A Second Chance: Kaila

This is “book” one of the ‘A Second Chance’ series. (See ‘Introduction: A Second Chance’ for the whole beginning.)

Kaila sniffed the cold, crisp air and ambled slowly through the center of town. The people of Nome, Alaska were just beginning to hustle and bustle in the early morning. Kaila yawned, and was just about to set off for a quick run to her father’s boat, when a shout came from across the street.

“Kaila!”

A whirlwind of red and cream knocked her over, and they both rolled on and on endlessly in the chilling snow. They were a hurricane of gray and brown, red and cream, over and over until they both rammed into the side of a building. Kaila’s breath was knocked out of her, and she shakily turned over to see who her attacker was. A familiar face grinned up at her.

“Copper!” Kaila exclaimed. Her brother cracked up laughing, and soon Kaila joined in. They both laughed uncontrollably, on their backs, in the snow. The town dogs began giving them strange looks, so as soon as she could stop laughing Kaila stood up and shook the melting snow from her fur. It sprayed the ground, and soon Copper stood up and did the same. He was panting, and his eyes were bright like two fiery red-brown stars. He grinned at her again, and said, “Was that the best or what? I even got you off your guard that time!”

Kaila snorted. “That time, mind you,” she said hotly. “ Someday I’ll chase YOU down, and roll YOU over a million times, and see how you like it.”

“Yeah, sure,” Copper said sarcastically, but in a good-natured way. A shrill whistle pierced the air like a clean-cut diamond cutting glass.

“Copper!”

A man’s voice called out, and Copper barked in reply.

“That’s my owner, Johnson,” Copper explained to Kaila’s questioning look. Immediately her face took on a sad expression.

“How…how is he?” she asked haltingly, trying hard not to sound wistful. She remembered that day. Puppy adoption day. Copper and her other brother, Dusty, had been taken away by new owners while she had watched from over the rim of the cardboard box, along with her sister, Chase. Kaila could just picture the mournful expression they both must have worn as their brothers disappeared into new houses with new voices, new sights, new sounds, new smells, new everything. But she would never be adopted, and neither would Chase, the pup with the twisted back leg. Who would want a wolf-dog or a cripple?

“He’s great,” Copper replied with enthusiasm. “He’s been writing that book about sled dogs, since, you know, he wants to become an author and everything, and he’s using me as a model in his book! Just think, I might be famous!” Copper quivered with excitement. “And he’s a lot of fun too, and he gives me all the best food, and he thinks up the greatest games, and he’s coaching me to be a sled dog! He’s the greatest.” Copper suddenly noticed Kaila’s face. It was so sad, and wistful, and hurt, full of longing. Copper’s tone changed. “Aw, c’mon Kai, don’t be like that,” he said worriedly. He hoped she wasn’t going to cry, even though he’d never seen her cry, not even when they were pups and he had accidentally bitten her ear and made it bleed. Not one single tear had welled up or fallen on her face then. Still, you could never tell with girls.

Johnson’s whistle sliced the air again.

“Copper! Here boy!” A blonde-haired man with cold gray eyes wearing thick, dark winter clothes appeared around the corner. He was tall and very thin, so thin his clothes flapped comically in the Arctic wind. His eyes lit up when he saw Copper.

“Here, Copper!” Johnson slapped his knee, and Copper, after one long look at Kaila, ran to his owner, jumping up and licking the man’s clothes. They both played in the snow together, and Kaila’s heart ached as she watched. Why couldn’t she have the happiness Copper had? Why did she have to be the one in the litter that looked most like a wolf? The unfairness burned inside her as she watched Copper and Johnson romp in the soft, white piles.

After awhile they wandered away, and Kaila was left alone to stare at the pawprints and bootprints they had left in the snow. The cold wind ruffled her fur, and she just managed to stop a hot tear from coursing down her furry gray cheek. One question burned and flamed in her mind: Why? Why? Why?

