received a message from your pal Barkley to remind you of the good ol’ days, when you weren’t such a bad person.”

“What are you talking about?! I- never mind. Just leave me to sleep!”

“If you don’t want to end up like your old buddy, I suggest we cooperate. Deal?” Scrooger thought for a second, then said. “Fine. But exactly why are you here?”

“To take you back in time, Scrooger. To a time where you were a growing, young pup. I’ll show you.” Balto ran to the window and opened it. He looked back at Scrooger. “Well, are you coming?”

“But I can’t fly because I’m a mortal. I will fall and hit the cold, icy ground.”

“Touch my robe and you will fly too.” Yes, he was wearing a robe.

Scrooger looked at him like he was crazy, but he did as he told him, and right before his eyes, he was floating!

“Alright, follow me.” He said. “Hang on tight!” and they both flew out the window.

Scrooger didn’t know much of what happened right after that. But he remembers seeing all sorts of different colors around him for a few seconds, which is how long it took him to realize that they were traveling at light speed! Then in a blink of an eye, they stopped. Scrooger, after his head stopped spinning, looked down. He saw the same town of Nome, but this was before Balto was a hero. They both flew down closer to town. He could now see all the happy faces saying the same thing, “Merry Christmas.” Some of the faces he recognized. But they were only pups. Scrooger wanted to say hi to them, but they didn’t listen. They were walking together down the street. He tried to tap them on the shoulder, but his paw went right through the pups! He screamed, and no one noticed him.

“Balto, what’s going on? No one notices me! And I walk right through people! Am I invisible?!”

“That’s exactly it, Scrooger. See, these things are from the past, and no one from the present or future can ever be noticed. It will change everything if that happened! This is the past, and no one can change it, bottom line.”

“Okay, but where am I in this past?”

“I’ll show you. Come.” Balto led him to a small school house for puppies. Scrooger looked inside the window too see a tiny brown puppy all alone in the building. He was crying and singing a sad song about being the only one in the world…that can at least understand him. Scrooger remembered this.

“That’s me.”

“Indeed Scrooger, you were neglected as a child, by everyone. You were one of the loneliest pups in the world. After school every day, you would stay, and cry for about an hour.”

“It’s so sad…” Scrooger felt hot tears fall slowly down his face. He didn’t care at the moment, for if you would see this scene, you would cry too.

“Come. You have more to see.” Scrooger wiped the last of the tears and came with him.

The colors thing happened again. They were still in Nome, but in a different part of it. Now Balto led him to a factory. A factory for making dog bones. Dogs actually worked in there (with the assist of humans). But that day, no one was working, and it was quitting time.

“I remember this. This is where I used to work, before going into the dogsled business.”

“That’s right, Scrooger. Oh look, there you are!” Scrooger looked inside the factory window. Balto was right. There he was. But his fur color was a little grayer than his puppy days, around 5 years old. But this time he was happy. Scrooger’s old work buddies and boss were in there getting the main room set up for a Christmas party. In a blink of an eye, hundreds of dogs were in there having the time of their lives in there! Including the younger Scrooger. Scrooger definitely remembered this. This was the night Isa, a beautiful and kind Husky, fell in love with Scrooger. All the other guys wished to dance with her, but she turned every one of them down. Then came Scrooger. She realized what a gentile dog he was, and decided to choose him. Scrooger was so happy, even the present Scrooger was smiling. Balto smiled too, even though this was the year after he died. The older Scrooger wanted to view the party more closely, so he jumped through the wall and landed in the room. Still, no one noticed him, but he knew that now. Then, just when he looked up at the lively scene, all of the dogs, whoosh…vanished. Leaving only the empty room, except for the young Scrooger and his old factory buddy. They were cleaning up the last of the messes, and then everything, even the room vanished!

The colors flashed before his eyes once more, and now he was in a room, more specifically, Isa’s house. Isa was a poor dog, but not as poor as Crust. She still lived with humans, but they have little money. Isa and Scrooger were sitting on a couch, a little torn and ripped.

