Sweet little lies 2: Aleu Returns
By: Gabriel LaVedier
Note: The character of Mr. Virgil White is my creation. The rest belong to Universal studios. The name Sinopa comes from CatWhoHas14Tails. This is dedicated to her.
“You’re lying. She said that she was going away and would never come back.” Nome, Alaska. The chilly end of an eventful day wasn’t quite finished. The sun was going down, but the action was still pumping. As was Balto’s heart. It throbbed hard in his thick, barrel chest, surging his blood through him in perfect fight or flight response. But he didn’t fancy his chances against the only outlet for his anger, and he had nowhere to run, not if he wanted to protect his daughter. He didn’t relish the duty, but good or bad, right or wrong, she was still his daughter, and he had to defend her. From anything. Even his mate.
“Now, my dear sir, would I lie to you?” Beside Balto’s panicked form was a small fox, white from nose to tail with eyes red as smoldering embers. An albino. Mr. Virgil White, and all variants of that name. He had a smile on his face, one that never seemed to leave him no matter what, as though he was continually amused by everything that happened to him and those around him. “I don’t have a deceitful bone in my body. I speak only the truth. Most especially when I tell people their own secrets. And this is a monster of a secret, isn’t it, hero?”
“What am I going to do? Jenna will… Kodi! She’s still with him. If she finds out…” Heavy, broad paw pads crunched in the snow as the wolf-dog beat trail back to his boat, to get his mate away from their newly-revealed gay son, and his lover. He had to keep them apart. If Jenna reacted as he thought she might, she’d turn back to anger, and let it burn their son.
“And that’s why I always eat healthy before a big run. Lousy breakfast, lousy performance.” Back at the boat, things were going genially enough. Kirby, the big, brown hunk of handsome sled dog was explaining his rules and rituals for running, with Jenna listening patiently and Kodi, with hearts in his eyes and a flutter in his heart, hanging on every word. “How about you, any secrets that you know?”
“Me? Oh, I’m not a runner. Rosie barely takes me out on her little sled. But I do know that having a bandana can’t hurt.” Jenna nuzzled at her red bandana to emphasize her point.
“Mom! If I wore a bandana then I’d look exactly like you. And people get mixed up enough as it is. Last week Dipsy gossiped with me for twenty minutes before she realized I wasn’t you. But she did let me in on the neatest things. Guess who’s pregnant.”
“It’s Dusty! Gotta be!” Kirby piped up right away.
“No! It can’t be. She’s so young and has that great figure.”
“Kirby’s right, mom. Dipsy says Dusty’s got a few on the way. She’s hiding it, of course. And of COURSE she hasn’t told Ralph yet, but…” There was more to come, but Kodi never got the chance to say it. Because Balto leaped onto the boat and began shoving his son and Kirby off of the deck.
“Sorry to break this up, but it’s getting late and we’re not really set up for guests. And Jenna, don’t you have to get back to Rosie? I’ll bet she’s wondering where you are.”
“Well… Yes. But we could spend a little more time.”
“Don’t want to keep her waiting. And, son, I’ve seen that boiler room. All the good places get taken if you don’t get there early. Go on, we’ll talk more later.”
“A-alright. Goodnight, Balto.” Jenna leaped from the side of the ship, but cast a furtive glance back at her mate, who was at that moment looking over the edge as Kodi and Kirby leaped off. Something had put the fear in him. Fear enough to break up a peaceful conversation without a proper explanation. And she would have a proper explanation, sooner rather than later.
“This isn’t happening. This can’t happen to me. She swore that she’d live in the wild and never come back after… She was supposed to stay away…” Balto paced the pitched deck of his ruined ship, long after the moon had risen and the night had fallen. He fretted and shook his head, talking to himself and denying what he had been told. If he doubted it enough it might turn out to be untrue. Watching him from the rail of the ship was the albino troublemaker, smiling his perpetual smile.
“You sound like a broken Victrola. Calm down, daddy. Your little girl will be here in her own time. You can panic then. No sense in getting all worked up before there’s anything to be worked up over. Now, just sleep and relax. Honestly, you’ll give yourself a heart attack like this.”
