The evening sunshine sparkled on the snowy streets of Nome. Children dived in and out, wrapped up like furry bundles, shrieking and shouting and laughing. Jenna watched them playing from the porch of her house, the very picture of serenity. Suddenly two dogs appeared and seeing Jenna, they barked a greeting. Jenna got up and ran towards her best friends.

"Dixie! Sylvie! How are you today?" Jenna greeted them.

"Urgh, I feel awful!" Dixie groaned, not to Jenna's surprise. "My fur hasn't been washed in ONE WHOLE DAY, and if I leave it for much longer, I'm afraid my serious skin condition will start to break out again, you know how sensitive my skin is..." Jenna rolled her eyes at Sylvie, and switched off her ears to Dixie's rambling speeches about how terrible her life was, which in reality it wasn't. Infact, most dogs would kill to get the pampered, luxurious life-style which Dixie took for granted. They began to stroll down a narrow alley, and soon found the favourite place where they chatted, the barrel stack. Each settled them self on their favourite barrel and it was only a few seconds before Sylive blurted out-

"Have you two heard that there's a new guy in town?" The other two looked up, obviously interested. Sylvie saw the hungry look in Dixie's eyes and she sighed. "No Dixie, not a new dog, a  new human!! Infact he's...RIGHT THERE." The other two whipped around to see a rubbery-faced man with a lop-sided smile and small piggy eyes. He was wearing a dusty brown coat and heavy boots which clomped on the snow as he walked. Jenna felt her body tense, he was heading straight for them. Suddenly a leather-gloved hand reached out. Jenna's lip curled in warning, nothing was going to stop her from biting him if he......was stroking Dixie. She was making soft purring noises as he caressed her smooth, glistening fur.

"Such a pretty little lady. No doubt a pedigree class Lapso Aspo. I'm telling you, you don't find fur like this every day!" He gave her one last stroke before walking away, smiling to himself. Jenna warily took a sideways glace at Dixie, and she looked so smug Jenna was nearly sick.

"Did you hear that girls? He called ME pedigree class! Finally someone who recognises my true potential! He was obviously a showman, who couldn't help but recognise my beauty and charm as he walked by. Well it's not easy looking this wonderful, believe me! You just try 7 hours of beauty sleeep on goose-down cushions, and once a day's shampoo of natural ingredients and hibuscus and nectarine fragrance, and special mostuirisers for sensitive skins, and I tell you, I will only ever eat top quality dog chum made with the best nourishing reindeer meat ! So as you can see, looking so amazing can tire you out so much...."

Jenna stared at her friend in vexation. How could someone be so vain? But Dixie carried on.... "I mean, I feel it's my responsiblity as a female to look my best and make the most of my appearance, wouldn't you agree? (Before they could even answer she went on) Well, there are a lot of people out there like that show-man who I need to impress, and I do the best job I can. Some girls have it easier than others though, all some have to impress are rough mongrel hybrids...." Jenna stopped her train of thought, and whipped around to face Dixie. Her hazel brown eyes burned like two fire coals, boring into Dixie's soul. Dixie's mouth buttoned up sharpish, but Jenna got up and leaping off the pile of barrels, she began to circle, snarling upwards at Dixie.

"So, after all Balto has done for you, you still consider him as a street beggar? After he survived the blizzards and the ice caves and the forests, to bring back the supply of medicine that would save your little girl's life, and everyone else's children aswell? After he proved to you that he was the greatest hero ever to live? You are still narrow-minded enough to think of his ancestors and mark him as a low-life. You arrogant snob!Well I'll tell you something, Miss.Butter-Wouldn't-Melt, if you stopped turning up your polished nose at everybody, perhaps you'd find someone who's decent and patient enough to accept you as a mate! But not until then!....GOODBYE!" With that she strode off, her silky tail held high in the air, her mind seething with rage. There was a tiny part of her that regretted what she had said (even though she believed every bit was true) but ANYONE that insulted Balto  insulted her aswell. Besides, she wasn't going to go back and beg for forgiveness, not now- Dixie wouldn't get her satisfaction.

"Jenna! Wait! I'm....sorry!" Dixie called helplessly after her, but Jenna had gone. After that, she looked at her paws, grumbling bitterly to herself. Sylvie looked uneasy, and made a move to step off the barrels, but Dixie's voice cut through her actions. "Well, are you running after her, or staying here with me?"

