Becky was the leader of the Sand Dollars troop, and as such, she found herself telling others what to do all the time. She was also a fierce environmentalist, which wouldn’t be a bad thing except that she never stopped talking about it.
The customer looked confused.
“I just want a cookie,” he said.
Gabi sighed loudly, unable to contain her annoyance. She was unaware that the group of people she was standing behind had moved away.
“Hernandez!” Becky shouted. Gabi had been caught.
“Oh… hello girls,” Gabi said.
“Where’s your uniform?” a girl named Eva asked Gabi. Eva was soft-spoken and generally very sweet, but Becky sometimes rubbed off on her.
“I totally thought the cookie sale was yesterday,” Gabi said.
“But you weren’t here yesterday either,” Becky responded.
“Oh, good point. Well, I was busy,” Gabi said.
The Sand Dollars looked unconvinced. They crossed their arms, waiting for another excuse. Gabi pulled Vivo out from her backpack and showed the girls.
“I was rescuing this animal!” she exclaimed.
Vivo groaned at Gabi, annoyed that he was being used for her excuse.
“Ooooh it’s so cute!” Eva and Sarah, another girl, said.
“What’s his name?” Eva asked.
“His name is Vivo. And he’s an… opossum,” Gabi said.
“That is NOT an opossum,” Becky said. “That’s a kinkajou. It’s a very rare South American tropical rain forest mammal! The honey bear.”
The honey bear, Vivo thought to himself. I like it.
“Gabi, has he been to the veterinarian? He needs his vaccinations and at minimum, a week of observation,” Becky said, eyeing Vivo suspiciously.
“A week?!” Gabi and Vivo both said.
“Well, he’s already had all that,” Gabi said, clearly lying.
“Then you’ll have his vaccination records on him, won’t you?” Becky said. “Hand them over.” She stuck out her hand, waiting.
“Yeah, absolutely. They’re in the trunk of my bike,” Gabi said. “One sec.”
She put Vivo back into her backpack and started to walk toward her bike.
“Plan B, Vivo,” Gabi whispered to him.
“Wait, bikes don’t have trunks, do they?” Eva asked.
“Girls, this Sand Dollar has gone rogue! Move out!” Becky shouted.
Gabi saw the girls scramble to get the cookies packed and run over to their scooters. She jumped on her bike and strapped on her helmet, just as the Sand Dollars reached their own scooters. Vivo hopped out of the backpack and into the basket on Gabi’s bike.
Gabi started pedaling as fast as she could.
“We’re going to have to catch the bus at the next stop, Vivo!” Gabi shouted.
The Sand Dollars were on electric scooters, gaining on Vivo and Gabi quickly.
“Pull over, Hernandez!” Becky shouted.
“Not a chance!” Gabi shouted back.
“Surrender the kinkajou!” Becky said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll lose them!” Gabi told Vivo. Then she started pedaling in another direction.
“The bus! What about the bus?!” Vivo chirped. But he knew Gabi couldn’t understand.
“Lose them!” Gabi shouted at Vivo.
The scooters seemed to move faster, but Gabi had the bus in sight. It started going over the bridge.
“Oh no,” Gabi said.
As soon as the bus crossed the bridge, the drawbridge began to rise.
“We’re going to jump. Hold on tight, Vivo!” Gabi said. “Miami, here we come!”
Gabi pedaled hard and made it onto the bridge, but she was too late. Her only option was to go back, or to jump into the sand barge passing by underneath.
“Oh no!” Vivo cried.
Gabi made sure her helmet was strapped tightly, then made the jump. They landed safely in some sand containers and escaped the Sand Dollars.
From above, the Sand Dollars looked down at the sand barge floating away.
“Eva, we’re going to need your dad’s boat,” Becky said, watching Gabi and Vivo leave Key West.
Chapter Ten The Sand Barge
Gabi and Vivo slowly climbed out of the piles of sand they landed on.
“The song! Where is it?” Vivo cried.
He started digging around the sand frantically until he found it and put it back under the safety of his hat.
“Okay, now where’s that bus? OH NO!” Vivo cried again.
