eyed Balto with a pseudo-serious look. “Why am I the only one cleaning it, in that case?”
Balto chuckled and began walking away. “Because I’m going to visit Jenna,” he called behind his shoulder. “I love you too, Boris!”
Boris just rolled his eyes and continued mopping, humming a merry tune to himself as he went.

Later that day, Balto came back from his visit with Jenna. He walked along the sea, looking around for his very distinguishable ship.
But he couldn’t find it.
After searching for several long minutes, Balto started getting frantic. Where’s home? It’s gone! Who stole it? Then he found it...but it was covered in pink.
“What the...” Balto ran up to it, determined to find out what was going on. “Hey, who’s there!” he yelled when he was a few feet away. He saw a shadow dart around from the inside. Running slightly faster, he yelled, “I’m warning you, I have wolf blood, and I’m not afraid to use it!”
“Oh, so now you admit it,” Boris called from within.
Balto skidded to a stop and squinted through the window. Sure enough, he saw Boris waddling around inside the ship. “Boris?” he called, catching the goose’s attention. “What have you done with my home?”
“Apart from repainting it,” Boris said, trying to hammer a board into the wall, “I’m setting it up for tomorrow night’s party.”
Balto raised an eyebrow. “Are you aware that you painted it pink?”
Boris froze, the hammer resting mere inches from the nail. “Uh...” He shrugged. “It’s not my fault I’m color blind.” Then he continued his stroke, smiling in satisfaction when the hammer got the board into the wall.
Balto began to shake his head, but stopped when Boris’s words sank in. “Wait, what party?”
Boris got another nail, walking over to another wall to hammer another board into place. “Don’t you remember, Balto? You’re the one who asked for it.” When Balto raised an eyebrow, he flung the hammer to the side and walked over to his friend. Grabbing him by the snout while simultaneously looking at him in the eyes, he yelled, “The Christmas party!”
“Uh...” Balto blinked. “Sorry, I can’t remember.”
Boris sighed, letting go. “You asked for me and those two pitiful excuses for polar bears to set up an indoor party for your family to celebrate Christmas.”
Balto had to think for a second, but he finally remembered. “Oh, right—but I asked you to do it last Christmas.”
“And I forgot,” Boris said, letting Balto go and returning to his work, “so I decided to make it up to you this year.”
Balto looked around the room. “So, where are Muk and Luk anyway?”
“Who wants to know?” the goose responded, flinging his hammer into three nails in a row. “Definitely not me.”
Balto smiled and walked outside, looking around for Muk and Luk. He found them on the other side of his boat, setting a few poles into the ground.
“Hey, guys! How’s it going?” Balto called.
“It’s going just fine, Balto,” Muk responded, speaking for both himself and Luk. After his pole was set, he walked a few feet away, grabbed a tarp, and started flinging it over the poles. Balto watched in fascination, as the space became a miniature house.
“Nice work,” Balto said in congratulations. “How long did it take for you two to figure out how to do it on your own?”
Luk gave a few chirps, and Muk translated, “About two hours. Why?”
Balto raised an eyebrow. “Usually it’d take you a few days. Sometimes even more, if you’re in a hurry.” He chuckled. “Well, maybe you’re just in a good mood today.”
“Not really,” Muk said, starting to nail the tarp into the poles with his gun. “Uncle Boris won’t let us play with him.” Luk sighed in agreement. “The only reason we’re even doing this, is because we were promised a great adventure later today.”
Suddenly, Balto was curious. “What kind of adventure?”
“We don’t know,” Muk responded as another nail found its mark. “But Uncle Boris promised us that he would give us an adventure the instant we are done. So that’s why we’re in a hurry, right Luk?” Luk nodded in agreement.
Balto left them to their work and returned to Boris. “What did you promise them?” he asked.
Boris had a smile on his face. “I promised them an adventure, and I’ll give them an adventure—of hide-and-seek. The plan: they hide, I seek.” His voice dropped to a whisper, but his smile just grew larger. “I’ll count to a billion before I go find them.”
Balto couldn’t help but chuckle at this. “That might take a while.”
“It’ll take a long time,” Boris agreed. “Long enough for me to never see them again.”
“Right.” Balto kept giggling as he left. “Well, I’m glad you’re so willing to play with them, Boris.”
“Willing and happy, Balto. Willing and happy.”

