Togo: By Adventuregirl5

Chapter 4: A Diphtheria Epidemic

Scene five:

Many years later, Togo is now 12 years old and it is the winter of 1925. 

~Togo and his friends are seen wandering around the town of Nome.

Fritz (jumping around, lively): "Come on guys, let's go chase some reindeer!" 

Bucky (offended): "Excuse me! Have you forgotten I'm a reindeer? Harsh!" 

Ivan: "I got an idea. Let's go check out the old gold mine. No one's been there for years." 

Togo thinks for a moment then agrees. 

Next scene shows Togo and his friends arriving at the mine and have a look around. Scene shows Ivan trying to eat a chunk of gold. 

Next screenshot shows Fritz going into a dark old shack/house. Fritz looks around at the peeled walls, the creaking floor and the broken roof where little light shined in. Fritz noticed in the light was a little boy on the ground, just lying there completely still. Fritz was startled at first but quickly calmed down. 

Fritz (calling to the others): "Hey, guys? Come here." 

Togo and the others come into the shack; Togo walks over, leans down and sniffs the boy. 

Togo (to his friends, calmly but also concerned): "He's not breathing." 

Togo could senses something bad had happened to the little boy and also remembered a few weeks earlier other children had also recently died for some strange reason. This got the old dog scared that something was wrong. 

Togo (to his friends, a bit concerned): "I don't like this. Let's get out of here." 

Scene later changes to sundown with the animals back at Seppala's house. 

Fritz was playing with Seppala's 8-year-old daughter, Sigrid. Sigrid started feeling hot and was coughing. Fritz sat beside her, doing his best to comfort the poor sick girl. Seppala and Constance take Sigrid to the doctor, Togo and his friends follow close behind. 

Togo and his friends stop outside the hospital. They look through the windows and others areas of the hospital. They see Sigrid and about 27 more kids coughing, being checked by the doctor, and getting into bed. 

Togo could smell the children through the window; they all had the same symptoms. This scared Togo. 

Togo's ears then perk up as a hammer is heard. Togo runs up to the front of the hospital door. There was a sign put up on the front of the door that read "Quarantine, Diphtheria". 

Scene changes to a room with a telegrapher. The doctor notified medical authorities in Anchorage, asking them to send Serum immediately.

Within a few days, they had tried to deliver the serum by sea, but the Bering Sea was frozen. Then, authorities tried the airplane, but a blizzard was coming. They finally decided to deliver the serum by train from Anchorage to Nenana. When the decision was made to take the serum to Nenana by train, mushers and their sled dog teams began to meet. 

~Scene changes to a few nights later~ 

Togo and his friends are seen opening up the door just a crack, listening to a meeting about how the serum was going to get to Nome. The mayor decided to let a dog team relay deliver the serum to Nome. The plan was spread by telegraph across the Yukon Interior. Togo and his friends wonder about the relay. 

Scene changes to the next night at the train station in Nenana. You could see steam; hear the train breaks to a stop and the train whistle, plus dogs barking. 

In the final hours of January 27th, the train arrived in Nenana. The first musher in the relay, "Wild" Bill Shannon, was waiting at the train station to collect the serum. 

Shannon takes off with his team and the serum into the cold dark night.