Rio 2 by Christa Roberts Page A

also can happen when you’re young like you, in your case.” He continued talking to try to undo what he’d just said. “You can be wise and young. Which is kind of a rare combination but thrilling when it happens.”
    â€œBe quiet!” Eduardo ordered. “Listen to me, son. You have my family to watch over and you’re . . . soft. You need to learn the basics of jungle survival. Patrol, provide, protect. You need training.”
    Suddenly Eduardo barrel rolled into a nosedive as Blu watched, confused.
    â€œTraining?” Blu repeated. “I thought we were sightseeing.”
    A few minutes later, Blu found himself lying in a mud puddle as Eduardo, camouflaged in mud, stood over him like a drill sergeant.
    â€œBe one with the mud!” Eduardo barked. Blu started rolling around, not sure what to do.
    â€œFeel it! Live it! Put that mud everywhere!”
    Trying to please Eduardo, Blu started throwing mud on himself. But it got in his mouth, causing him to choke.
    â€œRoll around! Roll around! Move it!” Eduardo continued.
    Next, Eduardo took Blu deep in the jungle and had him hang upside down on vines. “You are alone in the jungle,” Eduardo told him, setting the scene. “You get caught in a trap. You hear that?”
    â€œNo,” Blu whimpered.
    Eduardo’s eyes widened. “It’s the jaguars fast approaching! What do you do?”
    Blu thought hard. “Well, if I had my fanny pack—”
    â€œYou use your beak!” Eduardo burst out. “Your beak is your most important tool!”
    â€œOkay, use my beak,” Blu repeated. He tried to reach up and use his beak to cut the vine, but he couldn’t do it. “I . . . almost . . .”
    â€œTime’s up,” Eduardo said, sounding disgusted. “You’re jaguar meat.” He reached up and snipped the vine with his beak and Blu landed hard on the ground. “Roberto got it on the first try,” he told him.
    Blu groaned. Of course he did.
    The torture continued. Eduardo had Blu jump across a row of alligator snouts like a football player running through tires. “Come on!” Eduardo screamed at him. “You don’t want to be eaten! Faster! Faster! Faster!”
    Then they moved on to flying. Blu, his feathers covered with dried mud and while holding sticks, tried to keep up with Eduardo flying over the river. “Up . . . up . . . and hover! Hover! Now, backwards!”
    â€œBackwards?” Blu screeched. “Only hummingbirds can fly backwards!” As he said this, Eduardo flew past him, backward.
    â€œBackwards!” Eduardo shouted. Blu flapped his wings in all directions to no avail.
    The river was next. Some pink river dolphins surfaced, chattering. They chirped something to Eduardo and he chirped back. “Under, over, under, over,” he told Blu, who weaved under the dolphins. “Higher! Lower! Good job!”
    â€œOh, thanks,” Blu said, relieved.
    â€œNot you,” Eduardo said before high-fiving one of the dolphins.
    Finally they took a break. Eduardo and Blu sat on top of a majestic tree in the middle of a Brazil nut grove.
    â€œThe beauty—this whole grove is Brazil nut trees,” Eduardo said, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. “Our most prized crop. The trees feed us. Sustain us. We honor and protect all the nature around us, great and small.”
    Blu’s eyelids drooped. “Wake up!” Eduardo snapped.
    â€œI’m up! I’m up!” Blu said, startled.
    Eduardo caught a flower that had fallen off the tree. “From this tiny flower comes a seed. A seed that becomes the mightiest tree that shelters and nourishes us all.” He tossed Blu a nut, and then opened one for himself and ate it.
    â€œI could use a snack,” Blu said, trying to bite into the nut. The nut jammed inside his mouth.
    Some red macaws were watching them from the other side of