Invasion: Chapter 3: Highs and Lows
Balto couldn't stop talking about what Mika had to say to him earlier. That entire evening, all he and Jenna were able to converse over was what the Finn had told Balto about his life, how he ended up in Nome, and why he just hated the place. Like Balto, Jenna was fascinated with the details. Even on the way home, there wasn't much either one could say about anything else aside from how the pups were doing. While walking home, both Balto and Jenna passed by Mika's house. They had to in order to get back home. But while passing, they both heard what sounded like someone singing and playing a guitar coming from inside. The voice was unrecognizable at first, but Balto could tell it wasn't Mika.
"Is that him?" asked Jenna.
"No," replied Balto. "That may sound Finnish, but that's not Mika's voice."
The only other sound was that of steam hissing. Up close, Balto could barely hear anything over the steam. He was, however, able to peak in through a small window. Mika and his brother, Kaj, were both taking a bath in a sauna that Mika had added to his house after he moved in. Aside from both of them having a towel around their waists, only Mika was wearing anything else. Namely, a navy blue ball cap that had an Old English "D" on the front. It was a Detroit Tigers baseball hat.
Kaj, who was sitting adjacent to Mika, was holding a black, single-cutaway acoustic guitar on his lap. His hair was the same shade as Mika's, but was styled in a mushroom cut and was a bit shorter. But there was no ignoring any resemblance. They clearly looked like brothers.
Balto had no idea why they were sitting in a steam room wearing only bath towels. All he could see of them was from the waist up. After a minute, he finally got the nerve to speak.
"Mika?" he asked.
Mika quickly jumped to his feet, wondering who had just called his name. He even drew out a Colt revolver that he carried for protection.
"Who goes there?" Mika asked, his voice sounding tense.
"What is it?" Kaj asked.
"Thought I heard something," Mika replied. He then walked slowly to the outside door and opened the window. Balto was out of his line of sight.
"Who are you and why should I care?" asked Mika.
"Mika, it's me," Balto said "Balto. Remember? The dog who came to apologize to you for the tripping yesterday."
"What are you doing here?" asked Mika, who had to look down to see who it was. "And why were you peeking into my sauna?"
Mika had somehow managed to catch a brief glimpse of Balto looking through the window.
"I heard something coming from in here," Balto replied. All he could still see of Mika was from the waist up, and he didn't know what to think. "Uh, Mika? Are you naked?"
"No," Mika responded, waving his ball cap, "I am wearing a hat."
"What are you doing?" asked Balto, sounding very confused.
"Well, Balto," said Mika, stepping outside and shutting the door and window behind him with his towel around his waist, "back home, we believe that to rejuvenate the body and soul, you take a hot sauna bath and then follow that up with an ice cold snow massage."
"What do they follow that up with, a heart attack?" Balto asked.
"No, no," Mika replied, "actually it's quite invigorating. I also use it to relieve sore muscles after a workout. And besides, how else can you be able to walk outside in the middle of winter wearing just a bath towel?"
" I guess that's the only way possible," said Balto. "When did you put in this sauna?"
"Aren't we curious tonight," Mika retorted. "If you must know, I added it after I bought this place. And to think, I wasn't even out of my parents' house for ten minutes before my dad started putting one of these in where my bedroom used to be."
"Man," said Balto, "at least you're parents are cool. I don't know of anyone else who's cool enough to put in one of those."
"Come watch them use it," said Mika, rolling his eyes. "Not so cool. Believe me, one time in there with them, you'll never wanna go into a sauna again. I got extra room if you want to join."
"Uh, thanks, but not now," said Balto. "Say, who's the guy in there that was singing and playing guitar?"
"Oh, that's my brother, Kaj," said Mika. "He took up playing guitar while we were down in Detroit. He's really good at, although he's a better player than a singer."
"Really?" asked Balto. "I don't think he sounds too bad. Granted, I only heard a little bit, but he sounded good to me."
"Hmm," Mika said. "Oh, by the way, he knows you spoke to me. I came over to my parents' house for dinner after you left. It was a specialty night and I never pass those up. And somehow the word leaked out. Kaj especially thinks I've gone crazy."
"How dare he say that!" said Balto, almost exclaiming his choice of words.
