Episode 2-- Sgt. Prestleton of the Yukon and Prince the Wonder Dog-- Prince Ponders

Baconbacon

Sergeant Prestleton and Prince the wonder dog sat around the campfire one night eating beans. A frost covered the pine needles. The campfire crackled.

"I think we should return to White Horse Prince. What do you think boy?"

Prince looked up from his plate of beans. What did he think? As a wonder dog, Prince could think, but if he were not. What if he were not a wonder dog? Would his language of barks and yaps constitute thought. Without language, could he think? He stared off into the distance.

Damn Prestleton and his damn leading questions. How could one ponder the imponderable? The sergeant's horse whinnied. Could the horse think?

Prince preferred action. A good bite out of the hind end of an outlaw suited him better than philosophy. A fight with a bear, now there was a good time. He'd saved the sergeant's bacon so many times. Ah, bacon... Ah Bacon? Did Bacon really write those plays?

And so he decided. Prince knew bacon. He knew bacon when he smelled it and he liked bacon. Liking constituted thought in his mind. Real thought, not a mere Pavlovian response to a pellet. He decided he'd like bacon even if there'd never been a Bacon. Language was what one spoke, even if it were mere guttural noises.

Sergeant Prestleton sat back against his boulder and let out a satisfied sigh. Even Prestleton could think, Prince decided. Even that simple-minded, naive Canadian could think.

Prince put his head down and took another bite of his beans. He thought, "I like bacon, but I sure as hell hate these beans."



Thanks to Ellen Joe and Flickr for bacon.