Nome 1925
In the small town called Nome, as in every town in Alaska, it was freezing cold and snow was everywhere. The lakes, ponds and even the small puddles in the alleys were frozen. But the cold did not bother anyone. The residents of the small town were dressed warmly and were rather happy. Why? Well because the winter also brings a special sport. Dog sled racing! One of the sports where man and dog work together. But it was also a very strenuous sport. The weather and the environment can be exhausting for both the musher and the dogs.
But the story is not about the sled dogs or the people as the town. No, the story is about two special wolves. Well, one is a wolf and the other is half a wolf. The names of the two were Balto and Blood. Both were half-brothers but they considered themselves more like brothers. Balto is thin and scruffy looking with grey-brown fur with lighter areas, darker ears and yellow and brown eyes. Blood, on the other hand, had black fur with gray fur patterns that went from his chest to the underside of his tail. The area of his mouth, except for the nose bone, was covered with white fur that rounded off and furred his entire lower jaw. The black fur was bordered by a curved gray stripe that went from the end of his muzzle to his nose and back again. His inner ears were gray. His paws were black except for two toes. One was white and the other gray.
Like his brother he was also thin and scruffy but he had unnatural red eyes which put most people off. To make it worse, he had scars on both elbows, on his right hip, on his left ear and on his right eye which he got either from the dogs from the town or from the hunters. Therefore, he avoided the city as best he could and only went into it when it was dark. But his brother Balto was of a different opinion and liked the city very much which hated him and his brother. But the two did not live in a cave no. They lived on an old capsized wooden boat that had seen better days. It lay in an oblique position so that one almost thinks it would tip over at any moment. But that was not the case.
This boat they shared with a snow goose that had taken care of them both since they were puppies. The name of the snow goose was Boris Goosinov. Or Boris for short as the two called him. He is mainly white, but has dark brown/black tipped feathers on his wings. He has a red-orange beak and blue bags under his eyes.
As he did almost every day, Blood slept under his blanket in the ship's driver's cabin. He always stayed there until the evening if Boris didn't wake him up because he wanted to wipe the floor. "Come on you oversized stuffed animal get up!" said Boris with a slight Russian accent. But Blood put his paw on his muzzle and tried to ignore the snow goose holding a bucket of water in one hand and a mop in the other.
But the goose did not give up and gently hit with the wood of the mop on the head of the wolf that still lay under the blanket. Where gently rather means something else. He had given him a strong blow on the head whereby the wolf was awake. "Ow! Boris what are you doing! Do you want me to get a bump on the head!?" asked Blood as he was wide awake and lowered the blanket from him while the wolf rubbed his head with his right paw. "Well, if you'd gotten up right away or gone to sleep somewhere else or not slept at all when I was cleaning the ship, I wouldn't have woken you up so hard!" Boris yelled at him.
"Okay understood Boris I am not deaf" said Blood as he shook his head. Now the day could start. "You should talk to your brother" said Boris as he hung the blanket on a hook. Blood nodded and went out onto the deck where he saw Balto looking down at the city from the railing. You could hear the hustle and bustle from the city. "Well, do you want to go back over to the city?" Blood asked him. "Ask the sleepyhead me" Balto replied. "Well, when you get woken up by a snow goose with a mop" Blood yawned as Balto chuckled.
Both looked out over the town. "Is there some festival going on again?" he asked Balto. "Not really it's just the dog sled race". Blood was not very excited about it. "Well luckily Steele is out of town" he said and was about to go back into the driver's cabin when he heard Balto jump down from the railing. "Hey where are you going?" asked Blood confused. "Well where to town!" he said and walked towards Nome until he heard snow stomping and turned around. "That's amazing that you're chasing me" said Balto. "How come?". "I'm only following you so that nothing happens to you, is that clear?" said Blood.
Balto nodded and the two were about to go on when someone stopped them. "You two stay here and don't go into town!" said Boris, who landed in front of them. "Oh come on Boris don't be a killjoy" said Blood. "Yes we just want to look at the winner of the race nothing more" added Balto. But Boris was against it. "Every time we go into town we either get chased out or I'm hanging from a moose antler next to a butcher!" said Boris "We're not going into town!". But the two wolves walked past him. Annoyed, he furrowed his brow and followed them. Blood took a running start when he saw the fence and jumped on it. Balto followed suit, but since Boris was holding onto his tail, he had to pull him up.
Suddenly something red lit up that amazes the three or rather Blood and Balto. It was a flare. "It's the three-mile marker!" said Balto who had Boris' head in his mouth. "Yo, dude! Get your slobbering mouth off me!" said Boris, who freed himself when he stood on the fence. Blood was already on the roof of the house opposite them. "Hey, you guys better hurry, I can already see a sled approaching the town," he said, turning around. "C'mon, let's go, Boris! We can cut around the back and catch the end of the race!", "Oh, dear, oh dear" Boris grabbed Balto's tail which confused Balto. "I'm a delicate country bird!" Blood looked at him.
"I hate going into town!", "Aw, c'mon, what's the worst that can happen?" Balto asked him. Boris tried to argue with him but Balto pulled him behind him, slinging him across a clothesline on the rooftops. "You see nothing happened" said Blood who was standing next to them. Both of them already wanted to go further. "Please, wait!" both wolves looked at him. "How do I let you speak into these facts?" a slight misstep causes Boris to slide off the rooftop. His leg gets caught in a moose antler as a result. He sighed out in relief until a hand grabs him and drags him into the house.
There he lay on a wooden board while the man plucked the feathers out of his butt. Boris did not like that. So he turned around, took the feathers he had put in the place that now had no more feathers before pointing a threatening index finger at the man. But the man showed him a butcher knife. Boris swallowed. He was with a butcher. Boris wanted to escape but the butcher literally cuts him off with a knife. The butcher held him and Boris saw through the glow of the knife that he wanted to cut off his head. But before it came to that Balto grabbed him and the butcher only hit the wooden plate. "Bring that back, you thief!".
Balto was back on the roof. "You are to put me down now, Mr. Golden Retriever?" Boris said annoyed. "Whatever you say, Boris" he let go of him and followed Blood who was on another roof. "Every time there's a race, you run around like you're in it!" said Boris who followed the two. "And one day, I...will be" Blood stopped and looked at his brother in confusion. "Um, I don't want to worry you brother, but you're half wolf. No Mascher would take you on the team" said Blood. "Heel, boy! Boris Goosenov is no spring chicken! WhooooOOOA!" he falls through a window, and a pile of snow lands on top of him.
"And no spring penguin either!" he gets up and tries to fly in the air, but is held down by his shivering "Why, it's cold!" Balto and Blood laughs as Blood catches Boris. Meanwhile, another flare lights the heavens, making the pass of the two-mile mark. "Look! The two-mile mark!" said Balto as he is Bursting through a door "C'mon! We don't want to miss the finish!" Blood followed him while Boris clung to his tail. "Aw, that would be a tragedy". He falls in the snow as Blood and Balto runs past him "I was being sarcastic!".