never had.” 

The goose nodded his head, understanding his feelings. “Ah, to love . . . such a wonderful feeling, yes?”

Balto returned his head to its normal position and laughed. “Yeah, it really is a wonderful sensation, but then again, you’ve never truly been in love before, have you?” The gander’s face turned straight, showing that the hybrid was indeed correct. “Oh, cheer up, Boris! You’ll feel this way when you fall in love with the right goose . . . one day, hopefully.” Balto rubbed one of his front paws on top of the goose’s head, messing up his white-down head. 

The sun was just beginning to fill up the horizon with its bright orange and yellow hue when Balto placed his large forepaws on the top rail of his boathouse’s deck. He looked out at the town where his lover was most likely sleeping by her mistress’s bedside. He took a deep breath and let it out loudly.

“Ah, it’s feels like another wonderful day! Don’t you think so, Boris?” He turned to his friend with gladness. 

He sighed. “Oy! I suppose so.” He watched as Balto leaped over the wooden railing and landed on the sand and grassy ground below.

The wolf-dog looked up at his companion, barking at him. “Hey, Boris! Wanna come with me into town? I’m going to check up on how Jenna’s doing. She due any day now, and I just can’t wait to meet my new shining stars in my life.” 

Boris lifted his large hind-end up onto the railing and suddenly dropped onto the ground, landing on his behind. “I might as well come with you, Balto. I still suggest that you get some more rest though!”

Each passing stride that the wolf-dog made towards the quaint and tiny town of Nome caused his feathered friend to feel even more nervous about Balto’s sudden anticipation and health.  

“Balto, are you sure you’re all right?” Boris continued to question his adopted canine son. “I mean, this is serious!”

“I know, Boris,” Balto stopped at the halfway point between Nome and his land-ridden boat by the shoreline – a large wooden totem pole that was just recently commissioned by a group of Inuit natives in honor of Balto’s heroic rescue earlier that year. “I need more sleep, which I will get as soon as I know Jenna’s okay.” 

However, Boris had known that ever since the hybrid had found out that he was to be a father, his routine was the same every morning: after recovering from his repetitive nightmare, he would travel into town to check up on Jenna’s condition. He would smile with awe whenever she would rise from her bed, showing him her growing belly; ever since last week, she was swollen heavy with pup, almost to the point of not being able to move as easily as she used to. They usually spent time around Rosy’s house and on occasions, they sat outside, chatting with local dogs about their growing family. Many of them offered their congratulations to the purebred and the wolf-dog, for most of them had accepted Balto’s different breeding; but as with every situation, there were a few canines that still disliked Balto for being part-wolf and were furious about the fact that Jenna was carrying pups that would be born with lupine blood in them. No matter what others said about them, Balto and Jenna had a feeling that once their children were born, their love for each other would always remain steady, while their lives would never be the same ever again . . . and somehow, Boris must have sensed this as well.

The snow goose slapped a wing over his face. “That’s not what I meant . . . well, I was thinking that earlier,” The goose remembered his previous worry from earlier that morning but quickly got back to the point. “But that’s not what is even more important! What about your dream? Remember?” 

Balto let out a heavy sigh, his head relaxed as he turned to his guardian. “It’s just a dream . . . no, it was a nightmare.”

Boris, realizing that this was for the best, sat down beside him, asking, “What happened in this nightmare that has you so worried? It can’t be all that bad, right?” 

Just when Balto began to explain his frightening vision, not a single one of them noticed the faint lining of mist covering the ground underneath their paws, webbed toes, and the totem’s base. It shrouded the grass and dirt, causing it to appear faded and almost gray; it seemed as if some higher power was with the two creatures’ sides at the very moment.

“Oh, my . . .” Boris muttered after his friend concluded his account of the nightmare. He consoled him with a hug as he tried to make sense of the severity of the situation. “I didn’t realize that, Balto. Perhaps this dream is trying to warn you that something important is going to happen to you soon, but what it is . . . I can’t understand. The fact that you and Jenna appear in the dream must mean that it’s something only the two of you would know about –”

The gander was interrupted by a faint yipping that seemed to come from town limits. Balto and Boris stood up with their heads erect, wondering who could be approaching them so suddenly. When the barking noise grew louder and clearer, the creature was within view. It was a small canine – a silver and gray terrier, to be exact – bouncing and yipping non-stop with an urgent expression on his face that made Balto nervous and yet at the same time, he was curious by the dog’s actions. The tiny dog’s green scarf flapped in the air and against his long-whiskered muzzle as he finally arrived to his appointed destination in the nick of time.

