In Remembrance of Jerry Stiller, the voice of Uncle Max from "The Lion King 1½."
I'm Eliza Thornberry, part of your average family. I've got a dad and a mom and a sister. Then, there's Donnie. We found him. And Darwin? He found us.
We travel all over the world. See, my dad hosts this nature show and my mom shoots it.
And along the way, something amazing happened. I freed a warthog who was really a shaman; Shaman Mnyambo.
He granted me the power to talk to animals.
It's really cool...but totally secret. And life has never been the same since.
Our story begins shortly after returning Tally to his family.
The Foundation had just contacted Mom and Dad, telling them to find and take footage of a rare dark-haired lion.
On top of the ComVee, I was helping keeping an eye out via binoculars while Darwin asked. "Eliza, do you really think we'll find a lion whose fur is unlike all the others?"
"Well, Africa is home to many wild cats, Darwin." I said. "How hard could it be to find this one lion?"
As soon as I spoke, the ComVee stopped.
"Um, I'd say...very hard." said Darwin, pointing at...an unsettling sight.
"Oh, boy." I said upon looking at it.
Inside the ComVee, Mom was doing the same thing.
"Uh, Nigel, are you sure this is the right place?" she asked.
"Well, it must be, dearest." said Dad while he looked at his map. "Where else could we be?"
Mom lowered the map so Dad could see that the land was completely dry.
"Oh, dearie me!" he exclaimed. "That must have been quite a drought out there."
Debbie took a look as well, then said. "Oh, well. So much for finding that lion. Let's get out of here."
"Not so fast, Debbie." said Mom. "We didn't come all this way just to call it a trip."
"Your mother's quite right, Deborah." said Dad as he gathered up the equipment he and Mom needed. "Drought or no dought, nothing will stop us from tracking that lion. Will you be all right for a few hours?"
"Pfft. Whatever." scoffed Debbie. "It's not like we're going anywhere else."
"In that case," said Mom as she and Dad packed up the CongoCom. "We'll be back by sundown at the very latest."
"See you then! Ta, ta!" Dad called as Mom drove themselves away.
Once they were gone, Debbie saw that I put my backpack on my shoulders.
"You're looking for that lion too?" she asked.
I nodded, saying. "That, and to find out what caused this drought."
"Fine, you go on ahead." said Debbie. "I'll just stay here and keep house...like I always do."
"Debbie, you do realize I talk to animals, right?"
"How can I forget? You made me promise not to tell, remember?"
As Debbie spoke, Donnie darted out of the ComVee and through her legs, causing her to fall into the dry ground.
"Donnie, get back here, you little maniac!" Debbie called out.
"We'll find him along the way." I said while helping her up. "Wish me luck."
Debbie let out a scoff. "Yeah, like you really need it."
"Thanks for your support, Deb." I said sarcastically. "Come on, Darwin."
As she watched Darwin catching up with me, Debbie said quietly. "Good luck, sis."