Jenna ran to the crates at the front of the boat and turned to face Balto who stood just five steps away. “So, the mighty hunter corners his prey.” Jenna said in a defeated tone, though her eyes glistened with victory.
Balto moved in on Jenna, coming slow and methodical. “So it seems I have. Now what shall I do to be rid of you once and for all?” Balto growled playfully.
“How about telling me what you’re going to say to Kodi when you talk to him.”
“Never!” Balto jumped up into the air and down towards her paws with an open mouth.
But Jenna had stopped in front of the crate for a reason. She leapt high as she could and landed on top of the crate just as Balto’s nose crashed through the sideboards with a high pitched CRUNCH!
“OW!” Balto pulled his head back out of the hole he had just made - with what felt like his entire head - and sat back looking down at his nose. “Oh that smarts.” Balto wrinkled his nose up and crossed his eyes to look down his muzzle. “Does it look bent to you?”
Jenna giggled, grinned, and nuzzled Balto from her high perch. “Of course not.”
“Oh,” Balto groaned. “It feels like it is.” Balto stepped back further and wrinkled his nose more, twisting his head and opening one eye at a time to see if it looked bent from either direction.
“Well, I’m sure it’s not.” Jenna stated matter-of-factly. The mood began to change back to what it had been before all the fun. “Now, I would like to know what you’re going to tell Kodi when you talk to him.”
“Oh, come on Jenna.” Balto turned away from her; the pain in his nose began to subside. “I’m just going to ask for his side of the story. That’s all.” Balto rotated back around towards Jenna and let his body slide from standing to lying down on the deck in one smooth move. “I’m not going to make a big deal out of it.”
“Well,” Jenna looked cunningly to the side as she slid off the crate and began to walk towards Balto. She spoke in a fed-up whining tone. “Maybe you should.”
“Jenna.” Balto heaved a breath and shook his head. He lowered his voice low. “I don’t want to assume anything and put Kodi on the defensive when I talk to him. I just want his story.”
“Well, what if he lies?” Jenna said as if she were running out of things to say.
“Jenna, Kodi has never lied to me before, and I don’t see why he would start now. He’s a good dog. I just think that something has gotten mixed up, a stories gotten twisted, and now he look like a real bad guy.”
“Maybe your right,” Jenna relinquished. “I’m just worried about our son,” She lowered her head and stepped closer to Balto. “I just don’t want him to end up being another Dakota.”
“Is this a bad time?” A light mellow voice came.
Jenna and Balto both turned their heads in mild shock to the young rust colored male husky who stood at the corner of the wheelhouse. He was a hansom specimen of a dog, with a body any lady would love, and a mouth good enough to talk Eskimos into buying freezers. He stood uneasily, like he had to really go to the bathroom, or tell a secret that tore him at the seams. His ears flattened against his head and his eyes full of shame and guilt as he stepped uneasily forward.
“Um, no we were jus-”
“-Okay okay, I admit it.” Dakota cut his father off. “I was just on my way to apologize to Kitsch right now, but I wanted you two to know the whole story. I know I probably shouldn’t have got her to sneak out with me and knock down firewood piles. And I know I probably should have stood by her when she got pinned and Mr. McCoy came out and gave her a couple good hits with his cane, but I wa-”
“No, we, weren’t talking, about that.” Jenna said slow and thought out.
“Oh … Well if this about the butchers wife, she deserved to get covered with snow. I mean, I begged her out of some scraps, and she brings me a bone without a bit of meat on it. Can you believe the nerve of some-?”
“- Dakota, this has nothing to do with you.” Balto shook his head
Dakota scrunched his face up, perplexed as to why he wasn’t the center of attention here. “Oh!” The idea hit him. “Then is this about Kodi?”
Jenna stepped towards Dakota. “How did you know about it?”
“Mom, it’s all over town, everybody knows that Kodi beat up Dusty.”
Jenna turned her head away and closed her eyes like a migraine suddenly throttled her. “Oh no.” She whispered. “Now nobody is going to know what actually happened.” She stepped away to think things through.
“What?” Dakota looked at his father befuddled “Isn’t that what happened?”
