laughing? Did I do something funny?”

Chuckling, Boris rose to his feet, waddling over to Balto and placing a friendly wing about the puppy’s back. “Is not just you, boichik,” he assured his charge. “They are just…”  Boris paused, searching for the right words. “…few geese short of a flock, is all.”

Balto took his eyes off the bears to gaze up at the Russian goose. Quizzically, he tilted his head and let out a brief, confused “Huh?”

Boris groaned, mentally smacking himself; Balto was a puppy now, for whatever reason, and wasn’t likely to pick up the meanings of such phrases and wordplay. He’d better stick with simpler terms…

As a result, Boris settled on “Actually, what I meant to be saying was that they’re just plain stupid.” He rolled his eyes at the sight Muk and Luk, who were still caught in the throes of laughter.

Balto followed his caretaker’s eyes, once again fixating on the pair. “…Oh,” he finally said quietly.

Then, unexpectedly, he began giggling. “Hee, you said they were stupid…”

Boris sighed in exasperation; he’d unwittingly added to the fit of laughter that had seemingly overtaken the younger inhabitants of the small boat.

“Yes, Balto, I was saying they’re stupid,” he agreed, gently turning the pup away from the laughing bears. “Now, while they are being stupid, why don’t we go someplace else for little while?”

No sooner than Boris made this suggestion than Balto’s eyes shot wide open, a hopeful glint coming into them. He directed these eyes at Boris. “Ooh! Boris, can we go into town?”

Boris winced momentarily, pinching the bridge of his beak and sighing. “Actually, kiddo, I was thinking maybe someplace besides town.”

It wasn’t just that Boris absolutely hated going into town and making himself a target for hungry dogs (or humans, for that matter,) though that certainly played a part in his reluctance. No, much of Boris’ concern was for Balto himself; in his current state, the puppy’s appearance would raise far too many awkward questions, none of which Boris was sure he could deal with.

Of course, his ward had no intention of letting him off easy, and he soon made it abundantly clear. “Aw, c’mon, Boris,” Balto pleaded. “Please? I wanna see Jenna again!”

Shaking his head and grumbling under his breath, Boris placed what he hoped was a placating wing on his friend. “Look, Balto, she is not going to forget about you; she said she’d be back, remember?”

“But I wanna see her now!” Balto whined, exhibiting all the persistence that came with youth.

Boris fought the urge to groan, getting an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu.  He had a disturbingly clear idea of how this would play out…

“C’mon, Boris,” Balto pleaded again. “Can we please go into town?”

Instead of replying, Boris folded his wings, turned his head, and closed his eyes. <i>Be strong, Boris; you don’t look at him, you’ll be fine.</i>

Still, Balto didn’t give up. “Please, Boris?”

Boris didn’t budge. <i>You can do this, Boris…</i>

“Pretty please?”

<i>Just keep eyes shut…</i>

“Pleasepleaseplease can we go into town?”

<i>Don’t give in…</i>

“Please?”

Even with his eyes still closed, Boris winced. Did Balto <i>have</i> to sound so pleading and upset?

<i>Alright, maybe I’ll look just a bit…</i> Slowly, Boris cracked open an eye and turned his head towards the puppy’s voice.

That turned out to be a mistake.

Balto was wearing one of the most sad, hopeful expressions imaginable: eyes moist and widened, corners of his mouth turned up in an expectant smile that exposed some of his canines, ears folded flat against his head, tail tucked between his legs…

Boris sighed in defeat. <i>I just had to look, didn’t I?</i>

“Alright, alright, you win,” Boris admitted, turning his back to the youngster and facing the town. “We go into town. But remember, you have to be…”

His warning was cut short by Balto’s elated barking and yipping. “Yay! Thanks, Boris!” Boris barely had time to reply before Balto took off running, zipping past Boris and leaping off the boat. As soon as his paws hit the snowy ground, he whipped his head around to look at his avian caretaker.

“C’mon, Boris!” the puppy yelled, a joyous expression on his face. “I’ll race ya!” He didn’t bother waiting for the goose to reply; he turned his head so he was once again facing the town and bolted off, making a beeline for the town.

Boris watched as Balto’s body shrunk as he ran further towards Nome. He covered his eyes and brow with one of his wings, giving a series of exasperated grumbles. <i>This</i> was what he’d dreaded; even when he’d been raising Balto, it had always been so difficult to deny him whenever he’d asked for something. True, he had put his foot down sometimes, but that’s not to say it had been easy. More often than not, he couldn’t help but give in and oblige the puppy’s requests. He’d never begrudged Balto for asking, though; after all, who could ever <i>really</i> say no to a face like that?

Boris blinked, bringing himself back to the present. “I just <i>know</i> I’m going to be regretting this,” he groused, turning his head to observe the boat’s remaining occupants. Muk and Luk were <i>still</i> laughing, for whatever reason. Apparently, Balto’s cheerful exclamation of “He pushed ya!” was funnier than they’d anticipated.

Boris thought of stopping them, but thought better of it. “They’ll probably wear themselves out, laughing like that,” the goose mused, caught somewhere between annoyance and amusement. Satisfied that the two would be fine by themselves, he walked towards the boat’s ramp, deciding not to jump off as Balto had done. Once he reached the ground, he took a deep breath to steel himself. Prepared as such, he waddled as quickly as he could towards the town.

What would happen once goose and puppy reached their destination was anyone’s guess.