fit of giggling and hopping.  She rushed over to it and began examining it, proclaiming as she went through each part of it (as Jenna barked happily and joined her at her side) "I love these rudders!  I love this brushbow!"  She turned quickly towards her parents and shouted "I love this sled!"  Steele smiled in spite of himself.  He would never admit it to others, but he did have a spot of warm feeling for the little girl.  But whether that was honest and altruistic, or because of his intended designs on Jenna, was anybody's guess.

Rosy's parents laughed as their daughter thrilled herself to this new experience.  Grabbing a leather harness made for the sled, which Mr. Johansson attached to the brushbow, Rosy said "Jenna, Jenna!  You're lead dog!"  She had a bit of trouble with the harness, cautioning "Okay, just a minute."  Jenna calmly and gently assisted her in getting it around her body.  Forgetting to climb on the sled, in her excitement, Rosy held onto the straps and shouted "Come on, mush!"

As she did, Rosy's mother pulled something from underneath her coat, and leaned over to Rosy, saying "then you'll need this."  It was a brand new musher's cap!  Rosy's mother placed it on her head.  It was just a bit large, but Rosy adjusted it and gasped with joy.  "A real musher's hat!  We're a real sled team now!"  She jumped onto the runners of the little sled, grabbed hold of the handles and, as Jenna barked and started off towards the door, she shouted "Mush!"  In a moment, they were out the door.

Rosy's parents laughed as they watched their daughter disappear out of the door.  "Mr. Johansson", exclaimed Rosy's father, "the sled is beautiful!"  He pulled out his wallet from his inner coat pocket as Rosy's mother, offering her appreciation, said "We're very grateful!" 

Rosy came running back in shouting "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" as she went to both of her parents and Mr. Johansson in turn, and then disappeared as quickly back out of the door.  They all laughed again as Rosy' father observed "Rosy's grateful too, huh?"  Mr. Johansson chuckled, saying "Yeah, so I gather!"  Rosy popped in again, excitely offering one more show of gratitude, and then called to the three adults.  "Watch this!"  Her mother replied "Coming, sweetheart".

As Rosy's parents turned to go out the door, the scene started to fade around Steele and the spirit.  What materialized around them both next was a daytime wintry scene on Front Street in town.  The sidewalks were roped off from the street itself, and crowds were gathered behind those ropes, cheering and chattering.  Steele could see, out of the corner of his eye, someone he had come to intensely dislike...the wolfdog named Balto.  Balto had slipped through a sea of legs, and was looking out across the street, where he caught a glimpse of Jenna and Rosy.  Clearly his reaction showed Steele that Balto was quite taken with her, and Steele grunted at the prospect.  "He hasn't got a chance", Steele mused to himself.  Behind him, he heard the spirit clear his throat as if to get him to focus on the scene playing out before them, or perhaps simply to reproach him.  Smirking, and with a laughing briefly under his breath, he shrugged and refocused his attention. 

Down the street, a team was rapidly approaching.  It was his own team.  "This must be the race we just finished yesterday", Steele said.  In reply, the spirit acknowledged "It is.  And it was a 'clean' win, 'ey, Steele?" the spirit prodded knowingly.

With a tinge of conceit, Steele simply rolled his eyes, grunting "Meh" in response.  Behind him, he caught the sound of Rosy's voice cheering him on, just as a gust of wind blew past him.  Her cheers changed abruptly to a cry of "My hat!"  Steele looked back, and saw a small musher's hat, caught by the wind and tossing about in the air, come to land in the middle of the street, right in the path of his approaching team.  His smile dropped to a frown, but he said or did nothing.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Balto rush out into the street just as his team passed by, to the sudden surprise (and several comments) from the crowd of people.  Balto raced to catch up to the team, rapidly closing on it.  As he came even with Steele's doppelganger, that one turned in surprise as he noticed Balto racing alongside of him.  Sneering at Balto, he grunted "Hey!  Out of my way, lobo!"

