the dog in question, along with every occupant of every home within a three-block radius. Such a wakeup call had not happened since Paul Revere’s ride in Boston. The dogs were not amused. A few of the more polite comments included a complaint from Kodi that Toby had learned the “Early to bed, early to rise” part of his training all too well. One of the new dogs put it more bluntly, saying that Toby had “Lungs too big and a brain too small.” As for how the people took it, well, there were a lot of barefoot people in the streets later retrieving their shoes.

Toby finished his morning exercises with a one-dog concert on the musher’s front porch. “All right, all right,” came an irritable voice from inside.

Toby frisked about as the other dogs were strapped into their harnesses, and it was all the musher could do to buckle him in without tangling both of them. “Save your energy,” advised Kodi. “You’ll need it for the run.”

“I can’t,” said Toby. “I’m too excited.”

“I’ll say,” muttered Ralph. Toby’s tail was whipping back and forth, slapping Ralph in the face with every wag. “It’s bad enough to get up this early in the morning, but this is just crazy.”

Toby firmly willed his tail to stop. ‘Come on, come on,” he said impatiently as the mail was loaded onto the sled.

“Kodi!” came Dusty’s voice. She came running up the street panting. “You weren’t going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?” she asked.

Kodi smiled. “Never,” he promised, nuzzling her. Then his voice got concerned. “You shouldn’t be running around with puppies on the way.”

“Oh, let me have some fun!” she protested. “I’ve still got time.”

Toby glanced toward the back of the sled. “Yeah, but we don’t.”

The musher stepped onto the back and cracked his whip. “Mush!” he cried.

“Bye, Dusty!” called Kodi. “I’ll be back soon!” And the team took off like a shot.

At first, Toby pulled like a dog possessed. But after a warning from Kodi, he slowed his pace and matched with the rest of the team. ‘Right,’ he thought. ‘Remember your training.’ Focusing on the other dogs, he settled his paws into a smooth, even rhythm. Unable to see past Kirby and look out for changes of terrain on his own, he remembered Kodi’s lessons and focused on the ropes connecting him to the dogs in front of him. By judging the changes in traction from the shifts in the way the rope tugged and vibrated, he managed to avoid slipping on slick patches and stubbing his feet on rocks. It was not something he’d had the opportunity to practice, but he learned quickly.

‘I miss him already,’ thought Luna as she stared at the tracks the sled had left in the snow. She hadn’t realized until now just how much fun Toby was to have around…or how boring it would without him. ‘For crying out loud, Luna,’ she thought to herself. ‘He’s only been gone for an hour…plus however long he was gone before you woke up.’ That was what really bothered her. She lived in one of the few areas that hadn’t been awakened by the morning’s rampage. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to see him off.

“You miss him, don’t you?” asked Terry as if reading Luna’s mind. The two of them had come to the post office only to find Toby already gone.

Luna nodded. “Yeah,” she admitted. “Kinda silly this soon, isn’t it?”

Terry smiled. “Not at all. I miss him too.”

Luna snorted. Not a contemptuous snort, just a snort. “Yeah, but you’re his mom. Of course you miss him.”

Terry smiled. “And you’re his best friend. So of course you miss him.”

Luna shrugged. “I guess I should be happy. I mean, he’s living his dream, right? So why do I feel like suddenly everything’s gone?”

Terry tilted her head. “Well, don’t you have any other friends?”

Luna shrugged. “Yeah, but…well, there are some things Toby…understands about me that I can’t tell anyone else.”

Terry seemed to guess what Luna meant. “You mean like…” and she tapped a pipe lying in the road. A steel pipe. Luna nodded. “Do you two talk about that a lot?” asked Terry.

Luna shook her head. “Almost never. It’s just…nice to be able to, you know?”

Terry shrugged. “I guess that does make it hard. But don’t worry, you’ll find other friends. And then there’s Dusty to consider. I’m sure she’d getting pretty bored right now.”

Luna cheered up a little with that thought. “You know, you’re right. I guess I’ll go see how she’s doing,” she said, trotting off.

