Matilda the Snake Gets Sick

Chapter 1

Now, if you remember, the Favulous Sunflower has a fascinating crew. There is Queen Hannah Lily of Sunflower Valley, who is both queen and captain of the Favulous Sunflower. Of course Timmy the Frog, so shy and loves to make zucchini pancakes. And Fred the Literate Baboon, who pretty much lives to climb tall trees and read great books, and who sleeps in the crow’s nest of the fantastic, fabulicious boat or ship or vessel or boat. Fred enjoys climbing the palm tree in your front yard, too, when the Favulous Sunflower is moored in Sunflower Valley, the valley that once, a long while since, had millions of sunflowers following the sun, an annual Sunflower Festival, a Sunflower Queen, a parade with floats and even the Sunflower Cup soccer tournament attended by spectators and players from around the world. However, one year the sunflowers lived their life cycle, died and never returned. Hannah doesn’t know it, but she will one day have to fight the man who destroyed them. She’s a little girl, so imagine. And she doesn’t like to fight. But we’ll get to that.

We never forget Ernesto the Retired Pirate, who decided to give up being a bad pirate because he wanted to sail with you. There breathes Malcolm the Tiger, who never was a scary tiger to begin with and who hoped to stay with Queen Hannah Lily when the boat left the jungle forests after finding the extraordinary, beguiling Seed.

Naturally, wonderfully, you recall Matilda the Big Snake, met along the Amazon, the longest and biggest river in the whole entire universe. Near the mouth of the Amazon they picked up the hitchhiking mariner Adam the Indigenous Wise Person. He became their guide and one of their protectors. He doesn’t talk much. Though he always smiles and laughs. Queen Hannah Lily remarks on his smile and his laugh. Adam’s short, like Princess Abby, and very brave.

And, you remember everybody made it back to Sunflower Valley and the Favulous Sunflower was anchored near the dog run, near the little bridge where the dogs jump into the water after tennis balls and poop basically everywhere, silly dogs. They were having fun, playing around the house, Fred the Baboon climbing the big palm tree, Hannah’s Mommy, Suzy, adopted all their new friends, because, well, eventually she liked them, no loved them, after acclimating to fur, hair, scales, scat and peculiar smells. Suzy played with Malcolm the Tiger and rubbed his super-soft furry belly, tickling him until he giggled. Timmy the Frog took over making breakfast for Suzy and Gary and the two girls. But all Timmy made were pancakes. So Gary and Suzy ate pancakes every morning and Queen Hannah Lily laughed-and-laughed.

And of course you recall how the Favulous Sunflower got its name.