so?”

“I know so!”

Dingo giggled because he was so happy. He fell in love with the sport since Balto first noticed his talent in running.

“So when do you think I’ll be able to run with a real team? Maybe not Nome’s team yet, but maybe a mail team to start off?”

Balto shrugged. “Well, I’d say you’d have to be a year old, maybe a month or two less at the least.”

“But that’s still such a long time! I want to be on a real team, now!”

Balto laughed. “I know you do. You just gotta be patient.”

Dingo sighed. “I know. I just wanna be the great sled dog you were. I wanna make you proud.”

“You already have. But you know what would make me more proud?”

“What? What?” Dingo shouted, eager.

“If you can beat me in a race!” Balto exclaimed.

Dingo put on his overconfident face. “Psh! Is that all I have to do to win your approval? That’ll be a snap!”

“I dunno…you’ve never raced me before. As a matter of fact, I don’t think you’ve seen me at my best at all.”

“Well, even at your best I still don’t think you could beat me.”

“So, I guess it’s a challenge, huh?” Balto said, his face getting closer to his son’s.

“You bet it is! You can shout the starting calls.”

Balto chuckled to himself before he got into position as well as Dingo.

“Ready…set…GO!” Balto shouted and Dingo shot off the invisible starting line, which really surprised Balto even though he’s seen Dingo do it a hundred times. But he figured he should give Dingo a little booster before he shot off to beat him.

The thing was, though, it was really hard to beat him. Balto kept getting faster and faster down the street, and he didn’t get much closer to Dingo at all. Dingo looked back and had that cocky, I-told-you-so smirk on his face before he shot off again into the howling wind.

“I’ve taught him well. Or Yago has, anyway.” Balto said to himself.

Balto breathed deeply and closed his eyes. He pretended he was in a race against time, just like in the serum run. He had to get to the end before it was too late and Rosie was gone. Then he shot off, running faster than the wind that was pushing him back. He remembered everything he loved about running. The thrill, the excitement, the cooling wind in your fur. Balto laughed to himself. He forgot all the pleasure and happiness he had while running, especially racing. He remembered beating Steele while they were in a dogsled race, only Balto wasn’t part of it. Still, the win had caused him to be face to face with Jenna for the first time. Everything they went through together to save a little girl, and all the children of Nome, was etched into his heart. He was reminded of why he was a hero, and why he deserved this great life as well.

All of these sudden memories kept flooding in as Balto continued to speed down the street with a magical smile on his face. His dreams pushed him through the endless wind in the middle of the storm during the serum run, and now his dreams for Dingo are pushing him through this very similar wind.

Dingo.

Balto opened his eyes at the thought of his son. He looked around a bit to notice he wasn’t right next to him. He eventually figured that Dingo went so far ahead of him because he was in daydream land for a little while. Thinking that Dingo was just up ahead, he focused on the race and picked up his speed looking from side to side for his son.

After about 30 seconds and no sign of him, Balto started to worry. The street was nearing its end, and the wind was really picking up, making it difficult to Balto to sniff him out. He kept running and running, looking every which way, now with panic in his eyes. Suddenly, something really hard slammed into him and he fell backwards into the snow. Balto quickly got up, not really caring for his minor injury, to see that he ran into the side of a building. A building in the middle of the road. Balto gasped. The street had ended. And no Dingo.

At this point, Balto started to howl and call his name.

“Dingooooooo!!” He screamed again and again, trying as hard as he can to shout louder than the deafening winds that surrounded him and the rest of the town.

After a few minutes of screaming and no reply, he decided to go back to where they started the race. It was pretty easy since the wind current was carrying him in that direction, making him run faster than ever before. As he neared the beginning of the abandoned street, the snow started to fall, first in little flakes, then in piles. This made it even harder for Balto to see. “Perfect,” He muttered to himself, but the wind was so loud he couldn’t even hear his own voice. It was then he wondered how in the world Dingo would be able to hear it.

Many minutes later, Balto was pacing endlessly through the snow and the wind, down every single street, losing his mind. How could he ever lose sight of him?! He was just up ahead of him in the race! After almost all hope was lost, he screamed at the top of his lungs: “DINGO!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!!!” in a giant howl. The little hope he had thought that maybe Dingo could hear this one, since surely he himself could hear it just fine. But after a few minutes and not the slightest scent catching his aging nose, he fell into despair, wondering how could his perfect angel of a son, just disappear?

When the race was still going on and he had passed Balto easily, Dingo sped down the street, not giving a care about the wind trying to knock him down. But as the seconds passed, it became harder for Dingo to see. When a huge gust of wind hit his face, Dingo shut his eyes to shield himself. But the wind turned him around, and without even knowing it, he was headed in a different direction, down another street. When he could see again, Dingo realized his mistake, and stopped to look at the surroundings.

“Dad?” He called. Only the wind seemed to answer. Dingo had never been alone like this before. He didn’t like it at all. “Dad?” He called again, but louder. After no reply, he quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction, scared and cold. He turned his head behind him to make sure he wasn’t followed, but he could barely see past his own nose at this point. The snow had begun falling and it fell fast. Suddenly, out of nowhere, something hit Dingo square on his head, and then all he could see was black.

Little Daniel found it hard to sleep that night. Even though his bed was as soft as it could be, the screeching wind from outside kept his eyes open. He always dreaded storms like this because they were almost never ending. The real reason he couldn’t sleep, though, had nothing to do with the weather. It was because he was leaving Nome tomorrow with his family. This is only a temporary home they stayed in here in Alaska. Their real home was in Chester, Montana. The reason they have a temporary home here was because the rest of their relatives lived here, and rented out the home once every two years so they could visit.

Dan always loved to see his family, and he almost didn’t want to go back home. The wind outside was only reminding him about what he didn’t like about Alaska so that he’d leave. At that moment, Dan sat up in his bed, his face pointing toward the window. He knew at this rate he wouldn’t go to sleep until sunrise. He looked hard out the window and saw that the snow had stopped falling, except for a few flakes here and there. Dan thought that maybe a little walk outside would cause him to shiver, go back into the warmth of his bed and sleep the night away. So without waking his parent in the next room, he got on his boots, put on his coat and scarf, and went outside, closing the front door ever so quietly.

The wind was surely dying down as well, but it was still griping hard on him like a monster’s hand. He walked, facing the wind, a little down the lonely street he lived on. He had to admit it was a little spooky this time of night with all the lights off and only the blinding breezes could be heard. The night sky was pitch black, and no stars tonight. No moon either. Every little crunch he made with his boots in the snow was quickly blown away by the gusting wind. The end of his scarf was dancing wildly as if it had gone crazy, and he could feel his fingertips getting deeper and deeper inside his coat sleeves as the minutes passed. Dan then wondered why he ever came out here in the first place. It was freezing! He was about to turn around to go back home when he noticed something by an unlit lamppost, something red.

A curious little boy, Dan walked against the wind again to get to the lamppost. When he got there, the red thing was underneath a layer of snow. Dan sucked it up and used his hands to brush away the flakes until the red thing was clearly visible. After about half a minute, thinking that he would get frostbite if he continued, he stopped and put his hands back in his sleeves for warmth. He tried to get a good look at what was at his feet. But he couldn’t make it out. Trying again, he reached out quickly and touched the red thing with his hand. It was wet…and furry. It was then he finally noticed what it was, and he dug it out of the snow as quickly as he could.

“A puppy!” he exclaimed through the wind. He shouted quietly enough so as not to wake anyone that was sleeping, but he forgot about the extremely noisey wind and so disreagarded his last thought. He was horrified at the