mornings. The dark of the night slowly began to edge away from the buildings and the sky above began to open up to a slate grey covering above. Only this grey looked like snow filled every nook and cranny of the sky. It would only be a while until the snow-laden clouds would drop their heavy loads down onto the town and surrounding area.
It was in this early morning siesta time that the dogs woke begrudgingly from the warmth and comfort of the boiler room and began their early morning quest to the post office. They did so with low held heads that nearly dragged in the snow. A few eyes moved towards the sky and took note of the heavy snow that was soon to come, but most were just too tired to even care.
The night had been horrible. With Kodi leaving and then returning, then Dusty doing the same, the night had been a farce as far as sleep went. And today would be a day full of hard training that wouldn’t end until Mr. Simpson said so or one of them dropped dead in the traces.
Everybody moved in an unorganized line through the streets. Nobody talked. Only the sounds of their paws masticating the snow reverberating off the buildings they passed made noise.
All of them moved into the main street of Nome. Nothing but dark empty windows and a few forlorn street lights greeted them. They passed quickly and walked to the back of the Post Office where Mr. Simpson was already expecting them with the old traces lined out along the snow and hooked to the sled.
“Come on boys, let’s get going.” Mr. Simpson yelled as they came into view, his voice flush with excitement. “We need to get training,” He turned his body towards the sky and set his hands on his hips. “Burning daylight.”
Ralph causally turned to Kirby as the team moved towards the sled. “Glad to see he’s happy at least.”
Kirby glanced at Ralph and continued on to the sled without a second thought.
Mr. Simpson positively jumped with joy at the sight of his team. They were strong, they were keen; but after the training he had come with the night before they would be unbeatable. He grabbed Kip and Fell in each mitten, and before they even realized that they were being held they were in front of the sled with their harnesses on and all set to go.
Mr. Simpson grabbed Dusty and had her hooked up to the sled in just a moment.
Then when it came time to grab Ralph and stick him in next to Dusty, something changed. Mr. Simpson suddenly grabbed Kodi’s collar and yanked him from his sitting position without warning, choking Kodi and squeezing the air from his lungs like a balloon being deflated.
Before Kodi actually recovered in the slightest, he was all set and tied in securely without the possibility of being moved. His eyes roamed up at Mr. Simpson as he stood full upright.
Mr. Simpson shrugged his shoulder almost painfully. “Sorry boy, but …”
“But what!” Kodi almost yelled. “One mess up, and that’s it?” Alas to Kodi, Mr. Simpson couldn’t hear him speak, and continued hooking up Ralph and Kirby in the two lead positions.
Maybe it’s just a joke, Kodi thought franticly. Yeah, any moment Mr. Simpson will turn and around and tell me that it’s just a joke. Kodi hopped and prayed inside his head that it would all just be in fun. Although he already knew that it wasn’t.
Mr. Simpson finished with Kirby and Ralph in just a minute flat each, then stood and surveyed how he had his team all set. “Good.” He stated to himself through half frozen red lips. With that he turned and walked around the front of the post office to warm his face and hands and retrieve the outgoing mail for the mail run.
As soon as Mr. Simpson vanished from their sight, Kirby and Ralph both whipped around and face Kodi full on. “Kodi I had no idea.” Kirby stated as sincere as he could. “This doesn’t mean that I’m a better leader than you in the least.”
“Yeah,” Ralph agreed. “Yesterday doesn’t matter. You should be here where I am. I know nothing about leading.”
Kodi could feel the authenticity in what they were saying, and bowed his head three times in understanding. He half closed his eyes and bowed his head once more towards the snow. “Don’t worry about it. I guess I had it coming.”
A moment of the most awkward silence Ralph or Kirby had ever hear passed, then vanished as Ralph padded his paws in the snow and let and long grin slither across his face. “But it really is cool that I’m in the lead.”
“Ralph,” Kirby growled. “Clam it.”
“Sorry.” Ralph returned, yet Kodi and Kirby could both tell he wasn’t being completely earnest.
“Kodi,” Began Kirby. “This is probably just about the other day when you led us around in circles. Mr. Simpson’s probably just getting you back for all of that. You know I really don’t want to be the leader, you’re a great leader, and Mr. Simpson knows that. And maybe if you show him that you learned your lesson, you’ll get back up to the lead position faster than ever.”
A small giggle emanated from Dusty, brining the attention of the entire team to her. “Boys.” She almost laughed as their full attention rested on her. “A little hurt to your pride and you all fall to pieces.”
Kodi glared at Dusty with a whole new brand of malignity; Dusty didn’t even let a single hair on her nose wrinkle.
“Dusty,” Kirby turned his body towards her and took a warning stance. “We don’t need your input on this. This is something very serious”
“Oh, I’m sure you don’t.” She grinned devilishly. “And I’m sure it’s serious, just like when your leader talks about you behind your back!” Dusty hissed.
“Dusty that has nothing to do with what happened here.” Kodi turned to Dusty. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Yeah right.” Dusty scoffed with a roll of her eyes. “It has everything to do with what happened.”
“No it doesn’t!” Kodi barked back.
Kirby and Ralph both looked at each other. The tension between Kodi and Dusty had begun to build, growing quickly without any sign that it would stop, or even slow, before a full fledged claw and fang fight broke out.
“Oh sure, breaking the heart of your teammate, is much less hurtful than loosing your lead position.” Dusty spoke.
“Well … err … yea – I mean no, well sort of.” Kodi fumbled
“Come one Kodi, admit it, you know it hurts.”
“No!” Kodi shot at Dusty. “It does hurt, but …”
Silence befell both of them and an awkward stillness filled with a queer sensation crowded in close to the entire team. Kodi and Dusty both stared into each others eyes waiting for the other to break.
“Dusty?”
All the pent-up rage and stillness broke with the introduction of another. Standing directly behind Dusty, just off to her right side, a large exceptionally handsome black and white male dog looked on with a curious, almost loving, look on his face.
Dusty turned to the voice and jumped with joy at the face before her. “Sarge!” She screamed out in an unnatural giddy voice. She giggled at herself and the smile that crossed Sarge’s face before giving him a quick nuzzle. “What are you doing here?”
“I figured I’d see you off.” He grinned. “Then I heard you arguing with him.” Sarge raised his nose briefly towards Kodi, while dropping his voice to a deep seriousness “Figured you might want someone to back you up.” He grinned coyly.
Kodi felt a tinge of fear fly up his spine. Kodi always saw himself as a fairly large dog, able to take on most any comers. But this dog that stood in front of him now was at least a whole foot taller at the shoulders and looked like he could be a whole lot meaner if he wanted to.
“No.” Dusty smirked at Sarge. “I got everything under control.” She turned towards Kodi and her smile drooped. “Kodi’s just a big puppy who can’t hold his tongue.”
Sarge grinned at this and let a little chortle escape him. “So when do you think you’ll be back Dusty?”
Dusty sighed. “Oh, probably tomorrow at noon or a little later.” She looked at Kirby and Ralph. “Do you two think we can make it back by then?”
“Uh. Yeah. I think we can do that. Don’t you think Kirby?”
“Yeah, yeah, no problem.” They both answered from the dreamy state of shock they were stuck in.
“Good.” Dusty jumped a little and looked once again at the male dog standing near her. She
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