“That’s fine for you to say, fox! You just have to trot around spilling secrets everywhere, you don’t have to live with their revelation.”
“You’re right.” The albino leaped off the boat, but called back, “I only have to live with the weight of all your transgressions that you’re all too weak to own up to.”
With a huge, heaved sigh, Balto collapsed onto the deck, with no blanket or padding. Just the salt-crusted wood. He looked down at the warped and blasted surface, considering the last statement. The only thing worse than keeping your own secret is keeping everyone else’s. The fox was filled with obfuscations, falsehoods and deceptions. And yet was the most honest creature in the world. He spoke truth, and never just spilled a secret despite the temptation.
“Balto! There you are. Why for having the long face, eh? You should be happy, yes! Mate is no more yelling at son, son is no more yelling at mate. Now you are having peace and quiet. That is what you wanted, yes?” From out of the sky winged Boris, the non-migratory Russian goose, who usually kept time with Stella. But she knew how much he cared for Balto, so she understood when he went to look over his canine charge. The son he didn’t have. Yet.
“It’s not that simple, Boris. I want Jenna and Kodi to be at peace. But I understand the reason that its hard.”
“What is so hard? I am seeing both of them with big lead dog Kirby, talking and laughing after they have fight. So there is no problem.”
“There is a problem, Boris. Kodi is… Kodi is…” The half-wolf muttered something under his breath and looked aside.
“Is what? Is what? Speak up, Balto. Hearing is not what used to be.”
“Boris. Kodi is in love.”
“Is good, then.”
“With Kirby.”
Boris’ face dropped, his old eyes wide in disbelief. “Is bad. What are you meaning, “In love?””
“I mean, love. Romantic love. Tender love. Love strong enough to make him stand up to Jenna, snarling and bristling, to defend Kirby and his feelings from all her doubt.” Balto rolled over onto his back to stare up at the stars. “The kind of love that I have for Jenna. That A… It’s real, Boris. This is something new to me. To Jenna. To everyone.”
There was silence then, a long, long while, with only the wind’s motion breaking the heavy stillness. Boris finally spoke, looking down at the deck. “You know, Balto, I am old goose. Have been around for a long time. Seen many things, heard many things. I have seen scared, skinny pup turn into great hero. I have seen not-a-dog-not-a-wolf become a father. I have seen sled dog become mate of wolf that no one ever loved. I have seen more impossible things than others will ever dream of in all of life. And now you think man in love with man is something strange? Is impossible? Is nothing! Love is love. And if is real enough to make Kodi stand up to Jenna, that is all needs to be said, yes? Be happy!” With an ungainly leap, the goose took off, with a final call of, “Be happy!”
“Boris!” Leaping to his feet, Balto ran down the length of the boat, following his vanishing father figure. “Boris! You don’t understand!” The old goose was a speck by then. A speck too small to hear him cry, “She’s coming back! And she’s not coming back alone!”
“I don’t know. I really wanted to tell Mel. But he overreacts to everything. If the plane is late, he panics, if it’s early, he panics, if it’s on time… You get the idea.” The next day. The sun was shining, birds were honking and warbling as it suited them, and Nome was alive with activity. Along the center lane of town was Dipsy, in front of old Mr. Guntersson’s general store, where she lived, and ate. With her was the albino truth teller, polishing his right fore claws on his milky chest ruff.
“I understand entirely. But you would think he knew something. You’re not THAT portly. Unless he lacks all reasonable common sense he should have known you were pregnant. What about when you were nursing?”
“I left the pups in the whelping box and kept my visits short.”
“And he never noticed a thing?”
“Oh he never does.” The heavy-set basset-mix sighed, and looked across at the post office. “Mel’s a good guy. He’s sweet, he’s kind, he’s neurotic. Why do you think I..? Well, you know. But he misses everything that’s not right in front of his face.”
“I really think you should tell him that your puppies were packed off and given away to people in other towns by the supply drivers. He’s the father, and he deserves to know.”
“I wanted to spare him the pain.”
“And your pain? Losing a litter so soon, and knowing their father never even got to see them? You can comfort each other, and work on a second that will have more male involvement, if you can train him to be
1368 visits
Report this fanfic
