This is a story of Love.
There was nothing quite able to describe the cold that lingered in the town of Nome Alaska except the numbers. For just under three weeks -seventeen days to be exact - the sun had not graced the town with it's southern rays of heat. There had been no sign that the bright orb even still existed in the land of ice; apart from the four hours in the day when a depressing hue of gray covered the sky. And with the lack of sun in the land, the temperature never once in the seventeen day streak broke above the number of -35.
Furthermore with the cold and seemingly never ending night, there rested a plague about the land. It was a mixture of two elements that brought about the gentle suffocating force that crept through the late night streets and trapped townspeople in their houses; and completely buried others to be rescued by a friendly neighbor or ten. The mixture of extra cold arctic winds out of the north, and fluffy sand like snow from the mountains outside town, brought powerful drifts right up to the front doors of all the homes.
For the most part they came in the night when men women and children slept in their beds and couldn't sweep the snow away as it came. When they woke in the morning they would go to step out to fetch wood for the frozen stove, only to find a solid sheet of snow in their path. Some tunneled through and escaped, others yelled to be rescued, while still others perished in cave-ins. It was a true fact in Nome, that fourteen people had been killed by one, or a mixture, of cold, wind, and snow in the short time of three weeks.
Now most of the time in Nome when the alcohol in the thermometer outside of the telegraph office on the corner of town dropped below -30, a town wide snow-day was celebrated. In the short term this worked well with everybody: fathers spent time with their kids, wives spent time with their husbands, and kids got to spend time with both of their parents learning skills for life, or just something to occupy their time and mind.
When the temperature became to low for mining in 'mild,' comfort, the miners left the mountains for the bars and Burlesque Houses of town. Those few who had a friend who owned a house spent the night there after a long night of drinking, while the rest who owned nothing but themselves slept in the bars.
Yet cabin fever can break the strongest bond. It began happening around the tenth day. That's when all the families reached a breaking point. Parents, growing sick of their children and their antics, raised their voices, and sometimes their hands to set their children 'right.' The children hated their parents for having to adhere to their strict rules, and wished they could return to school and the carefree ways they had with friends. Wives and husbands yelled at each other for one thing or another. It seemed that it didn't matter what it was they yelled at, just as long as they were yelling. Total madness ran throughout each and every house, not to mention the morning snow drifts that locked them in. This just added to the stress on the families.
In the bars it was much worse. Fights broke out over women and who that one woman might love more. Drink and games of cards became a fearful place to tread for fear of breaking a thin line between peace, and death. This sent several people to the hospital with serious head trauma in some instances, and several men to the Marshals Office. The Town Marshal found his jail full of men who had picked fights, stole some goods, or had broken some other law and got caught. So many people filled his jail that he had to figure out what to do with them.
With a little ingenuity the marshal announced his plan to the men in the cells. Each man who agreed to help dig out houses around town each morning until the cold spell broke would not have any charges put on his record. Most men agreed semi eagerly. Yet the thought of a warm jail cell with nothing to do but sleep, eat, and rest appealed to them more than working in the cold.
Nevertheless in the town filled with laziness, greed, and hate, where work came second to just keeping warm and alive in the lions den called the home, there were those who worked. Every day, outside, even when the temperature reached a bone chilling -64, they worked and toiled until the job was finished. They were the United States Mail delivery team between White Mountains and Nome.
The six member team crested the last hill before Nome. They still had a great deal of distance between the town and themselves through thick deep snow and light wind, but that didn't stop them from putting on the after boosters and bolting at full speed towards the town. This was the last hard push towards Nome, and the sooner they got there to rest their cold feet, the better. The fur along the sides of their bodies and along their backs all had the same pasty white look from frost, while their muzzles and faces were weighted down with sheets of ice that coved them like masks. The sled had it's own coating of ice along the runners and sides and along the gear in the basket. Some of it was from the dogs, while most of it had accumulated over the two day trip between Nome and White Mountain.
Under the solid blanket of ice, the sled was a piece of junk. There were hundreds of lashings that held the entire thing together, and hundreds of pieces that had been crudely cut and tacked into place. In the basket of the sled, pressed firmly in between medical kits, food, rifle, and a tent, rested two 50 pound sacks with 'Mail' printed on the sides. The sights of the sled under the weight of what was in it would have made even a expert musher stare in wonder; wonder at how the sled kept from falling apart.
On the back of the sled stood an animal on it's hind legs, gripping the back bar of the sled with his front paws and every now and then brining one of his back paws down to help propel the sled forward. The animal, known as Mr. Simpson, had the furs of several different animals wrapped around his body to keep the cold away from his hairless skin. He had the fur of a bear on his back and down along his arms, and the fur of a beaver on his hands. He also had the white fur of the caribou wrapped around his legs to form thick pants. All of Mr. Simpson's extreme cold weather clothing had the same coating of ice as his dogs and the same thick mask of ice around the hole of his bearskin hood.
The lead dog, Kodi, jerked hard in his harness that had so many patches the original harness was hardly even there, signaling to his teammates to push hard. The sled groaned with stress, and the ice on the sides of the sled, and on Mr. Simpson's clothing broke free and fell silently to the snow. The jerk put so much force into the gang-line and into the harnesses of his teammates, that the ice bound to their faces broke and hung, still frozen to their fur. Yet they didn't let the pieces bother them as they responded to the jerk and bolted forwards with all of their remaining energy. They were almost home: food, rest, warmth, and time to themselves; never mind the fact that they spent most of their free time with each other.
Mr. Simpson had expected the sudden jolt in his sled. His dogs had done it many times before; it was like some game they tried to play with each other in the last quarter mile before Nome. They would speed up and try to throw Mr. Simpson when they hit the corner before the Post Office. Mr. Simpson gritted his teeth and held the sled tight in his hands. I'm always up to a little game. He thought.
