Let's go get that medicine."  He started walking back towards the finish line, and stopped when he noticed that Balto was not following him.  "You coming?"

Balto took a few steps.  "Steele, I..." he stammered, "...I don't know what to say.  Why?"

Steele turned back towards Balto with a sympathetic expression, saying "I guess I finally realized that I've been acting like a fool, and I want to try and make it right.  If you'll let me."

Balto glanced over Steele's shoulder at Jenna, who was now smiling, and nodded at him encouragingly.  "Alright then.  Let's do it!"

The master walked up with another man following close behind.  "Good dog, Steele!"  Steele pranced around, barking and panting happily.  "Good dog!" the master said again.  "Now let's take a look at our winner here", the master said, reaching down to greet Balto.  "Let's take a look at our winner."  He let Balto sniff his hand, and then pat him on the head, which made the young dog very happy.  "We might have a potential new leader here, as fast as he is!"  He looked over Balto's body structure, then stood up and waved his arm, calling to his team members to follow him.

As they began to walk off together to rejoin the other team members, Steele caught a glimpse of his young nephew Tommy, standing amongst the humans on the sidelines.  Tommy smiled and nodded approvingly, and Steele nodded back.

That night, the team prepared to leave on its run to Nenana.  As the rest of the team was put into position, two harnesses remained open...the lead and one directly behind it.  Steele stood near Star, and the master was preparing to harness him as Balto approached from the direction of the hospital.  Through one of its windows, Steele could see Rosy and her parents watching the team being hitched.  The master began to place the lead harness over Steele's head, when the dog backed away. 

"Steele?", the master grunted.  "What are you doing, boy?  Come on now, we've got no time to lose.  Step into the harness."  But Steele wouldn't obey.  He looked past the master, and barked as Balto stepped around and next to him.  The master scratched his head for a moment but, being an experienced musher who understood his dogs well, he got the message.  "Alrighty then, if that's how you want it."

The master placed the lead harness around Balto's head and body, and then harnessed up Steele behind him.  Balto lowered his head and turned back to Steele.  "I'm not sure I want to take the lead from you, Steele.  I just wanted to be a part of the team...

"Don't worry about it, Balto", Steele assured him.  "Just follow your instincts.  If you need any help, I'll be right back here.  Now, lead this team to Nenana, wolfdog.  Show me what you're made of."

The master called the team to action, and off they went into the night.  And while they faced many harrowing adventures there and back, they did bring the antitoxin back to Nome.  They had saved Rosy, and countless other citizens, and their names went down in history.

Steele lived up to his pledge to the spirits, and to Balto.  He became as good a dog as any ever was, and remained Balto's friend to the end of his days.  And to Rosy, who did not die, he became a friend too.  He had redeemed himself in the eyes of the town dogs, even if they occasionally laughed at the change in him, and teased him a time or two for it.  He no longer cared about such things, because his experiences with the spirits had taught him much about life and death.  And it was always said of him that he knew how to live well, if any dog alive possessed the knowledge.  May that be true of all of us!



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March 02, 2016
Usa Male
Cool. And yes, I dare say we do.

February 29, 2016
Usa Male
O' Cap'n My Cap'n!
If you look now on the forum topic, the post about possible casting ideas is there:

http://www.animationsource.org/board/post1509920.html#p1509920

February 29, 2016
Usa Male
O' Cap'n My Cap'n!
Well thank you again, DT. I should be releasing my thoughts as to a what-if casting in that forum topic tonight sometime. But yes, I would imagine that, on its own (without being reworked AS a Christmas story), it probably wouldn't work as a televised movie (or otherwise). But then, that was never my intent originally, so I'm really not worried about that. It's just fun to imagine it. A lot of us do that with our characters and our fan fictions, don't we?

February 25, 2016
Usa Male
Well, I finally got to the last page. I've got to say that I don't know as this would have worked movie-wise, but as a fanfic... you've done it again, JC.

February 25, 2016
Usa Male
Private Messaging it is, then.