“Aye, Balto! I’ve finally found ye!” He yipped as he spoke in a high-pitched Scottish accent. His leaping halted when he finally got his audience’s attention. “Come with me! We haven’t a moment to lose!” He ran behind one of his forelegs and unsuccessfully attempted to push against the wolf-dog’s tan leg using his head. “Come on, come on, slowpoke! We must hurry!” 

“Why?” Boris asked, holding his head in confusion of the terrier’s actions and words. “What’s the big hustle and bustle, eh boichick?”

The white and gray dog ran a bit ahead of them, stopped, and continued his yapping bark of alert between phrases. “Aye, it’s terrible! Terrible! The stork has landed, but we may be too late!” He leaped a few times in the air, stomping the ground softly when he landed. “Hurry! We must hurry, or we’ll be too late! Arf! Arf!”  

Balto’s eyes widened once the terrier’s words clicked in his head. “Oh no! Jenna!” He lunged forward, stopping once he caught up with the much smaller canine. “Take me to her! Quickly!” He ordered him with a serious tone. Obeying the local hero’s wishes, he barked and ran forward towards the entrance of a alleyway that led to the doctor’s office.

Boris, still confused by the terrier’s sudden announcement, scratched his head. “Too late for what? And what does a stork have to do with Jenna?” His eyes shot open after speaking those words, realizing what the news was. The gander let out a gasp, his feathered fingers between his teeth. “Oh dear! This might have to deal with Balto’s dream and Jenna!” He quickly waddled past the totem pole and into the town limits, screaming. “I’m coming, Balto! Wait for me!” 

The two dogs hurried through the street corners and shadowy passageways as they panted and flew down until they reached the safety of the lit-up doctor’s office. The terrier stopped, sitting down at the base of the first step, allowing Balto towards the white doors that led into the lobby. The doors were shut tight, so there was no way he could enter that way. He rushed down the steps and peered through the brightly-lit glass window, hoping that he would see someone familiar that would open the door for him. He smiled slightly at the sight of a familiar young six-year old with long auburn hair, but his expression changed once he noticed her own face. Her head was slumped, leaning against her mother’s side, her green eyes lowered and filled with tears. Her mouth was moving, but her voice was inaudible as she cried.

Boris has finally arrived to the scene, panting and clutching his feathered breast to catch his breath. Once he noticed the wolf-dog’s pose of worry, he climbed the white wooden stairs and wrapped a wing around Balto’s scruffy neck, curious about what was happening. “What is it, Balto? Where’s Jenna?” 

“I . . . I don’t know, but something doesn’t seem right,” he sniffed as he placed his paws onto the windowsill, still looking at the family’s actions and getting more worried with each passing second. “Just stay here, Boris. I need to go find out what’s happened to Jenna!” He leaped over any obstacles in his way and turned the corner, heading towards the connecting boiler room, the same one that he had always taken Jenna to many times before. For the first time in a couple of years, he was about to enter the passageway solo with Jenna only with him in his mind.

The gander let out a quiet breath as he continued his vigil from outside of the window; the terrier scampered around the steps to join him, his urgency vanished as he jumped onto a nearby storage cellar and peered into the glass. The doctor had approached the worried family of three and said something to the two parents without the little girl being able to hear. The two parents clutched each other as the doctor kneeled beside the sniffling child, placing his hand on top of her head after wiping away her thin streams of tears. He stood back up and allowed the couple into the doctor’s examination room. The girl reached her tiny hand out, gripping onto her parents’ coats, trying to stop them from entering the back room without her by their side.  

A few dogs, mainly the gossip hounds and sled dogs that the terrier had just ran to and spread the critical information based on what he had seen in the past few minutes, began to gather around the window, watching the girl and her family follow