Balto 4: True Self, True Heart

Balto and Jenna gazed upon their new litter, happy as ever to finally be parents! There were six puppies, all divided up in gender. They named the one who looked most like Balto, Aleu. The one who looked most like Jenna, they named Kodi. The one who was right in the middle, Dingo. The red-faced one was named Rayoni. Nanuiq was the one with the red nose bridge. And finally they looked at the last pup. They both were amazed at her beauty, even at birth. They named her Saba.

As the pups grew older and began to walk, run, and play, Balto and Jenna put them up for adoption. They were in a wooden box, waiting to be taken by a kid. First, Dingo was taken by a nice little boy. After that, Rayoni got adopted. Then a small girl picked Saba up. She really liked her and decided to keep her. Saba waved back to her old family, and smiled at the new, thinking about all the things she would do when she was old enough…

Three years later…

Saba, a fully grown and beautiful wolf-dog, decided to go visit with her parents to tell them the big news. She forgot to tell them hours ago because she was all up in the excitement. She whimpered to Carla, the girl she lived with. Carla sighed, not from frustration, but from humor I guess. She let her out and the moment she walked out the door, there were a few dogs saying hi to her. She said hi back even though she didn’t even know who they were. When she came down the porch steps, again, more dogs saying hi. This was a typical day for her. Everyday since her first birthday, or sometime even before that, she has been getting all this attention. Some for being so beautiful, and some for being the daughter of the town’s hero. At that time, she didn’t mind it. In fact, she was so used to it, she even liked it a bit. As she was trotting toward Jenna’s place, two dogs, one around Saba’s size and the other half the size, ran toward her shouting her name. Saba stopped and turned around. She wagged her tail at the sight of them. These two dogs were her best friends since they both came to Nome. The one around her size was an Akita called Jess, and the small one was an Alaskan Klee Kai, which was a miniature Husky. Her name was Kila.

Saba slowed her pace so they would catch up to her.

“Oh my gosh Saba! Guess who was checking me out today?!” Jess shrieked.

“Who?” Saba didn’t seem interested, but pretended she was.

“Luke, the coach of the mail team!”

“Jess, I saw this with my own eyes, he didn’t even look at you.” Kila said calmly.

“Oh please! You’re barely tall enough to see anything. Burn!”

“Wow.” Kira whispered to herself.

“Anyway, he totally looked at me and WINKED!”

Saba gasped, sounding surprised. “Winked? Are you sure?”

“Of course! I have told you the truth ever since I met you.”

“Either that or a pretty lame interpretation.” Kila whispered to Saba. Saba giggled, but stopped as soon as she looked at Jess.

Kila rolled her eyes. “Anyway, you’re commin’ to the party tomorrow right?”

“For what?” Saba asked.

“Are you kidding? You’ve only been talking about it since forever! It’s the one-year anniversary of when we all first met!” Jess told her.

“Oh right! I forgot for a moment because I was on my way to my mom’s place.”

“Why?” Kila asked.

“Well, I haven’t told her the news yet.”

“WHAT?! You are part of the fastest news spreaders in town and you haven’t told your own parents yet?!” Jess shrieked once more.

“Tell them, NOW!” Kila finally yelled.

“Okay, okay!” Saba said as she ran as fast as she could to Jenna’s house. But she only ran for a few seconds when ANOTHER dog stopped her. He was the most annoying out of all the dogs in Nome.

“Hi Saba!” He said in his usual peppy voice.

“*Sigh* What is it, Aitu?” Saba asked, already annoyed like always.

“Where ‘ya headed?”

“Just going to my parents place. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“I’ll walk you!”

Saba stopped him immediately. She had been through this a million times with him. What? Does he even HAVE a brain?

“Aitu, we went over this. You seem like a nice dog, but I like to have my space.”

“I give you plenty of space. Now all you need is me.” He winked at her in a way that made Saba want to puke! Out of all the “Saba fans” in the world, Aitu was the most desperate to be her mate.

“Please, just…I have to go.” And she ran away before Aitu could say anything else. He lowered his head and growled to himself as he watched her leave.

“Some day, Saba, you’ll be mine. Just wait. You’ll fall for me eventually…”

Saba, after all that nonsense, finally reached her mother’s house. She scratched on the door lightly and in no time Jenna nudged the door open. She brightened up when she saw her.

“Hi Saba. What brings you here?”

“I came to tell you some good news. Is Dad here?”

“Yes, he’s just inside.”

