The Blue Book
"Oh my aching paws." said Howdy as he came into the Clubhouse. He and the rest of the Ham-Hams had just finished another game of soccer at Acorn Mountain. Howdy, however, was exhausted because they had been playing for three hours strait and it wore everyone out, except for Sandy and Boss who were in better shape than the rest of the Ham-Hams. But none the less, they too sat down into a chair to rest their feet. Sandy, Stan, Boss, Hamtaro, Maxwell, Penelope, Panda, Pashmina, and Oxnard all sat at the table. Howdy and Dexter sat down in chairs while Cappy and Bijou just sat on the floor. And Snoozer is sleeping in the corner as always.
"All this running around has made me hungry." said Oxnard. No one was surprised by this statement. Hamtaro shoved a pile of sunflower seeds in front of Oxnard saying, "Here you go, Oxy."
"Oh, thanks Hamtaro, you're a pal." said Oxnard happily. Oxnard grabbed a seed and began gnawing on the seed's shell saying "Packa-Packa." Once the shell was off, he said "Krmp" as he bit into the seed. Maxwell pulled off the book that he wore on his head and placed it on the table so that his head could get a cool breeze. Maxwell was sitting with Sandy and he notice Sandy looked a little dehydrated. Maxwell picked up the nearby water bottle and said, "Here Sandy, you should drink something." said Maxwell.
"Oh, why thank you, Maxwell." said Sandy blushing. Stan quietly pretended to gag while Maxwell and Sandy weren't looking.
"So Maxwell, tell me about this book festival." said Pashmina in an attempt to start conversation.
"What eez zis festival?" asked Bijou.
"Well, the book festival is a place that brings many famous books from all over the world to one place." explained Maxwell. "My humans are book enthusiast like I am so they wouldn't miss it for the world. The book festival is out of town so we will be gone for about four to five days."
"When are you leaving, Max?" asked Hamtaro.
"Today at two o' clock so I have to be home before then." said Maxwell.
"But isn't it 2:15 right now?" said Howdy. Maxwell looked at the clock on the wall and realized that Howdy was right.
"Hamgoof, I'm late." said Maxwell in alarm. As he ran towards the door, he said, "I have to go, see you guys in a few days." Maxwell rushed through the door slamming it shut as he ran. The Ham-Hams could hear Maxwell repeating "Badda-Badda" as he ran through the tunnels until Maxwell was too far away to hear.
As Sandy stared at the door for a moment, she turned to the empty seat and noticed that Maxwell had left his blue book behind.
"Maxwell, wait. You forgot your book." said Sandy as she grabbed the book and raced towards the door. But she was too late. Maxwell was already gone.
"Oh well." said Boss. "I guess he can leave it here in the Clubhouse and pick it up when he gets back." said Boss. Sandy, realizing that she had no other choice, placed the book back on the table and looked at it in wonder.
"I wonder why he always carries that book?" asked Sandy out loud.
"What do you mean?" asked Hamtaro.
"Well, for as long as I have known him, Maxwell has always carried this same book everywhere he goes." said Sandy. "I wonder what it could be."
"You know, Sandy has a point." said Howdy getting up from the chair. Everyone began to circle around the book at this point.
"There is no title on the book so what could it be?" said Boss.
"Perhaps it is diary." said Pashmina.
"What's a diary?" asked Hamtaro.
"Eet eez a private book where ze writer puts his or her most personal and secret thoughts and feelings into." said Bijou. "Maria keeps one in her dresser and I have seen her write in eet."
"Cool, lets read it and see what Maxwell has been thinking about." said Howdy.
"No, Howdy." said Pashmina. "You're not allowed to read another person's diary without their permission."
"Ookyoo." said Penelope in agreement.
"Why do you always have to take her side?" said Howdy to Penelope.
"But how do we know that this thing is a diary anyway?" asked Stan. "I think it might be something more important than a silly little diary."
"Like what?" asked Cappy.
