Sojo. Pam Flowers

Journey across the Arctic

      PART ONE

       Mischief, Adventure, and Sled Dog School

       Chapter One

      I was born in the middle of a January night during some of the worst weather anyone has ever known. It was so cold my cries of “Mew, mew, mew” froze to the tip of my tiny puppy nose. It was so windy snowflakes big enough to cover a doghouse were falling sideways!

      Okay, maybe I exaggerate just a little but what do you expect? I was so young when I was born it’s hard to remember exactly what the weather was like. But something totally amazing did happen that night … and this is no exaggeration … I got a human! That’s right, I got a real live adult human and her job was to take care of me.

      You might wonder how I could claim to know anything about my first night because puppies are born deaf and blind. Well, I could feel the cold and I could feel the wind shaking my doghouse.

      When I was about two weeks old, my eyes and ears opened and I could see and hear. For the first few days my vision was kind of blurry but my hearing developed really fast. So when another human visited our kennel, I was able to hear humans speaking to one another for the first time.

      “Hi, Pam,” said the visitor. That’s when I learned that my human had a name.

      “Hi, Joyce,” Pam replied. “Come see my new litter of puppies.”

      “How is their mother doing?” asked Joyce.

      “Oh, Alice is doing fine. She feeds them and licks them with that big, wet, sloppy tongue of hers and that keeps them clean,” said Pam.

      “That’s good. When were they born?” asked Joyce.

      “They were born in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago during that warm spell when we got a light snowfall,” answered Pam.

      Warm spell? Light snowfall? That’s not right. What’s the matter with her? I would later learn that Pam had no flair for drama and….

       Wait a minute! There’s more than just me?

      Well that explains something. Since the beginning, I’ve been bumping into a couple of warm, fuzzy lumps whenever I snuggled against my mom and I had no idea what they were. Now I get it! Those lumps are puppies. Turns out I have a brother! And a sister!

      The humans kneeled down beside my doghouse and looked at us. Pam pointed and said, “The male hiding behind his mom is Roald. And this cute little fuzz ball with the waggly tail is Anna (AH-nah).”

      When Joyce’s eyes fell on me, she gasped and asked, “Oh my! Who is this little beauty?”

      “That’s Sojo,” replied Pam.

      Joyce was obviously quite intelligent and much more observant than Pam. Running her fingers along the back of my neck and down under my chin, she said beaming, “Look at her sleek, black coat and those gorgeous long legs. What a pretty white face you have, Sojo. You could be a show dog!”

      I had no idea what a show dog was but that’s when I first learned that I’m beautiful.

      During those first few weeks, we enjoyed a quiet, happy life. Most of my time was spent playing inside our house with Anna and Roald and napping while my mom kept us warm and fed. Our doghouse faced a dense forest of spruce and birch trees and bushes sticking up through deep snow. My vision was still a little blurry but I learned to tell my sister from my brother by the way they smelled.

      Obviously I had a father but I had no idea where he was or what he smelled like. Pam showed up four times a day to bring my mom a bowl of food and water and saw to it that the house was full of clean straw. While Mom was eating, Pam always showed us her teeth, which I eventually learned was something called a smile.

      One afternoon when we were five weeks old, something really scary happened. We were playing inside our doghouse when Pam walked up and reached in with her bony, hairless hands. Without so much as a by-your-leave, she pulled me right out of the house and carried me off in her arms like I was a bag of dog food! I glared up at her in defiance.

       How dare you handle me like this!

      I had never been away from home before and had no idea what was happening. To make matters worse, we were completely surrounded by barking dogs, all lunging at the ends of their chains! They were so loud, I could hardly hear myself think! Without moving my head I rolled my eyes and counted them. Yikes! There were seven of them! I had no idea there were so many dogs in the world. I was absolutely petrified. I knew if I fell into one of those gaping mouths, it would mean instant death!

      I squirmed and squirmed as hard as I could to free myself but Pam was holding me so tightly, I couldn’t get away. I began to panic! If I couldn’t save myself, I was determined to save Roald and Anna.

      With all this racket, I knew even if I barked as loudly as I could, they probably wouldn’t hear me. I had to warn them using silent dog words and hope they were paying attention.

       Roald! Anna! There are giant dogs out here trying to kill me! Quick! Run for your lives!

      I don’t know if Anna and Roald heard me, but somehow Pam must have been able to read my mind because she looked at all those barking dogs and bellowed, “Quiet!”

      Without another woof, every dog fell silent and sat down! Pam smiled at me and said in a gentle voice, “It’s okay, Sojo, I’ll keep you safe.” A couple of steps later she stopped and looked at me with a kind smile and said, “Sojo, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

      She kneeled down and held me right up to the face of this huge, furry dog. He sniffed me all over with his big, cold, wet nose!

       Pleeease, I beg of you! Pleeease don’t kill me!

      “Be gentle, Robert,” said Pam in a firm voice.

      Robert sat down and swished his tail across the snow.

      “Sojo … this is your father,” said Pam.

       Dad? Dad, is that really you?

      Yes, it’s me, Sojo. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, he said. Then he gave me a big, wet, sloppy kiss right across my face.

      Oh, yyyuk! I blurted.

      He had a sort of pleasant vinegary smell and as I looked him over, I saw that my dad was quite a handsome fellow. He had gray fur with a grayish white face, big round eyes, and an enormous bushy tail.

      It was a quick visit and then I was whisked back to my doghouse. Before I could tell anyone what happened to me, Pam picked up Anna and carted her away to visit our dad. When Pam tried to pick up my brother, Roald, he started to cry and ducked behind Mom. For some reason poor Roald was afraid of everything and every time Pam reached for him he cried louder. Finally she gave up and Roald didn’t get to meet our dad that day.

      The next morning Pam came and turned our doghouse around so we could sit in the doorway and look out at the other dogs. I was shocked and amazed by what happened next. Pam put a harness on our father and five other dogs and attached them to a sled with a long line. She quickly jumped on the back of the sled and bellowed, “All right, let’s go!” All six dogs leaned into their harnesses and began dragging the sled down a narrow trail as though they were common beasts of burden. Pam did nothing to help them and simply stood on the sled like she was some sort of queen!

      My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I asked indignantly, Did you see that, Anna?

      Yes, it looked exciting,