circling the boat, looking for another way up. Finding none, he returned to where the ramp had been and sprang up onto the deck, as if lifted by angels. Dusty backed hurriedly away from him, finally stopping when her tail pressed against the bow railing.

Kodi approached slowly, eyeing Dusty with every wary step he took toward him. The closer he came, the more Dusty seemed to withdraw into herself. By the time Kodi stopped a few feet away from her, she was crouched and backed all the way against the bow railing. Kodi raised his brow in confusion and took another step. Dusty, in response, stepped to the right, away from him. As he tried to close the distance between them, she kept inching around him. Finally, Kodi stopped, and sat on his haunches.

“Listen Dusty,” he said, “I know you don’t recognize me, but-”

Before he could finish, Dusty rushed into him, sending him crashing through the rotted railing to the snowy hill below. She looked away before he hit the earth, but after a moment, she heard him laughing, and looked down again.

Kodi lay on his back in the snow, chuckling softly to himself.

“Well,” he coughed, getting to his feet, “I didn’t see that coming.”

Dusty inched away from the railing, half-expecting him to jump up again, but he didn’t. Instead, he just sat in the snow, looking longingly up at her.

“Dusty,” he said, “I don’t know what’s happened to you, but something is very wrong. You don’t remember me?”

Dusty shook her head timidly. Kodi sighed.

“Well, if you’re not going to let me explain to your face, will you at least listen to me from up there?” Seeing the questioning expression on her face, he added, “This is as close as I’ll come to you, I promise.” Dusty lay down next to the broken railing.

“Al…alright,” she said softly.

Kodi lay down in the snow and looked up at her.

“Well, I guess I better start at the beginning…”

 

 

Kodi felt as though his heart would burst. Never in his life had he seen such a beautiful female. Every inch of her seemed perfect, absolutely flawless. From her ears to her two-toned tale, her fur was a mix of brown and light purple, and from her nose down the length of her underbelly was a white-tan color. But what struck him the most were her eyes. Every time she so much as glanced in his direction, he felt as though an angel were gazing upon him.

The sled team had just pulled into Nome, and was resting outside the post office while the musher handed over the mail to the clerk. The lead dog, a large gray husky, seemed to be complaining about a sliver in his paw. Some way for a leader to act, Kodi thought, just pull it out and stop whining. And yet, the leader persisted. Finally, Kodi had had enough. He padded up to the leader, held his paw down, and yanked the wooden splinter out with his teeth.

“Ow!” the gray leader yelped, “What’d you do that for?”

“I couldn’t take your whining any more,” Kodi replied, spitting the sliver from his mouth.

“That makes two of us,” a slightly smaller brown husky replied, “Thanks.”

“Well, don’t do it again,” warned the grey leader, “That hurt.”

“Ralph, you’re such a softie,” came a female voice from behind him.

Kodi suddenly found himself face to face with the object of his secret admiration, and though he couldn’t help but gaze at her, all speech was stolen from his lips.

“I’m Dusty, by the way,” she said, “Nice to meet you.”

Finally, Kodi managed to retrieve some of his voice.

“N-nice to meet you, too,” he stammered, “It must be g-gratifying to be on the sled team?”

“Yeah, but only if getting up at the crack of dawn is gratifying,” interrupted Ralph. Dusty shot him a ‘who asked you?’ glance.

“It really is nice to be part of something so important to this little town,” she said to Kodi, glancing around at the surrounding buildings.

“I was thinking of joining the team,” Kodi said, hope rising in his chest.

“Really?” Dusty asked, a bit surprised. Kodi nodded.

“Are you joking?” the brown dog laughed, “You look like a pup to me!”

“I’m thin because I’ve been practicing,” Kodi replied, growing embarrassed.

“Alright then, if you’ve been practicing so much, let’s see you pull this,” Ralph said, stepping out of his harness.

