Vivo: Special: Nueva Casa...Nueva Aventura

Stella

Vivo was looking at a cacomistle.

A young lady cacomistle, about his age.

She was a nice shade of cream with a white underbelly.

Her face was decorated with black tears and gorgeous sapphire blue eyes.

And her tail was white with black stripes and was soft and puffy as a powder puff.

Vivo had met a lot of girls before.

Mostly girls that squealed or fainted whenever he so much as winked at them during a show.

But Vivo felt a little different meeting this one.

He couldn't help but just be in awe of her beauty.

The cacomistle said, "I was just going out for a walk. And I couldn't help but hear you singing. I just had to say how nice it was."

Vivo replied, "Thank you. Singing's just one of my talents."

She then realized, "Hey, you're that kinkajou that performs in the Plaza, right?"

"Yep. That's me."

"I have to say, you certainly seem to have a lot more talents than just singing."

"Well, that just comes from practicing certain methods in music."

"Practice? No, that's natural talent."

Both chuckled.

The cacomistle introduced herself, "I'm Stella. Stella González."

Vivo introduced himself while taking his hat off in a courteous bow, "Hernández. Vivo Hernández."

Stella smiled and even blushed.

She then asked, "So...are you new here?"

Vivo responded, "Yeah, I came here about two weeks ago."

"Where are you from?"

"Havana, Cuba."

Stella was a little amazed, "Wow. Cuba. I've heard so many wonderful things about that place."

Vivo responded, "Yeah, I had a rather happy life back in Havana."

Saying that, Vivo made a slight frown.

Stella noticed, "Are you ok?"

Vivo responded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Really."

"Ok, if you say so."

Vivo decided to change the subject.

He asked, "So...how about you? You been in Key West for a while or are you also new?"

Stella responded, "Oh, I've been in Key West for about five years now."

"Really?"

"Mmm-hmm. And like you, I live with a human myself."

"Wow, that's cool. What's your human like?"

"I have a very nice young woman, Anabelle. She's been my human ever since I was a baby."

Vivo suddenly stopped.

Stella was also raised by a human since she was a baby...just like him.

Stella then asked, "So, what about your family? I've seen them before. That little girl of yours is quite the whirlwind."

Vivo chuckled, "Whirlwind? I think you mean a hurricane."

Both laughed.

Vivo continued, "But, yeah. Gabi's great. We have quite the bond."

Stella suddenly changed expressions, like what he just said sounded really familiar.

She asked, "What kind of bond?"

Vivo explained, "Well, it's kind of hard to explain. We share a bond over our love of music. Even though we may not speak the same language, when it came to music..."

Just then, Stella finished, "...you became so in sync, that you could finish each other's sentences."

Vivo was a little surprised, "Wait...that's right...Do you and Anabelle have a bond like that?"

Stella smiled as she reflected, "Yeah. We also bond over our passions. Through what we love, we...well, we got each other."

Vivo was amazed that Stella understood his bond with Gabi.

Stella then said, "So, Vivo, I'm a little curious about something."

Vivo asked, "What's that?"

However, Stella said, "I know your family's been here in Key West a lot longer than two weeks. I mean, someone like Gabi's not exactly easy to miss."

"Yeah, I would think not."

"So, if you came from Cuba, that must've been where Gabi adopted you, right?"

"Mmm, I wouldn't say 'adopted' at that time, but yeah, that's where we met."

"So...what about before then? Did you have a family in Cuba, too?"

Vivo suddenly found himself lost in thought.

He immediately started thinking about Andrés.

About how he's been with Andrés ever since he was a baby.

How he wasn't just his owner...

He was the only family he ever knew.

Andrés...was the closest he had to a father.

Stella noticed Vivo's sudden lack of focus.

What was wrong?

Was it something she said?

She asked, "Vivo? Are you sure you're ok?"

Vivo said, "Uh...well...I..."

"Vivo?"

It was Gabi.

She woke up and found her little kinkajou out of bed.

Vivo said to Stella, "I...guess I should be getting back to bed."

Stella responded, "Oh...uh...ok."

She wanted to help, but she didn't want to overwhelm him.

So she said goodnight, then went on her way.

"Hey, anytime you'd like to chat some more...I'm just a couple of blocks away."

Vivo was more than certain he would keep that in mind.

Before he climbed back down, he just couldn't help but watch Stella gracefully walk along the sidewalk.

Once she was out of sight, Vivo went back inside the room where Gabi was waiting.

She said, "There you are! Come on, you know what they say; The early bear gets the best honey."

Vivo was confused, "Don't you mean 'the early bird gets the worm'?"

Gabi responded, "Why have a bird when you've got an even better honey bear?"

Vivo just smiled and went back to bed.

***

As she was walking home, Stella was curious as to what was bothering Vivo.

What was he upset about?

She thought he was probably just a little homesick.

After all, it can take some time to adjust to a new living environment.

She knows it took her some time when she moved to Florida.

However...the wind suddenly blew a newspaper right into her face.

She immediately took it off...but she got a good look at a specific article.

She silently but deeply gasped as she began reading.