Humphrey's Great-Great-Great Book of Stories by Betty G. Birney

Author:Betty G. Birney [Betty G. Birney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571272051
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2010-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

There’s always plenty of time to think after Aldo leaves, and that night, I couldn’t help thinking about Kirk and how he was treating Richie. I’d never seen him act that way before. Everybody in Room 26 wanted to win the prize for the race, but my other friends weren’t acting like Kirk. What had got into him?

Then I started to think about the weekend I’d spent not long ago at Kirk’s house. It was a FUN-FUN-FUN place to visit because Kirk’s family is nice to visiting hamsters and they all like to laugh, like Kirk does. He has a mum, a dad, an older sister Krissy and an older brother Kevin.

Kirk and Kevin shared a room. They had matching beds, matching lamps and matching desks. Over each desk was a shelf.

On Kirk’s shelf, there was a dictionary, a globe, five joke books and a blue ribbon tacked to the edge.

On Kevin’s shelf, there were three silver trophies, four gold trophies, four plaques and a row of red, blue and yellow ribbons. There must have been at least ten of them.

I didn’t pay much attention to the difference between the shelves until Kirk pointed it out that Saturday afternoon. He and I were alone in his room. Kevin was out on the running track, which according to Kirk is a lot like spinning my wheel except you run in a circle on the ground.

‘See all those trophies and ribbons, Humphrey?’ Kirk asked me. ‘Those are Kevin’s awards for sport. He’s great at all sports. Basketball, football, track, swimming. Look at them all,’ he said. ‘Pretty amazing, aren’t they?’

‘YES-YES-YES!’ I squeaked. I must admit, I was impressed.

Kirk pointed to the lone ribbon on his shelf. ‘That’s the only award I ever got, for an honourable mention in the talent show last year. I did a comic routine. I should have got a red ribbon.’

Since I hadn’t been around for the talent show and wasn’t even sure what it was, I didn’t comment.

‘You should see my sister’s room,’ Kirk continued. ‘I’d show it to you, but she doesn’t let me in there. Anyway, she has two shelves of awards for good grades and the debating team – that’s where people get points for arguing – and drama competitions and speech contests and – I don’t know, every time Krissy opens her mouth, she gets an award.’

I was still thinking about debating. I don’t like arguments one bit, but humans get awards for them!

Kirk flopped down on the bed. ‘Dad always says I’d better get busy if I’m going to fill up my shelf. Then he says he’s just kidding, but I’m not sure. It’s just, well, I’m good at being funny, but they don’t give awards for that!’

I got an award once for my Hallowe’en costume, but Kirk seemed so upset, I didn’t think it was a good time to mention it.

Suddenly, Kirk sat up. ‘Hey, Humphrey, did you hear about the scarecrow who got the big award … for being outstanding in his field!’ He laughed loudly.

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