by Matt Haig
During that month Evie interviewed a lot of animals.
She interviewed the pink river dolphin who had saved Ah’s life.
She interviewed Ah. It took a long time. Seventeen hours and fifty-seven minutes and forty-four seconds. But they got there in the end.
She interviewed Neruda the scarlet macaw. Well, she tried to interview Neruda but Neruda was so rude it was quite tricky. Every time Evie tried to ask Neruda something the thought came back: ‘No comment. Except I hate you. I mean like really.’ And then she did a poo on Evie’s head.
Evie interviewed squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys and toucans and tarantulas and an anaconda and weird and wonderful Amazonian creatures like a capybara, the largest rodent in the world, which had reddish brown fur and – Evie thought – a somewhat weird barrel-shaped body and a strange short head. Though the cabypara didn’t like these thoughts.
‘My body is not weird and my head is not strange. How dare you!’
She even interviewed a mosquito. But only after she agreed to let the mosquito bite her five times. And the only thing the mosquito wanted to talk about was the taste of her blood.
One night they FaceTimed Granny Flora. As Evie’s dad chatted to Granny Flora, Evie had a mind-chat with Scruff.
‘I’ve had pizza every day for breakfast!’
‘Pizza is not good for dogs, Scruff.’
‘Well, the heart wants what it wants. And my heart wants pizza.’ Scruff licked his paw, a little embarrassed. ‘But it also wants you. I have missed you. The tummy rubs, mainly. And that weird smell you’ve got.’
‘Hey! What weird smell?’
‘Don’t worry. No human would notice.’
After the chat was over, they went to sit outside. Evie told her dad she thought it was time to go home. ‘School will be starting soon. And it would be nice to have a few full days with Scruff before going back.’
Her dad looked very relieved. ‘Yes, good idea. Very good idea. Let’s go home. You have helped the charity and they will raise more and more money now. It is time to go back.’
Evie smiled as her dad hugged her.
‘Mum would have been so proud,’ he said.
Evie felt a tear form in her eye. A tear of sadness and happiness. She stared at the sloth in the hammock, sleeping under a clear night sky of a million stars.
‘You were right,’ her dad said. ‘This was the place to come. We can do Mallorca or Cornwall another year.’
Evie smiled. ‘Thank you, Dad. Thanks for letting me look after animals.’
‘I only worry.’
She stared at her dad’s face and wished there was a way for him to worry less about things. ‘There was something the jaguar told me,’ she said. ‘Everything is connected. There is no divide between him and the rest of nature. I mean, looking after animals, looking after nature, that is looking after yourself. Because we are nature. We are animals. And this world is the only home we’ve got.’
They sat there a while. Listening to the chirping of crickets. Evie’s dad was going to say something else. Another worry. But he saw the smile on his daughter’s face and decided he wanted it to stay there. The smile.
‘I want to interview other animals,’ Evie said. ‘Not just jungle ones.’
‘Phew,’ her dad said. ‘Jungle ones are dangerous.
So what animal do you want to interview next?’
Evie took a moment to think. ‘Hmmm. I was thinking . . . a shark.’
Her dad went pale. And Evie started to laugh, and then her dad laughed, and they both kept laughing until they realised it was probably time for bed.
THE END
Character fact files
Evie Santiago
Evie is kind and brave and cares about creatures and the environment. She is also unlike other children – she can speak to animals and understand what they are saying. You can read more about her adventures in Evie and the Animals.
Pink River Dolphin
The pink river dolphins in this book love jumping next to Evie’s boat and whooshing about making massive splashes. Pink river dolphins are really special – they make their home in rivers, can only be found in South America and get their name because they are a lovely pink colour!
Neruda the Scarlet Macaw
Neruda is so rude that when Evie tries to interview her, she poos on Evie’s head! Scarlet macaws are the biggest species of parrot in the world and their beak is super-strong so that they can crack open the nuts they eat.
Scruff
Scruff became friends with Evie when she fixed his sore paw in Evie and the Animals. He loves Evie, tummy rubs and pizza. He also really likes Evie’s Granny Flora as she can speak to animals too AND lets Scruff sleep in her bed.
