"Once upon a time there was a little girl called Emily, who slept with an Alligator."
This sentence, taken from Richard Hughes’book "A High Wind in Jamaica", is the starting point for the whole story.

A book in between laughter and tears, a bit like life going by. It talks about growing up, about leaving the innocence of childhood to enter the adult world. It’s never easy or obvious.

It also contains a reference to Mercer Meyer’s book There’s an Alligator Under my Bed. Only here the alligator is in the bed!

If you are observant, you will find the little red bird of Aren’t I Handsome? inside this book.

After several attempts (see sketches), I decided not to picture Emily in the last image. There are three elements which remind her of Alligator: the boots, the poster in the travel agency and a "weird animal".