Flush
Carl Hiaasen
 This takes place in the Florida Keys up to Miami. It is placed in modern day time. This story happens in the summer. This book is about a pre-teen boy (Noah) whose dad doesn't always think about what he does before he does it. His dad used to work with a man name Dusty "Money Man" Muleman who said that one day he was going to form a new business. Dusty owns a gambling facility that was parked in Indian Territory and made a deal with the Indians that he could gamble on their waters and pay them a part of the profit. Since his ship, the Coral Queen, never leaves the dock, passengers do not get seasick and continue to gamble and spend money. In order to save money, he dumps his waste from the holding tanks into the ocean at night when nobody is looking. Noah's dad is a person who stands up for the environment and sinks Dusty's boat and is then put in jail. Noah and his sister decide to try and find a way to stop him. They talk to their dad and he tells them that he also worked with a man called Lice Peeking. He says that he also worked on the boat and he could testify on the fact that Dusty really did dump his waste into the ocean. He wanted Lice to sign a paper saying that Lice saw Dusty "Money Man" Muleman dumping wastes into the lake. It then looks like Lice is kidnapped and is unable to testify. They meet his girlfriend, Shelly, who tells them that she will help them stop Dusty's casino scam. She tells them that she used to work as a bartender on Dusty's Boat. She tells them that one night she stayed late and saw Dusty dumping the waste from the ship. A few days later, he goes to a popular beach and sees a park ranger putting up signs that say the water is contaminated from human waste. Since there are many boats docked in the harbors, it's impossible to see which boat the waste is actually coming from. They then get the idea to color the waste with a very bright dye to help identify the culprit. Then they go into a food store and purchase 34 bottles of Fuchsia dye and tell Shelly their plan. They tell her that Noah will hide in an empty rum box and wait till it is picked up and placed on the ship he then will go into a restroom and Shelly will tack on an out of order sign. He will then take his sack full of dye and squeeze it out into the toilets. After that he will leave the ship and go home. Since kids are not allowed on the ship he will need to be very careful. The plan has some problems and they barely make it off. A guard catches him and threatens to shoot if he does not explain everything. Then a strange old guy that resembles a pirate attacks the guard. Noah swims and says the emergency code word he and Abbey came up with but she couldn't start the boat to get to him. Noah then sees the boat and gets on board. He and Abbey drift away into the deeper ocean. They fall asleep, and in the morning they see a tow boat. Their dad is driving, and the same fat guy is on board the tow boat. Once they get on board the other boat, they find out he is their grandpa who disappeared a long time ago that they thought was dead. They call the coast guard and Dusty gets fined. Noah's dad is mad that he didn't get arrested then they find out that Dusty's son Jasper was messing with fireworks and accidentally set the boat on fire.