remember what it was anymore… anyway, the wind blew just then and tore the hat from her grasp, blowing it into the middle of the street, in front of the racing teams.

Rosie started to go for it, but I stopped her by biting her sleeve. I was responsible for her safety after all, and though I didn’t want to see her new hat torn up, I didn’t want Rosie killed even more.”

She smiled.

“Balto came out of the crowd then, and ran alongside the teams, actually catching the Steele, who was a famous lead dog remember, but despite Steele’s racing record, Balto caught him, passed him, and leapt in front of the team, snatching the hat just moments before the runners would have torn it to shreds.

Balto walked over to us, and I was glad. It had been some time since I had seen or talked to Balto, and I wanted to thank him for saving Rosie’s hat.

Rosie patted him on the head, and told him that he was crazy, and just “showing off for a pretty girl.”

Balto got a little embarrassed, as did I, and then Rosie tried to harness Balto to her small sled.

He smiled, and looked overjoyed that at last, someone wasn’t persecuting him for his pedigree, or I guees more accurately his lack thereof.

Just as he was stepping into the harness however, Rosie’s father, Roger, saw him.

He ran over toward his daughter and told her to stay away from Balto, that he might bite her because he was half wolf.

I could see Balto’s happiness melt instantly, giving way to the hurt depression I’d realized was normal in his brown eyes.

I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn’t get away from Rosie’s father.

Steele walked up to me, dogged by his ever present fans, most of them female. However, for some reason I’ll never be able to understand, Steele seemed to be interested only in me.

He walked over and tried some lame line on me. I don’t even remember what it was, but I do remember him saying something about my taste running more towards wolf, meaning Balto of course.

I think he was talking about food, bones or something, and I said that I’d lost my appeitite, that’s what brought up the tastes running more toward wolf comment… Oh, I don’t know, it’s been so long. Well anyway, I remember thinking then, “what if they do”. What if I really did start to like Balto? The conclusion I came to was that I would lose all of my hard won popularity, my friends… I would be committing social suicide. I wasn’t too anxious to do that, but then all this was speculation based on a windbag’s comment anyway, so it really didn’t mean anything.”

“…but eventually you did, right?” Trixie asked.

“Did what?” Jenna asked.

“Well, I already know that this Balto was my grandfather, so you must’ve gotten over the whole “social suicide” thing.”

Jenna smiled.

“You could say that. You could also say that I discovered something worth much more than popularity.”

“What’s that mean?” Trixie asked.

Jenna smiled again. “You’ll find out later in the story, now, where were we…

Ah yes, the race on Rosie’s birthday. We walked over to the awards stand and the mayor started giving out the trophies for the day’s races.

During the awards I was able to sneak away and soon picked up Balto’s scent. I began to follow it, walking down an alley and emerging onto a small side street.

At this point, I was almost run down by the young wolf-dog himself. I don’t know if he’d heard Rosie calling for me or what, but he came barreling down the street, and had to slide to an abrupt stop to avoid crashing into me, which would have been a very awkward position indeed. As he slid to a stop, our noses touched.”

Jenna smiled.

“He pulled back quickly and kind of stumbled over himself, trying to think of something to say I guess.”

She looked at Trixie.

“About that time Rosie and her family found me and called my name. I looked back to make sure it was them, and sure enough, it was. They’d found me.

I turned back, and Balto was gone. I looked for him. I really wanted to talk to him, to apologize for Roger’s treatment of him. After a few minutes, Rosie called my name, and I had to leave. From there, we went home.”

Jenna sighed.

“What is it grandma?” Trixie asked.

Jenna sighed again. “I guess this is where the story really starts. I noticed later that afternoon, that Rosie was coughing, and that she hand was hot when she petted me.

Her mother and father decided to take her to the hospital, and as always, I followed.

I watched from the window as Rosie’s parents checked her into the hospital. I noticed that there were many children in the hospital, and all of them seemed to be sick with the same thing, they were all coughing.

Rosie saw me watching her through the window, and ran outside, forgetting her coat.

She jumped and ran around me, and I felt better, I thought she would be alright.

Then she stopped and started coughing really hard.

I realized then that she was still sick, and she petted my head. Her skin was so hot…

Her father came out then and scolded her for running out to me. He put her coat on her shoulders and then he said something that caught my attention. He said. “…you’re going to catch your death out here.”

I hadn’t realized how serious Rosie’s condition was… I’d certainly never thought she might die.

Rosie’s father sheparded her back inside the hospital.

I went back to the window and watched as Doc, the doctor at the hospital then, came in and took Rosie and her family to the back.

It was at this point that I heard a nervous voice call my name.

I turned. Balto stood there beneath the window. I said hi, and turned back to the window. I must’ve seemed terribly rude, ignoring him like that, but my world had been shaken apart. Rosie was my world. If I lost her… I didn’t know what I’d do.

Balto pressed on though, unintimidated by my shrugging him off. What he asked me next has faded over the years, but I think it was something about chasing a stick by moonlight. I think he meant with him. It was the first time he’d ever mentioned the fact that he cared for me… like that. As more than the casual friends we already were. I was so engrossed with Rosie and her situation that I didn’t even really realize it till much later. Right then, the possibility of losing Rosie was foremost on my mind.

Balto noticed then that something was wrong, and hopped up on the boxes near the window next to me.

He asked me what was wrong, and I told him about Rosie. I asked him then what was wrong with her. Even now, I can’t tell you exactly why I asked him… I suppose that he was the only one nearby, and I desperately wanted an explanation, a reason for her sudden illness.

Balto actually surprised me then, by telling me that he didn’t know, but that he did know a way to find out.

He jumped off the boxes and I followed him to a shed at the back of the hospital, where the boiler that kept the hospital warm was located.

Balto led me further down through a hole in the wall, down under the buildings above.

Now, I was a husky, and a pet at that, so I wasn’t used to living the street life, like Balto was. I did not like dirt, or getting dirty and this place was filthy. I almost couldn’t stand it, but I decided to follow Balto, why… I really don’t know. I had no real reason to trust him… I just did.

Balto told me that dogs came from miles around to see this place.

I couldn’t understand that, as nasty as this place was, and I told Balto so.

About that time Balto and I stepped into a large open area, beneath the building overhead.

The verbal interchange he and I had then will never leave my memory.

He told me that I was looking at the bowl half empty, and then Balto pushed a pile of broken glass up on top of a pile of dirt and said. “See this, this is the polar icecaps.”

I wasn’t so easily persuaded, and responded. “Balto, those are broken bottles, and they’re not half empty, they’re all empty.”

Balto continued, apparently unfazed by my dejected tone, and tossed his head at the light streaming over his head from a grate in the floor of the room above. “…the Sun.” He said.

I laughed, for I truly thought Balto had lost his mind at this point. I started to tell him so, but he cut me off.

He said. “…and to the North?” Then he stepped out of the light, and it hit the bottles, blazing brightly for a moment, and then reflected against the wall in front of me, bathing it in shimmering multi-colored light.”

Jenna paused.

Then she looked at Trixie and smiled. “The thought of it still causes a shiver to run down my back, not just because it was beautiful, which it was, but because of what happened next.”

Trixie looked somewhat impatient, having been sucked into her grandmother’s story long ago.

Jenna smiled again.

“Well, I said it was beautiful, and Balto only said. “Yeah… beautiful.”

I heard his voice change somewhat,

and I turned to face him.”

Jenna smiled.

“He wasn’t looking at the lights. He was looking right at me.”

Trixie smiled back at her grandmother. “Oh, I get it.”

Jenna nodded. “Us girls always do, don’t we?”

Trixie