“Scrooger, I can’t.”

“Why not, Isa?”

“I’m not sure that you’re the same dog that danced with me last Christmas.”

“What do you mean? I’ve always been the same.”

“Scrooger, you don’t understand.” Isa’s voice was calm as usual.

“My family is losing food now, and I can’t afford it. And ever since you first saw me, you thought I was rich. Is that the real reason you loved me? Because of food?” Scrooger looked away, mad that his love wasn’t rich.

“But, food is everything! It helps you survive the bitterest of colds, and the scorches of heats. It helps you live. And what’s better than living? See, I’ve grown so much wiser.”

“Scrooger, love is more powerful than any amount of food.” Isa walked to a table and looked at the snow globe on it. It was a picture of a horse tied to a sleigh with people on it, holding each other in their arms. “Do you remember the sleigh ride we had last Christmas morning?” Yes, Scrooger did remember. He looked back at her, smiling a bit. Isa went on. “We never noticed it was snowing. In fact, we thought it was summer, it was so warm.” She chuckled, then frowned again. “But now, since you started that job, you’ve been making huge amounts of food, forgetting that food can’t buy true happiness. Now that’s all you ever cared about, thinking it’s the only thing that can make a person smile.” Isa’s voice was still calm.

“Isa, I love you.”

“But not for the reasons I think. Would you rather marry me, a girl who’s father had very little food, or someone who is as rich as a queen, or could be a queen if she wanted to?” Now Isa’s voice started to rise. Scrooger looked at the ground, silent. This was a tough question for him. Isa’s patience ended.

“Then you don’t know what love really is! Goodbye, Scrooger!”

“Please, Isa. You’re the prettiest girl I have ever met.”

“Get out! You know you don’t care about me! So why don’t you just leave?!”

“I do care about you! But I wish that you only had more food.”

“See? This is why food can’t buy happiness! It turns dogs into greedy jerks with not a single pinch of love in their hearts! I never want to see you again!!”

“But Isa”-

“I said…OUT!!!!!” Scrooger finally ran out the door. Isa slammed it and locked it.

“No Isa! Please don’t leave me” The older Scrooger said.

“She can’t hear you remember?” Balto pointed out.

“Oh please Balto! I don’t want to see any more of this! I want to go back home!”

“I’m sorry, but you have two more ghosts coming your way.”

“No please! No more I beg of you!” He closed his eyes. “Please don’t do this to me! I don’t deserve this!” Scrooger opened his eyes. He was in his bed again. As if nothing happened…

Scrooger looked at his clock. 5 minutes till one. Had it all just been one big dream? It had to be. There was no other explanation. He walked to the window just to make sure his clock wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t. The sky was just as dark and silent as it did when he went to bed.

“It was just a dream after all. There are no such things as ghosts! What was I thinking! Humbark!” He pulled the sheets over him and fell asleep for only a minute. Then he woke up to the smell of food. Scrooger got up immediately and ran to the food on the other side of the room. Boy, it was more than a feast! It was like a mountain of food! And sitting in a golden chair in the middle of this fine hill, was the next ghost. It was covered entirely of a robe so Scrooger couldn’t see who it was. It didn’t matter to him much anyway, because he was close to fainting when he stared at the beautiful, glorious food! His mouth was a faucet, drooling all over the floor. (gross). He jumped to dive in it, but he was blocked in mid-jump. It was like some sort of invisible shield! He heard rustling on the golden throne so he looked that way. Another dog came out of the robe and stretched. Then it put the robe back on. Scrooger noticed it was a girl, red and white/cream markings.

“Finally, I thought no one wouldn’t resist the food, until now. Nice to see you awake again, Scrooger.” Now Scrooger completely remembered who she was.

“Oh I know you. You’re Balto’s mate Jenna. Rosie’s dog. Umm, what are you doing here?”