

‘BOING-BOING,’ he said. I appreciated his reply but it wasn’t very helpful.

How could a hamster and a frog say thanks without paper and markers and glitter? How could we say thanks so that our friends could understand us?

Then I saw my little notebook peeking at me from behind the mirror in my cage. I may not speak like a human, but I know human words. Time was short, so I acted right away.

I flung open the door to my cage, which luckily has a lock-that-doesn’t-lock. Then I began to gather things. We hamsters like to save all kinds of food and I had a good supply.

As I scurried back and forth, in and out of my cage, I explained to Og what I was doing.
Some celery sticks made a lovely ‘T.’  Two carrot sticks and five sunflower seeds made an ‘H.’   
   
‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ Og hopped up so high I thought he’d pop the top of his tank.
   
‘I won’t forget you, Og,’ I squeaked. Goodness, I was getting out of breath.

I raced over to the corner of the table where our extra food is kept. There was no time to waste, so I nibbled a tiny hole in the side of a bag of frog pellets and put a large clump of them in my cheek pouch. (I save things there, too.)

Ewwwww, how can Og gobble those nasty things up? But I arranged the frog pellets in a lovely ‘A.’ Now my friends would know that Og thanked them, too.

Next I nibbled some leaves off my tree branch and arranged them as an ‘N.’

‘K’ was next and a very difficult letter for a small hamster to build.

‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ Og said in a very alarming tone. I glanced up at the clock. Break was almost over.  At top speed, I hurried back into my cage and found some twigs I use for gnawing. Out they came and they made a lovely ‘K.’

‘BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING-BOING!’ My time was almost up.

I looked up and saw the little sign someone had hung up long ago with the all the steps for cleaning out my cage. I reached up and tugged at it hard. The paper tore and I grabbed the string that had been holding it on to the cage.

Arranging a piece of string into an ‘S’ wasn’t too difficult but just then, break was over and my friends came streaming in.

Without even looking, I dashed into my cage and pulled the door behind me, crossing my paws that no one saw me.

While I caught my breath, my classmates took off their caps and gloves, hung up their coats and returned to their seats.

Mrs Brisbane started to talk about some kind of holiday sing-along, but suddenly, Raise-Your-Hand-Heidi glanced over at the table.

‘Hey, what’s that?’ she said.

Our teacher reminded her to raise her hand (she always forgets).  By then, everyone was looking our way and Garth and Mandy were already rushing toward us.

‘Look!’ Mandy shouted.

Every student in Room 26 and Mrs Brisbane hurried over to see T-H-A-N-K-S all spelled out.

‘Look at that!’ Mrs Brisbane sounded amazed.  ‘With sunflower seeds and twigs and leaves and frog pellets! It’s wonderful. Now who did this?’

‘I did!’ I proudly announced. ‘And Og!’ Of course, all that came out was SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK as usual.

My friends burst out laughing.

‘Humphrey wants to take the credit,’ Mrs Brisbane said. ‘But a little hamster couldn’t do this all by himself. Or a frog.’

‘They wanted to thank us,’ A.J. explained.

Mrs Brisbane stared at the word spelled out on the table and shook her head. ‘But he couldn’t get out of his cage.’

Richie jiggled the door. ‘It’s tightly shut,’ he said.

‘Well, whoever did it, it’s just about the most wonderful surprise I’ve ever had.’ Mrs Brisbane smiled and looked right at me. ‘You’re very welcome, Humphrey and Og,’ she said.

‘BOING-BOING-BOING!’ Og splashed excitedly.

‘HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY Christmas!’ I squeaked. ‘And Hanukkah!’

As much as I loved the present my friends gave me, I loved giving them something back even more.

Oh, and when I looked out the window, guess what? It was snowing outside Room 26 too!

So to my friends in Room 26, and to all my friends everywhere, have an unsqueakably happy holiday season!

© Betty G. Birney