Are You Smarter Than A Flying Gator? (10 page)

Everyone looked at Nick, expecting a comment or question. Nick giggled when he noticed everyone looking at him. “What?” he said. “I was just thinking 6.8 Mile Bridge isn't as cool a name as Seven Mile Bridge. Plus, they just rounded it to the nearest whole number.”

Jan Alcorn and Justin Fischer came over to where Sarabiskota was working. Jan said, “There are several e-mails coming in from all over the country with questions. Would you mind answering some of them on camera?”

Kari spoke for the whole group. “Not at all,” she said.

“All right,” Jan said. “We'll begin in three seconds. 1 ... 2 ... 3! Hi, this is Jan Alcorn on board Gulfstream III with Sarabiskota. We think we're following Gator Mikey down to the Florida Keys for sunset. You've been sending us many e-mails with questions for Sarabiskota, and we thought this might be a good time to answer some of those. The first question comes from a second grade teacher named Anne Gilbertson. She shares the same home town as most of Sarabiskota—Bismarck, North Dakota. Anne would like to know where you got the name Gator Mikey.”

“I can answer that,” said Jessie. “I've got this huge Teddy bear about eight feet tall that's in my bedroom, and all my friends love it. His name is Mikey. When we were trying to come up with a name for the gator, Doc suggested it, and everyone loved it.”

“That's interesting,” said Jan. “Here's the next question from Hae-Ryun Park, all the way from Pusan, South Korea. It's for Mike. How did you get started doing your Elvis impersonations?”

Sarabiskota laughed. Mike said, “My parents loved Elvis a lot, so I've been singing the songs since I was really little. When I had to come up with
a Halloween costume in the first grade, I dressed up and acted like Elvis. My whole class loved it, and it kinda took off from there.”

“Here's a question from Megan White in West Jordan, Utah. Megan wants to know what place in Florida you'd like Gator Mikey to go that he hasn't already visited?”

“Panama City,” Kari answered. “I hear they have beautiful beaches.”

“Jacksonville,” said Kevin. “I'd like to see their football stadium.”

“Daytona Beach,” said Nick. “I'm a huge NASCAR fan.”

“Weeki Wachee Springs,” Mike answered. “Elvis spent some time there and they have live mermaids swimming around.”

“I'd like to see that myself,” said Jan. “How about you, Prez?”

“I'd have to say Tallahassee. I haven't visited there before, and I'd like to see the Capitol and Florida State University and spend some time with Governor Trust.”

“Thanks, Prez. We have time for one more question. This also comes from North Dakota. The Hooooshka triplets from Mandan want to know if
they can borrow Gator Mikey if you ever get him under control again.”

Prez smiled and answered this one.
“When
we get Gator Mikey under control again,” he said, “I'd love to have Gator Mikey visit North Dakota and other places too.”

Soon Gator Mikey was flying over a small key named Bahia Honda Key.

“Bahia Honda Key!”
Gator Mikey exclaimed.
“Bahia honda
means
deep bay
in Spanish, and Bahia Honda Key has a deep channel on its west end. Bahia Honda Key is known for its rare plants, its beautiful beach, and its wonderful state park. It also has one of the rarest insects in the world, the Miami butterfly. The question is: Which of all the Florida keys is the largest? Is it A, Key West; B, Key Largo; or C, No Name Key?

“You know I'll repeat the question and sing a little more of my favorite Beach Boys song so you can think about the answer.”

When he was finished singing, he said, “The answer is B, Key Largo. It's about 33 miles long with an area of approximately 15 square miles. Now, I wonder, is anyone smarter than me?”

“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”

“Where do you think I'm headed next? To Key West for sunset, of course. Where am I going after that? Well, I'll give you a hint:
Dot and Dash.”

Gator Mikey flew on to Key West in the twilight as the Gulfstream III followed. On the way, Prez got a call.

“Hello, Prez. This is the President. I hope you don't mind if I got your cell phone number from Governor Trust.”

Prez was shocked and almost speechless. “N-nno, Mr. President. It's such an honor to be speaking to you.”

Prez's friends immediately stared at Prez when they heard he was talking to the President. They could tell this was one of the most exciting moments for Prez
EVER!

“It's an honor for me to be speaking to you, Prez. Say, I'm headed your way in Air Force One. I have to pick up Governor Trust in Tallahassee. We won't be able to land in Key West; their airport is too small so we'll have to land in Miami. We should be there in less than two hours. I'd like to meet you and your friends at the Miami Airport if it's all right with all of you.”

“Sure, Mr. President. We'd all be honored!”

“If you'd like, you and the rest of the Sarabiskota crew can chase Gator Mikey in Air Force One for awhile—assuming Gator Mikey keeps flying.”

“I'm sure everyone would love to do that, Mr. President.”

“I'll see you in a few hours then. I'll call the pilot and make the arrangements. Could I talk to Chad's mom and Jan Alcorn, please?”

