Obi: Gerbil on a School Trip Read online

  Dial Books for Young Readers

  An imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  DIAL BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

  A division of Penguin Young Readers Group • Published by the Penguin Group

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  Copyright © 2013 by Michael C. Delaney

  All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Delaney, M. C. (Michael Clark)

  Obi, gerbil on a school trip!/by M.C. Delaney.

  p. cm.

  Summary: While trying to find out who Rachel chose as her favorite pet, Obi the gerbil gets trapped in Rachel’s backpack and winds up at school, where she learns new things and makes some friends.

  ISBN 978-1-101-59229-8

  [1. Schools—Fiction. 2. Gerbils—Fiction. 3. Pets—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.D37319Oam 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012039101

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  To Lucia Monfried, who helped bring Obi into this world

  And for all the school librarians, teachers, and children, who helped keep her in it

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One: Homework

  Chapter Two: Serious Doubts!

  Chapter Three: Off to School

  Chapter Four: A New World

  Chapter Five: A Change of Plans

  Chapter Six: Trouble!

  Chapter Seven: Antarctica

  Chapter Eight: Obi the Spy

  Chapter Nine: The Worst Luck!

  Chapter Ten: The Guinea Pig

  Chapter Eleven: On the Oregon Trail

  Chapter Twelve: The Volcano

  Chapter Thirteen: The Rope Climb

  Chapter Fourteen: The Principal’s Spy

  Chapter Fifteen: Teachers’ Pets

  Chapter Sixteen: The Whoopee Cushion

  Chapter Seventeen: Rachel’s Homework Paper

  Chapter Eighteen: A Most Unusual Morning

  Chapter Nineteen: Back to Normal—Well, Sort Of

  Prologue

  It didn’t happen often, but sometimes Obi couldn’t help but feel, well, just a little insecure about things.

  It’s easy to see why. For starters, she was a female gerbil with a boy’s name. In all honesty, Obi really didn’t mind having a boy’s name—after all, many Human girls these days have names that used to be thought of as boys’ names.

  But in Obi’s case, the reason she had a boy’s name was because Rachel Armstrong, Obi’s ten-year-old adoptive mother, thought she was a boy gerbil! In fact, all the Armstrongs thought Obi was a boy gerbil! That was because Obi was only a few days old when Rachel and her father had stopped into a pet store to buy Obi. At that point in Obi’s young life, nobody could tell if she was a boy or a girl, not even the woman in the pet store. Which was why Rachel had named her new pet gerbil after her favorite character in Star Wars—the great Jedi knight (and man), Obi-Wan Kenobi. All this time later, everyone still thought Obi was a male gerbil—nobody had thought to check to see if, just perhaps, they might be mistaken.

  To add to her insecurity, Obi, who had once been Rachel’s only pet, now had to share Rachel with not one but two—yes, two—other pets: a golden retriever puppy named Kenobi and a little gerbil named Wan!

  Notice anything odd about those two names? Yes, that’s right, they have Obi’s name! Rachel gave Kenobi and Wan her name—or parts of her name, at any rate! So not only did Obi now have to share her adoptive mother with Kenobi and Wan, she had to share her name with them as well!

  At least there was one thing Obi did not have to worry about, though. She had the satisfaction of knowing she was Rachel’s favorite pet. This gave Obi incredible peace of mind, put a little bounce in her step, gave her an easy heart. She knew that, of the three of them, it was she, not Kenobi or Wan, whom Rachel loved most. It was she, not Kenobi or Wan, whom Rachel would want to be stuck with on a desert island. Not that Rachel—or Obi, for that matter—wanted to be stuck on a desert island!

  You agree, don’t you? That Obi was Rachel’s favorite pet?

  Silly question, right? Yes, of course, you agree! How could Obi not be Rachel’s favorite pet?

  Uh, you know, you could look a bit more sure about this than you do! You really could!

