Zigy'S Biography

Zigy was born as a twin in a far northern village in Snoozeland.  When he was a boy, his father and he spent a lot of time on the island of Galaptini in the south of Snoozeland where his father made a living as a fisherman.  It has a warm, tropical climate with many fish, birds, and reptiles, and was discovered by pirates a long time ago, according to the history books.

Zigy was often in the water learning to surf, kayak, and sail.  In fact, his school was very close to the beach, so he and the rest of the students, spent about half their time studying inside the classroom, and half their time learning outside.

Galaptini is a favorite tourist destination and there would often be cruise ships that would come to the island.  Zigy would take tourists on adventure trips and get paid for the excursions….not a bad gig for a 10 year old.

The villagers on the island often tell the story of how Zigy saved the lives of a family of tourists.  It goes something like this….  He had taken a family of three – dad, mom, and son, on a river canoe trip up on the mountainside in the jungle region of Galaptini.  The group had arrived at the usual entry point Zigy used and prepared the canoe to travel down it.  It was a traditional wooden canoe that had been carved from a fallen tree by some of the craftsmen of the village many, many years ago.

The canoe adventure started out normally, but as the group paddled down the river, with Zigy at the back of the boat steering it, the skies had surprisingly darkened and you could smell a storm forming overhead.  The rain started out strong, and just got stronger.  Crackles of lightning pierced through the dark clouds only to be shadowed by tremendous claps of thunder.  Zigy was worried, but he didn’t want his customers to know it.

As the canoe flowed down river, the strength of the water grew and the rapids got bigger and bigger.  With this much rain falling, there was only one way for the water to get down the mountain.  The group tried desperately to get to the shore, but the river had become much too strong by this point and the canoe was simply at the mercy of the surging rapids.

As the canoe quickly approached what looked like a dangerous pitch in the river, that’s when the flash of light blinded Zigy and the others.  A sheet of lightning seemingly hit from all sides and tossed the canoe into the air, with everyone landing in the surging water.  It was bad, really bad….was he about to drown?

Without more than a brief thought, Zigy knew he had to help the others, but he also felt strange at that moment.  Something was different in him.

He swam powerfully to the family’s son nearest him and grabbed him by the arm, then was able to grab the mom by her shoulder as she was racing by.  The dad was further away and closing in quickly on some huge, jagged rocks that were dangerously sticking up out of the water.  The flow was accelerating and Zigy didn’t have much time.  He felt something inside of him at that moment that he had never felt before – like a surge of sonic energy.  While still holding onto the other two, he smacked powerfully into a large bolder sticking out of the water and bounced, no, ricocheted off it at high speed, like a pinball bouncing off a bumper.  He didn’t have time to think about what was happening; he was just reacting.  Still with the son and mom in tow, he was travelling very fast just above the surface of the raging river right toward the dad.  Zigy reached out and barely snatched his shirt.

All four of them were hurling toward another bolder sticking out of the river.  As they struck that one, the group again rebounded in a different direction.  Zigy couldn’t control what was happening, he just felt that whatever it was, it was saving their lives. Then they hit another bolder, and another. Finally, they landed safely on the shore in a small clearing at the base of some trees.  As they recovered from the rough landing, they saw the canoe they had just occupied go rushing by…..broken in two.

Zigy’s adventure customers shifted their gaze toward him.  He didn’t know what to do or say, so he said nothing….kind of shrugged his shoulders and looked away, trying to figure out what had just happened.  What had happened?

That day changed Zigy’s life.  He was traumatized by the experience.  He spent the next week sitting in front of his TV doing nothing but play video games; which helped.  He had trouble sleeping at night; the sound of the rushing water would come back to his mind.  It took a few days before he got a good night’s sleep.  He had to work hard to think about other things…..happier things, before he could rest and feel safe again.  But he got there, eventually.  And the tale of Zigy and his sonic ricochet ball powers has grown over the years.