MUSH! - 8. Chapter 8

“Come on bro!”

“I so do not see why I have to do this.” Socco glowered from his prone position on the bed. He was ostensibly reading, but his book was upside down. It was almost certainly one of Natu’s because to her knowledge, Kipa’s brother had never read a single book that hadn’t been on a school book list, and he hadn’t read half of those either.

“Because you promised and because we did.” Kipa sighed. “And because Natu and Dinahei promised to make it up to you.” She shuddered, “Though I am choosing not to think about that last one.”

Socco dropped the book and wriggled out of his clothes before crunching into his fur.

“Does it still really bother you I’m gay?”

Kipa rolled her eyes.

“You know, if my only brother had turned out to be gay and actually useful at stuff… Like clothes and make up and talking about boys, then maybe I wouldn’t mind so much.”

“I am good at talking about boys.” Socco grinned with his pink tongue hanging from the side of his muzzle.

“You only wanna talk about your boys.”

“Like you have eyes for anyone else but Mak…” Socco trotted down the stairs next to his sister. “Do I really have to wear the collar too?”

“Yup, whole nine yards. Come on pup.”

Socco sat patiently as his sister clipped the blue collar around his neck. He didn’t like to wear one, but he’d gone and bought one of the same colour as Dinahei’s eyes anyway. The grey and white part malamute jumped up into the back of the cab and settled down on the bench seat.

“The others are meeting us there right?”

“Yes, Natu’s picking them up.” Kipa tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. Since they’d been out for their last run, she had gone and had a manicure, and her fingernails were glossy and red. It wouldn’t last, just like the hair dye she had often tried to use when they were teenagers. Socco really wondered sometimes why she bothered. All the chemicals smelt foul anyway. “Come on babe!”

“Fine, fine.” Mak pulled on his sheepskin lined flying jacket as he hustled into the car. “Alright there Soc?”

“Peachy.”

“Well, you can’t ask a thing of your team you ain’t willing to do yourself now, can you?”

When Socco had turned up at the Anchorage Canine Clinic with twelve incredibly well behaved dogs, it had caused a little bit of a stir. Now, ten people had gathered with just one dog, who sat wedged in between the legs of two young men with his ears folded down.

“It’s alright Solo.” Natu bent to fluff the top of his head. “It’s doesn’t hurt that bad.”

Dinahei crouched down next to the rather depressed looking dog and kissed his muzzle.

“It’ll be OK. We’re right here.”

Socco pricked up his ears and barked happily.

At the front desk, Kipa turned back to the receptionist.

“Yeah, just a check up on his shots and the microchip. That’s all.”

“I dunno babe.” Mak put his arm around his mate’s waist. “I think maybe we should get him neutered, whatcha think?”

Socco heard him, and snarled low.

“Don’t you fuckin’ think it Mak.”

“Mak! What a nasty thing to say.” Cenai petted her cousin. “Don’t worry, I’d bite his balls off for you if he tried.”

“Get in line.” Dinahei growled, and Kipa suddenly wished they hadn’t all come.

“Calm down guys.” Seeba laid a hand on her cousin’s shoulder and pulled Dinahei softly back from the edge of his temper. “Let’s just do this and go and get dried salmon jerky from Ukiuk. We need to check on some of the jars in town.”

“Can we go get milkshakes at the IHOP?” Taba linked her arm with Kinai and leant against his shoulder. “We never just hang out anymore.”

Kipa went with Socco into the little room at the vets, and though Dinahei and Natu both tried to follow, the receptionist said the procedure only needed one person. They ended up waiting for the vet to finish up someone else’s paperwork.

“Mak was joking bro.”

“He’s shouldn’t fuckin’ joke about that Kipa. It’s not fair if you all try and gang up on me.” Socco sat on the table with his tail curved around his feet and his crotch area very deliberately protected. “I want Natu to be here.”

“You don’t like me anymore big brother?” Kipa gave him a lopsided smile. “We don’t really get along like we used to do we?”

Kipa sat on the only chair in the little clinic room flicking her painted nails against the wooden frame softly. She liked the lacquered sort of noise they made. It was too bad the polish wouldn’t last past the next time she changed shape, but Kipa didn’t see why being a shifter had to mean she couldn’t have nice things. Cenai and Taba weren’t particularly girly, and Seeba had that whole ‘with nature’ thing going for her. But Kipa had always loved flicking through glossy magazines in the seven eleven, seeing the models with their great clothes and fancy hairstyles, drooling over displays of lovely jewellery with sparkly stones and fancy metals. When she and Mak had become truly and properly mated, all Kipa had wanted for a long time was a ring with a big stone which would shine like ice crystals in the winter sun. But it was not to be.

