Once upon a time, on a tiny island shaped like a giant pancake, there lived a boy named Mathias. Flavor Island was the yummiest place in the whole wide world—where rivers flowed with chocolate milk, trees grew jellybean fruits, and the sand tasted like powdered sugar. But Mathias had one tiny problem: his voice was as quiet as a mouse wearing socks.

Every morning, the island woke up with a sniff-sniff of cinnamon toast and the plink-plonk of raindrops turning into lemonade. Mathias loved it all, but when his friends—Lola the parrot, Benny the crab, and Pippin the sugar-glider—asked him to join their games, his words got stuck like gum on a hot sidewalk. His cheeks would puff up like little balloons, his toes would wiggle in his flip-flops, and all that came out was a squeak: "Eep!"

One day, a storm rolled in with thunder that sounded like a giant stomping in galoshes. BOOM! CRASH! SPLAT! The wind howled like a wolf with a megaphone, and the waves tossed a strange, hairy coconut onto the shore. It smelled like burnt marshmallows and old socks, and its shell was rough as a lizard’s back. Mathias poked it with his toe—tap-tap-tap—and the coconut giggled.

"Who’s there?" Mathias whispered, his heart going pit-a-pat like a drum made of jelly.

The coconut cracked open with a POP! and out tumbled a tiny, wobbly creature with ears like banana leaves and eyes like melted caramel. "I’m Coco," it said in a voice like fizzy soda. "I’m the Whispering Coconut! I grant one wish to whoever can say my name loud enough to scare a seagull."

Mathias’s eyes widened. A wish! He could wish for a voice as loud as a lion’s roar! But then he remembered Benny the crab, who always got tangled in his own claws, and Pippin, who once mistook a jellybean for a rock and threw it at a cloud. They needed him—even if his voice was tiny. His hands clenched into little fists, and his knees knocked together like castanets.

"I—I’ll try," Mathias squeaked. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the salty-sweet smell of the ocean. He thought of Lola’s squawks, Benny’s giggles, and Pippin’s happy chitters. Then he opened his mouth and—"COOOOCOOOO!"

The sound exploded like fireworks! Seagulls flapped away in a panic, Benny’s claws untangled in surprise, and Pippin did a somersault mid-air. Coco clapped its tiny hands. "You did it! Now, what’s your wish?"

Mathias grinned. "I wish for my friends to never feel lonely, even when I’m too shy to talk."

Coco’s ears wiggled. "That’s the bravest wish I’ve ever heard!" With a poof! of glittery smoke, the wish came true. From that day on, whenever Mathias’s words got stuck, his friends would gather around, their laughter warm as sunshine, and say, "We hear you, Mathias. Always."

And so, Flavor Island stayed the yummiest, kindest place in the world—where even the quietest voices could shine as bright as a jellybean under the sun.