Despite the heavy snow, the long trail, empty bellies, and tired feet, the dog's energy showed through as they gave it their all. The snows around Kodi flew up as his feet churned with the force of a steam engine going at it's fastest pace. Flying snow covered his teammates, making them run faster so their faces cleared the blizzard that encompassed them. Faster, and faster they flew towards Nome. Each second the church steeple grew higher above their heads, and the building looked more like line blockers waiting to get a sack.
Kodi hit the corner just inside the town and tried to make his steps go in a complete 180. He turned so sharp in his harness that Dusty, his teammate who ran directly behind him, made direct eye contact for what seemed a lifetime. Her momentum then threw her behind Kodi. She sunk her paws hard into the well packed snow to get a grip for her turn to follow Kodi.
Mr. Simpson saw the turn coming and threw his weight hard to the right on his sled, brining the left running up, making the right runner spray snow towards the buildings and the wooden sidewalks at the base of them. The turn was stiff and hard, filled with G-force that kept Mr. Simpson standing easily on the right runner, close enough to the snow to reach out and touch it with his elbow.
The turn ended and Mr. Simpson pushed his bodyweight back to the left, brining the left runner back down into the snow with a shake that rattled the entire sled. Mr. Simpson briefly looked down to see if any binding or replaced pieces had broken or flew away. A quick survey revealed nothing, and Mr. Simpson continued on with a strong push from his right foot.
A pace settling hundred yards, that brought the dog's energy gradually down, set them in front of the Nome Post Office. The six dogs, upon stopping and standing still, shook the frost from their fur, revealing the many different colors and features their fur and faces had. The ice chunks around their faces still held tight to their fur. But that didn't seem to be the main thing the dogs were thinking of.
"Are we late … Are we?" Kodi, the lead dog with a broad light crème colored chest and a dark rust colored cape over his shoulders said with energy through his exhausted lungs. Kodi's voice bellowed with the same commanding tone of a captain at the bridge of his vessel.
"I don't know … I don't know." Dusty, a soft silver colored husky right behind Kodi replied, her female voice soothing even when the tension in the air seemed thick enough to see.
The rest of the team remained quite, letting the air that had long been flying through their lungs slowly return through their gasping.
On the back of the sled Mr. Simpson seemed unaware of the time and without care as to what time in the day it might be. He knew what day it was, and today was the day that the mail was scheduled to arrive in Nome. That was good enough for him.
He grabbed his snow-hook, a long double clawed hook with points sharp enough to gouge metal, from the open leather sack on the handlebar of his sled and threw it into the snow. With a light hop, he put his full weight on the hook, sinking it's teeth deep enough that if the dogs decided to take a run the hook would most likely grab a rock under the snow.
Mr. Simpson moved around the side of the sled, grabbing a large canvas bag with obviously little in it. He walked up to his wheel dogs, Kip, and Fell. Both of the dogs were big and brawny, full of muscle. Most mushers thought that the wheel dogs, due to their size and place on the sled, had little brain power. This was true for Kip, a black spot freckled full white male Newfoundland, who's off time hobbies consisted chasing tree's, and scratching himself.
Fell was just as big as his brother and had received all the brain power his brother had lost. He had also received much of his brothers black coat. The only black areas on his coat being the extra long socks that came up to - what humans would refer on themselves as their elbows and knees. Despite his considerable brain power over any member of the team, he did not want a promotion to the front of the team. He always said he wanted to be beside his brother. And so he was.
Mr. Simpson grabbed Kip, his left wheel dog, by the scruff of his neck and shook his fur, followed by stroking his gloved hand down his coat. "Good boy. Good boy." He then reached over to Fell and gave him a scratch across his ears. "You know you're a good boy to Fell." Mr. Simpson grinned; he knew exactly how to make his dogs melt in his hands.
Reaching into the loose sack he removed two extra large balls of fish. Mr. Simpson dropped the sack and put one of the balls into each of his mittens. Kip gripped the ball in his mouth before letting the ball drop to the snow where he looked stupidly at it. Mr. Simpson then handed the other ball to Fell, who held the frozen ball in his mouth till it became soft enough to break apart and swallow.
Mr. Simpson hefted the sack ahead to his next dogs Ralph and Dusty. He gave Ralph a good pat. "Good boy Ralph, good boy." Mr. Simpson let his mitten slide slowly across his fur from his ears to his tail. He then moved his hand over to Dusty's back. "Good bo-" Mr. Simpson couldn't really tell, but he swore Dusty was glaring at him for almost calling him a boy. "I mean girl. Good girl." Mr. Simpson made sure to pat Dusty extra for confusing her gender with the rest of the team. He quickly handed them both a meatball of fish, and moved on to his two leaders, Kirby and Kodi.
Kirby had light brown fur and a wide face. His eyes had the look of a leader, seeing the trail different than any other dog, but his wide face made him look stupid. Kodi's eyes and face beheld a cunning. It was a cunning deep within, bred to the bone. Perhaps a cunning that had yet to be discovered and truly brought to the surface. But it was there.
Mr. Simpson let his hands glide over both his leaders, scratching behind their ears, and rubbing their shoulders. "My boys. My good boys." He grinned. Mr. Simpson brought out two more balls, the last two balls of fish he had. He put one in front of Kirby who took the meat instantly and held it high in his mouth, letting his teeth grind slivers off to swallow. Mr. Simpson then held the other ball in front of Kodi who took it and let it melt in his mouth before chewing it apart.
With the dogs fed and loved, Mr. Simpson went back to the sled. He threw the empty sack into the sled and removed his beaver skin mittens, the only protection from his hands and the cold being a thin wool mitten that steamed in the cold. Mr. Simpson looked at his hands. The steam was thick. It must be really cold, He thought.
With his thin gloved hands he grabbed the two sacks of mail and pulled them up from all his gear in the sled. The sideboards - the sides of the sled basket - released the tension that they had been carrying since they left Nome; and for the first time in two days the sled no longer bulged at the sides with gear.
Mr. Simpson carried the mail around the back of the sled, glancing once at his dogs to see them still busy eating their treat. With a grin that only he knew about under his hood, he stepped up on the front porch of the post office. The door was an antique and had been in Nome since the first house had been put up. Scratches and different marks covered the front under the gray of age. The frosted glass was the original. On a warmer day the glass looked old and smoky, like it had been left in a chimney. Mr. Simpson grabbed the handle, old and rusty with delicate designs that had been rubbed off with thousands of uses, and opened the door.
