this little town is so out-of-the-way that it missed the news about the diphtheria and the antitoxin and me. This is my only chance to be…normal.”

          She stared at him for a minute, and then started nodding. “Okay.” She kissed him tenderly on the cheek. “I understand. Though for the record, you would never pass for normal.”

          He grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

          “Uh, Jenna?” Cooper said.

          Jenna turned back to him. “Sorry. What?”

          Cooper looked uncomfortable. “Um…Ruby says she’ll be here tonight to…say goodbye to Mom. With us. Talon says he’ll be on the lookout for Trey.”

          Jenna nodded. “Okay.”

          “Ruby? Trey?” Balto said, “Who are they? More siblings? Where’s everyone coming from?”

          “Cooper lives here in Stanton, as well as Ruby, my sister,” Jenna explained, “My brother Trey lives in White Mountain. From what I remember of him, he’ll make it here any way he can. Probably on foot.” Her eyes suddenly shut, and her paw scrabbled at her orange bandana. “And Lake…”

          Cooper froze, intently watching Jenna’s face.

          Jenna forced out the words, “And my brother Lake is dead.”

          Low, angry voices from the shadows broke the tension. There were two, one male, one female, both arguing and hissing insults at each other.

          “Are they all right back there?” Balto asked.

          Talon shrugged. “That’s just Lila and her new boyfriend, Sanctus. They’re always fighting. Lila is one tough chick.” He heaved in a deep breath. “Hey, you two. KNOCK IT OFF!”

          There was a growl, a whimper, and then silence.

          “Maybe someone should see if they’re okay,” Balto said with concern.

          Talon whirled on him with teeth bared. “Oh, so now that you’re here you think you can just come in and try to fix everything and order everyone around! Well, let me tell you something. I do enough for these dogs without having someone else worry for me! If you’ve got anything to say, keep it to yourself! Got it?”

          Balto stepped back. His eyes were filled with worry, but he said nothing.

          Jenna opened her eyes and said in a hollow voice, “Mom’s service. Tonight, then.”

          In the soft light of an ivory moon, Balto, Jenna, and Cooper stood solemnly in front of Jewel’s plot in Rosy’s grandmother’s backyard. There was nothing to mark the grave but a small mound of brown earth and Rosy’s contribution – a thin wooden square with JEWEL written on it in wobbly red marker and a picture of a red flower drawn on it.

          Two more dogs silently joined them, and though Cooper and Jenna didn’t lift their heads, Balto turned to look.

          The brown and white husky with a muscular build and piercing steel-gray eyes had to be Trey, Balto reasoned, while Ruby was a red and white, brown-eyed beauty like her sister, only smaller in frame. They nodded to each other, but the somber occasion drew no need for words.

          They encircled the front of the grave in a crescent shape, staring at the name illuminated by the moonlight. Finally Ruby spoke, her voice soft and low: “At least she’s with Dad now.”

          “And Lake,” Jenna said, her words quivering.

          Trey snorted, but it caught oddly in the middle, as if he were holding something back. “If Lake were here, he would be telling us to get over ourselves and get on with our lives,” Trey said gruffly, his voice rough.

          Ruby pushed him with her paw.

          “I think you may be confusing Lake with yourself,” Cooper said drily. They fell silent again.

          Balto felt uncomfortable, as if he was invading something he couldn’t understand, somewhere he didn’t belong.

          Jenna’s paw came out to rest lightly on the overturned earth. “She was beautiful,” she murmured.

          Cooper grunted.

          “Kind,” Ruby said.

        “…Forgiving,” Trey muttered with a watery shine on his eye. “Especially…to me.”

          “The mother-in-law I wish I could’ve met,” Balto added quietly, hoping he had said the right thing. No one else seemed to react, but Ruby nodded in approval.

          “I wish we had some kind of gift to leave her,” Jenna said, “Flowers or photos or…” She seemed deep in thought for a moment, and then lowered her head so her bandana fell onto the grave with silent grace. “Dad’s bandana,” she explained softly with a small smile, “Lake’s bandana. It’s the power of the bandana, as Lake would say.”

          It was a second before Balto saw a tear fall.

         Then from the depths of her soul, a song poured from Jenna’s lips and hung frozen, fading, on the frigid night air:

“Closer to me

I’m tired and I’m weak

And every breath within me is longing just to be

Closer to you

So I face the road ahead

‘Cause I know there’s no comparing to what’s waiting at the end

So let the rain start falling where it will

And I will run through this valley just to climb to that hill

And if they ask why I’m smiling

After all I’ve been through

It’s ‘cause I’m just a day closer to you

Closer to me

I hear you whisper in the wind

You say although my life is fading a new one will begin

Closer to you

And I know I’m not alone

‘Cause I can hear you in the distance saying you are nearly home

So let the rain start falling where it will

And I will run through this valley just to climb to that hill

And if they ask why I’m dancing

Though my days may be few

It’s ‘cause I’m just a day closer to you

Closer to me

You’re in the laughter and the tears

Of the ones I leave behind me who have prayed me through the years

Closer to you

And I know it won’t be long

Until you’re running down the pathway and you take me in your arms

So let the rain start falling where it will

And I will run through this valley just to climb to that hill

And if they ask why I’m singing

Though my life’s almost through

It’s ‘cause I’m just a day closer, I’m just a day closer

I’m just a day closer to you…”

          The night’s quiet after Jenna’s song was a second soothing melody. The orange bandana lay like a fiery blossom without a stem, without a source of life, and Balto noticed Jenna looked odd without the scrap of cloth, as if a part of her was missing, as if she was leaving something behind. They all were.

          “Goodbye, Mom,” Ruby whispered. All the siblings turned in unison and padded away. Balto scrambled to catch up.

          When they were nearer to the house Jenna stopped to force a smile to her lips and hug her sister. “It’s good to see you again,” she said, her voice quavering, “I’ve missed you so much.”

          “It’s good to see you, too,” Ruby murmured, “Though not under the current circumstances.” They both laughed, but the laughter was sad instead of happy, its dissonance shredding the peaceful night like breaking glass.

          As Cooper greeted Ruby, Jenna turned to Trey and offered a wry smile. “I do remember you don’t like hugs.”

          Trey rolled his eyes, but you could tell he wasn’t entirely annoyed. “Just get it over with. And make it quick.”

          Jenna obliged, and then