All her self-pity and sadness and longing welled up inside her, and she knew she couldn’t hold it in. Before she could stop herself, she howled. Howled, howled at the top of her lungs, a high, desperate note that tore at the cold air and drove daggers of sadness into everything around her. She howled with frustration, self-pity, anger, longing, and something else she could never describe. The high, sad, silvery note hung in the air like a dewdrop on a spider’s web. It was alone a wolf’s howl, and from a few miles away a white wolf perked up her ears and heard this desperate cry for help. She looked out into the distance and suddenly knew where it was coming from, and knew where she had to go.

Kaila’s howl subsided to a low whine, and then stopped altogether. A snicker arose from her right, and Kaila whirled around to stare into two icy blue eyes and a wide grinning face splotched with brown and white. The rough, wiry hairs on her neck bristled. Hawk.

Hawk stared back, a mocking smile on his lips. “Out a little early, wolf-dog?” he asked, smiling all the while. From behind him came the growls of his two henchmen, Cookie and Snow. Kaila growled back, deep in her throat. These three had mocked her ever since they were pups, hating her because she was different. She was angry and tired of it all. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?

Hawk began slowly circling Kaila, and she followed him with a steady gaze. Who knew what he might do?

“Howling to your pack, wolf-dog?” he said. “Here, let me help.” He threw back his head and howled, but made it high-pitched and whiny, imitating her cruelly. Snow laughed and lifted her head too, and Cookie his, and all three of them made hideous, screechy howls. Inside Kaila was fizzing with anger, but she still did nothing. What was the use of fighting back? There were three of them and one of her.

When Hawk saw that Kaila wasn’t doing anything, he stopped howling and began circling again. Snow and Cookie sat back to watch.

“Here, why don’t you shove off back to your pack, half-breed?” he said, ramming his head into her stomach and sending her skidding into another building, where she smashed into it hard.

“Ooh!” Snow and Cookie said at the same time, both closing one eye and making a face.

“She’ll feel that tomorrow!” Cookie commented.

“I think she is feeling it now!” Snow replied.

Kaila slowly got up and turned back towards Hawk. She could feel herself screaming inside, ‘I’m gonna KILL him!’ But another side of her said, ‘What’s the point of getting into a big fight? They’ll still come back to make fun of me again.’ With these two sides conflicting, she stood her ground.

Hawk advanced towards her and swung his tail to smash Kaila into the building again. “Go home to your pack, hybrid. Nobody wants you here.” He spat on her and bit her ear.

That did it.

She lunged at Hawk, and something in her made her catch him around the throat. She clawed and scratched and whirled around, while he staggered in circles, choking for air. Snow and Cookie realized what was going on, and piled on top of Kaila. Kaila could feel the cuts bleed on her back and legs as they bit and scratched. The fighting foursome collapsed onto the snow, and Hawk and Kaila went all out, tearing wounds into each other’s flesh. Kaila even thought she might have caught Hawk’s eye with her nails, and she thought she heard him roar with pain. The fight might have gone on forever had a voice not broken through the chaos and commotion.

“Kaila!!”

All four froze, and Kaila looked up to see her father, Balto, standing in the town square with an angry and shocked expression on his face. He seemed to tower over them, and Kaila could tell that Hawk was scared almost out of his wits. Finally he hissed, “Let’s get out of here!” and he and his henchmen climbed off Kaila and scampered away.

Balto strode over to Kaila and called after the threesome, “Hey! Get back here!” But they were already gone.

Balto looked down at his daughter and she looked back at him. Her yellow eyes stared back into his own, and to Balto it was like looking at a miniature replica of himself.

She turned her face away when he bent down, but instead of a sharp reprimand she felt her father’s warm tongue licking her cuts. It stung a bit, but it felt good, so good. She looked up when Balto stopped, and he gave her a questioning look. ‘Can you walk?’ it said. She got up, her legs shaking, and limped over to Balto and leaned against him. Balto licked her face again, and led his troublesome daughter to Jenna’s house.

Kaila closed her eyes as she felt Rosy’s father wiping a warm, soaking cloth across her cuts and applying medicine to them. He spoke softly to Kaila as he rubbed her down.

“Well, you got in quite a mess there, Kaila! You better stay away from those alleys from now on. More dogs might scratch you up and I’ll have to do this all over again.” He stood up and took the medicine and cloth in one hand and stroked Kaila’s fur with the other. “You be careful now,