visit him again after yesterday’s encounter, and figured today would be the perfect day to start giving him English lessons — it was a nice crisp, morning that proved autumn was in the air.

 

Felicie trotted up the front porch and barked lightly, scratching the door. She waited patiently, and about a few seconds later, Aslak slid through the doggy door, smiling shyly at Felicie.

 

“I did not think you would come,” Aslak admitted.

 

“Of course I came, Aslak,” Felicie said. “I want to help you learn English.”

 

“O-okay,” Aslak stammered, a bit taken aback by Felicie’s kindness. He and Felicie hopped down the stairs and made their way into town. Felicie could sense that Aslak was apprehensive about going into town and seeing other dogs, probably for fear of being made fun of again.  So, she stuck close to him and gave him a reassuring smile to let him know there was nothing to worry about.

 

“Tell me about yourself, Aslak,” Felicie said after a few moments of comfortable silence. “What was it like back in Finland?”

 

“A lot like Nome,” Aslak replied a bit wistfully as he thought of the only home he had never known. “Cold and snowy.”

 

“Oh, so Nome is just like Finland, then.” Felicie nodded. “Do you miss your family? You must miss them a lot, I’m sure.”

 

Felicie watched as Aslak’s eyes darkened, and it seemed as though a rain cloud appeared above his head. However, his answer to her question was not what she expected. “I do not know my family,” Aslak muttered.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Felicie didn’t really know what else to say.

 

“My mother was Lapponian Herder, and my father was husky and wolf,” Aslak continued. “That’s all I know.”

 

“No way, I’m part wolf too!” Felicie smiled brightly. Maybe she could fully gain Aslak’s trust now that she knew they had something in common. “Well, I’m only a little wolf,” she clarified. “My grandpa is half wolf.”

 

“Half wolf, like Balto?” Aslak’s eyebrows raised in fascination.

 

“Well, yeah, Balto is actually my grandfather,” Felicie said proudly, but not in a cocky manner. Her face suddenly twisted with confusion. “How do you know about Balto?”

 

“All the dogs know him,” Aslak said with admiration. “He’s a hero.”

 

“He definitely is,” Felicie beamed, “although to me, he’s just Grandpa. Hey, you wanna go meet him?”

 

“I-I don’t know…” Aslak said nervously, his ears flattening as he backed up. “I can’t speak like this to him.”

 

“Sure you can,” Felicie said sympathetically, her blue eyes shining. “Trust me, my grandfather is the last one that would judge you for something like that.”

 

——

 

 

Felicie and Aslak ran over to Balto’s home, a small beige house in the middle of town. Duke the pilot had taken Balto in after he saved his life, and Balto was thrilled to finally have a forever home. Now, whenever he wasn’t roaming the streets of Nome or going off on an adventure, he was sure to be resting in his house, and that’s exactly where Felicie and Aslak found him.

 

Felicie barked and scratched the door until Balto slipped through the doggy door.

 

“This better be important, Fel,” Balto said with a yawn, “because I was in the middle of a good nap.” Felicie grinned at her grandfather; the twinkle in his eyes showed that he wasn’t aggravated in the slightest.

 

“Grandpa, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Felicie said, motioning towards Aslak, who stood rather awkwardly in the back. “This is my new friend, Aslak. He’s a big fan of yours.”

 

Balto smiled warmly. “Well, hello, Aslak,” he said, “it’s nice to meet you.”

 

Aslak looked like a deer in headlights as he stared at the great hero, and he felt his heart leap up to his throat. “H-hello… sir,” he stammered. He tried to stand a bit taller so that he wouldn’t look as nervous as he felt, but it was in vain. The shakiness in his voice and his trembling legs gave it away.

 

“Aslak just moved here from Finland,” Felicie said, trying to lighten the awkwardness of the situation.

 

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m known by dogs from Finland,” Balto said, amazed but with humility evident in his voice.