"Uh, let me think about it." said Stan. Everyone sweat dropped anime style.
"I think Stan may have a point." said Panda. "I bet you it is a book on how to build things."
"Heke?" chorused the Ham-Hams.
"Ya, I bet there is instructions in there about how to build really big things like large mechanical machines, bridges, maybe even a better fun park." said Panda envisioning the possibilities.
"But if he had all this with him the whole time then why didn't he show it to us?" asked Boss. Panda sweat dropped.
"I don't know." admitted Panda.
"But what if Maxwell is hiding something from us?" said Howdy. "Think about it, he never before told us what the book is or even let anyone look at it. I bet ya that the book contains plans to an alien invasion."
"What?" chorused the Ham-Ham.
"Ya, I bet Maxwell is really a space alien sent here to gather information so his alien buddies will know how to exploit our weaknesses for their invasion." said Howdy. "Once he has all he needs, all he has to do is tell his alien friends all he knows and then they can move in." Howdy began to look bigger, darker, and scarier as he continued to speak. "They will invade using their flying space ships and laser weapons. They will take us captive and chain us up like slaves. They will force us to work hours on end collecting metals so they can build more ships to take over other worlds." Howdy laughed evilly trying to add to the scary effect. Penelope squealed in fear and began to shake. Pashmina turned to Howdy angrily and said, "Howdy, don't do that, your scaring Penelope." She tried to comfort Penelope.
"Ya Howdy, stop being such a jerk." said Sandy. Realizing that perhaps he had gone too far, Howdy just said, "I'm sorry, I guess I just got carried away."
"Although I seriously doubt that Maxwell is an alien, Howdy is right about one thing." said Boss. "Maxwell has never shown anyone what this book is and there could be some reason why."
"But why would Maxwell hide anything from us?" asked Hamtaro.
"I don't know." said Boss. "Perhaps we can take a peak inside and find out."
"No Boss." said Pashmina. "The book could be a diary and it would be wrong for us to look inside it."
"A quick peak wouldn't hurt." reasoned Boss.
"Oh come on, if Maxwell didn't want us to look at the book, then I'm sure he had a good reason." said Hamtaro.
"I agree with Hamtaro." said Bijou.
"You know, since Maxwell reads a lot, I bet it is a dictionary." said Dexter.
"A dictionary?" said Boss. "Why would Maxwell carry a dictionary?"
"Dictionaries are useful when you need to find words you don't understand." said Dexter.
"No, I think it is a book full of fairy tales." said Oxnard. Soon, everyone was arguing in unison about what the mysterious book could be. Boss finally had enough.
"Quiet." said Boss. "Look, this is Maxwell's book and if you guys want to know what is inside, I recommend we ask him when he gets back."
"But Maxwell said he was going to be gone for a few days." complained Howdy. "I want to know what is in that book now."
"I'm dying to know what is in this book just as much as you do, Howdy." admitted Boss. "But this discussion about the book is driving me crazy. I say we keep it in a safe place and just wait until Maxwell comes back." There was a string of complaints from many of the Ham-Hams but Boss did not yield. Boss picked up the book and placed it under a chair cushion. He then sat in the chair and remained there. Realizing that the discussion was over, everyone went back to their usual routines.
Hamtaro, Bijou, Cappy, Panda, and Oxnard was playing a game of Blind Man's Bluff using one of Bijou's ribbons as a blindfold, with Bijou's permission this time. Pashmina, Penelope, and Sandy was busy practicing ribbon twirling. Stan, Howdy, and Dexter was next to Snoozer talking to each other in hushed voices.
"Well, what do you think?" asked Stan.
"I don't care what Boss says." said Howdy. "I got to see what is in that book."
"Ya, it is not like we have to tell Maxwell we looked into his book." said Stan. "What he doesn't know wont hurt him."
"But how are we going to get it?" asked Dexter looking at Boss. Boss was sitting in the chair reading a book. He hadn't moved from that chair for at least thirty minutes.