Balto ignored the jibe, and continued racing neck-and-neck with Steele.  Steele pushed hard to outpace him, but Balto's attention was now fixated on the hat laying directly in their path.  Steele got a sudden idea, and turned and snapped at Balto's legs.  But Balto leapt up into the air and spun at the same time, coming to land just in front of the team, and in just enough time to grab the hat and scramble out of the way.  He came to a sliding halt in front of the crowd, just short of the finish line, the hat safely in his mouth.  The team continued on past the finish line and was lost from Steele's sight by the rush of the crowd as they went to get a better look at it.

Steele saw Balto cautiously trot over to Rosy and Jenna, and he turned the hat back over to a grateful Rosy.  "Balto!" she protested, "what a crazy thing to do!"  Balto lowered his head just a bit, but had a friendly smile on his face.  Rosy continued, her tone changing to one of playful teasing, "Just to impress a pretty girl."  Balto and Jenna smiled at each other, looking into each others' eyes.  And again, the scene faded.

As a new scene came into existence around Steele and the spirit, he saw it was now dark outside.  They were standing before the Maynard-Columbus hospital in town, and in front of them was Jenna.  She was standing outside alone, before one of the big windows.  Inside, Steele could see the doctor and a few nurses, attending to several people of various ages, who each appeared to be in great discomfort, coughing and holding their foreheads.  Among them was little Rosy.

Jenna barked a few times, and caught Rosy's attention.  The little girl came rushing out happily through the front door of the hospital, while Jenna pranced towards her, barking happily in response.  Rosy greeted her with as much excitement as she could muster, saying  "Hi girl!"  They danced around in the snow together for a couple of seconds, and then Rosy came to a sudden standstill and started coughing.  Jenna stopped and, with a look of concern on her face, nudged Rosy's arm in sympathy.

Rosy's father came to the open door of the hospital, and called out to his daughter.  "Rosy!  Rosy, come on.  You're gonna catch your death out here!"  "Okay, dad", she replied.  "Come on", he said, "the doctor's waiting."  They walked up the front steps, Rosy still coughing, and back through the door, closing it behind them. 

The scene quickly shifted to a private examination room.  There, while Rosy's parents stood in the background, deeply concerned for their daughter, the doctor examined her.  Steele turned towards the window, and saw Jenna watching from outside.  She was momentarily distracted by something, and he wondered what it was.  But he found himself able to hear what was going on outside as well as inside.  Jenna seemed very sad, on the verge of tears. 

Steele then heard a voice he recognized.  It was Balto's.  "Jenna?"  He then saw Balto pop up at the window alongside Jenna, who explained "Rosy's in there."  Balto cast a concerned glance through the window.  "In the hospital?  Why?"  Steele was aware, simultaneously, of the events transpiring on both sides of the window, though he did not understand how this was possible.  As he saw the doctor remove a thermometer from Rosy's mouth, he heard Jenna say "She feels warm. She has a terrible cough."  Rosy wheezed and put her hand around her throat, in obvious pain.

Outside, Jenna turned to Balto, her voice nearly faltering as she asked "Balto, what's wrong with her?"  Balto's voice became very soft and sympathetic.  "Huh.  I'm not sure, but I know how we can find out."  He started to get down off of the pile of logs they were both standing on.  "Come on."  And with that, they both set off through the snow, as the scene again began to change.

When the scene refocused, Steele found himself standing with the spirit inside of a rear room of the hospital.  In it was a large metal furnace, similar to the one with which Steele was more familiar.  Balto and Jenna walked in, and Steele watched as Balto ducked through a small hatch in the wall, followed closely by Jenna.  Inside, the surroundings became very tight and claustrophobic.  It was dank and dark, with cobwebs hanging here and there.  The floor was nothing more than dirt.  The two of them were, it seemed, navigating through a long crawlspace beneath the hospital floor.  Balto cautioned Jenna to "Stay close."  Watching a mouse skitter by and screech in response to their presence, Jenna assured