Arrival

Chipper would've dashed off the plane to play in the snow if his human, James Ramsey, hadn't been holding tightly onto his leash. As it was, the pup would simply have to wait. His parents, two purebred border collies walked at a more stately pace behind them.

The father, Dash, laughed. "Slow down, Chip. Remember what we said about staying together?"

"But Dad . . ."

"No buts. You can go exploring after we've settled in."

"But I'm almost a year old! I can take care of myself. "

"Eight months, and I don't doubt it," Dash said. "But we still need to find out where and where not to go so we don't run into trouble. Get it?"

"Got it," Chipper said reluctantly.

"Good. Let's keep it that way."

"Who's that?" Aurora asked, looking over her mate's shoulder.

Dash turned and saw three humans and a husky walking toward them. "I'd say that's our escort."

Their master met the man halfway and politely introduced himself. The little girl, with the red and white husky preceding her, joined them. The husky sat down in front of them. "Welcome to Nome," she said. "My name's Jenna. I suppose you're the ones who are going to stay with us."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Dash said. "My name is Dash."

"The pleasure's all mine," Jenna said amiably.

"And my name is Aurora," the other adult collie said.

"Wouldn't by chance be another fan of the Northern Lights, would you?"

Aurora shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We can't see them where we live, but I've heard so much about them from Treg. He's a sled-dog we met in Anchorage. I'd love to see them someday."

"You're in luck," Jenna laughed. "They're quite spectacular this far north."

"Are we going to see Balto, Dad?" Chipper broke in.

Jenna raised an eyebrow in amusement. "And you are . . . ?"

"Oh. My name's Chipper."

Dash smiled at his son's impatience. "Our son. I'm afraid he became a bit star-struck with all the stories Treg told him about Balto. When he heard that Balto still lived in Nome, he decided he wanted to meet a 'real-live hero' as he puts it." He tousled the fur on his son's head. "I've tried to tell him that heroes don't always make house calls."

"Well, Balto is one hero that does. I can guarantee you'll see him pretty soon," Jenna said.

"Really? You know him?" Chipper asked.

A small grin appeared on Jenna's face. "We cross paths from time to time."

"Wow!"

The humans began to walk away from the airstrip. The dogs stood up and followed their respective humans. Dash and Aurora chatted with Jenna about their journey, with Chipper interrupting often to add missing details.

A lull finally appeared in the conversation, and Chipper cleared his throat. His paws were growing numb after walking through snow. "Is it always this cold up here?"

Jenna laughed. "Cold? We're getting into the warmest part of the year!"

The pup completely missed the joking tone in her voice. "What?! But I feel like I'm turning into a pup-sicle!"

"That's popsicle," his mother corrected.

"In my case, it's pup-sicle."

Aurora rolled her eyes, but Jenna laughed lightly. "Don't worry, we'll be at my home in a few minutes. Besides, there's nothing like a brisk walk to warm you up."