  Oh, my gosh! What if Obi was wrong!? What if she wasn’t Rachel’s favorite pet!? What if it was Kenobi or—horror of horrors—Wan!? What would Obi do? How would she deal with such a thing?

  Well, there’s only one way to find out—you’ll just have to read the story! That’s all there is to it!

  But, hurry, will you—for Obi’s sake!

  Chapter One Homework

  It was all Mr. Durkins’s fault! It was all because of him that Wan was chewing on the bars of his cage again!

  Wan was not chewing on his bars because his little gerbil teeth were coming in and he needed something to gnaw on. That, Obi felt, would be understandable! Annoying, yes, but understandable!

  Nor was he doing it to get Rachel’s attention. That, too, would be understandable. After all, Obi herself sometimes gnawed on the bars of her cage to get Rachel to glance over. As soon as she did, Obi would stop gnawing instantly.

  No, Wan was chewing on the bars of his cage for no other reason than to get on Rachel’s nerves!

  Rachel was at her desk on the other side of the bedroom, trying to do her homework. Pencil in hand, a look of deep concentration on her face, Rachel leaned over her desk and wrote in her spiral-bound notebook. Wan, meanwhile, was in his cage, gnawing away, being as annoying as anything, trying desperately to shatter that look of deep concentration on Rachel’s face.

  It was all because of Mr. Durkins that Wan was being so annoying. Mr. Durkins was the old, bitter mouse who lived up in the Armstrongs’ attic. He hated the Armstrongs! He loathed every single one of them, even—if you can believe it—Obi’s dear, sweet adoptive mother! Apparently, Mr. Durkins had only one goal in life: to make the Armstrongs’ lives absolutely miserable!

  He was an evil mouse, Mr. Durkins! His new diabolical plan involved Wan. He had taught the little gerbil how to chew on the bars of his cage and had instructed Wan to do it as often as possible—but only when Rachel was in her bedroom. He knew the noise, grating as it was, would drive Rachel nuts.

  And it did!

  Wan, who didn’t know any better, was only too happy to do whatever Mr. Durkins asked. Wan had become Mr. Durkins’s little helper, his protégé. He did everything that nasty, little mouse told him to, no questions asked. Worse, Wan seemed to really enjoy doing as Mr. Durkins instructed. Right now, for instance, he was giggling to himself as he chewed on his bars. It made Wan sound so sinister! (Either that, or a gerbil with a serious giggling problem.)

  Rachel was doing her best to ignore Wan. At one point, she cupped her hands over
her ears so as not to hear him. But honestly, how can you write with your hands over your ears? You can’t! Finally losing her temper, Rachel flashed a fierce look at Wan and snapped, “Will you stop it, Wan! You’re driving me nuts! Can’t you see I’m trying to do my homework?”

  “Yes, Wan, knock it off, will you!” exclaimed Obi, squeaking in Gerbil. “You’re driving me nuts, too!”

  But did Wan listen to either Rachel or Obi? No! He kept right on gnawing—gnawing and giggling!

  The thing was, Obi really wanted Rachel to do a good job on her homework. That afternoon Rachel had come home from school very excited. Tossing her backpack onto the floor of her bedroom, she fixed her eyes on Obi and said, “Guess what, Obi? Guess what my homework assignment for tonight is?”

  Obi, who was in her cage, was startled. Since when did Rachel get so excited about homework? As far as Obi could tell, Rachel hated homework! Every evening, it seemed, she complained about how much homework she had to do. A school night didn’t go by that Mrs. Armstrong didn’t have to stick her head into Rachel’s bedroom and ask her if she had done her homework yet. So what was so exciting about today’s homework assignment? With a quizzical look on her small whiskered face, Obi peered at Rachel through the bars of her cage.

  “I have to write a paper about my favorite pet! You’ll never guess who that is!”

