On a normal day in Nome, they sled dog team was out by the bay splashing around in the water and giggling.                                   

"Hey Kodi, how come we haven’t gone to get the mail in so long?" asked Ralph. He had asked this plenty of times yet Kodi knew he probably wouldn’t stop if he didn’t answer.

"Because the weather has been so bad on our route, they won’t let us go until that storm is over." he replied.

"That’s weird, because it’s so nice here. Even the water is warm." said Dusty.

They all forgot about the route of the mail and went back to giggling and splashing. Balto and Jenna watched from a distance. Suddenly Aleu came up behind them.

"Hey dad, hey mom." she said. "Where’s Kodi? I need to talk to him."

"He’s over at the bay with the team." replied Jenna.

Aleu ran off the find her brother splashing Dusty.

"Hey, Kodi, come here!" she yelled at him. He came bounding on up to her asking what was wrong. "It's Dingo's owner. He wants to give away Dingo-- well I guess not give him away, but ship him all the way to the other side of Alaska!!" yelled Aleu. She was very uneasy about the idea.

Kodi stood there blank. The thought of his brother being shipped so far away made him shiver. "Why do they want to do that?" asked Kodi now uneasy too.

"I think they want to make him into a show dog. But why do that? Why Dingo? His pelt isn’t even in the right shape!" Aleu was now starting to yell at the top of her voice.

"That I wouldn’t know Aleu, but how are they going to ship him anyway? He gets sea sick....I think anyway."

"I don’t know Kodi; they can’t fly him by air..... Anyway there is a letter that his owner wants to send. It tells everything. We have to read it!" said Aleu. "no." replied Kodi. "None of that is our business. But do they want us to deliver it all they way on the other side of Alaska?!" Kodi was now very uneasy. If that was what was expected of them then he would be unprepared. He had never traveled that far before.

"I don’t know. I guess so." replied Aleu.

Kodi's eyes got very big. "We have to tell the others on the team." said Kodi. "But why would they want to send off Dingo anyway? That’s so stupid!!" yelled Kodi. "I know it is... but that is what they want to do. And were no Dingo's owner...we can’t control what he wants to do." replied Aleu. She let of a sigh and walked away.

What was Kodi to do? He was able to accomplish being the lead dog, but he wasn’t ready for this, and his father was now too old to come with him this far...and then Dusty, what if she got hurt? She was the one of the only two dogs on the sled team. What if she got hurt?

He feared the time she almost fell over the cliff during the race against the plane. She was fortunate on that one.

He let out a long sigh and went to join the others. He tried to act like nothing was wrong.

Later on in the Day Kodi went home to the small ship he and his dad lived in. He was up all night thinking, wondering, what if they got lost? What if someone got hurt?

He tried to stop thinking but all he could do was toss and turn.

When the sun rose he had dark circles under his eyes....but he couldn’t tell… he had too much worry. When his mother noticed she got a little worried too, but about his rest, not the journey he might have to make. She made him go to sleep. Once he was finally able to he slept until mid-day.

"Where have you been Kodi?" asked Dusty. "I have been awake all night, that’s where I’ve been." he sighed. He knew he had to tell them the story.

Once he had completed telling them they were all in shock, of course, not about the journey ahead, but about Dingo. They were all such good pals with him; they couldn't seem to let him go so soon. 

"What are you guys saying?" asked Kodi, "You shouldn't be afraid because of Dingo! You should be afraid of the journey we will have to accept! Someone could die you know!" he shouted. Everyone went blank.

Finally Dusty responded, "Kodi were upset about both, but you should be worried about your brother more. Have you even talked to him about it?" she asked. "Well....no." responded Kodi. Everyone looked at each other whispering.

Kodi tilted his head thinking,

 Maybe I should have talked to him....I don’t even know if Aleu is telling the truth...no! No! I have to go see him! Now!

Without anything else said he ran off toward where Dingo lived. Once there he saw Dingo inside the house sleeping on his dog bed. Kodi grunted and started barking. Dingo lifted his head up so fast he hit his head on the top of the table the bed was under.

"Ow!" he shouted. "Kodi, What the-" He went out of his doggie door and met his brother. "What was that all about huh?" he asked. Then he knew that his brother knew everything.

"Is it true?" asked Kodi blank. "Well is it?"  He asked tears now streaming from his eyes.

Dingo let out a long slow sigh and repeated the story Aleu had told. By the time he finished Kodi had calmed down, but wet spots still drenched his red fur. "Have you told pop?" He asked. Dingo acted like he didn’t know who pop was. "That means dad…" Kodi repeated to remind him. Finally Dingo knew what he was trying to say. He responded "No. I didn’t want to. What if he got all upset and tried to bite my owner like the wolf he is?" replied Dingo.

Kodi couldn't believe what his brother had just said. His father wasn't like that, just because he had wolf in him didn't mean he was stuck up or something!

"What you think because dads’ part wolf would do that? Aleus part wolf, do you think she would do that to your owner? Huh?" Kodi replied letting anger overflow him. 

Dingo went blank.

By this time Kodi was running to Aleu to tell her what his brother had said about their father.

At the moment, Kodi didn't care if Dingo got shipped off so far away he would never be seen by Kodi again, all he cared was that he made sure his father, Aleu, and everyone else knew about it.

Once told to Aleu she was just as angry as Kodi. But they were able to go to sleep that night.

When sun high came a meeting was held for the sled dog team musher’s. All the sled dogs listened from underground. It was all true; Kodi's sled dog team WOULD be delivering the letter. And it would only be in 3 days. Now Kodi had his mind set on this again, he wasn't nervous though, he was only determined. 

Determined to get the letter through.

                                                ***

3 days later everyone was standing in a crowd waiting for the long hard journey to start. All sled dogs were wrapped in their gear and attached to the sled.

They were ready.

The gun blew and the journey began. Sniffing the whole way Kodi was sure he would be able to recognize all the scents on the way back. They had no problems getting there; it was a piece of cake. No snow, no catch ups with bears or moose, no frozen over lakes. The only problem they had was that the snow was a little mushy, but no problem for the team.

Once they arrived they all took a break. Ralph muttered over how he got cramps, Kirby growled as he told how he had had yet another bad breakfast every day they had set out after rest. Everyone else chuckled and believed that it would be an easy way back, especially Kodi. He had thought this would be hard, now he was laughing over the entire thought.

A little water and some "doggie chow" and they were off.

A little ways up the road from where they had delivered the letter, came a bad blizzard. Dusty warned, "Kodi! We have to find shelter!" yelling at the top of her voice because wind was blocking off almost all sounds except itself.

But Kodi hesitated. He kept trudging. And to his surprise, the second problem they had was a frozen lake. The entire team stopped.

"How do we make it across this?" He asked. "I don’t think us can." replied Ralph.

"Sure we can.......me hope." came from the voice of Dusty.

"You’re lead dog!" came from a voice of one of the back dogs, Shorty. "Yeah, do something!" came from her brother Cliff.

"We'll figure something out." said Kodi. He started taking light steps over the thin ice. One by one each dog took baby steps, at least until the sled hit it.

A loud crack came from under their feet.

"Oh no!" yelled shorty. The ice started breaking, each dog tried to run, but it was almost hopeless with the weight of the sled.

Finally Kodi called out "Undo the sled!"

Shorty and Cliff reached back and snapped the cord with kept them together.

The musher held on and the sled balanced on a large chunk of ice and the dogs balanced on another.

"What do we do now?" asked Cliff.

Kodi looked around for something to maybe jump across to or hold onto. But there was nothing in sight. "Were going to have to swim for it." said Kodi. To his