Vivo: Special: Nueva Casa...Nueva Aventura

Charlotte Russe

The family had finally reached a candy shop.

It looked rather nice.

The outside was coated in a cotton candy pink with some black trimmings.

And above the main doors were gold letters that spelled 'Miss Minty's Sweet Sweets'.

Vivo liked the way it looked so far.

Gabi saw his admiration for the shop's outside.

"You think the outside looks nice. Wait until you see the inside."

They went inside the shop.

Gabi was right.

It looked so much nicer on the inside than the outside.

There were shelves lined along the walls.

And the shelves were lined with jars of candies.

In the center of the shop were fancy tower displays of cakes, pastries, cupcakes, and such.

And the countertops were sitting on top of glass windows displaying cookies and fancy candy boxes.

Vivo was amazed how much one store could hold.

"Rosa! Gabi! My girls!"

A woman was at the front register.

She looked in her late 20's.

She had black hair in a bob cut.

And she was wearing a white apron over a casual light pink dress.

Rosa said, "Minty! How nice to see you again!"

Gabi said, "Hi, Miss Minty!"

Miss Minty then asked, "How are you two this fine day?"

Gabi said, "Pretty good. Especially since we started doing shows in the Plaza."

Miss Minty responded, "I heard about those! How fun! I also heard about your new pet! What's he like?"

Rosa playfully responded, "Why don't you ask him? Vivo?"

With that, Vivo revealed himself from behind Gabi's back with a chitter.

Miss Minty's eyes immediately went big, "Aww!!!"

Gabi introduced him, "This is Vivo. He's a kinkajou."

Vivo responded, "And proud of it."

Miss Minty said, "Oh, he's precious!"

Vivo blushed slightly.

She then slowly started to reach her hand out, "May I...?"

Rosa responded, "If Vivo's alright with it."

Vivo wasn't generally too fond of just being touched, but he thought one or two gentle strokes couldn't hurt.

He said, "Fine, but just one or two strokes."

Gabi said, "I'm sure he's fine with one or two gentle strokes."

Miss Minty gently stroked Vivo's fuzzy little head.

Vivo cooed.

"Oh, so cute!"

She then realized, "Perhaps Vivo would like to meet my pet."

Gabi said, "Oh, yeah. I'm sure they'll like each other."

Miss Minty then turned and called, "Charlotte?"

Then, through a small pet door in another part of the shop, a small bunny came hopping in.

Her fluffy coat was a mixture of white, cream, and a few patches of red.

And she had a small pink hair bow centered with a strawberry.

She hopped towards the front where Miss Minty and the family were.

Miss Minty picked her up and introduced her, "Vivo, this is my pet bunny, Charlotte Russe. She helps me around the sweet shop."

Charlotte smiled and quickly waved at the kinkajou, who politely waved back.

The owners then put their pets down while they chatted some more.

Charlotte started in a quick pace, "Hi, I'm Charlotte Russe, but you can call me Charlotte for short!"

Vivo replied, "Uh, hi. I'm Vivo. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too! I heard Gabi got a new pet and when I heard, I got really excited at the thought of meeting a new friend! I mean, there's nothing I love more than meeting new friends!"

Vivo was a little confused, "Friends? Wait a second. We just met."

Charlotte replied, "Oh, I know that! But to me, strangers are basically new friends that haven't been made yet! So, for now, I'll just call you my future friend! You know, up until you feel comfortable with calling me a 'friend' friend! When I'm no longer a stranger to you!"

Vivo felt that reply was a little strange, but he kind of liked her perky attitude.

Charlotte then said, "Oh, hey! I heard you're from Cuba! I heard so many great things about that place! *Gasp* What kind of desserts do they have over there?"

Vivo replied, "Well, our most popular desserts are pastries, flan, rice pudding, and empanadas."

"Ooh! Those all sound so good!"

"Yeah...they are."

Vivo remembered how back in Havana, the baker would sometimes treat he and Andrés with a special mango empanada.

Charlotte then asked, "So, besides me, any other future friends you've met since you got here? Or maybe any 'friend' friends?"

Vivo responded, "Well, uh, other than Gabi and Rosa, there's a trio of Sand Dollars, a pair of spoonbills..."

"Sounds good. How about the other pets in town?"

"Uh...I guess not."

Suddenly, Charlotte deeply gasped.

"But-But-But you've been in town for over two weeks now! How could you not be future friends with the other pets in town?"

"Well, uh, the only times I've seen the other pets are in the audience when me and Gabi do our shows. But...I've never actually spoken to them. Me and Gabi usually just continue our day."

"Oh, that's so sad! But I'm not too worried! You'll soon enough have a perfect amount of pet pals here in Key West!"

"Uh, ok."

Gabi then picked Vivo up, "Come on, Vivo. We gotta get those errands done."

Vivo said, "Alright, kid"

He then said to Charlotte, "Hey, it was nice meeting you!"

Charlotte replied, "It was super meeting you as well, future friend! Come back anytime!"

The family then left the sweet shop.

Charlotte then said, "Yep...you'll have new friends soon enough."