                                              *******

Jenna stormed into the kitchen, her brow bent in an angry frown. Balto looked up at her from the rug he had been dozing on, surprised to see her so angry.

"Can you believe her?"

"Who?"

"Dixie!! That conceited snitch! You wouldn't believe this, she called you a.....a filthy mongrel hybrid!"There was a slight pause. Balto shrugged casually.

"It's what I am, I guess." he said bluntly.There was something about the look on Balto's face that made the two of them burst out laughing. Jenna beamed at him. 

"Oh, Balto. You're not a mongrel. You mean the world to me." She exclaimed, and nuzzled him affectionately. Then the thought dawned on her. She, Jenna, was the only one out of the three friends that had had a sucessful family life. She had found her soul mate, and they were devoted to eachother, and had been blessed with a big family of strong, healthy pups. Why wouldn't Dixie be jealous of that???? And it was a good chance that Sylvia too was a tiny bit jealous of her. It was a sickening thought, but the theory seemed to tick all the boxes. Dixie was jealous of Jenna's happiness.

Now that she was home again and had had that talk with Balto, all Jenna's anger had washed away. There was only sadness and confusion, and all she wanted to do was be alone and think about what had happened. She curled up in her basket, and breathed in it's warm, comforting smell. She slowly banished all thoughs from her mind, drifting into a deep sleep.

"Jenna. JENNA!" Jenna felt a tufty, shaggy muzzle nudging her. She groaned and opened her eyes. "Jen, you were thrashing around in your sleep, I thought it best to wake you." She groaned again.

It had been her nightmare.

Her old nightmare.

Balto smiled at her. "Anyway there's somebody who wants to see you at the door." Jenna rasied her head sleepily, still half in a dream-world. She padded through the rooms until she found the front door. She opened it to find Sylvie staring wide-eyes at her.

"Sylvie! What are you doing here at this time ?" Jenna yawned.

"Jenna, it's Dixie." Suddenly the memories of yesterday came flooding back to her. Jenna had to stop herself from snarling. She turned away from Sylvie, she wanted nothing more to do with Dixie. What did she want now? To apologise? To insult her even more? Well Jenna wanted no part of it.

"Jenna please....I don't know where she is.....Nobody does." Jenna turned around slowly, and saw that her friends face was streaked with tears, and desperate.

"What do you mean?" Jenna said warily. "You mean she's dissapeared, just like that?" She expected Sylvie to burst out laughing, and say how gullible Jenna was. But she didn't.

"Yeah. Her owners are really scared, they've called out a search but nobody can help. I've asked loads of dogs but none of them have seen her since last night...." Jenna stared into Sylvie's eyes, and could tell she really meant it. "Jenna, I need your help, this is really scary." Jenna smiled at her friend, and put her paw next to hers.

"Ok." She whispered.

So began the search. They asked every dog in Nome that they knew, if they had seen Dixie recently, but none of them had. They sniffed around crates and alleways, looking for anywhere that Dixie could be hiding. They even began to look in the forests on the outskirts of Nome for a sign that could lead them somewhere. The thought of Dixie the Pamper Queen roughing it out in the woods would have made Jenna howl with laughter, but things were getting serious. Suddenly Jenna felt guilty.

"Sylive, could Dixie have run away...because of me?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows." Sylvie muttered. This was an extreme possiblity. Dixie would want to make Jenna feel guilty, to make her look like a criminal, a muderer. And the others would make Jenna feel like that too. Then suddenly she'd appear out of nowhere, back from the dead. She'd be welcomed like a hero and Jenna would beg forgiveness and then...Dixe would be satisfied. Jenna suddenly felt sick to the stomach. They finally returned home, empty handed. There was only one other place they could think of - Applegate, the nearest village.

Jenna wandered through the streets of Nome, exhausted after a day's searching. She passed a fluttering  piece of paper that was tacked to a lampost. On it was printed a picture of Dixie, and aboce it the words: 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS DOG' in huge black letters. She sighed as she walked onto her porch. Her font door opened and a stream of mellow light flooded Jenna. Suddenly she was engulfed in a massive Rosie-like hug that nearly crushed