Read the prologue to Tilly & Turp:
As Emma, Tilly, her rabbit, Turpentine, and their aging and overfilled car limped toward the old wrought iron welcome sign on Fresno’s Van Ness Avenue, nothing felt secure. That part of downtown looked mostly deserted. Turpentine, leaning on Tilly’s shoulder, was alert and watchful. The rabbit’s ears were erect, eyes shining and nose twitching, his whiskers tickled Tilly’s long neck, her small body, taut and still. While the last few weeks had been filled with disruption and anxiety, something in her knew that this was the moment when their lives would change.
Emma knew this, too, and could only silently beg the universe to be kind to them. For her part, any confidence she had once possessed in her ability to be self-sufficient had been leaking for some time, making her doubtful of her own choices, skills, and most terrifying, her capacity to care for and protect her precious daughter. Tilly was the only thing in her life that mattered, and now she needed to suck it up and act brave.
“Well, daughter mine, here we go! Only positive thoughts for our crossing into the unknown!” She started to sing, and Tilly, a little shakily, joined in the round, “’Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free…”
Little did the pair know what simple gifts lay in store for them as they entered the town of ash trees, and a crazy quilt of people and cultures. Fear, grief and worries suppressed by song, they crossed under this humble arch to start a new life.