A story of make-believe, or is it The children had a special fondness for the animals, especially Lucky, who liked to believe he ruled the roost, and the Bee, who actually did so as the matriarch. Lucky came to his calling by way of a carnival game in which players threw ping-pong balls into floating cups and if they landed one successfully got to pick a prize.
One day a husband and wife played the game and he landed the ball and she picked the prize, which was the monkey and given the name Lucky although he had taken that name all along and only waited in the bin, which he refers to as his time of incarceration, to be picked by that couple and no other. From the time he went home Lucky asserted himself as the ruler and took on such names as The Truth, Esquire, the First, and the One and Only. He and the Bee, a cute and wonderful chow-chow who had gone to heaven, became fast friends and confidants.
The monkey took an especial liking to making fun of and humiliating Father, as the children and the Bee and the other animals and friends called the man of the house, and Lucky refused to acknowledge any lineage other than being won and raised by Mother, son of a single-parent family is how he put it.
Lucky's antics and playfulness and verbal assaults on Father were a daily occurrence as he ruled the Ark and Ardenwood, both of which he declared to be his domain, and pronounced on high from his perch in a tree accessible only by a rope ladder he himself controlled.
The domain, too, is filled with lovely creatures and together contribute to this big, happy family.