The bell above the door chimed as he entered the heat of the room. A potbelly stove with a tea kettle slowly heating greeted Mr. Simpson on his right.
"Simpson, is that you?" Mr. Conner's frail voice called from the back. It was quickly followed by a sneeze that shook the glass in the front windows behind the stove.
"Still got that cold?" Mr. Simpson then realized his hood was still on. He walked to the counter and set the mail down then removed his hood. "Still got that cold?" He repeated, letting the heat of the room warm his face.
Mr. Conner stepped around a back partition. Around his shoulders he held a wool blanket tight to his neck. On top of his head he wore a wolf skin hat with muskrat earflaps down around his ears. His face was pale and had signs of weakness and exhaustion. Though it might have just been his old age that made him look so sick and tired
"You don't look so good." Mr. Simpson offered. Mr. Conner agreed with a shake of his head and stepped closer to the desk. He opened the blanket and set his right hand on one of the frosty bags of mail. His hand shuddered and recoiled back into the blanket. "It's frozen."
Mr. Simpson smiled, the red of his rosy cheeks following the curve of his native face up to just below his brown eyes. "Well it's kind of hard to keep it warm in all this heat."
Mr. Conner grinned his toothy grin, letting a slight chuckle escape. He reached both of his hands up out of the blanket and grabbed one of the mail bag's strings. With a groan he pulled it back off the counter and let the full weight of it land on the muscles in his arm. He moved around the counter that stopped short of the far end of the building with the mail dangling between his legs as he shuffled along.
"You know, I could take that if you want me to?" Mr. Simpson offered.
"No, no, that's just alright, I got it. If I don't use my muscles while I'm sick, I won't be able to do my job when I'm better."
Mr. Simpson grabbed the remaining bag of mail off the counter and walked to the stove. Above the stove hung an empty sack on a rusty nail in the ceiling. He took the sack down and replaced it with the frozen mail that already began to drip and sizzle on the stove. Mr. Conner handed the bag of mail he had to Mr. Simpson who hung it next to the first bag on another nail.
"So have I missed anything?" Mr. Simpson asked.
Mr. Conner was already on his way back around the counter. "Oh nothing much. Some young man got drunk and fell asleep behind Huxley's house." Mr. Conner turned to Mr. Simpson and smiled. "He's alive, but I'm sure he'll think twice before he drinks again."
Mr. Simpson smiled back. "Frostbite?"
"Oh yeah. I heard it said that he might loose all his toes, and possibly some of his fingers. He's in rough shape, especially his face. Mrs. Tobith, you know, who lives by the hospital, said she could hear the young man screaming yesterday morning as they warmed him up." Mr. Conner let a long grin wrap around his face. "She said she thought they were cutting a horse open over there, and rushed over in her nightgown to beg them to stop." Mr. Conner laughed lightly. Mr. Simpson grinned at the thought of olf Mrs. Tobith running into the hospital screaming "Stop killing the horse."
Mr. Conner busied himself in some paperwork on the counter.
Mr. Simpson left the warmth of the stove for the bulletin board hung up on the far side of the room. Twenty-one different ads covered its face, all of them handwritten with addresses, services, and products. There was one hung up by the town carpenter saying he would build anything asked of him, and would repair anything he was called for. Another one in the corner advertised a sewing circle for young women who wanted to learn how. All of them he had seen before. Yet a new one tacked right in the center of the board, printed in black ink on white paper, brought his attention.
Town meeting Wednesday the 20th
Due to the recent number of criminal activities, and low moral in the town itself, a town meeting has been called for the night of Wednesday to discus possible options for raising moral. All are welcome to attend and share their thoughts and ideas. The meeting will be at 6p.m. in the town hall, coffee and pastries will be served for all who attend.
George Neil.
Mayor
"So there's a problem with moral in town?" Mr. Simpson grinned back at Mr. Conner.
Mr. Conner raised his eyes away from papers he had been writing on to look at Mr. Simpson. His eyes looked to be full of answers and stories of what had been happening. "Yeah. With fourteen people dead due to snow, and fights in every bar every night and day, and the jail so full of people that criminals are just turned loose, something has to be done." Mr. Conner reached under his blanket and grabbed a pocket watch from his suit coat. He flipped it open, looked at the time, then closed it and replaced it in his coat. He returned to writing on papers. "Do you have your time papers from White Mountain?"
"Yeah." Mr. Simpson stepped towards the counter while reaching into his coat for a secret pocket that held a piece of paper with the he had arrived in White Mountain, and the time he left. He pulled it out and set it on the counter next to Mr. Conner.
Mr. Conner grabbed the paper and pulled it closer to him. He wrote the two times in spots on a piece of paper with green lines across it with hundreds of other numbers around it. "You're only slightly late today." Mr. Conner's voice was full of praise. His hands moved swiftly to a thin long book and scratched numbers and words across it quickly. "So, I'm going to give you a check for twenty five dollars this week."
As the 'k' in week rolled off his tongue, Mr. Conner ripped the check out of the book and handed it with a grin to Mr. Simpson.
"Thanks!" Mr. Simpson said over-satisfied with the money he had in his hand.
"So, are you going to go to that meeting tonight? Tell them how to pull us out of this crisis." Mr. Conner asked, still writing things down on paper.
"No. The only idea I have to get us out of this is global warming, and I don't quite see how to warm the Arctic."
Mr. Conner grinned his toothy grin as he finished writing. He threw some scattered papers into a book, then closed the book and set it under the counter. "So how are your dogs doing? I can see they need some new harnesses and you could possibly use a new sled."
Mr. Simpson walked to the glass by the stove. He raised his hand to the glass and scrubbed some frost away. His dogs still stood there like they were waiting to go somewhere at any moment. "Yeah, but after getting food for my wife and kids and meat from the butchers for my dogs there isn't anything left. I don't have enough money for a sled, let alone a single harness after all that." Mr. Simpson stopped and smiled at Mr. Conner. "That is unless I get a raise."