As a kid, before the first change, Kipa had been the most girly of them, always doing her hair, always interested in make-up looks and cool clothes. The rest of her family seemed to have settled for the fact that their human bodies came second to their husky forms, but as much as Kipa loved her rich dove grey fur, she still wanted to be able to turn heads walking down the street.

“I do love you sis.” Socco’s ears were folded back, his muzzle pointing at the ground. “I just don’t understand why you don’t want me to be happy the way you are.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.” Kipa replied softly. “Not at all. I just think you are kidding yourself if you think you can love them the same. Even just now you said you wanted Natu here with you. Does that mean you love him more?”

Socco’s brown eyes flashed up at her. The one thing they really shared was their eye colour, the deep chocolate-caramel brown which was a perfect tonal mix between their parents.

“I love him differently, but I love them both the same. You don’t understand, but it would never work with just two of us, any two. We’re meant to be together, just like you and Mak are. It doesn’t matter that we’re male, or that we’re related, or that there’s three of us. It just doesn’t.”

Kipa smiled at her brother, but they could both tell Socco’s words hadn’t had the desired effect. Kipa still had no idea what he was talking about. The vet came in, a woman this time. She was generally chatty and pleasant, but Kipa wasn’t really in the mood to be sociable. Socco did as he was bid, and had drugs put down his nose which made him sneeze, and shots administered under his skin which made him twitch and whine. Kipa held her brother’s fur and collar, kept his face close to her chest and shoulder, and wished there was an easy answer to all their problems.

When the microchip was readied, Kipa looked for the first time at the size of the needle which deposited the rice-grain sized chip and wondered what on earth they were doing to the man who was the key in them running the Last Great Race. It might have only been two weeks since they had really decided to run, but now, every single one of them wanted to run it, if for nothing else than the pride of proving they could, and here she was in the veterinary clinic, forcing her brother to undergo a painful procedure he didn’t need.

“You ready? He might fight this one, it hurts.”

“I know.” Kipa’s fingers dug deeper into Socco’s fur and she held him against her body. “I’m sorry Solo.”

Socco’s yelp of pain made her grit her teeth, and wish she could reverse the last hour of their lives.

Taba’s suggestion of milkshakes and pancakes had been generally accepted, so Natu jumped up into the truck and told the others that he, Dinahei and Socco would meet them there. Like the houses, there was not a single Sabaakax vehicle which did not contain spare clothes. The remaining eight of them decided to walk into town. Kipa was sure they made a sight on the streets of the town, a whole host of young people, with a variety of odd hair colours, all of whom had the sorts of bodies humans tried to kill themselves over. They ran for a living, and more than once their parents had told them all that they looked like some model advertising cast having a wander.

The staff at the IHOP were only too happy to put a couple of big tables together to seat them all and the team began to fight over menu’s and flavour combinations while they waited for the rest of their crew.

“What d’ya reckon they’re doing?” Kinai glanced at the wall clock, because none of them were silly enough to try and actually own such a device as a watch. “They’ve been ages.”

“I don’t want to know.” Mak shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Aww fuck! They’re in my damn truck!”

“It’s not yours Mak. Truck belongs to Sighai.”

“Yeah, and he’s gonna want it smelling like sex and hormones when I bring it back.”

“You don’t know that’s what they’re doin’.” Cenai was examining the milkshake menu. “You reckon peanut butter is better than Oreos?”

“They’re alone.” Suda rolled his eyes. “Of course they’re having sex. Could you blame them?”

Silence descended around the big table.

“Pretty much everyone thinks there’s something wrong with their relationship. They don’t get to live together or anything, and now when we run Soc doesn’t even get to do that with the boys he says he loves. Gran-papa obviously thinks they’re serious, or he wouldn’t have offered them the deal.” Suda flipped his menu over and called the waitress from across the restaurant with a wave. “Fuck, good on them. I damn hope their having good sex right now. That vet’s is an awful place to have to be.” Suda grinned up at the server as she arrived at his shoulder. “I’ll have the double chocolate mocha milkshake and bacon pancakes please.”

“Sure thing.” The waitress scribbled. “Who’s next?”

By the time they got around the table, Socco had arrived, an arm draped over each of his best boy’s shoulders, and the three of them had to scramble for menus and seats before the girl vanished. She had already used four of her little notepad pages on their order.