  Obi smiled to herself. Oh, she had a pretty good idea! It was Obi, of course! Who else could it be? It certainly wasn’t Wan, not with his incessant gnawing! And Obi was almost certain it wasn’t Rachel’s other pet, either, the golden retriever puppy, Kenobi. It might’ve been Kenobi once, back when he was a cute, little, helpless, and hapless puppy. But lately, Kenobi had been growing by leaps and bounds and no longer looked like the cuddliest thing on earth. The puppy was also no longer allowed to hang out up in Rachel’s bedroom, the way he used to.

  To be fair, this wasn’t really Kenobi’s fault. Mr. Armstrong had made it a rule that Kenobi, who was quite furry and tended to shed a lot, could no longer be upstairs where all the Armstrongs’ bedrooms were located. But still! Had it been Obi, she would have found a way upstairs, rule or no rule! Nothing would ever keep her from being with Rachel! That was the kind of pet Obi was!

  Obi’s cage sat on top of Rachel’s dresser, right beside Wan’s cage. Obi went over to the side of her cage that faced Wan and glowered at the little gerbil. He was so busy chewing on the bars of his cage—and giggling to himself—he didn’t even notice Obi.

  “Stop gnawing, Wan!” Obi ordered.

  Wan paid no attention.

  “Did you hear me, Wan?”

  Apparently not: he kept on gnawing and giggling!

  “I SAID STOP GNAWING, WAN! STOP IT THIS INSTANT!”

  That got Wan to stop! He turned and gave Obi a very bewildered look. “But Mr. D told me to chew on my bars when Rachel is in her bedroom.”

  Obi frowned. “Mr. D?”

  “You know, Mr. Durkins! He told me to call him Mr. D!”

  “He did?” Obi couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. Mr. Durkins had never asked her to call him Mr. D. But then why would he? It wasn’t like she and Mr. Durkins were friends. The fact was, Obi disapproved of everything Mr. Durkins did. “When did he ask you to do that?” she inquired.

  “One time when you were asleep in your cage.”

  “Well, Wan,” said Obi, “I really don’t care what Mr. D—Mr. Durkins—told you to do! I’m telling you to stop gnawing!”

  “But Mr. D won’t like that!”

  “I don’t care! Rachel has a very important homework assignment to do,” explained Obi. “She needs you to be very quiet so she can concentrate. Your chewing on your bars is getting on Rachel’s nerves!”

  “But that’s what Mr. D wants me to do!”

  “Yes, I know but that’s not what I want you to do!”

  “But you’re not Mr. D!”

  Obi tried to stay calm. It wasn’t easy! She wanted to wring Wan’s little neck. Since that was out of the question, Obi did the next best thing: she glared at Wan. She gave him her most withering stare. Obi was trying to think of what else she could do (since her most withering stare didn’t seem to be having much of an effect on Wan) when she heard Rachel chuckle to herself. Obi swung about and saw that Rachel had a smile on her face. The girl was at her desk, pencil in hand, smiling and staring straight ahead, completely lost in thought. Evidently, she had remembered some funny incident she had had with her favorite pet.

  Obi smiled, too. She had no idea what happy memory Rachel had recalled, but it had to be something good. Was it that time she and Rachel went to the gerbil convention together? They sure had a blast that day, didn’t they?

  All at once, Rachel began writing furiously again. For his part, Wan began gnawing furiously again. After a couple of minutes of intense writing, Rachel tossed her pencil down on the desk and blurted out, “Finished!”

  Obi watched as Rachel ripped a sheet of paper out of her spiral-bound notebook. Leaping up from the desk, Rachel went over to her blue backpack, which was on the floor, unzipped it, and stuck in her homework paper.

  Chapter Two Serious Doubts!

  That night, just before Rachel’s bedtime, Mr. Armstrong came into Rachel’s bedroom to say good night and to read her a story aloud. It was a ritual the two of them shared, a special time they had together. He’d been doing it for as long as Obi could remember. Mr. Armstrong and Rachel always sat together in Rachel’s comfy blue armchair, in a pool of soft lamplight, while Mr. Armstrong read. The chair was beside Rachel’s dresser—which was where Obi’s cage sat. Some evenings Mr. Armstrong read a book that could be finished in one sitting. Other times, he read a big book that took several evenings—sometimes even several weeks—to complete. Like tonight’s book. They were reading The Subtle Knife, the second book in the trilogy His Dark Materials.

