male.). And two, it was not a den. It was a storage cave. “Whew! She’s gone!” Scylla said in relief.

The next few weeks, not days, weeks did not go by fast or slow. They were just right. “I’m glad that those two days are over!” exclaimed Molly. “It looks like it’s going to snow.” announced Max. Max was right. It did snow that night and in the morning, everyone was buried by an inch of snow. “What a storm that was!” exclaimed Slash. “Slash, shut up. Only an inch fell last night.” “Why don't you shut up, Scylla?” “Don't you give me orders!” “Why not?” “Because I'm the leader of this pack.” “And what does that have to do with it?” “I order you, you don’t order me.” “Who put you in charge?” “The votes.” “But Aleu is back. She should be in charge.” “You know that would be too much of a hassle.” “How are the pups doing?” “I’m leaving.” Scylla said, and then walked away.

It was hot the next day and almost all of the snow melted. “Boy is it hot!” said Jack. “It sure works to heat us up after the snow!” “Not all of us hate snow.” “Not all of us like snow. We all have our own opinions.” “Yes I know, but I don’t like snow.” “I do.” “How come we always argue?” Scylla yelled “Will you guys stop it!?!” “No.” “Slash, why are you like this today too?” “Because I want to.” “Well knock it off!” “Make me.” Scylla had it and just started to ignore Slash, no matter what she did. “Now what?” asked Aleu. “Now, we catch a caribou.” said Max. “Why don’t you. No one else is hungry.” “Fine. I’ll catch the biggest caribou you’ve ever seen.” “Yeah right.”

Max came back with a rabbit. A rabbit that was small. “That’s some caribou!” Misty joked. “Yeah! You were right! That is the biggest caribou I’ve ever seen!” The pack roared with laughter. Max walked through the pack, growling the whole way. “Maybe it would be a good idea to get on that bush plane and get away from everyone.” Max thought. “Maybe, though, I could chase them all onto it. They would be crowded, since it is so small, they would not be able to come back so I would have all this territory to myself…” Max was apparently at least whispering it now because Aleu asked, “Then how did I get back on the bush plane?” “You never left.” “What!?! You didn’t notice I was gone for a month!?!” “Oh, then.” “Yeah right. You’re just jealous that I got to ride it and you didn’t.” “I am not jealous! Well, maybe a little…” “So you are jealous!” “I said ‘only a little’! “No, you said ‘I am not jealous! Well, maybe a little…’.” “I was trying to make it short!” “So now you are saying I’m dumb!?!” “No!” “Then why did you try to make it short?” “Um, uh, because, um… Oh yeah! To save time!” “You sure weren’t saving time trying to think of an excuse!” “I was not thinking! I was, uh, trying to remember. Here, too!” “Whatever.”

After a while, there was more snow. "I thought it was summer!" "It's late spring." "Then why doesn't it feel like it? It's even snowing!" "We're in Alaska, not Hawaii!" "So?" "Everyone knows Alaska is far north." "I guess not everyone." "I know that Alaska is far north!" "Then why are you surprised that it is snowing?" "It is late spring. Duh." "Late Spring can still have snow in Alaska." "I know." "Can we just drop the subject?" "Yes." "Then why aren't we doing it?" "Has anyone heard of Steele?" "That is not a good subject either." "Ok, what are we going to talk about?" "Anything." "What is 'anything'?" "Is anyone hungry?" "I know who is, not me, though." "Who?" "Max." "I am not hungry!" "Then why did you ask 'Is anyone hungry?'?" "I did not ask that!" "Yes you did." "Well, I didn't mean to." "Yeah right." "I didn't!" "I didn't mean to change the subject to this." "Then what did you mean to change the subject to?" "I don't know, hunting, maybe." "How will we talk about hunting without Max getting hungrier than he already is and starting to complain?" "Hey!" "We can't." "Knock it off!" "I'm trying to talk about something, other than what we are already talking about." "Maybe we can just stop talking." "Good idea, but then what are we going to do?" "Who wants to go to the beach?" Not to long ago, the four packs agreed to share the whole beach. In other words, everyone from the four packs was allowed on the beach. "That's fine with me." "Is everyone else ok with that?" The whole pack agreed, so they headed over there. "Now what?" "Who wants to go for a swim?" "Are you serious!?! It just snowed last night!" "I know. But we came here in winter when the water was cold and we had to swim part of the way." "Yeah, like five or six feet." "We swam more than that!" "Not really." "Uh... Oh, oh yeah. I guess you're right." "So you admit it!" "No, I did not!" "Why are you always like this? I mean, you always say no right after you admit something." "Well, you always have to say the same thing after I admit something."