Mr. Conner grinned and Mr. Simpson pulled his hood loosely back over his head and placed the check into his pocket. "Well, I guess I better get my Boy's and Girl settled in." Mr. Simpson replaced his beaver skin mittens that hung by cords on his coat and opened the door with a jingle. Steam filled the room as the door closed behind the large bear looking creature, followed by another chime of the bells as the door closed.
Mr. Simpson stood on the porch above all his dogs. None of the dogs looked really interested in their master. "So what do you say we get them nasty harnesses off of you so you can go rest?"
Mr. Simpson's words were like a godsend to Ralph. "Finally, I can get off my feet and let this rotten toe rest." He held up his foot to look at the toe with the nail that bent sideways into another toe. A trace of blood covered the bent one.
"Ralph, where did you actually acquire that, and in what comportments were you engaged in?" Fell said with his scientist predicting the comets impact origin voice.
"Um … could you repeat that slower?"
Fell sighed, "How did you get it?"
"Oh." Ralph said fully able to understand. "It was when me and my look-alike bro, Kirby -"
"- For the last time Ralph. We only look slightly alike, we're not brothers." Kirby said
Ralph lowered his head "I only said we looked like brothers."
Kirby sighed and rolled his eyes, "Okay, now why don't you go on and tell Fell how you bent your nail."
"Well, as I was saying, Kirby and me were young and playing tag in one of the back alleys of Nome. He tagged me. I tagged him. Then he tagged me. So I tagged him back. I then went running and he tagged me. So I just went and tagged him back -" All the while Ralph told the story of who tagged who, he showed it by throwing one front paw on the other when he said 'tagged.'
"- Okay, enough with the tagged, just tell him what happened after that." Kirby growled
"Alright, alright. So Kirby tagged me and he went running under these boxes that were held up by other boxes. I went running after him. But Kirby must have kicked one of the side boxes, because the one up in the air fell down just in front of my nose and I ran right into it. When I woke up Kirby stood over me asking if I was alright. When I looked at my hurt paw, the toe was all bent. And ever since then it's always been bent and hurting me." Ralph raised his paw up and showed the bent toe to Fell.
"I ponder if you mislaid some intellectual dominance in that accident to." Fell grinned.
Ralph grinned and chuckled. "Me too."
Fell laughed even harder. Kirby began laughing and so did Dusty. Kodi had tried to hold his laughter in, but the stupid look on Ralph's face was just too much to pass up. Kip grinned at Ralph, then began his moronic staccato laughter that was louder than any other member of the team. For a moment Ralph felt very alone, and very stupid. Kodi could see that his teammate didn't like being laughed at by everyone when he didn't know why they were laughing. So Kodi spoke. "Okay, I think we've all had our laugh at Ralph for today."
"Yeah we shouldn't be so mean to Ralph. He's the second best looking dog on this team." Dusty's eyes brushed across the side of Kodi's face with a certain sheen in them that could only mean one thing.
Kirby caught the look and his eyes momentarily flashed as he realized what Dusty was thinking.
"Of course I'm the first." Dusty threw in suddenly.
Kodi continued on with what he had been trying to say "What Fell was saying, is that he thinks you might have got a little bit, slower, when you hit your head as a pup."
Ralph gave Fell an angry glare that said he would eventually get Fell back. Fell just grinned.
Mr. Simpson finished readjusting the supplies in his sled so they sat just right, when he heard his dogs all begin growling together. All of them except Ralph, who looked lost and confused. Mr. Simpson watched his dogs continue growling, especially his wheel dog Kip. Then Kodi's head swung slightly and they all stopped growling at the same time. Ralph then turned and glared at Fell like he had just done something wrong. Wonders will never cease. Mr. Simpson thought.
With his task of adjusting gear in the sled done, Mr. Simpson moved up to his lead dogs, Kodi and Kirby, and dropped down to one knee in front of them. "You know you boys almost got us hear on time this time. Maybe next time we'll get it." Mr. Simpson said hopefully
Kodi felt good at getting the best time so far this week, yet he couldn't let it out of his mind that they were still late. Being late had the same twinge in Kodi's stomach as failing completely.
Mr. Simpson reached up to Kodi's collar and clumsily undid the strap that held him to the gang line. With his collar free, Mr. Simpson grasped the harness that rested around Kodi's neck and pulled it up over Kodi's ears and gently down his ice covered muzzle.
Kodi stretched his muscles and rounded his shoulders in their sockets as Mr. Simpson moved on to do Kirby. With the same ease as Kodi, Mr. Simpson removed the line that held Kirby to the gang line, and pulled his harness up over his shoulders.
Kirby reached his legs out in front of him and stretched his belly towards the snow. Mr. Simpson gave Kirby a quick rub across his shoulders before moving on to Ralph. In the same motion he removed Ralph's harness and tug-line. He gave Ralph a quick scratch along the side of his face and down under his jaw. "How's the foot doing Ralph?" Mr. Simpson grabbed Ralph's foot and held it up; he could see the blood, but there was nothing he could do to an open wound unless it started to get infected. Never mind the fact that Ralph had had the wound since a puppy, and never once had it been infected. Mr. Simpson set Ralph's paw down before moving on to Dusty.
He saw it without his eyes focusing on it. Dusty moved her right paw slightly to the left and kept the weight of her shoulders fully on her left foot. To Mr. Simpson it was like someone had dropped a brick in front of him. His eyes followed Dusty's slender legs down to her right paw. Before he even touched her paw, he knew exactly what was wrong. An ice ball had formed in between Dusty's second and third toe. Sure enough when Mr. Simpson picked up Dusty's foot and spread her toes, an ice ball about the size of a pea greeted him. Red sore spots, near bleeding, rested on either side of ball.
