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that’s what Ma wants.
All she’s got now is a crippled boy.”
    Cordell gave him a hard
squeeze. “Aw, now, son, your mother wouldn’t trade you for all the
girls in the world.”
    “ Did she say that?”
    “ She doesn’t have to.”
    “ But a girl would make a difference,
huh, Pa?”
    Cordell laughed. “It might.
But for different reasons, not because her son is lame. Mothers
don’t stop loving their children just because they might have a
birth defect. Besides, I believe there is someone out there who can
fix you right up. All we have to do is find him, eh?”
    Jean-Paul nodded. “I hope
so, because I don’t like being different.” Then he had a sudden
thought. “I don’t know anything about babies, Pa. What will I do
with a baby in that small cabin?”
    “ The question is,” replied Cordell,
clearing his throat, “what am I going to do with two children in my
way when I’m trying to work? I might have to move to the North Pole
to get away from the noise.”
    They walked back to the
cabin in silence. But before going inside, Cordell said, “We won’t
tell her about the trap. She’d be upset, knowing you could have
hurt yourself. I want you to promise me something,
Jean-Paul.”
    “ What?” Jean-Paul stomped snow off his
boots.
    “ Well, if you see a fox in the trap,
or any other animal, let me know, eh? Don’t touch it.”
    He was glad his father was no longer
angry.
    “ You have to keep the drifts from
burying that trap,” Cordell said. “Otherwise, someone could step in
it and break an ankle or a foot.”
    “ Won’t foxes smell people-scent around
the trap? Maybe they won’t come at all because of the
smell.”
    “ Maybe,” Cordell agreed. “But if
they’re hungry enough, it won’t matter. Just like when you’re
hungry, you don’t care if anyone catches you sneaking cookies
before bedtime. And I happen to know there are still some molasses
cookies left. Let’s have some with a cup of hot tea.”

    Chapter 4

    T hree weeks before Christmas, Chinook, Nanuk, and Aiverk
cornered Jean-Paul outside the school. Sasha had come to school
with Jean-Paul and had waited outdoors all day. Now, all eyes were
on the beautiful young dog as she jumped up and licked his face,
her tail wagging furiously.
    “ That the pup you stole a couple of
months ago, Jean-Paul Okalerk ?” Chinook asked.
    Jean-Paul moved back a few
inches. “I told you I didn’t steal her, Chinook. Our girl dog had
nine pups, and Sasha’s one of them.”
    Nanuk folded his arms
across his chest and stared right into Jean-Paul’s eyes. “What does
an okalerk want
with a husky? Okalerk s don’t do anything but
hoppity-hoppity-hop. Boys have huskies.”
    Aiverk laughed.
    “ You going to train her to pull a
sled?” asked Chinook. He stroked Sasha’s head. “She’s very
small.”
    “ But she’s strong,” answered
Jean-Paul.
    There was a twinkle in
Chinook’s eyes that made Jean-Paul wonder if the teasing was only
for the benefit of the other boys. Sensing a warmer side of him,
Jean-Paul was sometimes drawn to his special ways of making people
laugh. If he could have only one friend in the Arctic, he would
want someone like Chinook. If only Chinook wouldn’t make fun of
him. He could stand almost anything but that. He often envied
Aiverk and Nanuk their special friendship with Chinook.
    “ Why didn’t you steal a bigger dog?”
asked Nanuk. “Can’t do anything with such a puny runt.”
    “ She’s not a puny runt!” Jean-Paul
yelled. “And she’s smarter than all your huskies put
together!”
    “ Oh yeah?” Nanuk sneered.
    “ Yeah! She does everything I tell her
to do. Here, I’ll show you.”
    Jean-Paul stepped out in
front of Sasha. She started to follow, but he held out his hand and
told her to sit .
Sasha sat down and waited.
    Aiverk grinned. “Ha! That’s
nothing, Jean-Paul Okalerk ! All
dogs know how to sit.”
    Jean-Paul tried again.
“Well, here’s one yours can’t do!” He turned to Sasha