Winter According to Humphrey (9781101591222) by Betty G. Birney

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    â€œThank you for asking, Holly,” she said. “I was a little sad because our son, Jason, and his new wife live too far away to get home this Christmas. But I just found out that my sister is coming to visit. And she’s bringing my niece and her husband and their two young children. So I’ll also have my great-niece, Jenny, and great-nephew, Todd, for the holidays. I’m looking forward to having a big family celebration.”

    Early that evening, when Og and I were alone, I looked out of my cage and noticed something sitting nearby.
    It was dark outside, but the streetlight lit up our table.
    â€œLook, Og! It’s Simon’s dreidel,” I squeaked. “He must have left it here.”
    Og splashed noisily in his tank.
    I thought about how Simon had spun the dreidel.
    Spinning is something I like a lot. I spin on my wheel to pass the time, and it makes me STRONG-STRONG-STRONG. And when I’m rolling across the floor in my hamster ball, it sometimes goes into a spin that makes my tummy do a funny flip-flop.
    â€œI don’t think he’d mind if I gave it a spin . . . do you ? ” I asked my neighbor.
    â€œBOING!” Og agreed.
    So I opened the lock-that-doesn’t-lock and hurried over to the top. It was about the same size as I was and I saw that the sides were flat.
    I got up on my tippy-toes and stood the dreidel up on its spinner.
    â€œHere goes!” I said, and I gave the top a spin.
    But—oops—I hung on a little too long. When I finally let go, I was feeling a little dizzy and I tipped over. The dreidel tipped over, too, and landed right on me!
    â€œBOING-BOING-BOING!” Og twanged.
    â€œDon’t worry, I’m fine,” I said.
    I’m not the kind of hamster who gives up easily, so I stood the dreidel up again and gave it a spin. This time, I quickly let go and scrambled out of the way.
    It whirled and twirled all around me. In order for me to keep my eyes on it, I had to spin around, too.
    â€œDreidel, dreidel, dreidel,” I squeaked, the way Simon had taught us.
    The dreidel slowed, wobbled, then toppled over.
    I was about to see what side it landed on when I heard that RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE coming down the hall.
    â€œEeek—it’s Aldo!” I scrambled back to my cage and pull the door behind me.
    I like Aldo, but I don’t want him to find me outside of my cage. A hamster has to have some secrets.
    â€œGreetings, my friends,” he said as he turned on the lights.
    He pulled his cart into the room and then came over to our table. “How’s my favorite hamster and favorite frog tonight ? ”
    â€œFINE-FINE-FINE,” I answered.
    Og hopped up and down. “BOING-BOING!”
    â€œWhat’s this ? ” Aldo asked as he picked up the dreidel. “Oh, I know. Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,” he sang with a smile. “I’d better put this in a safe spot.”
    He took the dreidel to Mrs. Brisbane’s desk, which is a very safe spot.
    But before he went to work, he gave the dreidel a good spin. It was such a good spin, it spun right off the desk and landed on the floor.
    I was glad that it hadn’t spun onto the floor when I was hanging on to it!
    Aldo chuckled and put the dreidel back on the desk.
    Later, after Aldo was gone, I looked over at the dreidel.
    I love spinning, but I decided to leave it alone for the rest of the night.

    On quiet nights in Room 26, I have a lot of time to think. That night, I thought about what all my friends had shared earlier in the day. I thought Mrs. Brisbane was right when she said the holidays were all about family.
    But then I had a truly terrible thought.
    I jiggled the lock-that-doesn’t-lock on my cage and hurried over to Og’s tank.
    â€œOg!” I squeaked. “Remember all those things they said in class about families ? ”
    â€œBOING-BOING!” he replied.
    â€œBut what about us ? ” I asked.