Behind Your Eyes

Balto sat on the bow of the dead ship, long since beached on the seashore, that he called home. It was late, less than a couple of hours till midnight. The night breeze wasn’t cold or strong; it simply blew his rough-lying brown fur around gently. He was looking up at the moon, which was mostly uncovered, but still partially hidden by streaks of skinny clouds. The rest of the sky had few clouds at all. The aurora borealis was dancing smoothly and gracefully over the sky, continually hiding and then revealing the stars. Regardless of the beauty of the picture, however, Balto didn’t really take much notice of it all. Traces of a smile played over his lips, and he sighed deeply.

He was thinking of her.

Jenna was the most beautiful dog in Nome, and she had a disposition to match. She was quite popular, being known and liked by almost every dog in town. She was a pleasure to be around, because even though she knew everyone thought she was beautiful and she knew she was popular, she was never stuck up about it. Not one arrogant word ever left her mouth; in fact, she hardly ever said anything unpleasant at all, her personality being as amiable as it was. She was mature and polite, but not above loving her share of fun. She had a smile that could melt a heart of iron, and her voice was sweet and soothing, with a pleasantness that came from her good heart, making her sound like an angel at times. Being both lovely and sweet, she was especially popular with the male dogs of the town, but even though virtually any of them could easily fall in love with her, she had never given any love back. Actually, she rarely, if ever, went out with any of them. Now that Balto thought about that, he realized that he, in fact, was the only man for which she had shown any feelings. He wasn’t completely sure about how she felt, but he definitely knew how he felt; he loved her deeply, with every part of his being. Feeling that way, however, was one thing; telling her was another. He had wanted to for ever so long a time, and there had been opportunities, but he had never been able, always becoming tongue-tied or feeling frozen whenever he had thought of doing or tried to do so. He felt absolutely stupid when that sort of thing happened, but he never felt that Jenna considered him an idiot. That was another thing he liked about her. The fact that he was part-wolf didn’t matter to her, either, and that was one of the things he liked the best. How attractive she was wasn’t his focus, but it was a fine feature nonetheless. He closed his orange and yellow eyes, bringing her gorgeous face into his mind’s eye, and sighed again, breaking into a full-fledged grin.

As he kept thinking of Jenna, he heard slapping footsteps on the slanted deck behind him. They failed to break his reverie. Stopping shortly behind him, the owner of the feet smiled, observing the look on Balto’s face. “I believe I know what you are thinking of tonight,” said Boris. Balto looked back toward him. “Jenna,” he said softly. Boris smiled. “I thought so. I can always tell, when you have that look.” “Seeing her, or even just thinking about her makes me feel so…alive. My heart starts racing, and I get a feeling inside like I’m flying.” He looked back at the moon. “I wonder if she feels the same when she looks at me.” Boris looked up at the moon, too, and they stood there silently for a moment, Balto lost in thoughts of Jenna, and Boris lost in thoughts of Balto being in love. Balto closed his eyes, sighed again, and opened them. He looked absently out over the snowdrifts that extended toward Nome and started to look away, but then stopped and looked back. A relatively short distance away, there was a dog approaching the ship. Balto had excellent eyes, and he looked harder to see who it was. When he finally did see, his face brightened and he stood up. “That’s Jenna!” he said excitedly. “I wonder what she’s doing out here.” Boris shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows? I didn’t even know she knew where this was.”

Out on the snow, Jenna stopped walking, feeling so nervous she had to stop and take a deep breath to keep her trembling down. Simply showing up at Balto’s home unannounced seemed rather impolite to her, and apart from that, she was worried that it might make Balto feel awkward or embarrassed, considering the feelings that they had given each other glimpses of before. Deciding to go through with it and hope he wouldn’t mind, she was about to start again when she saw a shifting reflection in the ice. She looked up. The aurora borealis silently swept the sky, its green and blue waves mixing to form a soothing display. She stared into it, and her nervousness faded away, her mind filling with thoughts of Balto, thoughts stemming from the memory of the two of them under the hospital. She could almost see his face up there, the one that she had seen after he had saved Rosy’s new musher’s hat, and Rosy had said that he had done it just to show off to a pretty girl. When he had smiled at her, he looked so…full of love. That very face, with that smile, had been in her mind’s eye at least once every day since she saw it. Longing suddenly tugged at her, pulling her toward the ship. This and her other emotions built to a turbulent peak as she walked up to the long plank leading up onto the ship’s deck. “Here goes,” she thought.