"We'll have to get some cream on this before it gets much worse." With a smooth move that Dusty hardly expected, Mr. Simpson stuck Dusty's paw into his mouth and began to chew at the ice. Usually when an ice ball got in between any of their toes Mr. Simpson would remove his gloves and remove it manually. This just felt weird.
Kirby and Ralph both began laughing uncontrollably. Kirby held his right paw to his stomach and let his nose hang just above the snow, while Ralph lay on his back kicking his back legs at the air.
"Oh come on." Dusty growled. "Like you guys don't get ice balls between your toes."
Kirby managed to let his laughter die down enough to speak. "Yeah, but we were never treated like a queen for them." Kirby threw himself into another fit of hysteria. Ralph continued crying in the snow. Kodi just grinned and watched Kirby and Ralph with mild enthusiasm.
Dusty let a grin grace her face. It was the kind of grin that went along with the eyes she had given Kodi earlier, and for a moment she seemed lost in her gaze at Kodi.
Kirby slapped Ralph across the shoulder and pointed with his paw towards Dusty. Ralph instantly stopped laughing and looked straight at Dusty. In a split second he could tell exactly what Dusty was thinking by her eyes and her grin. Both Kirby and Ralph followed her gaze to Kodi, who looked straight back at them stupidly, before looking over at Dusty.
Dusty dropped her eyes back to the top of Mr. Simpson's head the second Kodi turned to look at her. She shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably and kept her eyes low. I hope Kirby and Ralph didn't see me do that. She thought.
Kodi was at a loss as to what had just happened. Had it been some sort of joke on him? Or had it been on Dusty? Kodi shrugged his shoulders. What did it matter? It was just a Joke, right?
Ralph came to his feet and walked after Kirby who was already on his way to the boiler room to melt the ice off his face and get some sleep. Just before Kirby vanished down the alley he stopped and turned to Kodi. "Hey Kodi, you coming or what? Lot's of heat to spare."
Kodi had been lost in wonder at what had just happened. When Kirby spoke it brought him back to reality quite suddenly. "Ahh, yeah. Just a second." Kodi turned and looked at Dusty. "Hey Dusty, you want us to wait up for you?"
Dusty refused to make eye contact with Kodi. She kept her gaze down at Mr. Simpson and shook her head no. "No, I'll be along in a little while. Just save a warm spot for me near the boiler. Okay Kodi?"
"Sure thing Dusty."
Kodi turned and looked at Kirby and Ralph. Both of them had a huge grin on their faces like they were holding secret dog treats under their tongues and weren't going to share. Kodi walked slowly towards them. What are they smiling at? He thought.
Kirby must have swallowed his treat as his smile vanished and he took a step down the alley. "Come on Kodi."
Kodi bound towards the alley and stepped in just after Kirby and Ralph. If Kodi had turned his head before going out of site of Dusty, he would have easily figured out what Kirby and Ralph were laughing and smiling at. Yet Kodi didn't see Dusty staring at him with mellow eyes as he stepped out of site.
Kodi, feeling the natural tendency to lead, pushed his way in front of Kirby and Ralph. It wasn't any dominance thing, it was just where Kodi felt he belonged when the team moved. As soon as Kodi walked in front of Kirby and Ralph he could hear them snickering to one another. Why do they keep laughing and smiling? Is it me? It was then that Kodi heard Kirby mention his name under his breath.
"Okay," Kodi said turning. "What is that you guys are laughing at? Is there something on my butt like before?" Kodi curled himself around and looked at his tail, it all looked the same.
"No." Kirby walked towards Kodi with a very different, and feminine, stride. He bumped his hips up and down as he walked and held his head high and his shoulders tight just like any female dog. Then in his best female voice he smiled at Kodi. "Silly."
"What are you guys doing?" Kodi asked looking at Ralph with hopes that he had yet to loose his mind.
Ralph copied Kirby's walk and strolled casually towards Kodi. Then with his deep tone female voice he spoke. "Don't tell me you don't know, Kodi."
With that both Kirby and Ralph fell down at the end of the alley laughing, leaving Kodi dumbfounded. After half a minute of them laughing and looking at him, then laughing even harder, they managed to calm down and come back to reality.
Kodi still didn't know what the two of them were laughing at, and felt like he was on the outside of some special circle of friends. "Is this some sort of, Joke about, Dusty?"
"Dusty?" Kirby said coming to his feet and looking at Kodi to see if he was serious. "This is about you."
"Me!"
"Yeah … you mean you don't know what we're laughing about?" Kirby looked dumbfounded as to how Kodi could miss all the signs. He looked to Ralph. Ralph's jaw hung slightly ajar. Both of them were amazed as to how Kodi could miss it. It was right in front of his face. Kirby stepped forward and in a hushed tone spoke. "It's Dusty man."
"The Joke's about, Dusty then?" Kodi asked with confusion all over his face and voice.
"No! It's Dusty! She likes you and you can't even see it in front of your own nose!" Kirby yelled jumping around like a puppy. Ralph jumped up and joined him as they both leapt around Kodi smiling and laughing as they started up a song.
"Dusty and Kodi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then come puppies in a puppy carriage." When they finished the verse they both broke in laughter and fell into the snow besides Kodi, giggling.
If Kodi could have blushed he would have been bright red and feeling stupid. Kodi couldn't blush, but he sure did feel stupid. "Okay, okay. That's enough." Kodi said turning right down the street with hopes that they would just let it drop. "It's cold out here. Let's get inside before we freeze our tails off."
Kirby and Ralph stood up and followed Kodi. For a while they both kept quite and didn't snicker to one another. Yet Kodi knew that it wouldn't last.
Never had Kodi actually thought about Dusty in, that way. They had been friends since puppies training to be on the mail team. And as far as Kodi knew, that was all they ever were. But did Dusty like him more than a friend? Did Kirby and Ralph both see the signs that he missed? Dusty had been acting 'weird' for several weeks around Kodi. Although she had always acted weird around Kodi since they were both pups. When Kodi thought about how she had been acting recently, he realized that she had been, 'different' than normal. Had she liked him when they were young and now she was making a move on him?