He looked around him to see mountains of crates and sand, and beyond that, water. From afar, he saw the bus driving by on another bridge, in a completely different direction.
“Wheeeee!” Gabi shouted.
Gabi was rolling around in the sand happily.
“Vivo, you should really try this,” she said. She was making sand angels.
Vivo looked at her in confusion. How could she be having so much fun when they missed their bus to Miami?
“Don’t worry so much, Vivo. I’ve got a another plan. We’ll take a shortcut through Everglades National Park and then we’ll make it to Miami. No worries!” Gabi said.
Vivo didn’t feel convinced. He started trying to make his own plan to get out of there and to the Mambo Cabana. Next to his sand pile, he spotted a deflated life raft and began heading toward it.
Once he reached it, he blew it up and threw it into the water, where it floated perfectly.
“Vivo! Great idea!” Gabi shouted. She threw her bike toward the life raft before Vivo could stop her.
Pop!
“Ah man, I thought the life raft could hold it,” Gabi said as Vivo watched the life raft deflate.
Vivo was upset. “That was our only chance to get to Miami! You don’t have any real plans! Your ‘plans’ are just bad impulses. And now we’re stuck on this boat!” Vivo shouted.
While Vivo shouted, Gabi started making her own raft.
“Ta-da!” she said when she was done.
Vivo blinked a few times, completely surprised.
“That will never float,” Vivo chirped.
Gabi pushed the raft into the water, and it floated perfectly.
“Never thought that would work,” Vivo said.
“Let’s go, Vivo!” Gabi said, and before he knew it, Vivo was thrown onto the raft. He screamed, but landed on the raft safely. Then he started chirping angrily at Gabi again. She was really out of control!
“Heads up!” Gabi shouted, then jumped off the barge.
She missed the raft and landed in the water. Vivo panicked for a small moment, but soon enough, Gabi came out of the water laughing hysterically while pulling herself onto the raft.
Unable to resist, Vivo smiled at Gabi, who was still laughing uncontrollably.
“Marta, here we come!” Gabi said, directing the raft toward the Everglades.
* * *
Meanwhile, in Key West, Rosa noticed Gabi hadn’t come home from the cookie sale yet. She dialed Gabi’s cell phone several times, with no luck.
“Gabi, I keep texting you,” Rosa said into Gabi’s voicemail. “Please call me back.”
Rosa walked into Gabi’s room and looked around. Then she saw Gabi’s computer still open. The home screen showed the website for the Mambo Cabana.
“No… she wouldn’t dare,” Rosa said.
Then she clicked another tab, revealing the bus schedule to Miami.
“Guess she would dare,” Rosa said.
Rosa sighed loudly and left Gabi’s room in a hurry. She grabbed her car keys and pulled out of her driveway.
“Mambo Cabana, here I come,” she announced.
Chapter Eleven Everglades National Park
Vivo and Gabi had been floating on the raft for what seemed like forever. But somehow, Gabi seemed to know where to navigate the boat. They were finally entering Everglades National Park! Vivo pulled out Marta’s song and read it for a moment before putting it back under his hat.
Taking a moment
ary break, Gabi watched Vivo and asked, “Vivo, are you scared?”
Vivo looked up at her.
“You know, my dad used to sing to me when I was scared. I can sing to you, if you want.… We could even sing Marta’s song!” Gabi offered.
Before Vivo could protest, Gabi started beatboxing. Vivo winced. She was terrible at it! Then Gabi started tapping on her body with her hands, like a drum.
“Drumming’s in my blood. I can teach you!” Gabi said.
Vivo couldn’t help himself as he laughed out loud.
“You’re going to teach me how to play the drums,” he said incredulously.
Gabi reached over the edge of the water and pulled off some branches from nearby trees to use as makeshift drumsticks.
“Here, hold your drumsticks like this. Now try this simple beat,” Gabi said, demonstrating.
“That’s just noise,” Vivo said to himself.
Vivo repeated her beat, then did another simple beat against the raft.
“Wow, you’re a quick learner!” Gabi said. “I’m such a good teacher!”