Balto and Boris didn’t have much more time to think about how Jenna knew where they lived; she was about to come aboard. Boris hastily walked to another part of the ship, obviously wanting to leave Balto alone with Jenna. “Here goes,” Balto thought. He took a deep breath and smiled as Jenna stepped up onto the planks of the deck. “Hi, Jenna,” he said. Jenna turned towards him. “Hi, Balto,” she replied. They both stood and stared at each other for a moment, each noticing how the other brightened at seeing each other. Balto couldn’t help but think of how lovely Jenna looked. Eyes of almond, a gentle color; the red fur, neither deep red nor bright red, accentuated by her bright red bandana and possessing a beautiful glow that was especially noticeable in the moonlight; the cream fur that played opposite the red in an attractive pattern; all of her fur soft, seeming to invite a gentle caress…

Jenna could tell that Balto was admiring her. Something came up in his face that told her so whenever it happened, especially in his eyes. She looked down shyly, silently wondering at how it was that this attention made her shy only when it came from Balto, and not from anyone else, why it secretly pleased her coming from Balto, but from no one else, no matter how many times males offered it. She looked back up at him, struck suddenly at how handsome he was, something she had never truly dwelt on before. What a face he had; the features his wolf side had given him attracted her, those eye-pleasing traits; his tall, sharp ears; a strong face with well-defined features; his rugged fur; those powerful, burning eyes. Not to mention all the lean muscle on the rest of him… A sensation of weightlessness came upon her, almost taking her breath away.

Balto walked over to Jenna. “How did you know Boris and I lived out here?” he asked. “I saw you walk off this way,” Jenna said, “and I followed your scent.” “Oh. So…what can I do for you?” “Well, I, um…” Jenna said, “I…just wanted to say…” She struggled for words, and then finally just looked up at Balto and wrapped her paws around him, allowing him to return the gesture. “Thank you,” she said quietly, her voice full of gratitude and pure joy. “Thank you for saving Rosy’s life. You saved the whole town, Balto. I know we can never repay you, but thank you.” Balto squeezed her tightly, and they moved apart. “You’re welcome, Jenna. It was nothing, really.” “I’ll do anything to make it up to you. Just name it; whatever you want.” “No, that’s alright.” “Okay. It’s just, what you did was so selfless and brave…you don’t know how much I admire you for that, Balto.” “I, ah…” Balto said, sounding nervous. “I actually, um…well…I mostly did it…for you.” Jenna was shocked. “F-for me?” she stammered. “But…” Suddenly, sadness washed over her face, and she averted her gaze from Balto’s eyes as tears welled up in her own. “I don’t deserve it, Balto,” she said. “The town doesn’t deserve it, and I know I don’t, either.” Balto’s face took on a look of compassion. “Aw, Jenna, what do mean you don’t deserve it?” “I’ve been just as bad as everyone else. I never stood up for you, and I know you know that.” Balto smiled comfortingly. “Well, look,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t care if or not you stood up for me. I’ll tell you what matters to me.” He looked into her eyes. “All the time I’ve lived here, you have never once said one thing about me to put me down because I’m part wolf. You’ve never shunned me, turned away from me, anything like that, at all.” His voice became thick with emotion. “Do you know how much that means to me? Never having to worry about that coming from you? That’s what matters to me, Jenna, and it’s a big part of why I did it for you. Do you know how much of a comfort it’s been to know that I don’t have to take that from you? You did deserve it. You’re right; I didn’t owe the town anything, but Rosy…she was like you; she didn’t look at me and see a wolf-dog; she just saw me. I did it mostly for her, too. And you know, even though everyone else treated me so badly, I just felt so sorry for them and all those kids…I really wanted to do it.” Jenna smiled at him, and he hugged her again. “Besides,” he said, “you stood up for me. Remember when I was the fastest dog in the race to see which dogs would go to Nenana, and Steele said no musher would put me on his team? You stood up for me then.” “I guess you’re right,” Jenna said. “I just feel like I could have done something more.” Balto shook his head. “You did everything I could have wanted.” They sat there for a moment, looking absently at the moon.

“Jenna,” said Balto, “there’s