Kodi led the way down the street past the third alley way to the fourth. There Kodi turned down a garbage strewn alley and out onto a flat plane. The boiler room was just ahead on the edge of the ocean down in the bowels of the gold dredge. During the winter it was kept running by the owner so the mail dogs would have a warm place to stay and sleep. Mr. Simpson didn't have a yard for his dogs so he paid a man to let them stay there. Every three days a man with a beard would come and shovel it full of coal and let it slowly heat.
Kodi lead the way across the flat plane and stopped at the door of the dredge that had scratch marks of dogs all over it. With a creak loud enough to wake the dead, Kodi pushed the door open and stepped inside.
It had been a while since Kirby and Ralph had spoke and maybe they had finally decided to let the thing about Dusty and Kodi drop. So Kodi opened his mouth. "Ah, home sweet home."
"You can't raise the pups here. Ralph lives here." Kirby joked to himself and was the only one to laugh.
"Ha ha, very funny." Ralph said turning and looking at Kodi who smiled. "I would only teach your pups all my secrets of life. Oh, especially that one way to scratch your right ear with your left leg" Ralph began to try and show Kodi his neck twisting, precariously balanced skill of reaching his left back leg up under his belly towards his right ear. It failed almost instantly as Ralph rolled onto his side and lay there looking at Kodi with a long grin across his face.
Kodi sighed and walked towards the shelf where he turned around and lay down next to an upright.
Kirby was the last one through the door and he pushed it closed with his shoulder. The door groaned shut and the steam of the cold began to dissipate from around the rafters above. "Oh Kodi, Dusty's a nice girl."
"Yeah Kodi. You know it could be worse, she could be fat." Ralph said unenthused over his shoulder in front of the boiler door where he began to melt the ice on his face.
Kodi cast a sidelong glare at Ralph before looking away from them both.
"Ah Kodi." Kirby walked over beside Kodi and lay down. "There's nothing to be ashamed about when feeling that special thing for a girl. And personally, I think you should end your bachelor life and settle down with her."
"What?"
"I think that you should know me and Ralph have been thinking about this for a long time -"
"We have?" Ralph said turning.
"Zip it Ralph, I'm trying to help Kodi here." Kirby barked. Ralph turned his face back towards the stove as a piece of ice fell. "Anyway, as I was saying, you and Dusty should settle up together. I can tell that you two are good for each other, even if you don't see it."
Kodi sighed angrily and came to his feet to get away. "I don't think I need you to tell me what is good for me. I'm a littler older than I appear."
"I know that Kodi. But you certainly don't seem to act like it."
Kodi growled bitterly and walked a good ten feet towards the door before lying down again with a grunt. Kirby let the room grow quiet for a while before standing and walking towards Kodi to go for round two.
"Listen Kodi." Kirby said standing above him. "We just want to know if you like her."
"Yeah," Ralph turned away from the stove. The ice on his face had melted away and the fur around his eyes and down his muzzle was wet. "So we can tell her."
"Ralph, you're not helping in any way at all." Kirby growled over his shoulder. "So either zip it and sit down, or try and actually help."
"Hey, I thought I was helping."
Kodi sighed and looked at them both. "Listen, I'm flattered that you two want to help me, but I would prefer to just … not do anything. Me and Dusty are friends"
"Oh come on Kodi! Not do anything? You can't be serious? Dusty is nuts about you. We just want to know if you think the same thing about her."
Kodi remained silent as Kirby stared straight at him waiting for an answer. After several seconds of staring coldly at one another Kirby spoke up again. "So Kodi, do you like her?"
"Yeah, come on Kodi, just tell us. I was only kidding when I said that thing about telling her." Ralph pleaded.
Kodi sighed, "You guys, listen. I don't want, or need, your help. So could we just move on to another subject?"
"Don't need our help?" Kirby scoffed, stepping back and away. He then turned back. "Listen Kodi, I know all about this. You may say you don't need our help but you do. You need to realize this. I know that if me and Ralph don't do something, you won't."
Kodi slowly rose to his feet. "What are you saying? Are you saying that I'm not dog enough to talk to Dusty?"
Kirby thought on the question for a moment. "Well, yeah. Kodi, you have a terribly time with girls."
"I do not." Kodi growled.
Ralph stepped in between Kirby and Kodi. "Kodi, you do. I can talk to girls way easier than you can. Remember when we just started running the mail, and that one red and black German Shepard named Shanene from White Mountain. She was beautiful. But Kodi, do you remember what you did when she began talking to you?"
"Well, er … I was younger then."
Kirby stepped up next to Ralph. "Kodi, you barfed on her."
"I had had some bad fish that morning and I wasn't feeling well." Kodi lied.
"Kodi, she asked you five questions in a minute, and you weren't able to answer a single one. You kept muttering and laughing under your breath." Kirby said with the voice of accusation.
"So!" Kodi raised his voice. "Maybe I just didn't like her and wanted her to get away from me."
"So you vomited on her paws?" Kirby said
"Yes! I mean no, I mean I did, but, it was an accident." The frustration rose in Kodi like a stream flooding over the banks of a small creek. At any moment Kodi knew his frustration would flood the old farmhouse in the field, and he would hardly be responsible for what he said.
"Yeah an accident caused because of your lack of courage when facing the opposite sex." Kirby growled sarcastically and Ralph grinned remembering the face of pure horror Kodi made after vomiting on Shanene.
It was at that moment that the door's into the farmhouse basement flooded through with frustration and anger. Kodi could feel it rushing into his veins. It was like a bloodlust a wild animal would feel when penned in with hundreds of defenseless sheep. It was a need to attack and lash out for no apparent reason on no apparent target. But Kodi had a target and a reason to lash out and drain his veins of the toxin that held him. He just didn't realize at the time that his temper might get him in some hot flooded water.
"Okay. You want to know what I think about Dusty."
Both Kirby and Ralph shook their heads yes and looked at Kodi for what was to continue.
