It was a warm summer day in Nome. Not a single cloud was in the sky. Some phoebes were flying by whistling chu-weer! and frolicking about under the sun. A few people were walking in the streets, talking to each other or just taking a stroll on that fine day. A few dogs barked to each other in the distance. Then, from down the street came Star, a lean gray sled dog who should have been celebrating his birthday today, but he had forgotten when his birthday was. Instead of celebrating, he sauntered into Nome as usual in order to occupy his time during the summer when sled dogs were of little use for transporting goods. He stopped immediately to take a look at the toy store. He gazed into the crystal clear glass to see all the queer and intriguing objects inside. He saw many toy hoops inside and many other objects. He saw one of paricular interest to him. It was a simple box. Watching a boy cranking the handle on it, he was surprised when a little man popped out of the box the boy was holding, and the boy immediately squealed with delight. He pestered his father into purchasing it. Once outside, the boy set the box down to play with it, but instead ran back into the store to get his father. Star noticed the box was closed and unattended now, so he decided to figure out where the little man in the box had gone to. He held down the box with one paw, and operated the crank with the other. After a while, Star noticed the little man would not pop out of the box, so he decided to investigate. He looked over the box to see if the man was supposed to come out there. He lost his balace, and tried to grab the crank, which slipped away. Out came the little man who greeted Star with a headbutt to the lower jaw.

"OW!", Star exclaimed.

"Are yous messin' around with other peoples' stuff again?", queried a familiar voice. From behind Star came Nikki, a stout but muscular husky, and Kaltag, a talkative and very intelligent husky.

"Kaltag! Nikki! What are you doing here?", exclaimed Star.

"We're here everyday. Don't you remember that?", answered Kaltag.

"I forgot some things after someone punched me for something I can't remember..."

"Well, you should just stop playing with those toys. They're for humans.", said Kaltag in an interruptive manner.

"Umm, Kaltag? Don't we have some imporrtant things to do?", said Nikki.

"Wait! What?! Oh yeah! We gotta' go, Star. See ya' later!", Kaltag stated rather hurriedly.

"Wait! Kaltag! Can I come?!", shouted Star just as Kaltag and Nikki ran around the corner and out of earshot. Star was left there confused and alone. He decided to go find someone else to talk to as he crossed the street and went into an alley. He looked for anyone to talk to, but that particular alley was completely abondoned. He checked the next alley, and found some feral dogs sleeping the morning away. He decided to look for flea-free company elsewhere. Suddenly, he remembered Balto. He immediately made a beeline to Balto's boat. Dashing towards the boat, he found no signs of life except for a grizzled old Snow Goose named Boris, who was swabbing the deck of the derelict watercraft and humming the tune to March Slav."Hey, have you seen Balto, Boris?", Star questioned. Startled, Boris quickly turned around and muttered something under his breath. Star's eyes lit up in hopes of finding someone to talk to, but his hopes were quickly dashed when Boris dropped his cleaning supplies and disappeared below deck. Star's heart sank as he realized that nobody wanted to talk to him that day. He then remembered the boiler room. "Surely someone has to be there!", thought Star. He ran to the door of the boiler room only to find it locked, and he finally decided to go back home and sleep the rest of the day away, for no one wanted to talk to him. He dragged his paws down the sidewalk and sullenly headed for home when something caught Star's eye. The door to the boiler room had creaked open just a bit. Star mad a mad dash for the door, shoving it out of his way. He entered only to find a dark and dank abandoned room. The boiler was lifeless with its usually bright and vivacious dancing flames now completely out, and the room looked as though if it had not been used for centuries. Then, a spark caught Star's attention. The flame burst into life with all of its vigor and started to roar as though if it was announcing its return to the world. Suddenly, Star was filled with glee as Balto, Nikki, Kaltag, and Boris were in front of him.

"Why are you guys all here? What's the occasion?", asked Star.

"Star, it's your birthday. Remember? Your birthday is the day you were born on. Most people celebrate birthdays.", said Kaltag.

"We know that yous forget your birthday every year, so we just make surprise parties. Then we can celebrate without yous getting all excited and pestering us all day.", explained Nikki.

"Anyway, It's time to celebrate.", said Balto.

"Happy Birthday, Star!", they all cheered in unison.

"Have a joyful. A gleeful. A stupendous. A... a...", said Kaltag just as he ran out of adjectives to use.

"A Happy Birthday?", asked Star. Kaltag brought his paw up for what seemed like another knock out punch, when Star saw a box in his hand. "Is this for me?", Star wondered. Kaltag set the box down next to Star, and everyone else did the same with their presents.

"Try mine first, Star. Just crank the handle!", shouted Kaltag. Star cranked the handle, and a delightful tune played while the handle was being cranked. Just as Star had a deja vu moment, a little man popped out of the box and greeted Star with a swift headbutt to the lower jaw.

"Why should I punch him the easy way when I can do it the fun way?", commented Kaltag.

THE END