Blair Braverman

They turn their dogs around and they mush their father's body home.

Hmm.

After Ada's father has passed away, her mom sends her to live at a school in Nome that's run by Christian missionaries.

They are going to teach her what they call city skills.

So she's learning how to speak English, how to read and write, proper handwriting, how to pray in a Christian way.

And she's a pretty good student.

When she's 16, she leaves school and she gets married to a musher named Black Jack.

Unfortunately, Blackjack is abusive.

He cuts off her access to food.

He beats her.

Ada has three kids with him and two of them pass away very young.

She has one surviving son whose name is Bennett.

And Bennett is just the light of her life.

He is everything to her.

They're so attached to each other.

Bennett is five years old and he has a lot of health issues.

So he has tuberculosis.

He struggles to do the things that other kids do.

Blackjack abandons them both.

And once again, Ada is stuck needing to get a loved one to medical care without any help or support.