“Three peanut butter milkshakes, French toast with powdered sugar for this one,” Socco swiped the tip of Dinahei’s nose with one finger, “pancakes with peaches and cream for him.” Natu bit his lower lip and didn’t meet anyone’s eyes as Socco spoke. “And I’ll have whatever the chef has got on with the most meat attached, and curly fries.”

“Hungry are we bud?” Kinai raised an eyebrow.

“Going to the medic sure works up the appetite eh?”

“My car better be clean.” Mak huffed.

“Spotless.” Dinahei replied, too quickly.

Food and drinks arrived in batches, and as the team filled themselves up with sugar, sticky, wonderful carbohydrates and processed foods, they forgot to fight about anything for a while. Not that long ago they had all been teenagers, Dinahei still was, and the opportunity to go out together and ‘pig-out’ as their Gran-mama would have said, was still rare enough to still be special.

Kipa played with the whipped cream with the end of her straw, caught Mak watching her with dark, lustful eyes, and grinned, flashing her teeth at him. Kinai saw the look on his brother’s face and whistled low.

“Ah shut it you.”

“I ain’t the one with a boner under the table Mak.” Kinai was nothing if not cocky when he folded his French toast and chewed like a man with a secret he was happy about.

Kipa heard a rustle behind them, and turned her attention to the whispered conversation the wait staff seemed to be having behind their backs.

“I’m telling you that’s them.” There was a boy with a kitchen apron and a stack of plates with the two girls

“Well which one?” The girl who had served them sounded perplexed. “They all look like they could hold a dog team down.”

“Him.”

From the corner of her eye Kipa saw the second waitress point to Socco in the direction bus boy had indicated.

“The cute one sitting with the kid with the blue hair?”

“Oh you are so out of luck with that honey. I’ve seen them in here before. He’s gay.” Their server added.

Kipa glanced across at her brother, and Socco frowned and mouthed: ‘What’s up?”

“This is gonna be hilarious.” Kipa nodded to him quickly. “Play nice.”

“Hi there!” The girl had perfectly curled hair, a shiny French manicure and filled out her uniform in a way that Kipa wished she could do to. Time and again Cenai had told her if her boobs were any bigger then wearing a bra would be mandatory and that alone would make switching and changing annoying. “Everything all right for you?” She was standing at Socco’s shoulder, apparently oblivious to the fact Natu was leaning against his shoulder and they were sharing a fork.

“Great, thanks.”

The girl placed one hand on the back of Socco’s chair, the other on the table and bent down. If Socco had had even the slightest interest in tits it would have shown on his face about then. The girl took a finger of cream from his milkshake and bit her lower lip.

“You need anything else?”

“I’m good.” Socco stretched back in his seat and wrapped an arm around Dinahei, who was sitting closest, and pulled the teenager practically into his lap. “My boy’s got me covered.”

The girl jumped up straight so quick she stumbled.

“Right. You er… let us know if you need anything.”

Socco laughed as she scurried away, and Dinahei giggled.

“Soc that was cruel.” Natu shook his head, but he was still wearing a massive grin.

“That was dead funny.” Kipa sipped her coke. “Thanks bro.”

Socco smiled across at her.

“So I’m good for something? Finally.”

“Are you Socco Sabaakax?”

They all looked round to see the boy in the apron that had been holding the stack of plates. He looked barely sixteen.

“Are you?”

“Yeah.” Socco shifted in his seat, looking like he might be guilty of something.

“Here.” The kid dug in his apron and handed over a crumbled wad of notes. “For the race.”

“Are those your tips?” Natu asked. When the boy nodded, there was a collective groan from around the table.

“Sorry kid, that’s nice, but I can’t take this.”

“But it’s for the race.” The kid shuffled from foot to foot nervously. “My pop is with the ITC. People are talking about your team.” He shoved the money back at Socco. “I wanna be able to say I put in for you when you win.”

“No rookie has ever won the race kid.” Suda shook his head. “Keep your money.”

“If anyone could blow up powder in their first race, it’s the guy who runs down mountains without stopping.” The kid grinned. “You’re famous Sabaakax.”

“You hear that?” Mak threw up his hands, punching the air. “Our little team is famous.”

“What’s your name?” Socco took the stash from the kid and started counting.

“Brian Lesaar.”

“Tell you what…” Socco separated twenty bills from the stack and handed the slightly larger wedge back to the kid. “I’ll take this portion, and you can still take your girlfriend out to the movies.”

“Boyfriend, actually. Thanks Mr Sabaakax.”

“Kid, there’re six people around this table you could call by that name. Socco will do.”

“I’ll see you in the lists Socco. Good luck.” Brian grinned, then grabbed a couple of empty glasses and made a hasty exit past the eyes of his manager.