"Well I'll tell you about her right after I tell you about yourselves. You two are the most childish friends I could have. All you two ever do is giggle about stupid stuff and meddle in things you shouldn't: Like what I think of others. Kirby, you're a lousy leader and so blinded by your own self indulgence that you can't see the tree for the forest." Kirby lowered his brow to Kodi and Ralph laughed. "And Ralph, you are so stupid, so low on brains all you're running on is fumes. I personally think Kip, has more brain power than you do at times." Ralph lowered his head in shame and anger as a groan echoed through the room. "Now you want me to tell you what I think about Dusty to get both of you off my back. I think Dusty is one of the ugliest females I have ever seen. When she joined the team I couldn't even tell which way she was running. And if you two think you want to get me and Dusty together, forget it. I would never be caught dead with someone as repulsive to my eyes, as her."
Kodi let his breath return to his lungs as he stared into Ralph and Kirby's eyes. The anger in his veins had settled and the imaginary creek had returned to it's banks. It was then that Kodi noticed the look on Ralph and Kirby's faces. Both of their eyes were full of shock and awe, as were their drooping jaws, at the words that had just come out of their leader's mouth. They new he had pushed to far.
It was then that Kodi realized a presence stood behind him, a shadow across the room, a very real cold running up his spine and consuming his back legs. Kodi rolled his eyes and turned around. "Dus-"
Kodi heard the sound of feet scampering away with sobs and tears flooding the owners face. In the door Fell and Kip stood set apart looking straight in at Kodi. Dusty had been standing in between them when she heard Kodi say all the bad things about her that weren't true. Kip grinned stupidly and smiled. "Ugly." he laughed at himself. Kodi's eyes moved over to Fell. Fell's accusing eyes made Kodi feel like an ant under a magnifying glass. "Not a proper thing to verbalize." Fell shook his head
Kodi lowered his eyes from his teammates; he felt lower than mud and twice as ugly. With his tale tucked between his legs he turned to the back corner of the room. He passed by Kirby and Ralph, not a bit of energy or hope left in him to seek answers in the ones he had just insulted so horribly. With a sigh he laid himself down in the corner far away from his friends. That was if they still considered him a friend.
Kirby and Ralph both looked at each other gravely. In a way they both felt that it had somehow been their fault. They had egged Kodi on until he snapped at them. Though they didn't expect him to do what he did. So the blame for what happened couldn't rest fully on Kodi's shoulders, could it?
Dusty ran. She had no idea where she was running to or to what purpose it would have. All she knew was that she needed to get far away from Kodi and his words that hurt her so much. Her face was stained with tears that flowed freely and began to freeze on the fur of her muzzle. Her eyes stung bitterly in the wind that battered her face as she ran. Why had he said such things about me? Does he do this behind my back often? There was an actual physical pain in her chest where her heart rested. She knew it to be her heart breaking and cutting her insides. So long she had held the same heart, and now like a window that a baseball had gone through, she felt broken.
Jenna, a beautiful red and cream colored husky, much like her son Kodi, stepped easily through the hard packed streets, her fur bristled against the cold. Yet all the fur on her body couldn't alleviate the cold that came up through her paws. She had only been out of the house for three minutes to take a stroll down to Dixie's house and see how her first litter of pups were doing, and her paws hurt like she had walked across a field of glass. How her mate, Balto, or her son Kodi, were able to put up with all the hard snow and ice for long periods of time was a mystery to her.
A sudden silver flash came out of the alley in front of Jenna, and bolted into another one just across the way. The creature had been sobbing and crying at the top of her voice and lung capacity.
At first Jenna stood still, a shock to the senses coming slowly through her. Was that Dusty? Jenna turned and looked down the alley the silver flash had vanished into from the other side of the street near the alley she had come out of. A ten foot tall fence blocked the end of the alley and garbage, and boxes, and pieces of a bicycle, and metal lined the sides of the street, so unless the silver flash had gone over the fence, she was hiding somewhere back there.
Jenna padded easily to the edge of the alley. "Dusty?" She called. "Is that you Dusty?" No answer returned, only silence. Jenna gulped and stepped into the dark alley. On her right wood boxes that said things like: 'DYNAMITE,' 'FRAGILE,' 'HANDLE WITH CARE 'and' CANNED PRUNES' stood out. They stood ten or twelve high, two deep, and five long. All of them stacked in perfect order and neatness. On Jenna's left the rusty metal of an abandoned bicycle leaned against the gray siding of another building. Under the bicycle, where the tires should have been, a snow covered pile of jagged metal stuck out with pricks and points and smooth rounded pieces. Further into the alley Jenna pushed, her eyes scanning left and right across garbage that had been ripped from a paper bag. It looked as though it had been thrown there recently by the lack of snow across it. Then Jenna heard the sobbing. It came low; a sound of sudden pain, followed by a repercussion of the same sounds gradually growing fainter. "Dusty?"
There was a gasp of shock and horror from the back far corner behind a lidless garbage can next to the fence. Jenna's eyes picked up the twitch of an ear moving just over the top edge of the lidless garbage. "Dusty?"
"Go away." Dusty sobbed.
Jenna padded yet closer until she was on the other side of the garbage. She sat and looked over at Dusty's ears that twitched as she sobbed. Jenna spoke. "What's wrong Dusty?"
"Nothing." Dusty sucked air through his nose producing a loud gurgling of flem in her throat. "Nothing, that you … you, would understand." She sobbed.
Jenna thought. "Well … maybe I won't understand, yet maybe I can help point you in the right direction, or give you some consoles."
Dusty turned her head and peeked her red eyes over the garbage can. As soon as Jenna looked at them Dusty turned away so only her ears were visible again. "No, I, I don't want … no." She sobbed. "I just need some time, to myself, to think things through."