"I don't know if he can even hear that," added Mika.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Balto protested. "Are you saying you're the only one of you Kykaliskos who can understand what I'm saying?"
"I didn't even know I could," said Mika.
Balto reached up and scratched his head with his left front paw. Now he was really perplexed.
"Now I'm the one who's entire perception of reality has been thrown into question," he said. Mika didn't even bother asking why. He already knew.
"I hate to barge in, you two," said Jenna, who had been listening in at a slight distance, "but we should head home soon, Balto. It's getting late."
"Yeah, you're right, Jenna," Balto answered back. "Well, goodnight, Mika."
"Yeah, goodnight, Balto," said Mika. "Kaj's probably wondering if I'm still alive."
After Balto and Jenna took off, Mika picked up his gun, which he hid behind a rock, and went back inside.
The next morning, Mika stepped outside, ready for one of his workouts. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, and trail shoes. Long distance running was one way that Mika kept in shape during the hockey off season. He even ran during the winter. But during the summer, after the snow had melted, he had little or no alternative.
The warmup consisted of a 10 minute jog from the back door of his house to the beach. There, he did some stretching before starting the real run. The course was one that Mika had setup himself. It started on the beach, went east for half a mile, then turned inland and headed north for a mile and a half. A pole marked the turn. After heading inland for one mile, the course went right-left-right-hairpin left in quick succession. More poles marked the remaining turns. After that it headed west for a half mile before turning north again. This was followed by a hairpin left, and a quick right towards the nearby mountains. The course then went up to a nearby series of hills and then back down the other side before turning south for two miles towards the beach. Then it was another two miles back towards the starting point. The route had not varied since Mika first came to Nome. In the winter, he would attach snowshoes to the bottom of his trail shoes to avoid sinking into the snow. He wouldn't need them today. Just the will to run.
Balto had repeatedly seen Mika on these runs and thought of joining him for one. He was waiting at the pole that marked the starting point.
"Hey," said Mika when he reached the pole. "Didn't expect to see you out here."
"Oh, I always come out here in the morning," said Balto. "Since it's a Saturday, I don't come out at the crack of dawn. I'm surprised you never noticed."
"Well, I usually run in the evenings," said Mika. "But yesterday was an off day for me. This is the one place I can go besides my house and nobody tell me what to do. Besides, I've usually been training alone since I came here. Nobody can keep up with me."
"Maybe I can," said a voice from seemingly out of nowhere. Kodi was standing a few feet away, having come over to do his own practice run.
"Oh, great," said Mika, who had started stretching. "Now I know I'm going insane. That's three dogs that have spoken to me in the last 24 hours."
"What?" Kodi asked, not understanding the full extent of the situation.
"I can answer that," replied Balto. "When I went to apologize for tripping him, I inadvertently blurted something out loud, he heard it, and now thinks he's on the edge of having a nervous breakdown."
Mika gave both of them a cross look. "I never said I was on the edge of having a nervous breakdown," he finally said. "I said I was delirious from being away from home for so long."
Kodi looked really confused.
"Look," he added, "unless you two brought cinder blocks with you, one of you is going to have to sit on my feet while I do some sit-ups."
"Can't you keep your feet down yourself?" asked Balto.
"I've tried," said Mika. "It's not easy. They either keep lifting up or sliding around."
Balto reluctantly walked over and sat down on Mika's feet. After doing 40 sit-ups, Mika got up, ready to run.
"How long is this run gonna be?" asked Kodi.
"Eight miles," Mika replied. "I have a course laid out around the outskirts of town. I use these long runs to build up my endurance for hockey season. For most of the game, I'm skating up and down the ice. To do so quickly, speed is obviously important. But it all means nothing if you can't sustain that speed for very long. That's right, endurance is equally important."
"Fascinating," added Kodi. "I'm hoping to move up to lead dog, so this should help."
"Well, then," said Mika, "let's get started."
Mika and Kodi trudged over to the starting pole and started to run, with Balto following close behind. After a few seconds, all three of them took off down the beach.
For the most part, Kodi and Balto both kept pace with Mika, although the Finn's incredible agility left them struggling to keep up through the turns, especially the quick right-left-right-hairpin left complex. But once on the
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