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Tomorrow he would check again. If he had anything to say about it, his
new sister would wear white fox.
    Later, the Ardoin family
stood outside and watched the sun roll over the horizon and drop
out of sight.
    “ Well, that’s that!” Cordell slipped
an arm around Lise’s shoulders. “We won’t see it again until late
January. But look, it left a nice sunset for us to enjoy. Tomorrow
will be clear.”
    “ And dark,” replied Lise. “If it
weren’t for you and Jean-Paul being here, I think I would go
mad.”
    Jean-Paul felt a shiver of
fear rush up his spine. He didn’t like the long, dark days and
nights all running together. Before going back inside, he looked up
and found the star that would guide him through the dark months
ahead—Polaris. He wanted to wish for daylight, but he knew it would
do no good. I’d like fox fur for Ma’s
baby.

    ____________

    J ean-Paul watched his trap for the next week, but it still had
not caught anything. Not even an okalerk . In the last week of November,
he went to look again. He aimed the lantern’s beam down at the
trap. Sasha, always at his heels, looked up at him and
whined.
    “ It’s no use, Sasha. If the fox
doesn’t step in the trap soon, my sister will be born
already.”
    He made a tight, hard snowball and tossed it
into the trap. The mighty jaws sprang shut with a loud clank. Sasha
jumped back with a yelp.
    “ I just wanted to see if it still
worked. I guess it does.” He kicked at the bait with the toe of his
boot. “It’s all in one piece. That means nothing has tried to get
it off. And there are no tracks.”
    Sasha watched Jean-Paul reset the trap, not
daring to move an inch toward the strange monster with big iron
teeth.
    “ Not even a rabbit. You’d think there
would at least be a dumb ol’ okalerk .”
    It was Saturday morning, a very dark and
dreary morning. Even the Northern Lights had not come to brighten
the sky with their wavering shafts of color.
    Jean-Paul felt lonely and
left out. He knew the other boys had things to do. With their own
dogsleds, they could go riding and visiting anytime they wanted.
Chinook had his own husky, a large brown dog with white patches
around its eyes. The white circles made the husky look like a
bandit. He also looked mean, but Jean-Paul knew he wasn’t.
Chinook’s dog’s name was Amarok, which meant wolf , but he was as gentle as a
kitten.
    As they walked back to the
cabin, Jean-Paul compared Sasha with Amarok. She would never be as
big as he was, but Jean-Paul had the feeling she might be almost as
strong. She wasn’t mean-looking, either, but had gentle,
intelligent blue eyes. There was a nice black streak marking her
forehead, and her mouth seemed always to be smiling. She had grown
a lot during the last two months. Her baby fuzz had been replaced
with black and silver guard hairs on the outside. Her undercoat was
soft and thick, in spite of her staying in the cabin too much.
Sasha was low to the ground, her feet and legs dainty, though
well-muscled.
    Now, Jean-Paul ruffled the
thick hair that stood out around Sasha’s neck. “I could teach you
to pull a sled if you were bigger. I’ll bet you would be as good as
Amarok.”

    ____________

    T hat night after supper, Cordell went outdoors. Soon he
returned and walked over to Jean-Paul, who sat working a jigsaw
puzzle. Cordell watched him silently, and Jean-Paul sensed
trouble.
    “ We need to talk,” said Cordell,
finally.
    Jean-Paul didn’t look up.
“Wait till I find where this piece goes.”
    When Cordell spoke again,
Jean-Paul nearly jumped out of his chair. “The puzzle can wait! Put
it away now! We’re going for a walk!”
    Cordell looked ferocious
when angry. Jean-Paul laid down the puzzle chip and rose. “Wh–where
are we going?”
    Cordell ignored the
question. “Bundle up. The wind’s sharp.”
    Without speaking, Jean-Paul
pulled on his parka, closing it tightly around his neck. Next came
the boots. When he turned to the door, Cordell