h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

i was reminded today of a picture i once adored. it was in an old boys' annual about cowboys my mother had picked up from the thrift shop. the book, not the cowboys. my mother wasn't that sort of woman. it has been a long time since i held the book but it was old when i had it so i'm guessing it was from the 1940s or 50s.

i am interpreting here, and from recollections of many years ago, so it is likely i present it not entirely accurately.

the picture is black and white. it is heavy woods and a small clearing. a cowboy is sitting next to a camp fire. there is a percolator of the old fashioned type and a frying pan. he is largely in silhouette, as is his horse nearby. steam rises from the warm body. behind, the shadows are long. i decide it is early morning. through the trees can be seen a valley stretching down to rise up on the other side into a great mountain range. perhaps the cascade range in the great american north west.

as a boy i knew the coffee was strong and aromatic and that it would be drunk sweet. in the frying pan is bacon and eggs. the soft sizzle would have muffled and echoed through the conifers. with his second cup he would have waffles with maple syrup.

and in the minutes between finishing the last of his coffee and preparing the horse's pack for the day's ride ahead, he would have spoken in a soft low baritone to the animal; not more than a few words, but not the less affectionate for it, and he would have stood before that great scene: the happiest man in creation.