“Thanks.” Saba said as she walked in. By then she saw Balto lying on a rug by the fire place, which wasn’t lit yet. He shifted his position when he heard the noise and saw Saba with Jenna. He smiled.

“Hello Saba. Enjoying the day?”

“Yes. And I have some important news.”

“…What is it?” Balto asked suspiciously.

“Don’t worry Dad, I’m not pregnant or anything.”

Balto sighed in relief. “That’s good. So what’s the news?”

“You know how you couldn’t go to the dogsled race this year because of your leg?” Balto broke his back leg awhile back. But it seemed much better now. He could actually walk fine, but Jenna wanted him to stay. Protective mother, you know.

“Yes. Did you race, Saba?”

Saba nodded, her face getting brighter.

“You…you made the team?” Balto asked.

Saba nodded so quickly she felt as if her head was going to break off!

Balto and Jenna cried with joy and hugged Saba.

“Now you’ll be just like me! Oh Saba you’re going to love it! The fresh air, the wind in your fur, the feeling of excitement at every turn…” Balto rambled on and on about how much fun Saba would have on the mail team. Too bad Kodi moved to White Mountain for another dogsled job. Otherwise he would have given her some pointers.

Saba was glad that her parents were so happy for her, but…was she glad that she was going to be in a new experience? She never has been in a harness or ever pulled a sled in her life. How will it affect her life now?

She decided not to think about it since the team was going to have its first practice run in a few weeks. She would have time.

Saba’s parents kept telling her that they were so proud of her, especially Balto. He just loves the fact that his own children were taking the same interests as him. Saba just wanted it to end. It’s hard to listen to something you have heard a million times! She still smiled and said thank you, and when the day was finally over, Saba couldn’t wait to get back home. On the way back to her house, out popped the face of someone she really disliked.

“Aitu, save it. I’m really tired and just want to sleep. Please, for me, would you just leave me alone.”

“But how can I leave you knowing you could pass out at any moment? I need to be at your side to make sure you get home safely.”

Saba sighed deeply in an aggravating way. “I can walk fine. I just want peace and quiet.”

“Don’t worry! I can keep my mouth shut! I can walk without making a single sound. It’s one of my specialties!”

“Is one of your specialties listening to someone when they say GO AWAY?”

“Now Saba, no one is good at everything.” He said with a smile. Saba groaned. She was never going to get rid of him!

“Aitu, if you want to make me happy”-

“YES!”

“LEAVE!!” Saba made a stern face that told Aitu it was final. Aitu jerked his head back a bit, then looked at her with sad eyes and just…left. Saba was a bit surprised when he started to leave. But she still kept her stern face until he was gone. It was weird. He never did that before in all the years he wanted to spend every second with her. Now Saba felt kind of bad for him. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, just trying to help. But he needs to learn not to be so overly helpful. Saba looked once more in his direction and left for her home. When she finally came through the door, Carla put down her hair brush and hugged her. Carla was always a bit worried about Saba, but she knew that she would have a busy day like always. So she went back to brushing her hair and Saba jumped up on Carla’s bed. She went to sleep quickly and dreamt. But this dream was a little unusual because it was a nightmare.

Saba talked with her parents, saying that she didn’t want to be on the mail team. Balto was very angry at her and attacked her. She ran out the door and saw a bunch of dogs saying, “I hate you! Why don’t you want to be like your dad. You’re so stupid, Saba!” Even Jess and Kila turned their backs on her. Saba started to cry. But then a voice shook her awake at once.

“Saba? Girl are you okay?”

Saba’s eyes finally opened to reality. She fell of Carla’s bed and Carla was sitting next to her, ready to cry. Saba’s head went forward to lick Carla on the cheek to tell her she was okay. Carla hugged Saba.

“Oh, girl! I’m so glad you’re fine. Can you still jump up on the bed?”

Saba answered that with a jump onto the bed. Easy, she thought.

A few minutes later, Carla was fast asleep again, but Saba was wide awake wondering. Would she like it on the mail team? Would her dad be angry with her if she didn’t? Would everyone accept her for who she is? She didn’t want to find out.

The next morning, Saba barely got any sleep, so she slept and extra hour. But the next time she opened her eyes, Jess and Kila were standing right in front of her. Saba screamed.

“What the heck are you guys doing here?”

“We came to see if you were okay. Everyone is talking about your fall last night.” Jess said.

“What fall?”

“You know, you fell out of bed last night. What happened?” Kila asked.

