Long before Billy was born, and his mother was his age, there was a clown king. In the beginning, Zozo was a happy clown. He had been crafted with great care by a clever inventor who wanted nothing more than to make children happy. And happy they were each and every time Zozo was bonked by balls they had thrown and was knocked backward from his lofty golden pedestal. For every time he fell, bells would ring and lights would blink. And that child was given the wondrous news that he or she could choose, actually choose, a toy from the array of toys that dangled from the ceiling of the Bonk-a-Zozo game.