“So then people, reckon we should go collect from around town and meet back at the shed?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Cenai grinned. “Gunnar got a call about some old lady clearing out a bunch of meat from like last year that her son shot. We can go grab it.”

“I’ll come.” Kipa smiled at her other half. “You can go with the boys to get fish.”

“You are not taking my truck…” Mak was aghast.

“It ain’t yours babe. Let’s roll Cus.”

Everyone put a couple of bills in for the meal and they laid on an OK tip for the waitress. There was a jar on the counter for tips for all the other staff, the cooks and bus boys, and Suda, Mak and Natu each shoved a few bills in that too. The Sabaakax team left a heap of plates and glasses in their wake, all licked clean for every last morsel.

They took an easy route out of town on the west side, following the directions Gunnar had given them. Like all the information he provided, it was scrawled on a piece of torn out newsprint, which in itself was badly crumpled. Kipa saw the little love heart drawn on the bottom and grinned.

“Alright then Cenai, speak. Tell me everything about the man who puts hearts on the notes he passes to you.”

“Nosey!” Cenai flicked her cousin and huffed. “Why do you think I’m gonna tell you everything?”

“Because you want to.” Kipa sing songed. “You want to tell me about him. That first warm gooey feeling of being in new-love. The really good dates, the secret phone calls and the kisses which last for hours…”

“It doesn’t last eh?”

“Kissing never does.” Kipa smiled. “But it’s a different kind of good later on.”

Whenever she actually stopped to think about it, Kipa could never believe she and Mak had been official mated for nine years. They’d been kids, teenagers, too young in the eyes of the law to even have sex, not that it had stopped them any. Kipa had grown into her fur in the winter of her fourteenth year, and the scent blast which had hit her from Mak had been impossible to ignore. Those first few weeks while the family had shouted and yelled had been full of all those illicit thrills. Sneaking out late at night and stealing their parents’ cars. Convincing one of their cousins to take them out with the little rig. There had been kisses that lasted lifetimes, nights when there seemed like there was nothing better in the whole world to do than stare into each other’s eyes. When the family had relented and allowed them to live together, they hadn’t left their bed for three whole days except to pee. Love had sustained them, been their food and drink when they themselves had been too busy exploring each other.

And while everything was still good, great even, wonderful: it was different. There were still late night talks about random things, but they weren’t as often or as long. They still went on dates and out to dinner, but it was few and far between. They were busier these days, more practical, and they had many more responsibilities to manage. There was nothing about her life she didn’t like, but sometimes Kipa missed that deep warm honey in the pit of the stomach feeling you got when you were first in love.

Was that how Socco felt about his ‘best boys’? Kipa had loved that her brother had found the little stunt with the waitress funny, and it had been cool to watch. Mak was the only one who seemed to genuinely mind that Dinahei was into guys, and no one at all cared that Socco was gay, except perhaps the waitress back at the IHOP. Suddenly Kipa wondered how it would be to be denied the company of the man she loved for so long. Her brother had been in love for pretty much his entire life, but he wasn’t allowed to be with the men he loved.

“You really wanna know?” Cenai hugged herself and smiled. “It’s great. He takes me out whenever we’re not running the team, talks about work, about going out shooting with Suda… He kisses like a house fire and we listen to country and western in the car. We went for ice cream.”

“That’s just weird. We don’t live in Miami.”

“I like ice cream.” Cenai sighed. “I hate lying to him.”

“I’m sorry hun.” Kipa took the truck around a tight corner and then straightened out onto McKenzie Drive. “It’s something that has to be done, hard as it is.”

“You didn’t.” Cenai pointed out.

“And you won’t have to deal with your father shouting at you for choosing a mate who’s a relation to you. Swings and roundabouts, isn’t it? Everyone gets to deal with different problems.” Kipa shrugged. “It’s round here somewhere. What was the name of the road?”

“Grissom Circle… look there!” Cenai pointed. “Now we just find number twelve…”

The old lady who lived at number twelve was only too happy to see them, and insisted on inviting them into the house and furnishing them with tea.

“I’m so glad you’re here. My son does insist on going shooting, but he doesn’t cook and there’s only so much grouse and moose a person can eat in a year.

“Well the dogs eat plenty, they’ll appreciate it.”

“Are you sure you girls can manage? I can’t imagine why young Gunnar didn’t send one of the boys…”

Cenai grinned at her cousin, and Kipa chuckled. Being girly was nice sometimes, but it was even more satisfying to crack your knuckles and heft a twenty pound sack of frozen seal meat like it was a handbag.

