Hank the Cowdog: Book 71
'The Case of the Monster Fire'
John R. Erickson
Maverick Books, 2018
Illustrated by Gerald L. Holmes
Mr. Erickson is a storyteller from Texas who has been writing Hank the Cowdog books for decades. This is his 71st book, no small accomplishment. It is writing for younger children - boys tend to take a liking to it, but my daughter sure loves them too. The stories are told from the view of Hank, head of ranch security, and involve many different characters such as his human, Slim, and his dog buddy, Drover, who come and go throughout the stories.
Page 14
Bam Bam Bam!
Yipes, somebody was banging on the door! Well, We'd gotten an Alert from DC and our procedures were very clear. Make no assumptions about intruders until we see some ID and clear them through Security. As far as I was concerned, we had come under attack.
I went straight into Sirens and Lights. "on your feet, Drover, battle stations, Red Alert, we've got Charlies on the porch!"
You know, I get a kick out of waking him up. Hee Hee. I mean, he started running before he got his eyes open, before his feet even hit the floor, and all four legs were pumping air.
"Help, murder, mayday, Charlies on the porch!"
"On your feet, soldier, and load up Number Three Warning Barks!"
Mr. Erickson resides in the Texas panhandle as was deeply affected by the Perryton fire outbreak of 2016. In fact, he lost his home. Four youngsters lost their lives trying to save their animals. This book is based on the happenings of March 6, 2017, as Mr. Erickson attempts to summarize those events.
Page 36
Our Normal Procedure calls for the dog to follow his people wherever they go, whether that's rom to room or out on the porch, and to show some interest in their lives. We follow them because we care
But he ruined that by screeching at me and telling me to dry up, and I no longer cared. Dogs have feelings too. We're not just furniture.
He came back into the house. "That's a bad wind."
Did I care? No. I turned by back on him.
He noticed. "Hey pooch, it's liable to be a bad day for fires."
Oh, he wanted his dog back now, someone to sit there and listen to him ramble about wind and fire. Too bad.
For a children's book - and me still, I guess - it is a bit difficult, yet Mr. Erickson captures so much of those events in a very simple, modest fashion.
Page 89-90
Slim shook his head. They got into Loper's pickup and we dogs hopped in the back, and drove to the county road, where two big trucks were parked with their motors running.
The driver of the first truck, a nice red Pete, rolled down his window. "There do you want this hay?"
"What hay? Who are you?"
"We're from Garden City, Kansas, heard about the wildfires and figured you could use some hay. We'll be back tomorrow with more."
Loper jumped on the running board and shook his hand. "Brother, you don't know how glad I am to see you! Our world is upside-down."
"Man, this place looks like the moon! I'm sure sorry about your loss."
We led the trucks to the stack lot. Instead of unload ing the bales one at a time and putting them into a neat stack, Loper used the tractor to push the bales off the trailer into a big pile. That got the truckers back on the road, and Slim and Loper went to work loading both pickups with hay.
They were in the midst of doing that when three pickups pulled in, neighbors whose ranches hadn't burned. They showed up in work clothes and said, "Tell us what to do." Loper seemed a little confused at first, then said, "Load up with hay and drive until you find hungry cattle. Feed 'em, come back, load up, and do it again."
Absolutely true. If it were not for the actions of the agriculture community across this nation, tens of thousands of cattle would have starved. And again in Montana. And in California. And flood relief in Texas and Florida.
Fun books for the youngsters, and a good way to spend a couple hours waiting in line at the dentist or wherever.
Link is to Amazon |