February 24, 2016
Usa Male
O' Cap'n My Cap'n!
Dragon Tamer, you must admit that, when weighing the names of two fictional figures, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that "Santa Claus" is going to be about a gajillion times more recognizable than "Wishbone". Say "Santa Claus", and the nostalgia spans generations--and more than one hundred years (just in the United States). Say "Wishbone", and (at least in the U.S.) somebody is likely to think you're talking about a brand of salad dressing. lol

You're an evangelical Christian. Not that I am knocking that, but I would imagine that if there are any Christians on the planet who do not generally ascribe to or condone a child's very harmless (and brief) belief in the secular Santa Claus myth, which takes nothing whatsoever away from Christian celebrations of the holiday, it would be evangelicals and fundamentalists. But that is, I will admit, a presumption based upon my own experience in encounters with evangelicals and fundamentalists. But I REALLY don't want that to become another tangent that gets discussed on this page.

February 24, 2016
Usa Male
You're welcome; I've found major typos in posts of mine in the past, so I can relate.

Your idea for the forum topic sounds promising. I've sometimes wondered who I'd pick to voice OCs myself.

One other note on the Wishbone thing (this is the last thing I plan to say about it here; I promise); I guess considering where you're at now it would be pretty hard to develop an appreciation for the books and show if you hadn't grown up with them, as you said. I know nothing of "Dog with a Blog," but I can relate to having a harder time latching onto younger-age entertainment when nostalgia isn't involved. All the same, I would point out that you yourself once thought it strange - if not downright unfortunate - that I went through my entire childhood never believing in Santa Claus beyond his historical roots.

February 23, 2016
Usa Male
O' Cap'n My Cap'n!
Ah yes...thank you for spotting that spelling error. That must have been at a point when I was writing late at night, and not keeping track. Even with my editing scan of the document later on, I missed it. Huh. But it has been corrected.

My interpretation of the Ghost of the Present was based mostly on the 1951 movie version. Even moreso than the literary one. I like the way the actor who played him brought a certain feel to the role. Kevin Michael Richardson would indeed be a good choice. I envisioned Dennis Haysbert, whom you may recognize as the pitchman who always appears in the Allstate Insurance commercials. He's not only got a resonating voice, but is a good actor who also, like Kevin, has VO experience in cartoons (among others, he played Kilowog in the Justice League series). Here is a snippet (sorry, you'll have to copy and paste) of him appearing on Conan O'Brien's show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFQe7mTxqA

Interestingly, you've given me an idea...putting together a post, in the existing Balto forum post I have for the fan fiction, of a voice cast I would have loved to see for this. Got some pretty good ideas.

February 23, 2016
Usa Male
Kind of forgot where I was in the story, but looking gave me a chance to re-view the Ghost of Christmas Present. I like the character; charming, yet forceful towards the end. I could very easily seem him being voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson if this ever became a cartoon - which I would completely support based on what I've seen so far.

Chapter 4 is good, although I think you used the wrong spelling for "sight" in the first paragraph. In all other respects your choice of wording to describe the third ghost (like calling its body a "corpse") is impressive, as is the touch of describing how it sounded breathing.

I would have read past the end of page 12 if not for time constraints, but I'm impressed as before. The description of Star telling what had happened is a very well-written "what if," and the way you kept them going right up until that last obstacle really kept me guessing. Nice.

February 19, 2016
Usa Male
O' Cap'n My Cap'n!
I just watched some clips too (it appears the literature is based off of the television series, rather than the usual literature as inspiration for television series thing). Didn't care for it. Seemed too silly for me. But that is because now, as an adult, I see no magic in it, and no attraction. Perhaps if I were a child in the 1990s (and by that, I mean an ACTUAL child, whom the series targets for an audience, and not a teenager), I might have felt different.

But this thing strike me as being about as interesting as the TV series "Dog With A Blog"...which really isn't very interesting or entertaining. Or deep.

But again, just my opinion. Let's just leave this particular tangent at that.

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