“Oh, it’s alright, we’ll manage.”

*

The new sled ran beautifully.

Over the last few days out in the mountains around Eklutna Lake they had pushed themselves hard, running long distances weighed down with enough gear to last them a full week. They had also been playing around with their positions on the gang line, though none of the wheel dogs or swing dogs ever changed, and Kipa thought they might have finally worked out a pattern which worked. Natu had switched sides to run on the right behind Dinahei, and Socco had found a coiled black gang line in the bottom of the sled bag which turned out to have a staggered layout. Suddenly they were all running a lot smoother.

Most big teams ran all their dogs in a paired set up, which worked great if you had lots of dogs who were similarly sized and who liked to run close together. As soon as Socco had laid out the new line, Mak had sighed in relief.

“No more rubbing against your shoulder the entire time eh?” Suda had snapped at him, and they’d played in the snow like puppies while Socco got the set up hitched up.

The staggered line was longer, and ran the dog’s one behind the other on alternating sides, which meant they got their own space. There was now double the space between Kipa and the next dog in front, because Cenai now ran on the left hand side of the rope. There was a section they could clip on to make the line two dogs longer for when Kova and Lena joined them, and Kipa found that she was looking forwards to running behind her Burmese uncle. The new layout meant Dinahei was out front with Natu running right behind, which suited them just fine, then on the left hand side Kinai clipped along happily. Anysie ran after him, then Taba, Seeba, and Cenai. The new team order meant that Kipa now ran in front of her mate without Suda sitting on his left shoulder all of the time.

Kova had done a sterling job with the sled, and even though they were hauling a big load up and down all the hills and little trails, the new rig ran soft and beautifully across the ice and snow. The carbon fibre runners glided on the surface of the snow and the running was easy, full of motion and a sense of speed their old sled had not conveyed. Each mile, Dinahei was better, and all of them were running better as a team, pulling together and following the directions from their musher and their lead dog without question.

Socco was better too, and as they rounded the final turn on the trail down towards the southernmost point of the lake he slowed the sled, and set the claw brake just-so to bring the team to a relaxed halt. They hadn’t stopped in six hours, but unlike every other team, the Sabaakax didn’t bark and snap and fight for food.

Suda rolled his shoulders as Socco unclipped him and Mak went to relieve himself messily into a bit of already dirty snow where some animal or other had been rummaging around. Kipa put her face against her brother’s and nuzzled until she exposed his ear, then licked him.

“You want seal blubber or snowshoe hair for snacks? I got both.” Socco ruffled her ears.

“How come Kipa gets to choose?” Natu whined, shaking out the fur from under his harness. “I wanted moose.”

“Because I like my sister.” Socco threw a glove to his mate, who caught it and shook the fur and leather like it was a rabbit. “Play nice. I’ll need that later.”

They all had a bit of a roll in the snow, emptied their bladders and checked over their own feet while Socco got the cooker on, piled heap after heap of clean snow in to make hot water and then located the seal blubber chunks, all neatly sliced up into half pound lumps, and left them to warm through from their frozen state.

Kipa found her mate standing on the edge of the frozen lake, and trotted out onto the ice to see him.

“New sled’s nice.” Mak nuzzled into her fur. “And I like running behind you.”

“Mind, gutter, out.” Kipa waved her tail at him, testing her claws on the ice. “You fancy a race?”

“You know I’d beat you babe.” Mak was obviously in a good mood, tail high and fur fluffy as he thrummed against his mate.

“We don’t have time for you two to go play bambi-on-ice!” Socco was fishing the seal blubber out of the cooker. “We got more miles to cover today!”

“Where are we headed?” Dinahei stopped eating to look up at his lover and Mak dived to steal his food. The little blue and white husky snarled and ripped the blubber back from his older brother.

“You cheeky bastard!”

“It’s not like I tried to steal it.” Natu sat with his tail wrapped around his paws, one eyebrow spot raised. Socco handed the grey brindled dog a piece of soft blubber. “Thanks babe.”

“Well that’s an improvement.” Mak huffed. “So where are we goin’?”

“School.” Cenai finished chewing down her snack. “Forty three miles to Clarke and we gotta be there before they kick out for the day.”

“We can do that.” Seeba sat back on her haunches and grinned. “No more mountains, and we can make a show running through town with our new sled and our sponsors logo’s on the side.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Kinai finished chewing and turned back to the sled. “We can go give the kids a little ‘hands on’ time.”

Half an hour, three assorted booties and one breakfast bar later, Socco packed up the sled, hitched up all the dogs and stood on the footpads of the new runners.

