Handy   a.k.a.   "Lucky"

M & M Lumber

4711 S. Mingo

Tulsa, OK

artist: Ann McKellar 

photo courtesy: Kaye's Photos

"Handy" the M & M Lumber Penguin

Word came down in the summer of 2002 that a penguin was coming to live at M&M Lumber.  Speculation began on who would feed it and what they ate.

 In late summer a man walked in and said,   “Where do you want the penguin?” 

 “Bring it on in”, we replied.  

“It won’t fit through the door”, he said.  He weighs over two hundred pounds and is seven feet tall. 

47^th and Mingo is in the tough Alsuma part of Tulsa.  The businesses close along Mingo at 5pm.  The poor guy would have to endure the long nights on his own.  The odds were against him lasting long on the streets, especially with the Alsuma sniper raiding each night shooting out windows.  After two weeks the penguin whose official name was ‘Handy’, became known to us  as “Lucky”.  He survived, losing only his tool belt and suspenders, then later his reindeer hat and red Rudolph nose. 

“Lucky” is the only penguin in town with a smile on his beak and a gleam in his eye.  

If you look across the street you will see a tavern.  The crew at M&M has no proof, but suspect that Lucky may sneak across the street under the cover of darkness and have a beverage or two.  There have also been cigarette butts and debris around Lucky’s feet that lead them to believe that friends from across the street join him for a nightcap and a visit.

 If Lucky could speak the stories he might tell.  For sure he knows the identity of the Alsuma sniper.  But, alas he is speechless.  Lucky just stands there with that Mona Lisa smile and waits for darkness to fall.

                   story by Whitney McKeller 

...NEWS FLASH...

Lucky's gone military!