Jenna sighed deeply and looked up at the edge of the roof on the building across the alley from her. She looked with the look of hope that said the answers to everything might be there. "Dusty. You're a strong girl. One of the strongest I've ever met." Dusty peered over the edge of the can at Jenna. Jenna knew she was looking at her, but didn't mover her eyes off the edge of roof. "I mean, when you were young your mother and me would get together with all our pups so we could have some girl time, and you kids could have friends to play with. I remember you. Whenever the boys found something that looked a little to scary for them to try, you were right there walking along the edge of that banister, talking to the pit-bulls on the street, or crawling into the hole under the house after a skunk." A sound came from Dusty. Jenna thought it might have been a chuckle. "I knew you were going to be doing something I would never have dreamed of. You were never quite comfortable playing with the girls. They always wanted to groom each other, and look good, and talk about boys. You wanted adventure and lots of it." Jenna sighed and looked at Dusty. Dusty had already lowered her head behind the can and out of sight. "But Dusty, that strength to want adventure put you in a male dog's world with a female dogs mind. I can tell because you cry, you think you're weak. But Dusty, you're a female and you need time to cry; and I think you need someone to help you get your emotions out whenever you need to. You need someone who will keep a secret and help you choose the right paths when they come. Someone who is a little girly." Jenna giggled. "So Dusty, I would like to try and help you, if you would let me."
Everything that Jenna had said was true. Dusty did feel stupid and weak for crying. She didn't have any friends who were really girly and would talk about feelings, or how they looked, and which boys looked good. And she especially didn't have any friends that would keep a secret about anything. Right now, she felt she needed that. She wanted to open her soul and let all of her emotions flood out.
"So Dusty, do you want me to help you?" Jenna asked again, looking straight over the empty can at Dusty's ears.
Dusty slowly raised her head. Tiny blood vessels ran bright red around the sides of her crying sore eye. Frozen drops of tears clung to her muzzle. And her face looked broken and tired, frazzled to the very soul.
When Jenna saw Dusty look over at her she knew the answer was yes. Jenna came to her feet and moved around the can until she saw Dusty in full. She sat back against the side of the can, her gray shoulders slumped over herself in a pitiful manner with her head hung low between them. "Come on Dusty, let's see that face." Jenna said with her best mother-sounding tone
Dusty let Jenna's words take her. She slowly lifted her muzzle and let her soul be bared to her closest, 'friend'.
Jenna smiled and stepped even closer to Dusty and began licking at the frozen tears. Dusty let her do it without hesitation; she felt she needed to be cleaned up. When Jenna finished she moved to Dusty's right side and sat down with her back against the building so they could speak with the comfort of not having look each other in the eyes. "So Dusty, can you tell me what happened?"
Dusty sighed deep; a sob huffed up in the middle of it. "I don't know if I should."
"Why?"
"Because it has to do with your son Kodi."
"Kodi!" Jenna half shouted. "What happened with Kodi?"
Dusty didn't know how she could explain everything that happened and why she was crying so pitifully. The words came to her and vanished. "Well … it started … I … Kodi was … It was in the boiler room …" Dusty finally just turned her head and looked straight into Jenna's eyes.
Jenna looked into her eyes and could see it gradually dawning upon her. She could see the pain that Dusty was feeling like it was her own. She could see it in her tears. Someone had hurt her really badly in the emotional area.
"It was Kodi." Dusty said coldly.
Jenna sighed, "Oh no. what happened with Kodi? Did he say something?"
Dusty sighed sadly and looked away. "Well, it's a little more than that."
"Do you have a crush on my Kodi?" Jenna said going out on a limb to see if it was true.
"I might have at one point." Dusty sobbed and turned her head full away.
"Dusty." Jenna brought Dusty's attention full to her. "I need you to tell me everything that happened."
Once again the words in Dusty came and vanished. "I … It was … when … Mr. Simpson first …" Dusty looked away disgusted with her inability to tell the story.
"Take your time Dusty." Jenna nuzzled her nose into Dusty's shoulder to give her courage.
Dusty glanced at Jenna before moving on. "Mr. Simpson had found an ice-ball between my toes and kept me a little later so he could put some cream on it. When Fell, Kip, and Myself headed for the boiler room we heard Kodi speaking angrily. We joked that Ralph had done something. When I opened the door Kodi stood with his back to me. He was." Dusty began to break down as tears stained her fur again and her eyes became bloodshot and red. "He … was … telling Ralph and Kirby, how ugly I was … and how he … couldn't, tell my front from my back … and he, was saying that he, hates me … and that he would never be caught dead with someone … as … horrible as … me." 'Me,' finished with a high pitch wail as Dusty fell forward into the snow crying at full potency.
Jenna could hardly believe what she had just heard. Her son, Kodi, had said all of those things behind Dusty's back, especially when Dusty liked Kodi? Jenna felt anger filling her veins. She wanted nothing more than at that moment to leave Dusty and go give Kodi his fair share of tongue lashings. Who had taught Kodi to talk, or even think, about others in that way? Balto was too much of a nice guy to do such a thing, and Jenna certainly hadn't taught him anything like that. Could it have just been something inside Kodi? No it couldn't have been. Kodi was much nicer and kinder than that. Yet if Dusty said he did, he most likely had. Jenna grinded her teeth together, as soon as she got Dusty on her feet she would head straight to Kodi and give him something he soon wouldn't forget.
Dusty wailed as loud as a bear with a broken leg and the other caught in a trap. Jenna set her paw onto Dusty's back and slid it up and down her muscular spine. Even though Dusty was strong in body, she was weak in feelings.
Suddenly Dusty sat bolt upright and looked straight at Jenna. "You can't say anything to Kodi."
"What?"
"You can't say anything, nothing at all, to Kodi. I don't want him to know I said this to you." Dusty said.
"Dusty." Jenna shook her head. "I don't know if I -"
"A secret." Dusty cut in on Jenna. "A secret. Please, just keep it a secret from Kodi. That's all. I just don't want you to go and tell Kodi that I came and talked to you."
Even though Jenna wanted nothing more than to rip into her own son, a secret was a secret and it couldn't be broken to someone so knew to the area of close friends. Jenna bowed her head. "Okay." She said quietly. "I won't talk to Kodi."
Dusty smiled and threw her face into Jenna's shoulder where she kept crying pitifully. But Dusty hadn't said anything about getting someone else to talk to Kodi about what he had done.