absolute reality hit them hard. But Sinopa spoke, still reeling mentally from the blow. “You’re a wolf.”
    Kirby completed the thought, understand just what such a statement meant. “They will kill you, or drive you before them from the city. Fear them. Fear the ones who hate you for what you are inside and out.”
    Sinopa continued again, “We can’t live our lives out of the fear of what mysterious strangers are going to do to us because they disapprove of us.”
    “Sooner or later…” Kodi whispered, leaning his head against Kirby. “They hate us all. Every thing and every one. Whoever “they” are, they never run out of hate.”
    “And if we’re going to get hated, we’re going to be hated. We can’t stop it. We’ll take that risk.” Aleu looked straight into her mother’s wavering eyes. “You did.”
    Jenna pressed her face against Balto, weeping softly. Balto smiled at his clever children and the clever mates they had chosen for themselves. “If you need a place to live, you can live here. I promise I won’t act like an alpha to you. There’s lots of room.”
    “No thanks, daddy. Sinopa and I will dig a den outside of town. She showed me how to make a nice one.”
    “And Kirby and I still sleep in the shed. We’re very discreet. And Kirby scares the other guys. Even Ralph.”
    “If that’s how you want it.”



    Outside of town, down the sled trail to White Mountain, there padded a little white shadow. His ivory tail swished behind him, while a jaunty tune emerged from his snow white lips. The red-eyed figure cast a last look behind him, to the sleeping town of Nome. The humans slumbered peacefully, unaware that their dogs paced the floors and whimpered out in the snow. As he had always intended to, Virgil had told the truth. Told everyone the truth. And a little white lie. He told people their deepest secrets and then told them a fabricated tale about where and how he had heard it.
    He was the fox that corrupted Nome. No question. Neat, orderly, entirely fabricated lives of imitation smiles and strained relations with the hated and unloved. All of that was gone. Replaced with honesty, bitter as it could be. Sour gall ran through their lives now, as they had to face up to the feelings they really held for each other. They would speak their hate and derision to the faces of their neighbors. It would be far from peaceful and orderly. But without deception and obfuscation, problems would not fester and become burning rage. Being in the open, they would be seen, commented upon, and fixed.
    Virgil smiled as he trotted, his pace modest and his steps even. He was in no hurry, down the road to White Mountain. Their secrets weren’t going anywhere.

~Fin

Zdravstvuyte- Formal greeting.
Rad s Vamee poznakomit’sya- Glad to meet you.
Do svidaniya- Goodbye
Tovarich- Comrade




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