"You admitted another thing!" "That! That's what I mean!" "Why do we always have to say the same thing over and over again?" "I don't know." "Then why don't we stop?" "I don't know. Maybe we just learned to do it without thinking about it." "Hey, yeah. You're probably right."

That night, everyone slept well, except Shadow. "Why does it have to be me that did not get enough sleep last night?" "Because you are always against the leader of the pack." "That is not why!" "Ok, then why is it?" "That's what I asked."

“I don't get why we have an argument every day. Why can't we just settle down and have a good life?" blurted Ginger. "We can." "Then why don't we?" "I... Yeah, you're right! Why don't we?" Aleu also hated how this went. Just then, she got an idea. "I wonder when that bush plane comes back?" she asked herself. "Why?" asked Jack. "Never mind." "Just tell me." "Tell you what?" "Why you're wondering when the bush plane comes back." "Can we change the subject, again?" Aleu wanted the bush plane to come back so she could go back to Nome to see her parents, Jenna and Balto. Possibly even live there for the rest of her life. "So what are we supposed to do with this information, then?" "You're not even supposed to have the information at all." "So?" "Do we have to talk about this?" "No." "Ok, then."

When it was time to go hunting, Misty was raring' to go. No one else was, though. "Are we going to go, or not?" she asked excitedly. "This is a big change. Misty never is ready, or wants to hunt." "Yeah. Why do you think she is like this?" "Mood swings." "I almost never have mood swings, so it probably isn't that. Anyway, are we going to hunt tonight?" "I guess we should get going. It's still light out, but that's because it's summer." "Plus, when it's light out, we can see well." "We don't need to see well." "It would help, though." "So, are we going, or not?" "Yes we are going." "So, let's go!" Aleu was thinking about her parents during the hunt that night. Would the bush plane ever come back? If not, or even if, would she see her parents again? "Why did I even run away? Was just tired of being with my parents, or was it something else?" Scylla sensed Aleu's unhappiness and went over to comfort her. "What's wrong?" "Oh, nothing." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to see my parents again." "I know how you feel. I lost my parents when I was only five months old. I never saw then since." "Do you have to make it seem that bad?" "No." "Then maybe you could leave out the 'I never saw them since.' part." "I was just trying to make you happier." Aleu sighed, "I guess it's not working." then she walked towards the rest of the pack.

That night, Aleu fell asleep almost the instant she laid down. All she dreamed about was her parents. When she woke up, she noticed Mauro standing next to her. "I might have already asked this but, will I ever see my parents again?" "Only you can find the answer to that." "That's exactly what I thought." "If you knew, why did you ask me?" "I was not all completely sure, it's just that's what I thought." "So, what were we talking about?" "I asked if I would ever say, I mean see, my parents again." "And I answered..." "Let's not go that way. You might not have an answer to this either. Will the bush plane ever come back? Don't start, let me guess. Only I can find the answer to that, right?" "That's exactly right." "I thought so." "That's kind of what you just said." "I know. That's my point." "Everyone should have a point." "And I did." "Can we change the subject?" "Didn't we just do that?" "I think so." "So we are going to change it again?" "I think so." "You just said the exact same thing as before." "I know." "I know you know." "Then why did you mention it?" "I don't know." "I think we have a little bit to learn." "Can we change the subject...? Wait, we did that like three times already, didn't we?" "I think so." "What were we talking about originally?" "I can't remember." "Why don't we just talk about something we didn't talk about already? And, don't you have a plane to catch?" "Oh, yeah! The one to Hawaii! Thanks for reminding me, Aleu! Aloha!" Aleu thought to herself, "Doesn't 'aloha' mean 'hello', nor does it also mean goodbye? And aren't spirit guides supposed to remember everything? Does life always have to change the subject every time it gets in a conversation?"

Scylla was the second one to say anything. "What a beautiful day!" she joked. It was a joke because it was windy, cold, and raining. "At least it's not snowing." said jack. "Yeah, but it is raining." "I know, I just said that it is not snowing." "Jack's right. It could be worse." "It could also be better than this for those who like snow." "But most of us don't." "But some of us do." "But some, and most, of us don't." "But some of us do." "Can we stop?" "No." "And why not?" ""Because some of us do like snow!" "Ok, now you're just being annoying." "But some of us like snow is what I'm saying." "What I'm saying is that we should just stop talking about this." "Another one of those times when we have to change the subject, not that I'm in the conversation, yet." Aleu thought to herself. "Why do