Jaguar
The Jaguar in this book is a truly magnificent creature, and he knows it! He is proud and thinks he is better than everyone else. He also loves swimming, comes out mostly at night and eats things like armadillos and fish.
Ah the Three-toed Sloth
Evie rescues Ah from a rainforest fire and they become friends. Ah the sloth is clever and funny, even though she is only able to move and speak very slowly. Three-toed sloths are the slowest mammals on the planet and their ‘toes’ are actually really strong claws.
That night Evie had a dream.
The dream wasn’t about a rabbit. It wasn’t even about Granny Flora or a circus or a prison. It was about a snake.
A tree snake.
A tree snake on one of those low, twisty trees that you find deep in the jungle.
It wasn’t an anaconda, because it wasn’t in or around a river. But it was green. Bright green. It was a bright green emerald tree boa. Evie knew that. She knew that it could kill, not with venom but by crushing or, if its prey was small enough, biting.
And it had spotted something on the ground.
A frog. This frog was also brightly coloured. It was bright blue and black. It was the prettiest frog ever. It was a poison dart frog. Evie had read that they contained more poison than the Brazilian wandering spider, so were arguably the deadliest creature in the whole Amazon. She knew that they wouldn’t hurt you if you left them alone, but that their skin was coated in enough poison to kill ten grown men.
She felt scared about the snake. Not scared of it, but for it. If it touched the frog it would die. And the frog might die too.
Without thinking, she urged the snake not to touch it.
‘It will kill you.’
And just then the snake stopped looking at the frog and looked at little Evie instead. But in this dream Evie wasn’t at all scared.
‘If you even touch that frog, you will be dead,’ Evie said, with her mind.
She felt the snake inside her head. She could hear the snake’s thoughts. ‘It looks plump. It looks tasty.’
‘No,’ Evie told the snake. ‘It is deadly. It is a poison dart frog. You are still a very young snake. You don’t understand these things.’
The snake was confused. ‘Why do you want to save me?’
Even in a dream Evie found this an easy question to answer. ‘Because I can.’
She knew that both the snake and the frog could kill her, but that didn’t mean she wanted them dead.
‘Thank you,’ thought the snake. ‘You are a good human. Not like Mortimer.’
‘Mortimer?’
‘He is after me. He is trying to control me. He is not like you. Or your parents.’
Evie watched the poison dart frog hop away underneath a log. Then she turned her attention back to the snake. ‘You know my parents?’
‘Yes, they are right there.’
And the tree snake slid back up the tree and out of her thoughts and, in the dream, Evie turned around and saw her parents. She was the height of a toddler in this dream, so they towered above her. Her dad looked younger and happier and he had no beard. And her mum looked as kind and warm as she did in the photo.
‘Mum!’ she said. And she tried to hug her. But that was where the dream
ended.
When she woke up, she had a very weird feeling.
As though the dream hadn’t really been a dream at all.
It had felt, in fact, like a memory.
You may not be able to talk to animals like Evie but there are other ways that YOU can help the planet and the creatures that live in it!
1 Turn the lights out. Whenever you leave a room, make sure that the lights are switched off. This includes turning off any machines like a television at the wall. If you can still see a tiny light after you have turned an electrical item off, it means the machine is on ‘standby’ and is still using electricity.
2 Recycle plastic, cardboard, paper, aluminium and glass where you can. If you’re not sure if you can recycle it or not, look out for this little symbol that is on most recyclable products.
3 Pass on your toys. Have you grown out of your toys? Perhaps you don’t enjoy playing with them so much any more? Another child might love what you don’t want so you could donate any unwanted toys to a charity shop or local family.
4 Try to walk to where you need to go rather than always getting in the car with your family. You will see so much more wildlife if you walk and it could be a nice way to spend time together outside in nature.
5 Take care with water. Although it’s lovely to have a soak in a deep, warm bath, a quick shower uses much less water so try to mix it up. You could also turn the tap off when you are brushing your teeth.