“Oh. I just had a nightmare last night and I fell out if bed. No bigie.”

“Really?! What was it about?” Jess loved a good nightmare story.

“Well, I was just telling my dad I didn’t want to dogsled and he attacked me. Then all of my friends, including you two, never spoke to me. And when you did, it was to put me down. I started to cry and I woke up and realized I fell from the bed.”

“Wow. Do you really hate dogsledding?” Kila asked her.

“I don’t know. It looks exciting when Kodi does it. And it sounds cool when my dad tells the story of how he saved all those kids from dipheria. But DOING it, I’m not sure.”

“I’m sure you’ll love it. You’re one of the few girls to actually join a sled team. You’ll be more popular than ever!”

“Oh…great. More attention is exactly what I need.” Saba meant to be sarcastic but she isn’t really good at that.

“See? It’ll be awesome.” Jess said to her.

“I just hope you’re right.” Saba sighed. But then she got up, deciding to forget about it. “C’mon guys. I’m already an hour late. I don’t want to mess up our schedule any more than I have.”

Jess and Kila just shrugged their shoulders and followed Saba out her front door. And just like all the other times, a few dogs were already waiting for their greeting. Now Saba completely forgot about the dogsled thing. For a minute.

Out of the corner of her eye, Saba saw him.

A golden husky with bronze ears and a silver collar was walking down the same street Saba was on. The second she glanced at him she held the position of her eyes. Kila was the first to notice.

“Saba what are you looking at?” But Saba didn’t answer. Instead Kila followed Saba’s gaze to see a nice looking husky on the way over there. Kila tapped Jess’ shoulder and she just shot her mouth open at the sight of him. The husky was talking to some other dogs, probably his buddies, and he took one glance at Saba. Saba shifted her eyes away so she wouldn’t look like some sort of stalker.

“Who…who IS that?!” Jess asked. “Forget Luke! Dibs!”

“C’mon Jess! That’s against girl code. Saba saw him first.” Kila argued. “Besides, Luke is a nice dog.”

“Yeah but you said it yourself. He didn’t even look at me.” Jess hung her head low.

“I’m sorry, Jess. I guess I was just…jealous. I wanted Luke, too.”

“Aww. So he DID look at me. And WINK?!”

Kila nodded her head.

But when Jess was about to scream for joy. Saba shushed them.

“The husky’s coming!”

The three girls watched as the stranger approached them.

“Hi.” He said. Jess and Kila fainted. Saba just smiled.

“Hi.”

“You’re…Saba right?”

“Yep. You were a little hesitant on my name? Wow that’s a first.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, It’s just I haven’t met anybody yet who didn’t really know who I was.”

“I’m new here. That’s probably why. I got your name though right?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Well, I just figured out that you and I are going to be team mates.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, for the mail team.”

“Oh right. I’m a little nervous. It’s my first team.”

“Really? I’ve been on plenty. Maybe I could teach you some stuff about it sometime.”

“Yeah…That would be nice.”

“Cool. By the way my name is Nao. I’ll see you around Saba.” Then he walked away and out of sight when his master took him. By then Jess and Kila shot back up again.

“O…M…G!!! You actually TALKED to him! How was it?”

“Jess, calm down. It was just a conversation…with a guy that looked like a golden angel!”

“Ohhh. You should totally go out with him!”

“Kila, I just met him. I’m taking it slow this time. Remember the last boyfriend I had?”

“Oh yeah. The day you met him you picked flowers for him, sang songs, ya even tried to kiss the guy! Next thing that came in the gossip news: Young, freaked out dog purposely stows away on a plane to the outback.”

“That’s why I want to take it slow so that would never happen again.”

“So Saba, do you want to dogsled NOW?” Jess asked.

“Well…” Saba pondered. “I’ll give it a whirl. I mean, what’s the WORST that could happen, right?”

“Yay!” Kila cheered. “So, do you remember what goes on tonight?”

“OUR ANNIVERSARY!” The three friends chanted together.

“Hey Saba, you should ask that husky to come.” Jess told her.

“Oh I don’t know. I just met him and…”

“Aw come on. It’ll give him a chance to get to know you better. And vice versa.”

“Ok fine. Since I like the kid I’ll ask him, but I don’t know where the heck he lives.”

“Just leave that to us, Saba. Remember, we are professional gossipers, and we need info on everybody, and the latest dirt. We’ll find out where he lives.” Kila said.

“Thanks guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”