When I first met Trugo, I was eleven, and I was thinking about how I’d always wished I had an imaginary friend…
The moment that the inherent paradox occurred to me, Trugo walked up. I was getting hot chocolate in the lobby of a hotel in Ashland, where my family was visiting to see several plays. He was a river otter one inch taller than me and one week older who loves hot and sour soup and anything with shrimp in it. We’ve been friends ever since. When I don’t need him, he travels the world, but he can be back in a flash. And he helped me finish my first novel by playing the part of Trugger.