Summary

"Menagerie, A Children's Fable" explores what happens in a fictional pet shop in Seattle when the shop's owner goes missing. The characters in this story are animals that are able to communicate with one another. The protagonist is a well-intentioned watch dog named Berkeley who struggles to keep order when the owner, Mr. Tilford, vanishes. Berkeley is described as steady and large in weight. He sits on guard near the glass window of the pet shop and watches the pedestrians that pass by and the derelicts that sleep outside the shop's entrance at night. Berkeley has great instincts and takes his job seriously. He is proud of the fact that no one has ever tried to break into the store to steal Tilford's exotic animals.

Mr. Tilford, the pet shop owner, is a cruel man who views animals as nothing more...