said. Then he decided to change the subject. “Hey, do you want to go see what Angel’s doing? I haven’t seen her for a while. I kind of want to meet her owner, too.”

Matteo shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “It’s better than sitting in here with nothing to do.”

-----

Dingo’s plan to see Angel went perfectly. It turned out that Jason’s mom had told him to visit Maria and make her feel welcome since her family was new to the city. Jason took Dingo and Matteo with him to the Stefanis’ house.

As they approached the house, Jason and the dogs saw Maria in her front yard with her four dogs. She had a tall, thin crate in front of her.

As Dingo and Matteo ran over to Angel, Jason walked up behind Maria. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m trying to teach Love a trick,” Maria replied. “I’m teaching her how to jump over this crate, but she won’t do it. She’s starting to get on my nerves.” She turned around and looked at the person she was talking to for the first time. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Jason,” he said. “I just came to welcome you to the city.” He pointed to Dingo and added, “That’s my dog Dingo.”

“Hm,” Maria said. She didn’t seem very interested. “Well, thanks for coming, I guess.” She turned back to her reluctant dog. “Come on, Love! Jump!”

Love didn’t move. Maria rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. “What you waiting for?” she asked, annoyed. “What you waiting what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting for?” She started tapping her foot impatiently. “Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, take a chance, you stupid dog!”

‘This is amusing,’ thought Jason. ‘It’s starting to get annoying, though.’ He cleared his throat. “Why don’t we go inside? I don’t think that your dog is going to jump over that crate any time soon.”

“Well…okay,” Maria said. “I can always work on the trick later.”

‘Hopefully when I’m not around,’ Jason added to himself.

-----

Angel was delighted to see her friends. “Hi, guys!” she said. “What have you two been doing lately?”

“Well, I was in the hospital for a while,” Dingo said.

Angel gasped. “The hospital? What happened?”

Dingo quickly explained what the vet had told him about his heart condition. Angel’s eyes widened. “Are you going to be okay?”

Dingo nodded. “Yeah, I should be,” he said. “The vet said that the worst thing that could happen would be that I would faint every once in a while. But that means I shouldn’t run on a sled team.”

Angel raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you wanted to be on a sled team.”

“I do,” Dingo said. “Ever since I was a pup, I wanted to be just like my father. I’ve always wanted to be a sled dog. Now my dreams are ruined!” He shook his head.

“Then why don’t you be a sled dog?” Angel asked.

“Are you crazy? I can’t be on a sled team now! I’d just slow the team down. I’d probably faint so much that I would end up being a burden to the whole team.”

Angel looked Dingo in the eye. “Wouldn’t you do anything to be a sled dog?”

“Yes,” said Dingo. “I told you, I’ve always wanted to be one.”

“Then go for it! You can do it-I know you can. Don’t let this heart problem stop you from achieving your dreams.” She put a paw on Dingo’s shoulder. “Dingo, you’re not a quitter. I’ve known you long enough to realize that. So don’t be a quitter now. I heard that they’re having a race to find the fastest dogs for a special run next week…”

“My heart’s not the only problem,” Dingo protested. “What about all the tension between the Anchorage dogs and Nome dogs? If I’m not here to keep everything in control, they’re going to kill each other!”

“I’m sure that Saba, Josh, Matt, Liko, and I will be able to handle it,” Angel said.

“Yeah, we can take care of everything while you’re gone,” Matteo added. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Dingo sighed and thought for a moment. “I’ll think about it,” he said. “When are they having the race for dogs who want to be on the sled team, Angel?”

“The race is exactly a week from today.”

“Perfect. That gives me a whole week to think it over.”

“I should run in the race, too,” Matteo said. “If you make the sled team, you should have someone you trust with you. Then you won’t have to worry about fainting. I can run as fast as you, and if we make the sled team, then I can take care of you if you faint.”

“Good idea,” Angel said. “I was hoping that you would stay here and help keep everything under control, but being on the team with Dingo is a better idea.”

“Wait a minute,” Dingo said. “You guys are assuming that I’m going to run in the race. I never promised anything. I said that I’ll think about it.”

Angel smiled. “Trust me, I know you,” she said. “In a week from now, you’re going to have your mind made up about being in the race.”

‘I wouldn’t count on that,’ Dingo thought to himself. Then he heard Jason’s voice. The boy was standing at the door, calling for Dingo and Matteo. The two dogs said goodbye to Angel and ran up to the boy. Then Matteo and Jason began walking to Jason’s home.

Dingo sat in front of the Stefanis’ house, thinking. There was a lot that he would have to risk to be on the sled team, but he wanted to be a sled dog so much!

As Dingo finally began walking home, he was startled by a loud sound behind him. Someone had screamed.

Dingo turned around to see Maria Stefani clinging to the edge of her house’s roof. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

Dingo stared at Maria. How had the girl gotten on the roof? And why did it seem like he had seen this happen before?

Maria’s hand slipped. “Love, Angel, Music, Baby!” she screamed. “Hurry up and come and save me!”

Dingo didn’t waste any time. He immediately ran to the place where the girl would land when she fell. If he stood there, he would be able to break her fall.

Maria couldn’t see Dingo. She was too afraid to look down. ‘This is the end,’ she thought. Suddenly she let out a piercing scream as her other hand slipped. She slid down the roof in a panic, closing her eyes and bracing herself for the landing.

To her surprise, Maria landed on something soft. Then she rolled off the soft thing onto the ground.

Maria opened her eyes. “Ow!” she said, rubbing her arm. Then she started wondering what had broken her fall.

Looking around, Maria spotted Dingo right next to her. She had landed on him! Maria weakly sat up and put her arms around Dingo’s neck. “You saved me!” she said. “You saved my life!”

As Maria stood up, she noticed that the dog looked like he was in pain. “You’d better get to the vet,” she said. “I’ll take you there. It’s the least I could do.”

Maria picked up Dingo and started carrying him to the vet’s office. The husky whimpered. “Don’t worry, boy,” Maria said. “You’ll feel better soon.”

-----

Maria soon discovered that carrying Dingo wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. Dingo was now a full grown Siberian husky, and carrying his weight would be too hard for her already. Now that she was still sore from falling off the roof, it was even harder to carry him.

After a few minutes of walking, Maria couldn’t take it any more. She stumbled and fell. After lying on the ground for a few minutes, she got back up. “Sorry, boy,” she said. “I can’t carry you any more. I’ll find someone else to bring you to the vet.”

Maria was about to look for someone who could help when a dog started running towards her and Dingo.

Dingo lay on the ground, shivering. His whole body seemed to ache, and he felt miserable. Then he heard barking in the distance. It was coming closer…

Dingo looked up and felt a wave of relief. Saba was running toward him as fast as she could. Dingo weakly stood up and barked, wagging his tail.

“Who is that?” Maria wondered aloud. As the strange dog came toward her, she noticed that it looked a lot like the dog that was right next to her. ‘Maybe they’re related,’ she thought.

Saba finally stopped running when she was only a foot or two away from Dingo. “What’s wrong, big brother?” she asked.

“It’s a long story,” Dingo said. “I’ll give you the short version. I saved Maria’s life when she fell off her house’s roof. She landed on me, and now I can hardly walk around because my whole body hurts.”

Saba’s eyes widened. “Okay,” she said. “Can you climb onto my back?” Dingo nodded and slowly climbed up onto Saba’s back. “Hold on tight,” she said.

Dingo turned his head and looked at Maria. Somehow she understood that he was trying to tell her that Saba would take him to the

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