The Case of the Double Bumblebee Sting is the 22nd Hank the Cowdog book.
One morning while waiting for scraps, the Security Division gets a report from Pete the Barncat about a rattlesnake. Although they initially find nothing, a later rabbit hunt ending in some trash results in Hank getting two throbbing wounds on his muzzle...right before the ranch's men have to set off for a cattle roundup.
This book contains the songs "I Was Bitten on the Nose by a Rattlesnake" and "Eating Bugs is Lots of Fun".
This book contains examples of the following tropes:
- Acquired Poison Immunity : The local Vet explains that snake-bitten dogs develop an immunity to the venom. "Next time he gets bit, he won't get so sick".Sally May: Next time? You don't think he's learned his lesson from this?Vet: (Laughs) No, they never learn. Sometimes they go back to the same place and the same snake, do it all over again. Until the snake either moves out, or dies from exhaustion.
- Which Hank does at the end of the book. Thankfully, the Vet was right about the immunity.
- Brick Joke: After having to endure Slim's trash dump of a pickup, Sally May stops at a fireworks store on the way back from the vet. At the end of the book, Slim starts his engine only for it to light some firecrackers (enough to startle him, but not enough to damage the pickup more than it already is).
- Comically Missing the Point: When Sally May protests taking her kids to town in Slim's pickup, Slim assures her that they won't hurt it. Sally May immediately retorts that she's not worried about them hurting the pickup.
- Driving Stick: To make matters worse on top of the cleanliness concerns, Sally May is used to driving automatic and Slim's pickup is a stick shift. Little Alfred tries to offer advice, but she's in no mood to hear it.
- From Bad to Worse: First Sally May has to take Hank and her kids to town in Slim's unfamiliar and very dirty pickup truck. Then she nearly wrecks the pickup when Molly eats a miller moth. Soon after that, she gets pulled over for speeding and the officer notes a number of illegal things about the pickup.
- Gossip Evolution: Hank does this inside his own head. When Pete mentions the rattlesnake, he doesn't give any indication that it's worse than usual. By the time Hank reaches the shed where Pete saw it, his report says that the snake is twelve feet long and as big around as an inner tube, has venom deadly enough to kill a rhinoceros with a single drop, and has been threatening to eat the ranch's children.
- Long List: While cleaning out Slim's pickup, Sally May pulls out five-buckle overshoes, hay hooks, a yellow slicker, a coffee can for holding fence staples, wire pliers, a nylon pull rope, a box of cow medicine, jumper cables, a pair of spurs, two calf-pulling chains, and a tuna fish can.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Pete manages to send the dogs away before scrap time by giving them the rattlesnake report. By the time they come back, Sally May has already doled out the scraps and refuses to let the late comers have any. Hank grouses about how Sally May never sees the wrongs that her precious kitty commits. However, he does get revenge three days later by barking loudly behind Pete and scaring the stuffing out of him.
- Pet the Dog: Sally May dislikes Hank, but she takes pity on him given his uncomfortable condition.
- Phony Degree: When the vet says that dogs don't learn from being bitten by snakes, Hank takes offense and declares that he probably bought the diploma from somewhere like Sears and Roebuck.
- Self-Serving Memory: Hank initially insists that he got stung by two bumblebees to explain the buzzing noise in the pipe and the painful wounds on his nose. When he finally admits it was a rattlesnake, he pins the bumblebee theory on Drover and declares he'll knock a few points off his grade for it.
- Snakes Are Sinister: When Hank hears about a rattlesnake near the machine shed, he goes off to kill it, noting that such snakes aren't good for kids. However, the snake doesn't bite anyone throughout the story except Hank when he ignores its rattling and sticks his nose into its home...twice.
- Speech Impediment: One of the symptoms of the rattlesnake bite is Hank having trouble talking.
- The Unreveal: While Sally May is cleaning Slim's pickup, she pulls out a tuna can. Hank doesn't see what's inside, but she throws it as far away as possible before doing a full-body shudder.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Hank is terrified of snakes and nearly calls off the rattlesnake-killing expedition midway. He sticks with it mostly on the grounds that showing fear in front of Drover would ruin the other dog.
