VAGABONDS: An American Fantasy

“Watership Down” with armadillos
An Immigrant Tale

For decades, the southern states have witnessed the relentless migration of vagabonds from Mexico. They are now found as far north as the Ozarks of southern Missouri. No one knows why they keep traveling ever northward. Till now.

AN AMERICAN FANTASY: An Unlikely Armadillo Hero
In the tradition of Charlotte’s Web or The Underneath comes the American fantasy, VAGABONDS, the saga of El Garro’s armadillo colony, the scouts and pioneers who have always been at the forefront of the migration. Rumors from their original homeland, the jungles far to the south, indicate that El Garro’s colony may be nearing the fabled Faralone Falls, where they will find the answer to why they have traveled northward for decades. Galen must leave the comfort of his den and lead the search party. Accompanying him are Tex, a representative of the southern clans, Corrie, who is El Garro’s daughter, and Blaze, the barn owl. Galen’s quest for answers plays out against the background of a nomadic armadillo colony.

VAGABONDS is an American fantasy set in the Ozark mountains. Like El Garro’s clan, we are a nation of immigrants, people who have known the sacrifice of leaving everything behind to find a future and a hope for their families.

INSPIRATION
People say to write what you know: One day, we camped at Steele Creek on the Buffalo River, AR, and just at sunset, we saw armadillos digging in the bushes and started studying us. I studied armadillos:

• only creatures besides humans that have been known to contract leprosy
• always born as quadruplets, All boys or all girls.
• when startled they jump straight up, which accounts for the frequent road kill

After solid research, I moved from what I knew, to what I imagined. These creatures moved from South America, through Mexico, and into North America. Immigrants: leaving homes, crossing new lands, seeking new homes. Vagabonds.