Balto shook his head. “No. Kodi just said some mean things about Dusty and Dusty overheard him saying it.”
Dakota turned away disappointedly. “Doesn’t sound near as bad as what I heard.”
Jenna rolled her eyes and moaned like someone looking at a mountain of work. She stepped back towards Dakota. “So what’s the story you heard?”
Dakota grinned. “I don’t know if I want to use such words in front of my parents.”
Jenna moaned even louder and turned away again. Dakota looked at his father with a long grin. “You know, I never thought I would see the day when my goody-two-shoes brother got in trouble. I just didn’t see it coming.” Dakota smiled and chuckled twice.
Balto rolled his eyes sideways. “So is this the only reason you’re out here, to dig up dirt on your brother?”
“No.” Dakota smiled and wagged his tale. “I came out here to tell you the great news.”
“Good I could use it.” Balto said.
“There’s going to be a race. The Alaska 500!” Dakota almost screamed it. “500 hundred miles of freezing cold trail, constant threat of moose attack, overflow, and the madness that can come with racing” Dakota grinned and positively felt charged.
Balto barely raised an eyebrow to the news. “How’s that good news for me? I don’t even run on a team”
“I don’t know.” Dakota threw his head sideways and turned to look at the mountains to the north. “I just thought you might be excited. I know I would do anything to enter in that race.”
Like the grinding of gears downshifting on a truck, Balto’s stomach let loose another spastic symphony of emptiness. Everybody’s attention focused down to Balto’s sides. A quite moment reined after the gurgling had stopped. “I need to eat.” Balto confessed.
Dakota giggled and Jenna let a smile cross her face. Jenna stepped in front of Dakota and Balto. “What say we head to town and get Balto something to eat? I know I’ve been out here chewing on his ear for to long and he deserves something for his patience.”
Balto liked the idea and came to his feet with his tale wagging.
6. Kodi's Return
The rest of the day passed quickly. Balto, Jenna, and Dakota walked to town listening to Balto’s stomach groan and growl as Jenna teased him with thoughts of food, and poked at him in between with her thoughts on Kodi. When they reached the first building in town – the telegraph operator’s shack – Dakota backed oddly into the alley behind the building muttering to his parents that he was late and needed to go. He then vanished and ran away before either one of his parents remembered his confession out on the boat and jumped on him about that.
Balto and Jenna walked on to Jenna’s house and scratched on the door until Rosy opened it and let them both in with her bouncy attitude. Rosy then gave Balto a good pat and fetched some food from the pantry and filled the metal bowl next to Jenna’s that had his name written on it in ink. Taking his fill of food, Balto moved to the living room where he found the fire blazing warmly in front of the rug he and Jenna would often rest on. Lying down with his right side to the fire place, Jenna joined him and began to talk about Kodi. After twenty minutes of listening to Jenna, Balto stood and walked to the door and scratched. As rosy opened the door, Balto backed out muttering the same thing Dakota had about being late and that he needed to go. He then returned to his boat, ruffled his blanket and crawled under to sleep the rest of the day in peace. Jenna spent the rest of the day in her master’s room watching her draw and color.
The sun set at 2:51 P.M. It was quite an uneventful sunset, nothing more than a transition from light to dark. At 6:00 P.M. the town lantern lighter, and hanger, stepped out of his little shack, dragging behind him a sled filled with lanterns. At 6:32 P.M. the same man retuned to his home with an empty sled of lanterns and quietly tended his fire, ate a morsel of a whole meal, and slipped into bed.
7:12 A.M. the following morning the same man left his house to the cold windswept streets and at 7:45 A.M. he removed the lantern he hung out near the front porch of the telegraph office. The telegraph operator pulled his pocket-watch out of his front left breast-pocket and noted the time down in his mind.
Morris looked up from his comfy bed near the desk as his master replaced his watch and leaned back with his hands against his eyes and his glasses clenched between his thumb and forefinger. He rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly; then let his hands drop down to his stomach. Letting his fingers lace quietly together, the telegraph operator leaned his head forward and drifted asleep. There would be no possibility of mail until at least 8:30 A.M., so unless
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