Wheels and All

Noah Bennett has a spreadsheet.Six months of research. Fifty breeds narrowed to three. Columns for temperament, size, bite force, and a category he invented himself called Vibe Rating. Somewhere in all that data is a dog that will stand between a fifteen-year-old in a wheelchair and a world that only sees a chair.Then a brindle mutt named Otis rolls across a farmers market parking lot on two wheels of his own, puts his head on Noah's knee, and six months of careful planning no longer matter.Like Noah, Otis can't use his back legs. Neither of them thinks this is the saddest thing about him - but almost everybody else does - and Noah has spent his whole life learning that most people don't avoid you by being cruel. They do it by being polite.This is a story about wheels, and how far they can take you. About the half second after you look at someone and decide you already know. About the difference between doing hard things with a friend and doing them alone.And about what happens when the distance between you and someone you love turns out to be a few inches of air - and one of you has to come the rest of the way.