Excerpt From Orange in the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes
The five passengers joined Romero in the boat within a few minutes, and soon they were on their way back up the river. The little fishing boat’s motor chugged along slowly, fighting valiantly against the river’s current. Everyone was enjoying the trip back to San Carlos. Even Paco had stopped trembling and was relaxing in the bottom of the boat.
Orange sat at the stern, which means the back of the boat, for you landlubbers. He was enjoying watching all the trees, plants, and jungle animals go by as they traveled along. Suddenly, he sensed something. He wasn’t sure whether he heard it, or felt it. But something had made him… aware. It seemed to be behind him, so he turned around to look. There, right behind him, almost touching him, was the biggest snake he had ever seen. And it was already halfway into the boat! It had been swimming toward them and then slithered over the side of the boat without being seen up to that point.
Orange let out a squeal. It was the piggiest squeal that had ever been emitted from his lips. But he didn’t care. Immediately, everybody on board turned around to see what had caused him to squeal like that. They saw.
“Get outa’ the boat! Get outa’ the boat!” called Judy from high up in the trees.
In one fluid movement, Jes grabbed Paco and landed on Orange’s back as he took to the air. Orange rapidly put as much air space as he possibly could between himself and the snake.
“Serpiente, Jes!” shouted Orange. “It’s called a serpiente!”
At the same time, Julio slid over the side of the boat and swam toward shore while Fernando and Romero dove into the water on opposite sides of the boat and swam toward opposite shores. Within the space of about one second, the boat was left in the hands of the snake. Wait a minute. Snakes don’t have hands. Within the space of about one second, the boat was empty, except for the snake.
Very quickly everyone arrived on shore. Orange landed behind some bushes so they could peek out and see what happened. Julio got to shore and scurried up a tree and out on a limb that hung over the water. He watched from there. Fernando stood on the bank on one side of the river while Romero stood on the opposite side. All of them watched in horror as the snake very slowly swallowed the only thing left in the boat – the golden tacos. Paco whimpered softly while Fernando shouted.