room.

“You’re really brave,” Saba said to the new dog. “What’s your name?”

“Josh,” said the dog. “You’re pretty brave, too. I don’t think that Tair is going to be bothering anyone for a while.”

Saba sighed. “I doubt it,” she said. “Tair’s a purebred bully. He’ll probably find someone else to terrorize after my brother leaves tomorrow.” Suddenly tears sprang to Saba’s eyes. In all the excitement, Saba had totally forgotten about Dingo moving to Anchorage. Now that she was thinking about it again, tears began running down her cheeks.

Josh walked next to Saba. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I know that losing Dingo is going to hurt for you, but I’m sure you’ll make some new friends. There are a lot of friendly dogs here in Nome.”

Saba felt slightly comforted, but she knew that no one could ever replace Dingo. At least she had Josh now.

Chapter 4

Dingo was sitting down in his mother’s house. Suddenly he saw Saba walking past the door outside. “Hey, Saba!” he called out to her.

Saba didn’t respond. She kept walking. Dingo ran and blocked her path. “Hello?” he said, waving a paw in front of her face. But she didn’t notice it. She had a blank stare in her eyes. It was just like she was in some kind of trance.

“Wake up!” Dingo shouted, assuming that his sister was sleepwalking. But she just walked around him and continued. Finally Dingo sighed and gave up. He couldn’t stop her, but he could still follow her.

Saba padded on for about twenty minutes. By this time she had reached a steep cliff. She just stood there, apparently waiting for something to happen. Dingo walked up next to her. For the first time since the journey had started, she finally seemed to notice him. “Bye, Dingo,” she said monotonously. “Goodbye.” Suddenly she jumped off the cliff.

“What?!” Dingo couldn’t figure out why his sister was doing this to herself. He quickly grabbed Saba as she began to fall.

Saba looked up at her brother. She still had a misty look in her eyes. “It’s time to go, Dingo,” she said. “It’s time to leave…”

“Dingo! It’s time to leave!”

Dingo woke up from the nightmare. He found himself in the kitchen of Jason’s house, right where he had fallen asleep. Jason was standing at the door, waiting for Dingo to get up. “Come on, boy,” he said. “We have to go now.” Dingo noticed that the boy had tears running down his cheeks.

Dingo slowly got up and walked to his owner. The day had finally come. Pretty soon the residents of Nome would only be a memory to Dingo.

Jason’s family and Dingo walked to the airplane strip of Nome. It was the only one in the town. Only small planes could take off and land there.

There was a plane waiting on the runway. The driver was already ready to take off. The only thing missing was the passenger: Dingo.

Jason went down on his knee and petted Dingo’s head. “I’ll never forget you,” he whispered in his dog’s ear. “I hope that you’ll never forget me.” Dingo knew that he would never forget Jason. The boy had shown him so much kindness and affection…Dingo was convinced that he was the best owner a dog could have.

Jason stood up again. He buried his face into his mother’s coat, staining it with tears. She tried to console him, but he just kept crying.

Dingo was about to let Jason’s dad put him on the plane when he saw Saba watching the big spectacle. Looking around more, he noticed a lot of dogs that had come to see him leave. Tair was nowhere to be seen.

Saba ran up to him and they hugged each other. “I still wish that you didn’t have to leave,” she said, crying.

“So do I,” Dingo said. “But I don’t have a choice. Jason’s parents sold me to the man in Anchorage, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Dingo said his final goodbyes to the rest of the dogs, and then Jason’s father picked him up and put him in the back seat of the plane. The propellers began spinning. 

Jason waved goodbye to Dingo, and so did all of the dogs that were assembled there. They all watched as the plane began to inch forward, and eventually built up enough speed to get off the ground. The airplane disappeared into the horizon.

Jason’s dad walked up next to his son. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I know that you’re going to miss Dingo, but we’ll get a new dog as soon as we can afford one.”

Jason shook his head. “Nothing could replace Dingo,” he said. “Nothing could ever take his place.”

Jason and his family walked back home. Most of the dogs went back to their own homes, too. But Saba stayed behind, thinking about what would happen now. Dingo was gone…what would she do? He was always there for her, always there to protect her. Suddenly she realized something. She was fully dependent on Dingo. Without him, she could hardly do anything. Her survival literally depended on him.

Saba made a goal for herself that day: she was going to become independent. It was ridiculous that she was too afraid to wander beyond the boiler room without her brother at her side.

If Dingo ever came back to Nome, he wouldn’t see the helpless dog that his sister was now. He would see a brave, courageous dog that could take care of herself.

Chapter 5

Even though Dingo was depressed about leaving his family and friends, he couldn’t help but enjoy the plane ride. After all, what kind of dog couldn’t enjoy soaring hundreds of feet above the ground?

Dingo thought about Anchorage during the plane ride. What would his new owner be like? What about the other dogs? Surely there would be a lot of dogs in Anchorage. Hopefully some of them would be friendly.

Although Dingo kept trying to keep from thinking about the life he had left behind, his mind kept on drifting back to it. He thought about Saba, and all that they had been through together. He thought about Jason, his affectionate owner. Then he thought about Kodi and his father. He never even got to say goodbye to them.

The amazing height was starting to have an effect on Dingo. Soon he felt dizzy and light-headed. ‘I won’t notice it if I’m asleep,’ he thought. So he fell asleep for the rest of the plane ride, despite the loud noise of the engine.

Once again, Dingo was troubled in his dreams. This time, he was walking around Nome. But for some reason, everyone was gone. Jenna wasn’t home; she wasn’t anywhere. There weren’t any dogs in the boiler room; there weren’t any dogs anywhere else, either. “Hello?” said Dingo in his sleep. “Is anyone there?”

The pilot thought that he saw Dingo’s lips move in the rearview mirror. “It’s official,” he muttered to himself. “I’m going insane!”

-----

Saba lay down in her small bed. She was too depressed to hang out in the boiler room. When Tair came to torment her, she didn’t even notice him at first.

“Aww,” he said sarcastically. “Look. Saba misses Ding-dong.”

“Awwwwwww,” said a small group of mean dogs that had come with Tair. Then they began to laugh hysterically.

“Hi, Tair,” Saba said. She was too sad to care about what he said.

Tair was at a loss. Whenever he made fun of someone, they always got angry at him. Why wasn’t she mad? “I don’t see how anyone could miss Ding-dong,” he said, making another attempt to aggravate her. “Unless you’re his freak sister, apparently.”

“His name is Dingo,” Saba said calmly. “You would miss Dingo too, if you weren’t such a cold-hearted jerk.”

“Do you really think that I care about being a jerk?” Tair asked. “I actually like being called a jerk. It’s almost like a compliment.”

Saba shook her head and sighed in exasperation. ‘Of course, only Tair would like being called a jerk,’ she thought. Then she got an idea.

“Actually, you’re not always a jerk,” she said. “I bet that you’ve got some good in you. You just don’t want to let it show.”

Tair narrowed his eyes. “Trust me,” he said, growling. “There’s no good in me. And I want to keep it that way.”

Saba smiled to herself. Tair was falling right into her trap. “Sure there is!” she said. “I bet that you could be the nicest dog in Nome if you tried to be.”

Tair began snarling. “I’m warning you,” he said.

Saba grinned at him. “Come and get me!” she said.

Tair tried to pounce on Saba, but another dog got between them. Saba was surprised to see that her rescuer was Josh. She was also angry.

Josh roughly shoved Tair aside. “If you ever attack her again…”