"I have a plan." said Stan. He whispered into the others' ears and sinister grins crossed their faces.
"Good plan, Stan." complemented Howdy.
"You really shouldn't be doing this." warned Snoozer eavesdropping.
"Aw, what do you know." said Howdy.
"I'm warning you, zuzuzu." said Snoozer but Howdy, Dexter, and Stan weren't listening. Howdy remained on a level above while Dexter and Stan went down below.
Stan began his plan by dancing around the room. He was hopping around and shaking his maracas. He danced towards Boss and he began spinning around him. With a good swing, Stan pretended to accidentally knock Boss's helmet off. The helmet flew off of Boss's head and skitted across the floor a few inches (and for a hamster, a few inches is a lot).
"Hey, what the...." said Boss in surprise. He ran over to pick up his helmet. While he was off of the couch, Stan pulled out the book from the chair.
"Boss, Stan is stealing Maxwell's book." said Snoozer. Boss turned to Stan and saw him with the book.
"Traitor." said Stan to Snoozer as he took off running.
"Hey, give me that book." said Boss. Stan took off repeating "Badda-Badda" as he ran. Everyone began to chase after Stan once they realized what was happening. Stan managed to get close to Dexter and like a Frisbee, Stan threw the book to Dexter. Dexter ran towards the ladder and tossed the book to Howdy. Before anyone could reach the ladder, Howdy had opened the book and looked inside.
"Atata." said Howdy in surprise as he looked inside the book. Everyone froze with curiosity. Howdy continued to flip through the pages of the book and the same surprised expression was on his face.
"Why, there is nothing in this book except some drawings of Stan and poems." said Howdy.
"Heke." chorused the Ham-Hams. Howdy climbed down the ladder and showed them the book. Stan took one look at the drawings inside and he said sarcastically, "Uh, Howdy, since when did I wear a ribbon on my tail?" Howdy looked at the pictures more closely and realized that those were pictures of Sandy, not Stan.
"Hamgoof, my bad." said Howdy. Sandy picked up the book from Howdy's paws and looked through the pages herself. The pages where filled with drawings of Sandy playing soccer, juggling clubs, playing with a hula hoop, twirling her ribbon wand, or just standing there in a cute pose. Some pictures were more well done than others and in addition to the drawings was poems. The poems were more well done than the drawings. They were all love poems about Sandy.
"I see you have seen my book." said Maxwell's voice behind everyone. This scared the Ham-Hams right out of their skins. Sandy hastily closed the book and tucked it behind her back.
"Maxwell, how did you get here so fast?" asked Sandy.
"When I got home, I found no one there." said Maxwell. "At first I thought that they had left without me but then I noticed the calendar. It said that we were leaving for the book festival tomorrow, not today. Realizing my mistake and realizing that I had left my book behind, I came back for it. When I came back, I saw you guys with my book. I suppose, by now, you are all are wondering what it is." Everyone nodded their heads. "Well, when I get some alone time for myself, I often enjoy writing poems about Sandy and draw pictures of her in my book."
"But why would you spend your free time doing that?" asked Howdy.
"Because when I'm alone, I find myself thinking about her." admitted Maxwell blushing. Sandy looked like she was about to cry with joy.
"Oh Maxwell, you're so sweet." said Sandy as she hugged Maxwell. Maxwell returned the hug as well.
"Great, and I felt so sure that Maxwell was an alien." said Howdy.
That night, Hamtaro was sitting on top of Laura's desk, watching his owner making more entries into her diary.
"Maxwell and Sandy are so close." thought Hamtaro. "And to think that Maxwell would write all those poems and draw all those pictures really shows how much he cares for her." Laura closed her diary and said to Hamtaro, "Today was a fun day, wasn't it, Hamtaro? And I have a hunch that tomorrow will be even better. What do you think, little guy?"
"Heke." was Hamtaro's only answer.
The End