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water in my cage.
    I was thinking that I NEVER-NEVER-NEVER want to go to this kid’s house. Ever.
    “My dog can do tricks,” the boy continued.
    “Oh, so can Humphrey,” A.J. assured him.
    “Yeah, I saw him. He stayed at my house,” Simon said.
    “My dog is really smart,” the boy added. “ And he’s got papers.”
    “He can read ?” Richie was clearly impressed, but the thought of a dog reading made Simon giggle just like his sister, Gail.
    The boy frowned and shook his head. “I mean he’s pedigreed. He’s like dog royalty. He has papers to prove it.”
    “His pet has peed !” A.J. burst out laughing and the other Blue Jays got to hooting and hollering. I chuckled, too, even though I knew the guy had said “pedigreed.”
    The laughing annoyed the boy with the dog. He flung himself on his bed and sighed. “How did I end up here?” he asked no one in particular.
    I was beginning to wonder the same thing. I was even beginning to think this Blue Jay was not a very nice kind of person.
    “Blue Jays rule!” I squeaked without even thinking.
    “You tell him, Humphrey,” A.J. said.
    “He’s just making meaningless noise,” the unpleasant boy said.
    A.J. and Richie exchanged looks. “What’s your name again?” A.J. asked.
    “Brad,” the boy answered.
    Things got quieter in the cabin. A.J. came over to my cage and whispered, “Show him what you can do, Humphrey.”
    He didn’t have to ask me twice. I climbed up my ladder and leaped onto my tree branch. I landed pretty hard, so I had to hang on tightly as it swayed back and forth, back and forth. Once I had my bearings, I climbed up to the highest branch and reached up to grab the top bars of my cage. Very carefully, paw over paw, I made my way across the top of my cage while the Blue Jays watched. All except Brad, who was reading a magazine.
    “Look at him go,” A.J. said.
    “Are you watching, Brad?” Richie asked.
    “Hmm?” Brad pretended to be too busy to notice.
    I took a deep breath, dropped down from my ladder and jumped onto my wheel, where I immediately began to spin.
    The cabin-mates all clapped and whistled.
    “Hold it down, guys,” Brad said. “I’m trying to read here.”
    “Admit it, Brad. He knows a lot of tricks,” A.J. told him.
    “Lots and lots and lots,” said Simon, jumping around my cage.
    Brad glanced up from his magazine. “ That’s a trick? ”
    I could almost feel A.J. getting hot over Brad’s bad attitude. He strolled over to Brad’s bed and said, “You know we’re going to have to compete in the Clash of the Cabins. So what’s your sport?”
    Clash of the Cabins? He had my attention.
    “I don’t know.” Brad looked a little worried. “I guess I’m okay at all of them.”
    “Good!” A.J. smiled. “We’ll need your help.” He swiveled around. “How about you, Simon?”
    Simon wrinkled his nose while he thought. “I’m the best burper in our class,” he said proudly, and then let out an earsplitting but impressive burp.
    Everybody giggled, even me. (Though I know it’s really not polite to burp, it can be funny.)
    “What else?” A.J. asked, still laughing.
    Simon thought for a second. “I never did archery or canoeing before. I’m a good swimmer, though. And I can dive.”
    “Great!” A.J. and Simon exchanged high fives. “And Richie likes volleyball, right?”
    “I’ve got a pretty good serve,” Richie agreed.
    “Well, then it looks as if Blue Jays rule!” A.J. shouted. He said it again and everybody joined in . . . except Brad.
    “My old camp had a high dive. Really high,” he said. “This place is dinky.”
    I saw A.J. clench his fists and I have to admit, I felt my paws tightening up.
    Luckily, just then the door swung open.
    “Never fear ’cause Aldo’s here!” a voice called out.
    I thought Aldo had probably come in to clean the Blue Jays’ cabin, just as he’d cleaned Room 26 every night. But I was wrong.
    He wore his Happy Hollow shirt and shorts and carried a