CHAPTER 10
A Mighty Job
On Monday, Ellie ate breakfast with Squeak. She wanted to spend as much time with him as she could. Her job as Hamster Helper was almost finished, and she had to bring him back to school soon.
Dad scooped more oatmeal into her bowl, then glanced at the clock. “Better eat up. You don’t want to be late,” he told her. He peeked at the hamster, who was nibbling his food in the habitat. “You too, Squeak.”
“Watching over Squeak was a big job, especially when I was three inches tall,” Ellie said between spoonfuls. “Still, I’ll miss having him around.”
Mom set the tote bag of hamster supplies on the table. “He was a well-behaved guest,” she said, packing up the rest of Squeak’s food. “Except when he turned into a tickle monster.”
Suddenly Super Fluffy ran into the kitchen with his ball. He stopped below the habitat and whined for Squeak to play.
“Fluffster will probably miss Squeak the most,” Ellie said. She bent over and patted her pup’s head. “I know you want your new friend to come out again. But I’m not sure Squeak is ready for another game of chase with a giant drooling hairball.” She paused, her eyes widening. “Neither is this pet sitter!”
* * *
Mom and Dad drove Ellie and Squeak to school, then they had to deliver the Ultra Grower and Ultra Shrinker to B.R.A.I.N. Before heading on their way, they offered to bring the supplies inside. But Ellie’s super strength could handle everything without a problem.
She floated toward the main entrance when a paper airplane whizzed past. It turned sharply on a breeze and nose-dived at her feet.
Dex slunk out from behind a bush. “Curses, foiled again!” he said, clenching his fists. “I keep missing my target.” He trudged over and picked up his weapon of major annoyance.
“Try folding your plane a different way,” Ellie told him. “Maybe you should make the wings wider? In my experience, it helps the plane fly over updrafts … and bubbling science experiments.”
Dex stared blankly. After a second, he made a stink face and stomped away.
Flying into the classroom, Ellie placed the habitat back on the shelf. Inside, Squeak was curled up in his hamster hut, sleeping.
“My duties are officially done,” she said to herself. “If only I had been more careful. Then I wouldn’t have had so much trouble …”
“Ellie!” Hannah came bouncing over. She was holding up a Dance Cat Academy sticker. “Look what I got on Dance Day at Winkopolis Books & Toys! I’m going to add it to my scrapbook.”
“Cool!” Ellie said. She noticed Fifi, Ginger, and the rest of the characters were on the sticker. “Hey, that reminds me! How was the trivia game? Did you win the poster?”
Hannah shook her head. “I got the last question wrong. I should’ve guessed the answer was KitKat! Anyway, I came in second place and won this …” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a KitKat charm bracelet. “I know you like Princess Power, but I want you to have the bracelet. That way we can match since I have one already!”
“Wow, thanks!” Ellie said, slipping it on.
As the friends jingled their bracelets together, Miss Little walked up. “Hello, girls!” she greeted them. She turned to Ellie. “How is my Hamster Helper? I hope everything went OK this weekend.”
“Well …” Ellie grew worried as she handed over the supplies bag. It was the same feeling that struck before she took Squeak home. She wasn’t sure she did a good job. Hamster sitting hadn’t gone very smoothly.
“I worked really hard at taking care of Squeak,” she said. “I followed your instructions and even asked Hannah for help with changing his bedding. But I still made mistakes.”
“I’m sure they weren’t too big,” her teacher offered kindly.
“One mistake was small,” Ellie replied, recalling the power of the Ultra Shrinker. “But the other one was huge. Squeak got loose after I left his habitat on the floor. It was my fault.” She shrugged a little. “I tried doing my best. But it wasn’t good enough.”
“Sometimes we make mistakes, even when we’re trying our hardest to avoid them,” Miss Little said. “What’s important is you gave your best effort. Since you tried your best, you did a great job.”
Suddenly a rustling noise came from inside the habitat. Squeak had woken up and crawled out of his hamster hut.
He scurried to his door, where Ellie was standing. “Squeak, squeak!” he said.
“It sounds like Squeak wants to tell you something.” Miss Little put her ear close to the habitat and pretended to listen. “Aha! He says you did great too.”
Ellie looked in and smiled at Squeak. She had made some mistakes while caring for him. But, no matter what trouble she’d faced, she had always tried to do her best. Because of that, she had done a mighty job after all.