Kodi looked at the sled and gulped. He had practiced pulling sleds loaded up to half-full, but this one was still almost fully-loaded. But I can’t back down now, he thought, I’ll make a fool of myself if I do. So he stepped into the harness.

“You don’t have to pull it very far,” the large brown husky said, “Just get it moving.”

“Kirby, not even we can do that!” Dusty gasped, turning to Kodi, “Hey, you don’t have to-”

Too late.

Kodi lunged forward, but was yanked roughly backward when the lines went taunt. The sled hadn’t budged an inch. No one spoke. Kodi got to his paws and put all of his weight into the lines. Suddenly, there was the sound of crackling, and everyone gasped. The sled runners, which were nearly frozen to the ground, had begun to quiver. Kodi didn’t even notice. He just kept putting one paw in front of the other. The sled moved an inch, then another. Kodi finally glanced backward and saw that he was making progress. I might actually do this, he thought.

Just then, his straining paws uncovered a patch of ice, and he slipped, falling face-first into the snow. Kirby and Ralph burst into laughter, collapsing to the ground and rolling in the snow. Kodi shook the snow from his face and suddenly realized that Dusty was also laughing. He felt his heart wrench in embarrassment and sorrow. Quickly shrugging out of the harness, he turned and took off down the street. As he neared then boiler room, he was vaguely aware of the team calling after him, but he didn’t care. Bursting into the empty boiler room, he found a cushion in the corner and curled up tight. The team’s laughter echoed mercilessly in his ears. It would be a long time before he would finally fall asleep.

Suddenly, he woke to the cooing of an angelic voice.

“Kodi, I’m sorry, please wake up,” the voice whimpered.

His eyes opened to see Dusty lying with her front paws crossed in front of him.

“Kodi, I’m so sorry about earlier,” she said, “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. Can you please forgive me?”

“It’s alright, Dusty,” Kodi replied, uncurling himself, “It really wasn’t that big of a deal. I just felt so stupid. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of you.”

“Me? Why me?”

Now you’ve done it, you idiot! he thought, What’re you going to say now?

“I, uh…” he mumbled, “That is I, well, I…”

Dusty leaned closer, clearly curious. Kodi gulped.

“Do you promise not to laugh?” he said softly.

“Of course.”

“I love you,” he said, “I think you’re the most beautiful creature to ever walk the earth.”

Dusty gasped, and then began to laugh softly.

“Hey, you said you wouldn’t laugh,” Kodi whimpered, clearly hurt at Dusty’s outburst.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Dusty replied quickly, composing herself, “It’s just… You’re pretty good looking yourself.”

“Really?” Kodi said, “I, I mean thank you. That is, uh…”

“You’re not usually like this, are you?” Dusty said, smiling.

“No,” Kodi stammered, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

“I see,” she replied, standing up.
Kodi stood up next to her.

“Hey, I was wondering,” he said, “Would like to go for a walk on the beach?”

“Well, I should be going home,” Dusty sighed, glancing out the door and down the street.

“You’re saying that like you might change your mind,” Kodi persisted, taking a step closer.

“Oh, why not,” she conceded.

 

 

Kodi looked up again and noticed Dusty lying at the edge of the broken railing, looking down at him with a sense of awe.

“Did we really say all that?” she asked.

“Every word is true, cross my heart,” Kodi replied.

“I wish I could remember,” Dusty sighed.

Kodi thought for a long moment and suddenly an idea hit him.

“I think I know what will help,” he said, “Follow me.”

Dusty, who was beginning to trust Kodi more, decided to follow him, though at a short distance.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To a very special place you and I went to once, not too long ago,” Kodi replied, “You’ll understand when we get there.”

“Is there more memory to go with this one?” Dusty inquired, “Another story, perhaps?”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

 

 

Chapter Four

 

Kodi felt his heart pounding hard in his chest as he neared Dusty’s house. The sun was just setting, and the dispersing clouds promised a clear

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