Balto looked over his small pile of presents, satisfied that he had found everything that he needed.
For Saba, Balto had gotten a pair of snowshoes for when she ran in sled dog races. For Malena, he had gotten a dog bone for when she needed the extra vitamins. For Dingo, he had gotten a mailbag for when he needed to deliver an excessive amount of telegraphs. For Kodi, he had gotten a scarf for when the mail run was going on a cold journey. For Tydye, he had gotten a pad that would ease the pain in her shoulder; she had a very sore shoulder since her miscarriage. For Jenna, he had gotten a brand-new, green bandana to replace her old red one, which had become torn and tarnished in the recent years. For Boris, he had gotten a new mop. For Muk and Luk, he had gotten a pile of vegetables that he would make into a snowman the next day.
He smiled. Tomorrow is going to be the best day of the year.
Balto looked around him. The paint had all dried, and now, with the light of the sun gone, the room was tinted purple instead of pink. Ah, that’s much better. He got up, walked around his ship to make sure Boris and the two bears were asleep, and then went outside to start setting up his presents. He worked tirelessly for the next few hours, making sure to stay quiet so as not to disturb his roommates, and finally went to bed at about three o’clock in the morning.
This attempt at sleeping was a feeble one; his mind was too excited to let him sleep, despite his body begging for it. I guess there’s a difference between tiredness and sleepiness, he finally decided. He got back up, walked around the boat to make sure—for the fifth time—that everything was set for the following day, and then went back to bed.
He got back up a few minutes later, still unable to sleep, and walked out to the ocean. He let out a howl, just to see if any other wolves were awake.
Balto was not a bit surprised when a multitude of wolves’ calls came back to him, seemingly from all directions. From somewhere in town, a voice cried, “Will you stop the racket? Some of us higher mammals are trying to sleep here!”
The wolves didn’t stop their howling, and Balto could only smile in amusement. The howling did the trick, and he suddenly he felt sleepy. He walked back to his ship, knowing this time, he would fall asleep at long last.
Before he fell asleep, he promised himself to make the next day a day to remember. 

 CHAPTER 9

WHEN BALTO WOKE up, he found that it was possible for him to only sleep for a single hour and feel as if it had been twelve. He felt refreshed, wide awake, and best of all, full of life.
Today is Christmas!
He jumped up and ran outside, hoping to see if Boris had found his present. Sure enough, Boris was on deck, looking over his new mop.
“Merry Christmas, Boris!” Balto called out, giddy with excitement.
“Yeah, whatever,” Boris murmured. “What have you done with my mop? It looks...brand new!”
“That’s because it is brand new,” Balto replied, a smile spread across his face. “Merry Christmas!”
Boris looked at him, and Balto could swear he saw a tear in the goose’s eye. “Uh...thank you, Balto.”
Still full of excitement, Balto ran out into the open air, anxious to see whether Muk and Luk had found their snowman. To his pleasure, he found the two polar bears running around it, apparently trying to decide if it was alive or not. He tried following their sign language, but could only catch a few words:
Is...alive?
I...maybe...is...?
...do...know...Balto...behind it?
Maybe...wouldn’t know.
Balto ran up to them. “Merry Christmas, you two!”
“Merry Christmas, Balto!” Muk shouted in return, speaking for both of them. “Did you make this?”
“Yeah, sure did!” Balto replied.
Muk turned to Luk. Balto caught what he motioned next: Told you.
No you didn’t!
Yes, I did. Muk turned back to Balto. “Well, merry Christmas!”
Balto smiled, happy that Christmas was already starting out perfectly. He ran back into his boat, grabbed the bag full of presents, and ran into town, ready to give them to the rest of his family.

The snowstorm trickled down to a small flurry, and Aleu felt she would never complain about lack of snowfall ever again.
The food was getting easier to find, and she happily found herself eating on a regular basis. Her weight began to return, as did her strength, and she made a lot of