“All clear up there?” Dinahei barked in agreement. “You alright team?”

Kipa turned back to look at her brother, and for the first time in a while, she was glad that it was him who was driving in the back. Her brother was many things: annoying, a pain in the ass, cocky and ridiculously self-assured, but he was a good driver, he loved the team, and even better as far as their chances of getting any money out of anyone, he was good-looking as hell.

“Alright then. Mush!”

They waited for Dinahei. When the little lead dog jumped into his collar that was the moment everyone else threw themselves into the harness to get the sled moving. Socco had broken it out of the little ice which had built up while they had been stationary, and the runners were so slick it was like they had been greased. Socco himself was pushing at the back, and Kipa kept up the tension, moving faster, not letting a single inch of slack form in the tug which connected her to the gang line. Mak was a strong dog, a great wheel dog, and though it was tempting to let him catch up with her, it would be no good for their speed. Every dog pulled as hard as they could, and as the momentum built, they were trotting instead of walking, then running, then running faster. There was a nice long straight out of the range and along the lakeside, an area littered with other teams and drivers, and by now, they had all caught Dinahei’s joy of showing off.

They ran for nineteen miles at what Kipa liked to call their best running speed. It was the long lope at which they were best as a team, and Kipa knew she could keep up the pace all day if she had to. And to make a thousand miles they were going to have to. The ITC paid twenty places down, but the money staggered down by degrees, and it was the top five places that got the good bucks. It wasn’t enough to live on, but it was plenty to be getting by with. At the fork of the road they stopped and Socco made each of them wear a full set of booties for running in the shorter snow next to the highway. They were going through the little cloth pouches like a beaver went through aspen trees, and it was a good thing the kids at Clarke Middle School didn’t seem to mind making more and more all the time.

Not all fabric worked for the booties, and they had a whole bunch which had been made out of what had presumably been a dead wetsuit. Neoprene worked well for the road work, but Kipa was currently sporting a front pair in blue denim and two on the back in polar fleece. None of the colours really matches and all the booties were a bit different, but the team had very quickly decided it didn’t matter. They ran, and it wasn’t important what other people thought of their gear, because when it was all said and done, they were fast, they were well behaved, and they ran harder than anyone else did.

They stopped again in Eagle, in what had become their usual spot between the post office and the café, and took a little rest in the traces. A couple of their ‘friends’ came out to help snack the team on the leftover seal blubber chunks, and Kipa was extra careful not to nip the young man who fed her, even though Mak growled for no reason. Kipa waved her tail in his face, which shut him up.

“You’re a lucky boy.” Suda shook his head. “What I wouldn’t give to have my girl with me.”

Socco laughed.

“It’s amazing what we’ll do for sex ain’t it?”

By now the café were used to feeding old pastries and coffee to Socco, and the young man in the argyle sweater came out from the post office with the donations in a jar. After the third time they’d come out this way with the car, Seeba had got some more posters copied and the team were fast becoming Eagle’s favourite visiting celebrities. They got underway again in less than half an hour and it was good to race along the snowy verge with half the small town cheering them on.

The sun was out, the sky was blue, and Kipa wondered why she had ever been against the idea of racing.

Because your brother liked it, she told herself softly. And anything your brother liked you hated just on principle. And that attitude had only gotten worse when other people had started getting involved. None of them had any frame of reference for what it would be like to grow up in a normal family: mum, dad, two kids and maybe one pair of cousins who lived three states away and who you saw on Thanksgiving and Super Bowl weekend. Kipa may have only had one brother, but that didn’t mean she had felt short of siblings her entire life. They were one big family, and now that they had the opportunity to run together like never before, Kipa was glad.

Everybody was always in everyone else’s business, and nothing was ever personal or private and it was incredibly hard to keep secrets, but Kipa wouldn’t swap that for the world. Her brother had helped her to sneak out at night and her cousins had helped to keep their secrets, for all of one day until they were too careless and got themselves discovered. It was nice to pull in the harness knowing that Cenai tugging away to her left and Seeba running just in front were all pulling for the same reasons she was. They all pulled for the love of running, for the love of each other and desire to show everyone else they were the best dogs in Anchorage.

It took them an hour on the good snow to reach the outskirts of the city, and Dinahei, being the dog he was, took them straight through town, through Centennial Park and Dave Rose Park, and then set to barking as they got within spitting distance of the school.

“They do know we’re coming right?” Kipa asked, panting as they rounded the corner. Dinahei sprung forwards, and they hit the strait of the long driveway into the school campus running wide open.

