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

Lulu was. Maybe Daniel had a sister.
    Once we were at Daniel’s house, the blanket came off my cage. Right away, I knew who Lulu was, because she started barking.
    That’s right—Lulu was a dog and she was barking at
me
!
    She was a small dog with curly black fur. But even if she was small for a dog, she was still a lot bigger than I am, and when she barked, I could see some very white, very sharp teeth.
    â€œSettle down, Lulu,” Grandpa Popwell told her.
    She didn’t settle down.
    â€œLulu, be nice!” Daniel said.
    But Lulu wasn’t nice.
    â€œI’ll put her in the den,” Daniel said, and he carried her out of sight, thank goodness.
    My heart was still pounding, but once Lulu was gone, I looked around and saw that I was sitting on a table in the living room.
    And right across the room was a piano! I certainly hoped that Daniel was planning on practicing all weekend.
    Grandpa and Daniel went into the kitchen for a snack, so I scratched around my bedding and found a small piece of broccoli I’d stored there. I like to save bits of food in case some human forgets to feed me—but that hasn’t happened yet.
    When they came back to the living room, Grandpa said, “Do you have homework to do, Daniel ? ”
    Daniel made a face. “It’s Friday! I’ve been working all week. I’ll do it later this weekend. Can we watch TV ? ”
    â€œYour mother said she didn’t want us watching TV all weekend,” he said. “Oh, and she said you need to practice piano for the show at school.”
    â€œI’ll practice,” Daniel said.
    I was glad to hear that, because from the way he played at rehearsal, he needed
lots
of practice.
    â€œLater,” Daniel said.
    He said “later” a lot.
    â€œIs it okay if I read for a while ? ” Daniel asked.
    â€œSure,” his grandfather answered. “And I’ll finish that crossword puzzle I started this morning.”
    I crossed my paws and hoped that when Daniel practiced “later” it wouldn’t be too late!
    HUMPHREY’S WINTER WONDERINGS: If you say “later” every time you need to do something, do you ever actually get that thing done?

10
    Practice Makes Perfect

    W hen we got to his room, Daniel set my cage on the dresser, pulled a book out of his backpack, then flopped down on his bed to read.
    He was quiet for a long time. There wasn’t much else to do, so I hopped on my wheel for a spin. That always gets my whiskers wiggling and my tail waggling.
    I was concentrating so hard on wiggling and waggling that I almost fell off my wheel when Daniel suddenly said, “Yes!” I thought he was trying to encourage me, so I spun a little faster.
    Daniel said, “Way to go!”
    â€œThanks,” I squeaked, though I have to admit I was out of breath.
    â€œWhoa!” he said.
    That surprised me so much I stopped spinning completely.
    When I looked out, I saw that Daniel wasn’t even looking at me. He was still reading his book.
    â€œHumphrey, this book is the best,” he said.
    Then
he finally looked over at me.
    â€œYou should read it,” he continued.
    â€œI’d like to!” I squeaked.
    I meant it, too. I would LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to read more. Does anybody write hamster-sized books ?
    Daniel sat up and leaned closer to my cage. “See, this boy has a magic backpack and anything he needs comes out of it whenever he needs help. So, there’s this part where another boy is bullying him and he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a cream pie! So he throws the pie in the bad guy’s face. And when the bully tells the teacher, the pie and the mess magically disappear. I sure wish I had a backpack like that!”
    I guess anybody would like that.
    â€œAnd it can take you places. You put it on and think of a place you want to go and—whoosh—you’re there,” he said.
    That got my brain spinning. I imagined being