  While Rachel, dressed in her jammies, cuddled up close beside her father and listened, Obi sat in the bedroom tower of her cage, listening.

  Yet, Obi wasn’t just listening. As she listened, Obi was also peering down at the words on the pages of the book and connecting them to the words that Mr. Armstrong was reading aloud. It was by doing this that Obi, after many, many books, had learned how to read.

  Yes, that’s right, Obi could read! It was Obi’s little secret—something no one else knew about. Well, except Mr. Durkins. He knew Obi could read. But that was only because he made it his business to know everybody else’s business in the Armstrongs’ house! Oh, and a couple of dogs in the neighborhood also knew Obi could read. (It’s a long story, but Obi had told them she could read.) So maybe it wasn’t such a big secret, after all.

  Mr. Armstrong was at that part of the book in which Lyra and Will, the two main characters, had just entered another world. Will had used a knife, the subtle knife, to slice open a piece of air, which allowed Lyra and him to enter this new world. Obi, fascinated, was anxious to find out more about this other world. But just then, Mrs. Armstrong came into the room to say good night to Rachel.

  Mr. Armstrong stopped reading and said, “Well, I think this is where we’ll stop for tonight.” And with that, he marked the page with a piece of paper and closed the book! Obi was flabbergasted! How could Mr. Armstrong stop at such a suspenseful part of the story!?

  “Oh, can’t we read a little more?” begged Rachel.

  Which was exactly what Obi was hoping Rachel would say! Obi and her adoptive mother were alike in so many ways. Rachel loved a good bedtime story just as much as Obi did.

  “Sorry, kiddo, but it’s beddy-bye time,” said Mr. Armstrong. “You’ve got school tomorrow. Someone needs a good night’s sleep.”

  Rachel, who slept on the top bunk of a bunk bed, climbed the ladder up to her bed and slipped under the covers. Mr. Armstrong tucked her in and gave her a good-night kiss on top of her head. As he left the room, he turned off the li
ghts.

  Now that the room was dark, Obi nestled down under a big pile of cedar shavings in her bedroom tower. She closed her eyes to go to sleep. But she couldn’t sleep. She was too wired. She couldn’t stop thinking about the story Mr. Armstrong had read. She kept wondering about this new world that Lyra and Will had entered and what it would be like. It was driving Obi crazy not knowing!

  The lights hadn’t been off for more than a few minutes when Obi, still wide awake, heard a slow, deep, steady, rhythmic breathing sound coming from the upper bed of the bunk bed—it was the sound Rachel always made when she was asleep. Then Obi heard Wan rustling about in his cage. Then, just like that, the rustling stopped, which meant that Wan, too, had fallen asleep.

  Obi tried again to go to sleep. It was no use, though. She was too excited. How Obi wished she could enter a new world.

  Suddenly Obi’s eyes flung open. She had the eerie sensation that someone was on the dresser outside her cage, lurking in the darkness! Her heart now pounding wildly, Obi peered down from her domed bedroom tower.

  She let out a startled gasp. A small dark figure, a shadowy smudge, stood on the dresser between her cage and Wan’s.

  It was Darth Vadar!

  No, wait, that wasn’t Darth Vadar! Straining to see in the darkness, Obi now saw it was Mr. Durkins. He was standing up on his hind legs, all hunched over. In the inky darkness, he looked just like Darth Vadar!

  Obi slipped down the tube that connected her bedroom tower and the lower level of her cage. “Mr. Durkins!” she said, speaking to him through the bars of her cage. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, just looking in on Boy Wonder.”

  Obi frowned. “Boy Wonder? Who’s that?” Then, all at once, she knew. “Oh, no! You’re not talking about Wan, are you?”