Sébastian L'Hounque: father to Hector L'Hounque

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 265lbs.

Birth Date: February 9, 1964 (Hector + 37)

***

It didn't matter if I had had a bad day at school. It didn't matter how much homework I had, or if I skinned my knee, or if I was just pissed at one of my gym buddies for making fun of my cub chub. As soon as I smelled that sweet, mellow aroma coming through the air conditioning vents, all my troubles melted away.

The fractions on the paper in front of me melted, and I would have trouble keeping my eyes open. He'd smoked that pipe since before I was born, and I'd grown used to it. Never one cigarette, always that same cherry pipe.

I would creep down the stairs, up to the back of the chair, and looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure he heard me every time. But I would plaster his ears down over his eyes, and he would act all surprised, laying his paper in his lap.

"Who's that? It had better not be any son of mine, or else that certain son will have to suffer a punishment worse than death."

"Hey, no fair! I'm not doin' nothin'!"

"If you say so," he would say, faking ambivalence, until I would get him to promise he wouldn't take away my video games or TV.

But not until he'd launched himself out of the chair, tackled me to the ground and tickled me into a drooling, blathering ball of white and blue fur. Then he would kiss the tip of my muzzle, and I would inhale. Everything was all better.

***

Pipe-smoking father figure is © whyteyote

Sketch art is © kashmere