Are You Smarter Than A Flying Gator? (6 page)

“At ten o'clock this morning, just a little more than three hours ago, Sarabiskota was testing Gator Mikey near Siesta Key when a massive cloud of love bugs was somehow attracted to the flying gator while he was singing. Gator Mikey then emitted a huge charge of electricity that killed all the bugs, but may have sizzled some of the gator's circuits. Apparently, Sarabiskota has had no control over where Gator Mikey flies and what he says since then, although all other functions seem to be working fine.

“Where is the flying gator headed next? That seems to be totally up to Gator Mikey himself. He's given us this clue to his next destination: Gator Mikey's Back Street. This is Sue Triska reporting live from New York.”

“Hi, Prez. This is Governor Trust.”

“Hi, Governor. I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm
causing.”

“Don't worry about it, Prez. Actually this might be turning out to be the greatest thing to happen to Florida since Walt Disney World. Right now almost everyone in the world is watching what your Gator Mikey is doing. Heck, the President is even watching.”

“Really?”

“You bet. He's in Colorado on vacation keeping track as closely as everyone else. I think it's great when people all over the world are paying attention to our state for something other than hurricanes. The publicity is priceless for our state, Prez. Priceless!”

“I'm glad you think so, Governor.”

“Well, I do. Anyway, I was calling to ask you if you might have any idea where Gator Mikey might be headed?”

“We think we know his next destination based on his clue, but after that—”

“You figured out his clue already?”

“I think so.”

“Don't tell me the answer. I want to figure it out myself. Uh, I have another question for you, Prez.”

“Sure, Governor.”

“How long can Gator Mikey stay in the air before
he runs out of fuel?”

“A month or so assuming no other problems develop.”

“A month without refueling? That's incredible! We've got to get together and talk about this sometime soon.”

“I'd be happy to.”

“Prez, do you foresee any problems or danger to anyone? If Gator Mikey collided with something or crashed to the ground, it wouldn't be good at all.”

“Governor, Gator Mikey is built with advanced collision avoidance systems and they all seem to be fully operational.”

“Great. I know you've seen the F-16's monitoring the situation at all times. They're instructed to shoot Gator Mikey down only if some danger seems imminent.”

“Thank you, Governor.”

“Thank
you
, Prez. What are you and your friends planning on doing now?”

“We're going to continue monitoring the situation from here and see if there's some way to regain control of Gator Mikey.”

“Please keep me updated. Uh ... before we get off the phone, maybe you can give me one more
little hint where you think Gator Mikey might be flying next ...”

People everywhere were following the progress of Gator Mikey. He seemed to be basically taking the path of U.S. Highway 27 in a south south easterly direction.

In Fort Collins, Colorado, four-year-old Laura Freese was looking at a map of Florida on the family's computer, trying to figure out where the flying gator was going next. Suddenly, she jumped up in the air and yelled, “I know where it's going to go next!”

“Where, Honey?” her mom asked.

“I'm not telling!” she replied.

Gator Mikey flew over the Citrus Tower, then over Haines City and the Bok Tower. Minutes later he flew over the Sebring International Raceway.

At this point, Gator Mikey began dropping in altitude as he approached Gatorama, one of Florida's oldest alligator attractions and an actual alligator farm. Millions of people watching around the world thought this would be the flying gator's next destination, but it was not to be.

As Gator Mikey flew over Gatorama, hundreds
of tourists waved and cheered. The crocodiles, alligators, monkeys, peacocks, and many other animals in the park created a huge ruckus.

Gator Mikey continued on, flying over the beautiful terrain of the Everglades. As he approached the intersection of County Road 833 and Interstate 75, he dropped down to an altitude of less than 100 feet. Then he turned west and flew directly over the interstate highway at a slow speed.

“Alligator Alley!
It's great to be at
Alligator Alley!
Hi, I'm Gator Mikey! Did you guess my next stop would be Alligator Alley? That's the name for the 84 mile stretch of the toll way that runs across Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades. A toll way is a road that you have to pay to drive on. Anyway, Alligator Alley got its name because many people thought building the road wasn't a good idea and only alligators would ever use it. Are you ready for my next question? Here it is: What was the official name given to this road when it first opened? Was it A, Panther Parkway; B, Seminole Highway; or C, Everglades Parkway?

“Once again, I'll repeat the question and give you ten seconds to think about your answer.”

Gator Mikey repeated the question and hummed a little of Elvis' song “Always on My Mind.” After ten seconds he stopped singing and said, “The correct answer is C, Everglades Parkway, but Alligator Alley has now become the official name. If you got it right, you know what you can yell at the count of three. 1 ... 2 ...
3!
”
“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”
millions of people all over the world yelled.

“That was great!” Gator Mikey exclaimed. “Well, I'll see you later. Where do you think I'm going next? I'll give you a little hint:
Tastes great with sausage!”

“Hello, Governor Trust. This is the President again.”

“Hi, Mr. President.”

“What's the status there in Florida?”

“Well, Prez and his Sarabiskota friends are monitoring the entire situation. As of now, they have not regained control of Gator Mikey.”

“Governor, I'm actually hoping this lasts longer. Our whole country is focused on something that's fun for a change. When's the last time that happened?”

