Alfred is Sally May's and Loper's little boy. Hank is sworn by his sacred Cowdog Oath "to protect and defend all innocent children against all manner of monsters and evil things." And, by George, Hank does just that. In between rescue missions, battles with Hooking Bulls, and other deadly creatures, Hank and Little Alfred share a special kind of communication. Time and time again, Alfred seems to know just what Hank wants...

"Ordinarily, I'm not tempted by sweets. I've always figgered that too much sweets makes a dog soft. It ain't the hardship that ruins a good dog; it's the easy life.

On the other hand, we don't often get recognition in this line of work. We don't demand it, we don't expect it, we go on and do our job without it. But when it comes, a guy kind of hates to turn it down.

Here was this little fellow, offering me a small reward for a job well done. What could I do? I licked the icing off his finger. He got some more and, well, I took that too. Pretty good stuff. He kept dipping and I kept licking.

He really got a kick out of that. He was laughing and squealing and having a wonderful time....

I took a bite and he took a bite. Me and Little Alfred had become the best of friends, is what happened. It was one of them unexpected magic moments when two of God's creatures sit down and share some of the good things in this life: friendship and cake....

Seems to me Little Alfred was working awful hard, digging that cake out with his hand and feeding me every bite, so I scootched a little closer to the box and showed him how to eat cake with no hands: just by George stick your face into it and go to lickin' and chewin'.

He loved that! And let me tell you, the kid was good at it. Well, we had our faces stuck in the cake and had just about ate the west side out of it, when all at once..."

From Hank the Cowdog #5: Faded Love
Illustration by Gerald Holmes from #5: Faded Love.

(Copyright © John R. Erickson)

 

 

 

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"Hank the Cowdog" is a registered trademark of John R. Erickson Illustrations by Gerald L. Holmes