There was once a monkey names lucky cheater. He raced go-carts at the circus, and was quite awful. My father, being young and naive bet it all on this monkey one fateful summer afternoon.
The monkey races were going as usual on that day, aside from an unusual amount of wrecks. Although wrecks were not un-common in monkey racing, on this day 7 monkeys had already been disqualified due to accidents. Some believe the day was cursed to begin with, but with a name like lucky cheater, what could go wrong?
Lucky Cheater pulled up tot he starting line being sure as to not cross and become disqualified himself. You see, Lucky’s name would lead on to believe that he was a cheater, however, this could not be farther from the truth. Luck came from a long line of honest monkey racers dating back to the mule races of the early 1900’s.
Well, the odds were against Cheater on this day, but my father bet on him anyways. Such an honest monkey would, assuredly, ride with the grace of god at his back. The light turned green and the monkey carts took off. Cheater, driving an outclassed cart managed to pass the favored monkey, through skilled shifting and the knowledge that comes from years of monkey racing ancestory. It looked as if the race had been won…Cheater approached the finish line at a heart pounding 22 MPH. He depressed the break preparing for his victorious crossing…The breaks had been tampered with. They locked, and Cheater’s car twisted and turned as it slammed into the sandbags lining the track.
My father lost it all, and my family spiraled into poverty. The name Luck Cheater was never spoken again in my house. As an adult I began to put more thought into the events of that day, and decided that it was no Lucky’s fault that he lost the race.
I named myself in honor of Lucky Cheater the race car driving monkey.
RIP
-Cheater-