Terry smiled. ‘I’m glad Toby has such a good friend. I wonder if…no, it couldn’t be. Could it?’

Luna was hoping a visit to Dusty would take her mind off of Toby’s absence. ‘Besides,’ she thought, ‘Now that she’s part of the family, I should get to know her a little better.’ She went to Dusty’s house and slipped inside, creeping along stealthily past the lady of the house, who was busy washing dishes. Luna had a gift for charming her way into places, but she liked sneaking better.

She found Dusty lying in a basket in the living room, enjoying the warmth of the fireplace. Dusty lifted her head and smiled when she saw it was Luna. “Hi,” she greeted.

“Morning, Aunt Dusty,” smiled Luna.

Dusty laughed. “That sounds so weird. ’Aunt’ Dusty.”

“Oh. Would it be better if I just called you Dusty?”

She shrugged. “I can handle either one.”

Luna nodded. “Okay, Aunt Dusty.”

Dusty smiled, then suddenly made a face and shook. “Ugh,” she uttered under her breath.

“Are you okay?” asked Luna.

“Yeah. I just get sick to my stomach sometimes. It’s part of the…you know.” She looked out the window and sighed. “I’m glad you came here. It’s good to have someone to talk to.”

“Are you by yourself most of the time?” asked Luna.

“Nah. My owners haven’t left me alone in the house for the past week.” Suddenly she let out a prodigious yawn. “Sorry, I get really tired lately.” True to her words, a few more minutes of conversation saw her fast asleep. Luna picked up the blanket in her teeth and draped it over her sleeping aunt. Then she quietly slipped away.

Coming out the door, she bumped smack into two other dogs. “Oof!”

“Luna, is that you?”

Luna shook her head and realized that the two dogs she had run into were her sisters, Phoebe and Haley. Both of them had been adopted by the same family, and even though they were almost complete opposites, they were practically Siamese twins. They were also a flawless gossip machine. Haley listened to the latest dirt, and Phoebe spread it around like a puppy shaking a vacuum cleaner bag. “Hi,” said Luna. “What are you doing here?”

Phoebe giggled. “We’re checking up on Dusty, silly.”

“Well, sorry,” said Luna. “She’s sleeping right now.”

“Okay,” said Haley. “Come on, Phoebe, let’s go.”

Phoebe nodded, flipping her head up and down so fast that her nose resembled a diving board. “You wanna come with us, Luna?”

Luna shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.” After all, it had been a while since she had seen them.

“Great!” yipped Phoebe.

Haley rolled her eyes. “Whoopdee-doo,” she muttered. And with that, the three dogs headed down the street.

Phoebe tolerated the silence for about five seconds before she started talking again. “So, Luna, how’ve you been?”

Luna shrugged. “Oh, it’s been okay. Kind of boring without Toby.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” griped Phoebe. “You two caused more disasters every week than any three dogs in Nome. What are we supposed to spread around now?”

“Ever try not gossiping?”

They looked at her as if she had completely flipped her lid. “What else are we supposed to do?” asked Haley.

Luna didn’t know what to think about that question. “You could go for a walk, chase some birds…”

From the looks on their faces anyone would have thought she had just uttered a string of bad words. “We’d get dirty!” protested Phoebe.

Luna laughed. “How can you get dirty when it’s all snow?”

“We’d get cold and wet,” Haley said. “And our fur would get messed up.”

‘Not a bad idea,’ thought Luna.

“Or worse,” Phoebe put in, sounding as if she might scream in terror or burst into tears at the mere thought, “Break a nail!”

Luna rolled her eyes. ‘Sissies.’ She was beginning to remember why she had been so eager to explore outside when she was a puppy, and it wasn’t just the wolf in her.

At the end of the day the musher pulled the team to a halt and set up camp. The other dogs, much to Toby’s confusion, started digging in snowdrifts. “What are you doing?” he asked.

Kodi looked at him in surprise for a moment, then slapped himself. “Oh, that’s right, I forgot to tell you. When we stop in the middle of the woods, we dig little dens to spend the night in.”

“In the snow?” asked Toby.