Vivo rolled his eyes.
Then the two of them started drumming beats together. Before long, they were both getting really into it. Gabi laughed and Vivo couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t believe they were creating a rhythm together. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.…
Suddenly, they heard a large thunderclap overhead. The sky started to darken and it began to rain lightly.
Vivo hopped over to the sail and held on to it tightly. He was scared.
“Don’t worry, Vivo. It’ll probably blow over soon. It’s just a little bit of rain,” Gabi said. But she looked scared too.
Before long, the wind started picking up, and the raft started moving violently against the water. It started to rain so hard that they could barely see each other on the raft.
Then the raft started to spin and crashed into some tree roots at the bank of the swamp. The howling wind pushed Vivo’s hat off his head. The song flew out of Vivo’s hat.
“No!” Vivo cried.
“I’ll get it, Vivo!” Gabi shouted, reaching for the song. At the same time, Vivo reached up, catching his hat, but when the raft started to spin again, he grabbed on to a tree for support. Meanwhile, Gabi and the raft floated away.
“Vivo!” Gabi cried. “Don’t worry, I got the song!”
“Gabi!” Vivo shrieked.
And just like that, Gabi and the raft were gone, leaving Vivo all alone.
Vivo started to panic.
“The song’s with Gabi. What am I going to do? I’m going to fail Andrés. I need a new plan!” Vivo shouted. “Gabi! Gabi!”
Vivo kept looking around wildly, but didn’t see her anywhere. He looked up and spotted large birds.
“That’s it! I need a bird’s-eye view to find Gabi in this swamp. Hey!” Vivo shouted. “I need help!”
Vivo waved one of his arms wildly, trying to hang on to the tree, but the wind was too strong. He fell from the tree and landed softly in a giant pile of dirt.
Vivo dusted himself off. Inside the swamp, the storm felt calmer, but Vivo didn’t like seeing the dark surroundings. He looked around and saw some of the birds were perched on some nearby trees, waiting out the storm. Vivo approached one of the birds, who was on the ground digging a hole.
“Excuse me, I’m Vivo. I was separated from my friend. Maybe you could fly me up and help me find her?” Vivo asked.
“I’m Dancarino. Normally, I’d help a guy out, but I’m indisposed at the moment,” the bird said. Dancarino continued digging.
“Why are you digging?” Vivo asked.
“I’m just going to take a long dirt nap,” Dancarino responded. “I’m hibernating until dating season is over.”
“Dating season?” Vivo asked curiously.
“All my life I’ve been told that I would find the girl of my dreams during the dating season. But I’ve been here for eight straight seasons and nothing. It’s like I’m invisible! No one cares, especially not Valentina,” Dancarino said, motioning to another bird standing alone on a tree.
Suddenly Valentina looked over at Dancarino.
“Oh, she’s looking at me! Good luck finding your friend! Bye, Vivo!” Dancarino said, using his wings to scoop dirt all over himself and bury himself in the hole.
Vivo pulled Dan’s head out of the dirt.
“Wait! Have you tried telling her how you feel?” Vivo asked.
“I can’t tell her.… I’m scared she’ll reject me,” Dancarino responded. He dropped his head down low.
“I’m not letting another friend go through life without sharing his feelings. Come on, I’ll help you and then you help me find my friend. Deal?” Vivo asked, putting his hand out for Dancarino to shake.
Dancarino raised his eyebrows at Vivo, but agreed to the deal.
Vivo grabbed Dan and led him to a spot underneath Valentina’s tree branch.
“Introduce yourself,” Vivo said, nudging Dan.
“Hi! You’re Dancarino! I mean, I’m Dancarino!” the bird said, blushing.
“How enchanting,” Valentina responded.
“Oh man, back to my hole,” Dancarino said. He was getting nervous.
“No, you can do this,” Vivo said encouragingly. “Smile and compliment her.”
Dancarino took a big gulp and then said, “Valentina, your eyes are like two huge pools… no, bayous on your face.”
“Bayous on my face?” Valentina asked, confused.