“My feelings exactly, Mr. President. I shared them with Prez when I talked to him earlier.”

“Where do you think Gator Mikey is headed next, Governor?”

“I'm not sure. He seems to be following an alligator theme: The Swamp in Gainesville which is the home of the Gators, then Alligator Alley.”

“Oh ... that's right. I'm a little puzzled with this sausage clue, though.”

“Me, too.”

“Well, please continue to keep me informed.”

“Will do, Mr. President. Good-bye.”

“Good-bye.”

Gator Mikey continued flying westward over Alligator Alley at a low altitude and a slow speed. On the highway below him, hundreds of motorists pulled their cars over to the side of the road and took pictures of the flying gator. The people cheered and yelled as Gator Mikey flew over them.

Shortly after he flew over the intersection of State Highway 29, Gator Mikey turned northwest, gained altitude, and accelerated to a speed of more than 325 miles per hour. The helicopters couldn't keep up with Gator Mikey any longer.

Fortunately, Gator Mikey's eye cameras were both working great. Anyone watching television or using their computer could get an excellent flying gator's eye view of the beautiful Florida landscape.

Back at Prez's workshop on Siesta Key, Sarabiskota was monitoring everything closely.

Kevin reported, “Gator Mikey just flew over a town named Corkscrew. If he stays on this course, it looks like Lehigh Acres is next.”

“How did the town Corkscrew get its name?” asked Nick.

“I'm reading about that right now,” said Doc. “There's a swamp nearby that's shaped like a corkscrew. They named the town after the swamp.”

“What's the population?” Jessie inquired.

“It must be really small,” KT noted. “No population is even listed.”

“Hey Prez,” said Kari. “With his present course and speed, Gator Mikey will be over the Gulf of Mexico in less than 30 minutes.”

“Thanks, Kari,” Prez replied. “I think I have a good idea where he's going. I'm also noting a little pattern developing in the towns he's choosing.”

“Where's he going next and what pattern are you talking about?” Nick asked eagerly.

“Are you sure you want me to tell you, Nick?” Prez asked. “It's much more fun when you figure it out yourself.”

“You're right,” said Nick. “Don't tell me ...
yet.
”

Sarabiskota followed Gator Mikey's nearly straight-lined course over Port Charlotte, a ghost town named Verna, and the town of Parrish.

As he was flying over Tampa Bay, Chad pointed at the screen of one of the televisions on the wall
and yelled, “Hey, look! They're even covering Gator Mikey on the Weather Channel.”

“Turn up the volume on that TV and mute the others,” KT requested.

Tommy Tornado, one of the Weather Channel forecasters, was speaking: “We're right in the middle of hurricane season here in Florida; however, there are no hurricanes developing at this time. But people are following Gator Mikey with more intensity and interest than any hurricane. Instead of them rushing to get out of the way of an approaching hurricane, people are doing everything they can to get into Gator Mikey's path so they can be part of history in Florida. We have a correspondent, Tammy Typhoon, who's in Dunedin, Florida, right now with more on this story.”

“That's exactly right, Tommy. Right now, I'm in Dunedin, Florida, where hundreds of people are gathered here on Main Street. With any luck, Gator Mikey should fly over us shortly if he continues on his present course. Standing on my right is the mayor of Dunedin, Bob Hackworth. Mayor, tell us a little about your beautiful community.”

“Thanks, Tammy. I'm a big fan of yours. Let me first say how excited I am to be here with all these
great people!” The crowd cheered and some waved signs in the air.

The mayor continued speaking, “I think Gator Mikey would be especially proud of Dunedin, Tammy. Not many people know this, but the
Alligator
has actually played an important part in Dunedin's history and the history of our country as well.”

“What do you mean, Mayor?” Tammy Typhoon asked.

“Well, back during World War II, the people from this town actually assembled a rather strange looking amphibious tractor called the Alligator. It moved troops and supplies around and played a big part in our side winning the war.”

“Cool, Mayor,” said Tammy Typhoon. “Do you happen to know how your town got its name?”

“I sure do. We were called Jonesboro in the 1870's because the guy that owned the general store was named George Jones. Then two Scottish merchants named the post office and town Dunedin in 1882. Dunedin is the old Gaelic name for Edinburgh, Scotland, and our city had many settlers from that country.”

“What's
Gaelic?
” Tammy Typhoon wanted to know.

“All I know, it's an old language once spoken in Scotland.”

“Oh. What are some of the things Dunedin is known for?”

“Well, we once were an important seaport and trading center. In fact, we had the largest fleet of sailing ships in Florida at one time. We were the first home of the PGA, the Professional Golfers Association. Besides that, we were the first town
ever
to make orange juice concentrate.”

“That's very interesting—oh, my! Here comes Gator Mikey!”

The whole crowd's attention turned toward the sky as Gator Mikey approached from the southeast. He slowed down to almost a crawl and swooped down over the crowd on Main Street. Then he flew out over the Gulf of Mexico heading northwest.

“I think I heard Gator Mikey singing ‘Tutti Fruitti' as he flew over us!” Tammy Typhoon exclaimed. “That's one of my mom's favorite Elvis songs.”