“I think so.” Natu yipped in delight, and Socco stepped sharply but briefly on the brake as he too saw the crowd of school children and the three man camera crew standing off to one side. “You all ready to be on television?”

“Let’s give ‘em a show Dinahei!” Socco twisted the bar in his hands. “Haw!”

Dinahei sprung left, turning away from the camera, and they raced the sled along in front of the children on the snow which covered the lawn in front of the school. Dinahei didn’t need the command to turn at the end, neither did anyone else, and they whipped the new sled around back on itself just as they had for the turning post on the final leg of the Boxing Day Thirty. People cheered, and Dinahei went from running flat out to merely trotting in the traces as they slowed to a rather elegant stop.

“Good team!” Socco stepped off the sled and removed his hood, hat and ski-mask. “Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you, the Sabaakax Sled Dogs!”

Theatrical bastard… Kipa smiled to herself.

They were swamped. The camera team wanted to talk to them, the kids were desperate to pet the dogs and needed to be held back by their teachers and the teachers were just as keen to be involved. It took a bit to get everyone sorted, but soon Socco had the lady who had organised the bootie making effort and the interviewer petting Dinahei and Natu while they talked and the dogs were happy enough to have everyone else pet them. No Anchorage schoolchild was stupid or ignorant enough to do anything dangerous or silly, and Kipa stood while her fur was rubbed and small boy with huge blue eyes stroked her head and told her what a pretty girl she was.

Mak huffed jealously.

“You always get the praise.” He himself was being fawned over by a pair of girls who might have been twins, heaping adoration on his rich fur. “Flirt.”

“Oh Mak!” Kinai rolled his eyes at his older brother. “Oh no one ever loves me!” He dropped his voice back to its usual pitch. “But you were the first one with a mate and first to move out. Don’t be greedy.”

“This is fun.” Cenai was on her back getting her belly rubbed by a very well trained human. “We should come down here once a week.”

“Look! That’s one of my booties!” A cute black haired fourteen year old knelt down in front of Kipa and the husky obligingly offered her front paw. “I made these you know.” She spoke to the dog without the awful baby-ish whine of most humans. “They were my brother’s old jeans. He’d grown out of them.” She added quickly. “I got twelve booties out of them. I can’t believe you’re actually wearing them, they comfy?”

And although Kipa understood everything that was being said, she couldn’t show that to the nice girl, so she licked her cheek and nuzzled her face softly.

Up at the front, Socco was smiling for the camera, being gracious and genial, and educating the world all about his dogs.

“Oh they love their work. The whole team loves to run, and we go all over the place.”

“What was the hardest run you ever did?” The interviewer was trying to split his attention between Socco and the fact that Natu was trying to climb into his lap. “You ever bite off more than you can chew?”

“Oh plenty.” Socco chuckled and ruffled Dinahei’s ears. “But I have a great lead dog, and he figures out what to do. We came down a mountain in the Glen Alps range in a strange manner a couple of weeks ago, it was mad and dangerous as all hell, but Halleron seemed to like it.”

“And he’s your reference, am I correct?”

“Aye, he’s gonna be the man who tells the ITC that we’re good to run. But we still have to qualify. We have two hundred odd miles to run in Canada in a few weeks.”

“You haven’t qualified?” This was from the teacher who was petting Dinahei and looking very slightly jealous.

“Not yet. We think we might be the last team left to do so.”

“That could be good for the feature.” The camera-man nodded to his sound-guy. “The last qualifying team in the last great race.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if you ended up coming first?”

“That’s a big ‘if’, but you know we’re gonna try our very best.”

Once the camera crew had got little bits of interviews with the staff, some sound bites from the kids and some bits from Socco about the desire to run the race and the technical aspects of preparing for the Iditarod, they waved themselves off and vanished in their transit van.

“So when are you lot all going back to class?” Socco crouched down to talk to a small girl who was now patiently petting Kipa.

“Soon.” She looked round at him big eyes. “Can we ride in a sled?”

Kipa looked up at her brother and wagged her tail. They were used to carrying heavy loads, and there was no way a few kids were going to be any trouble.

“What do ye reckon girl?” Socco made a fuss of his sister as he asked the question. “You wanna run some of the kids over the football field?”

None of the Sabaakax litter had ever really understood the concept of football, and they yapped excitedly at the prospect of running amok over the sports fields. It didn’t take long for Socco to unpack the sled, although he had to explain what each item was to the curious youngsters, and soon enough all their gear was laid out neatly by the side of the sled, and Socco was sorting students into the bed of the bag.

“Enough?”

Mak shifted against the tugs and the sled shunted.

