Our plush crocodile

Tony wasn’t young anymore; no one really knew how old he was, since people had been talking about him forever. They said he was huge and that he ate children who lived in the villages by Lake Victoria and wandered too close. He had become a legend, a bit like the Loch Ness Monster. Sylvia, a bold and adventurous little girl, lived and went to school near Kampala. She always took a shortcut along the lake. Every morning and evening, she would stop to rest on the same big tree trunk, which was comfortable, neither too hard nor too soft. Tony, on the other hand, loved to lounge by the lake. One day, he was surprised by Sylvia, who—without any fear or hesitation—climbed onto him to eat her snack. So Tony was Sylvia’s tree trunk! And he thought she was different because she wasn’t afraid of him. Since Tony was always alone—everyone ran from him—he was deeply touched that Sylvia (who had no idea she was sitting on a crocodile) came back to sit on his back every day. Tony didn’t know how to tell her he was Tony the Crocodile. He decided to stay quiet, carefully stood up with Sylvia still on his back, and slowly but surely made his way toward the school. Sylvia found this super convenient, fast, and relaxing. From that day on, Tony—who had actually never eaten a child, only hyper-protein lake plants—took Sylvia and all the children to school every day. Tony was no longer alone. And of course, the children, thrilled, kept the secret to avoid being punished by their parents—who would have been impossible to reassure.