Vivo shook his head.
This is not going well, he thought to himself.
“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about my ey—AHH!!” Valentina said before falling into the water.
Valentina coughed and then continued. Vivo stared at her.
“Um… that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about my eyes.”
Never mind, Vivo thought. These two are perfect for each other.
“Dancarino, you have such nice feathers,” Valentina said.
Dancarino giggled shyly.
“Now take her hand,” Vivo whispered to Dan.
Dancarino reached out to grab Valentina’s wing, but poked her in the face accidentally. Then Valentina tried, and poked Dancarino in the face.
“Sorry,” they both said together.
Finally, the two of them held wings. Then they smiled and flew off together.
“Perfect!” Vivo cheered.
He was happy for his new friend. Then, Vivo realized they were gone and he was all alone again.
“Wait! You were supposed to help me! We had a deal!” Vivo shouted, but Dancarino and Valentina were gone.
Vivo jumped into the tree vines and tried to swing toward the birds, but he got caught on a branch and fell into a bog.
“I’ll be lucky to make it out of here alive,” Vivo said, defeated.
Chapter Twelve The Sand Dollars Arrive
Meanwhile, the storm had finally settled. Gabi looked around her to see a lot of wreckage from the storm. The raft was barely floating now and Gabi was covered in mud. But the worst part was that Gabi was separated from Vivo.
Suddenly, she realized something else was missing, too. “Oh no! Where is it? Where’s the song?” Gabi asked, looking around frantically.
Just then, Gabi spotted something in the distance. It was headed straight toward her. Gabi turned to the sail again, willing her destroyed raft to go in a different direction.
“Hernandez!” Gabi heard.
“Oh no,” Gabi said to herself. “Becky?!”
“Where’s the kinkajou?!” Becky asked, pulling up alongside Gabi’s raft. The Sand Dollars were in a large boat, looking dry and perfectly in control.
“Um, yeah… about that. He’s kind of missing right now,” Gabi said.
“You lost a kinkajou in the Everglades? Congratulations, Hernandez, you’ve killed him!” Becky said.
“Wait, what?” Gabi asked, startled.
“A kinkajou cannot survive in this environment.
Every single animal here is his natural predator. You are going to help us find him,” Becky said.
“I’m not helping you with anything,” Gabi said.
“Then I guess I can recycle this,” Becky said, holding up Marta’s song.
Gabi gasped and pointed to the song.
“Where did you get that?” she asked.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s ours now. Eva, feel free to eat it now,” Becky said, handing it to Eva.
Eva opened her mouth and was about to eat it, when Gabi finally gave in.
“Wait! Fine, you win. I’ll wear the uniform. I’ll sell the cookies. I’ll do whatever you want, just give me the song back, please,” Gabi pleaded.
“You’ll get the song back when the kinkajou is with us,” Becky said.
Gabi rolled her eyes, but knew this was her only option. She grabbed her backpack and jumped onto the Sand Dollars’ boat, looking at the raft drift off into the distance.
Chapter Thirteen Lutador
Vivo climbed his way out of the bog. He was in a full-blown panic now.
“Gabi!” he called. “Where are you?!” He continued climbing his way out, getting mud all over the place. Then he tripped on a branch and fell back into the mud.
“Ugh. Who am I kidding? I’ll never get out of here. Gabi!!” he shouted. But he knew she couldn’t hear him. He continued calling for her anyway, knowing it was his only hope at getting to Miami.
“Shhhh,” Vivo suddenly heard. Vivo turned around and saw an iguana shushing him. “Be quiet,” the iguana said.
“Seriously? You have no idea what I’ve been through these past few days. First of all—” Vivo started to say, but the iguana interrupted him by asking him to be quiet again.
“That’s it! You want me to be QUIET? I AM BEING QUIET!” Vivo shouted. He had had enough.
The iguana’s eyes widened and he ran away in fear.
“YEAH!” Vivo shouted after him, “THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT. WALK AWAY IN THE MIDDLE OF A SWAMP! DON’T MIND ME.”
Vivo Movie Novelization Page 3