“Nah, we can take a couple more.”

Socco partially zipped up the sled bag around the children lower down and then tied the others into the sled with a couple of bungee cords.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Asked one of the boys who had been enamoured with Seeba and Taba’s unusual colouring, gripping the top rail with white knuckles.

“Sure!” Socco jumped onto the runners. “Hike!”

This time, the sled was light and every single one of them took off at an incredible speed without waiting for Dinahei to pull ahead. The team knew where they were going, and the rest of the assembled school children ran behind them it a sprawling comet trail and they headed around and across the football field leaving paw prints and runner marks in the snow. Dinahei yapped madly at the front as they drew up, and then all the kids then wanted a go. The Sabaakax team went around the field another twelve times with groups of kids on the back of the sled before calling time, and then once more with two of the teachers at a breakneck speed, running wide open around the goalposts.

Before they left, Socco pulled the sled around the front of the school and posed for pictures with the whole team. The school paper’s photographer, and overexcited ninth-grader, kept on clicking the shutter even as they were getting ready to go, and Socco waved as the dogs began to pull the sled out towards the road. The team ran home, sated by running, pleased with themselves, and eager for a combination of hot baths, real beds and the prospect of dinner follow by a long sleep. Kipa hugged her brother right after she changed back into her skin, and he pulled a knitted poncho over her head and kissed her forehead, taking advantage of the meagre difference in their heights. It was good to be back on speaking terms.

Because they would be running again with the car in the morning, none of them saw much point in all going home, and Yakona seemed to have had the same thought, because by the time the team had emerged from the sled shed, there was a row of votive candles lit for them in the window, and they were home.

*

“Good morning pups.” Ujarak brought the scent of warm milk and jerky into the lounge with him, to where the team were lazing around in a combination of fur, skin, and various states of sloppy undress. “How are we all this morning?”

“Good morning Gran-papa.” Dogs and humans greeted him with smiles, hugs and the rubbing of skin, fur and hair against palms and fingers. Ujarak gave them all pieces of jerky, torn from the long strips he carried, and petted the dogs of his family. Socco laid, pride of place, in front of the fire in his fur, Dinahei snuggled next to him and Natu sat resting back on his elbows petting them both in a distracted manner.

“Hello there, how’s our lead dog doing then?” The grey haired man smiled, lines wrinkled his face as he bent to stroke Dinahei’s velvet soft ears before scratching at the short fur above the grey and white dog’s nose. “And our musher? You’re famous you know.”

“What d’you mean Gran-papa?” Natu frowned and chewed his dried meat thoughtfully. “Soc’s pretty but he ain’t famous.”

“Yeah he is.” Kal was standing in the kitchen doorway, folded newspaper in hand. “You all are; every single one of you.”

“What do you mean?” Kipa asked, her hands stilling in Mak’s thick fur.

“You’re in the paper.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“You’re kidding?”

“Nope.” Kinai had taken the paper from Kal. “That photography kid must have some wicked connections. We’re in the paper.”

And there they were. They were beautiful in black and white, above the fold of the Anchorage Daily News, a quarter page photograph of Socco outside the school with Dinahei in his lap, Natu climbing on his shoulders and all eight other dogs sitting and standing in the snow by the sled. Mak had been taken yawning, his tongue curled into a perfect scoop, and Taba had one ear up and one down as she poked her wet nose in Kinai’s ruff. Socco was grinning, and the whole thing looked natural, like they were simply standing there because it was a good place to be. There was a four inch column beside the photograph, but no one stopped to read it, because at the very bottom there were instructions.

“Page twelve!”

“What?” Natu had ended up holding the paper.

“There’s more on page twelve.” Kipa thumbed through the sheets. “Look!”

And there they were. Running in the harness, being petted by the kids, a great shot of Mak and Kipa together that even Kinai ‘aww’d’ over. There was a picture of Socco with Dinahei trying to lick him to death, Natu in the background looking puzzled, and at the bottom, a little sentence in italic text next to one small, last photograph.

Socco and the Sabaakax Sled Dogs; the last team to qualify trying to come in first in the Last Great Race. Anchorage’s own home grown team, proving that being the best takes a lot of hard work, and an awful lot of love.

The picture was the last one, slightly blurry with the thrill of speed, showing Socco half turned on the sled and waving as the dogs began to tear off away from the school.

“We’re famous babe…” Natu’s voice was low in the silence of them reading. “Everyone is going to know our name…”

They all turned to look at their lead dog and musher, and Socco glanced between his two mates, his great-grandfather and his sister, and barked.

“YES!”