 

“Y-yes, sir,” Aslak said, “We all know how you had saved the children from dip…dip…” He gave up trying to pronounce the word and slumped his shoulders in defeat, flattening his ears in embarrassment.

 

“Diphtheria?” Balto said helpfully.

 

“Yes,” Aslak said, grateful for Balto’s help but still mortified that he slipped up in front of the famous wolfdog.

 

However, it was clear that Balto didn’t mind the young mutt’s broken English. “Hey, learning a new language is hard, and diphtheria is certainly not an easy word,” he said sincerely. “Don’t beat yourself up. You’ve got a great teacher here, and a great friend.”

 

Felicie smiled gratefully at her grandfather’s kind words, and Aslak smiled too, knowing what Balto said was true.

 

 

——

 

 

The day went by pretty quickly, and soon the sun was setting over Nome, setting off bright crimson and scarlet hues in the sky. Aslak and Felicie had been walking on the beach all evening, and she had been giving him yet another English lesson to help adjust among the other dogs in town, and, he had truly started to make some good progress... 

 

“Hey, uh, Felicie? I just wanted to say, that I really…” he paused for a second, trying to remember the word. 

 

“… Appreciate your help,” he then continued, and chuckled nervously, and Felicie laughed. 

 

“It's really no problem at all, and you're really making some progress. I mean, you hardly spoke a word when we first met,” she smiled, and Aslak sat down, looking at his paws for a moment, then he looked at her, and returned the smile. 

 

“You're a good teacher. And also a good…” he began, put then paused, leaving his mouth open and raised his brows. 

 

“Uh…” he scratched the back of his ear, awkwardly biting his teeth and raising his brow. 

 

“Friend?” Felicie helped, smiling and raising and eyebrow, and Aslak scoffed, placing his paw back on the ground. 

 

“I knew that,” he mumbled, looking away, and Felicie chuckled. 

 

“Of course you did, sweetie,” she teased, and quickly licked his cheek. Aslak raised his brows, and blushed slightly, but thanks to his dark fur it couldn't be seen. He chuckled nervously, raised his head and gave her a shy smile, and then, the two friends headed back to town. 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

Felicie spent her next week with Aslak, helping him touch up on his English and just getting to know him better as a friend. She was impressed by how fast Aslak was picking up in the English language; he had improved exponentially since they had first met, and he was a lot smarter than he gave himself credit for. However, she especially came to realize how kind Aslak was. After all the hardship he had faced in his life, he could have been bitter and withdrawn. But instead, he had a caring soul that Felicie took quite a shining to. She still couldn’t really understand why, but she just loved being around Aslak. Even when she was doing her rounds with her sled team, Aslak’s face always stayed in the back of her mind, causing her to run a little faster in her harness so she could get back to him sooner.

 

One day, Felicie and her team had a harder run than usual, and Felicie felt like she couldn’t walk for another week. All she wanted to do was relax in the boiler room and hang out with Aslak, whom she had been meeting up with every day there after her runs.

 

She graciously took a biscuit from her musher as a treat for doing a good job on her run, and then quickly headed over to the boiler room.

 

“Hey, Fel,” a familiar voice called out. “Where ya going?”

 

Felicie looked over her shoulder and saw Flash trotting up towards her, a look of curiosity on his face. “To the boiler room,” she said curtly. She didn’t mean to sound rude, but she wasn’t in the mood to waste time talk with anyone. She was in so much pain that she just wanted to get to the boiler room and relax by the fire.

 

“Again?” Flash said with a chuckle. “This is your third time going there this week. You meeting someone there?”

 

“Maybe,” Felicie said with a smirk.

 

Flash smiled, but caught Felicie by surprise when he rolled his eyes suddenly. “Oh, don’t tell me it’s that weirdo… what’s his name, Arthur?”

 

“Aslak,” Felicie said emphatically, “and he’s not a weirdo.”

 

“Well, he may not be

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Next page