“Sure. Thanks, Mr. President. Bye.”

“Bye, Prez.”

Gator Mikey circled Key West as the whole world witnessed the spectacular sunset. For the next several hours, the flying gator put on a music and light show like they'd never seen in this party town before. The people and tourists of Key West, always ready for a good time, were having the time of their lives. In the meantime, the Gulfstream III headed for the Miami International Airport for the rendezvous with the President of the United States.

After the Gulfstream III landed, several Secret Service agents riding in three carts took Chad's mom, Jan, Justin, and Sarabiskota to a special area where Air Force One was parked. When they arrived, the President and Governor Trust welcomed them all on board.

This was a huge thrill for everyone, but Prez was in seventh heaven. As the President was taking them on a tour of Air Force One, he said, “You kids are so smart, you probably already know about the first President to ever fly in a plane.”

“I believe it was Teddy Roosevelt,” Prez answered. “He was no longer President at the time, though. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first President to fly while he was in office.”

“That's exactly right,” the President said admiringly. “Now, I think we should get in the air and fly over to Key West. I'm anxious to see Gator Mikey in action. I've got lots of things to talk to you about on the way. How's that sound?”

“GREAT!”

“Excellent,” said the President. “Let's get going.”

At 6:59 a.m. on Monday, the extremely popular FOX & Friends morning program was about to go on the air. The shows' stars walked onto the set, each of them carrying several sheets of paper.

“Ten seconds, everyone!” the director yelled. “Alisyn, you've got cake on your face! Brian, straighten your tie! Gretchen, quit yawning! Steve, there's little hope for you! Three seconds, two, one—cue the theme music ...”

“Good Monday morning, everyone! I'm Gretchen Johannson here with Brian Stillspeed and Steve Goocy. Alisyn Cantaloopa is over there standing behind the news podium. We've got some huge Gator Mikey news to tell you about this morning, especially if you didn't stay up all night like I did.”

“That's right,” Brian continued. “As everyone in the world knows, one of the most unbelievable stories
ever
broke on Saturday morning. Most of us followed Gator Mikey the entire weekend as he flew all over Florida. As I went to bed late last night, the
amazing flying gator was circling Key West. He was singing and putting on an incredible light show.”

Steve said, “There were some HUGE developments that took place last night after the Key West spectacular. If you went to bed, you probably missed them. Gator Mikey left Key West at around 1:00 a.m. and flew to several more locations overnight. As you can see by looking at this live picture on your television screen, Air Force One has now joined the other aircraft chasing Gator Mikey around Florida.”

“And the President's on board,” Alisyn noted. “Along with Governor Trust of Florida and all of the Sarabiskota kids we've gotten to know the past few days.”

“That's right,” Brian said. “We understand Chad's mother and a news reporter and cameraman are also on board. We're actually going to do a live interview with some of the people on board Air Force One in just a couple of minutes.”

“Before that interview,” Gretchen continued, “we want to catch you up with some of the highlights from last night. Now, we know many of you have enjoyed trying to solve Gator Mikey's clues. If you can solve them, they tell you where Gator Mikey's flying next. Well, we're going to show you the clues for the five places Gator Mikey visited after he left Key West last night. After that, we're going to show you an edited video of Gator Mikey's actual visits to those places. Some of you may want to mute your TV sets and look away during these next five minutes if you want to try to solve the clues on your own. All right. Here we go. First, we're going to put the five clues up on your television screen.”

Alisyn read the clues out loud:

1. Dot and Dash
   
2. Second choice for the location of the University of Florida
   
3. The middle name of the first President who was also the son of a President
   
4. The Munchkins of the
   Wizard of Oz
   lived here
   
5. A gentle breeze
   

 

“OK,” Steve said when Alisyn was finished, “now we're going to show you the slightly edited footage from Gator Mikey's visits last night. Here we go ...”

“Ft. Myers!
This is Ft. Myers! For 50 years
this was the winter home of Thomas Edison, the greatest inventor in the world. Did you know Edison nicknamed his first two kids Dot and Dash after the words used way back in the days when they still communicated with the telegraph? This is your question: Who was Edison's famous neighbor when he lived here? Was it A, Henry Ford; B, John Wayne; or C, Walt Disney?

“The correct answer is A, Henry Ford. He was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and the father of the modern assembly line. Do you realize Ford's neighbor, Edison, took out patents on 1,093 inventions during his lifetime? He even invented the phonograph and the first talking doll.

“lake City!
Lake City had a much cooler name before it was Lake City. What was that name? Was it A, Candytown; B, Airconditionville; or C, Alligator?

“The correct answer is C, Alligator. Lake City was named Alligator, but it wasn't directly named after my relatives and me. It was named after Chief Alligator, the chief of the Seminole Indian village that was once located here. The name of the town was changed from Alligator to Lake City because many people thought the name
Alligator
wouldn't exactly encourage too many new people to move
here. That's not nice!