lost in the woods and freezing to death! Your own father is a hero and you barely talk to him!”

Toby scoffed. “So you’ve joined everyone else now, telling me I should be just like my dad. Is that it?”

Luna laid her ears back and glared at him. “There is nothing wrong with being like you’re dad, but anyway I never said you had to. You’re already a hero.”

Toby lifted his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“You helped us find my mom when grandp-Steele, I mean-chased her out of town. You talked us into going back to save the other dogs in Carson’s clutches when we were all set to leave them there. You took on Carson with nothing but your teeth when he had a gun in his hand! And refresh my memory. Who came up with the plan to take down Steele?”

“I did,” Toby admitted. “But when I helped out I didn’t know Carson was involved. When I stood my ground and we went back in to free the other dogs, I didn’t know he’d be back so soon. And my plan to get rid of Steele didn’t work.”

“And who saved us when that happened? You did. And now you’ve taken on a grizzly when you were too sick to pull a sled. Not one of the other dogs has ever done even one of those things. Even when Grandpa Balto took one on he was perfectly healthy, and he would’ve been killed anyway if Grandma Jenna hadn’t distracted it. You already are a hero. But you know, those things aren’t what make you one.” Her frown softened and turned into a smile. “You’re a hero because when you knew that Steele, the archenemy of your hero, the dog who had so recently tried to rip you to shreds, was my grandpa…” she stopped, letting her words hang for a moment, “…You were my friend anyway. You stayed my friend, and you kept my secret. You’ve been a hero since you were barely old enough for a home. You’ve always been a hero, Toby. Just by being yourself.”

Toby nodded. “I guess when you put it that way I am a hero,” he agreed. “But I don’t feel like one.”

Much to his surprise, Luna laughed. “That’s what makes you one. Grandpa Balto saved the entire town, and that’s why everybody in town loves him. But it’s not why his family loves him, including me. I love him because he’s my grandpa. My dad and my uncles and aunts love him because he’s their dad. And grandma loves him because she knows he cares about her.” She paused to let her point sink in. “You said that the dogs in my family aren’t heroes aside from Balto. Well, that’s not true. Most of them have been to the brink of death and back again more than once, and nobody worth thinking about loved them any more or less because of it. My mom and dad survived the worst place on earth, but that’s not why I love them. I love them because they’re my parents. The heroes in my family don’t go around acting like heroes all the time. They’re just regular dogs-well, wolf-dogs mostly-who did what they had to do when someone needed them. Steele went around acting like he was a bigshot, and look how he ended up.”

Toby smiled. “Thanks, Luna. I guess I’ve been pretty stupid lately, huh?”

Luna grinned. “No more so than usual.”

“HEY!”

Luna laughed, and then Toby started laughing too. “Do me a favor and get well soon, will you?” Luna asked him. “I can’t tell you how boring it’s been without someone to hang out with.”

Toby was skeptical. “You? Bored?”

“Let me put it this way- if I have to listen to one more word from my sisters about crushes and salons, I’ll go crazy!”

Toby laughed. “Maybe I should take my time about recovering,” he suggested.

Luna narrowed her eyes. “Don’t make me come up there and break your other leg,” she growled playfully.

Toby laughed. “Okay,” he agreed, “I’ll hurry it up if you’ll tell me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ve been in a cast before, right?”

Luna nodded.

“Well would you mind telling me why you didn’t warn me how much this thing would ITCH?!”

Luna laughed, but was interrupted by a whistle from outside. “Gotta go,” she said, heading for the door. “By the way,” she added in parting, “When you’re on your feet again, somebody’s got a surprise for you.”

“What surprise?” Toby asked, but she was already gone. ‘Great,’ he thought, dropping his head back down. ‘If this itch doesn’t drive me crazy, she will.’

After several weeks Toby was finally out of the cast and on his feet again. The day the cast came off Alicia took him to a house he’d never seen before. From what he had managed to pester Luna into telling him, Toby guessed that this had something to do with the surprise she had mentioned. ‘Are we moving?’ he wondered.

Alicia waved to someone sitting in the window, and a minute later a young boy came barreling out the door, moving as fast as his crutches could carry him. It was Charlie, of course. He ran up to Toby and started petting him. “Hi, Toby,” he smiled. “I heard about the bear and everything. I can’t believe you’re alive!”

Toby woofed politely and sniffed Charlie’s hand, but he was wary. Was Alicia trying to give him away now that she knew he knew he couldn’t handle the outdoors?

“Do you have the sled?” asked Alicia.

“Yep!” answered Charlie. “It’s right under the tarp on the porch.”

‘Sled?’ wondered Toby. ‘What sled?’

Alicia strode to the porch and lifted a snow-covered tarp to reveal a small dogsled exactly right for someone Charlie’s size. Charlie smiled and pulled a bunch of leather straps out of his coat. It was a harness!

“How did you get this again?” asked Alicia, sounding as if she were just curious.

Charlie shook his head. “It was really weird. It just showed up on the porch one morning with the harness. There was a note that said, ‘To Charlie, From a friend,’ and that was it.”

Alicia winked at Toby, giving him a sneaking suspicion who the “friend” was. “Gee,” she said, “It’s too bad you don’t have a dog to pull it.” Then with a meaningful look at Toby she added, “You could borrow Toby, but the musher says he’s no good for pulling a sled anymore.”

Toby’s eyes flashed. ‘No good, huh?’ he thought. Forcibly he pushed his head into the harness. In the back of his mind he knew he was playing into Alicia’s scheme, but who cared? ‘Useless, am I? Let’s just see about that,’ he thought.

Charlie laughed. “Maybe we could just try the harness on Toby to see how it looks?” he suggested. Alicia nodded and bent down to help slip the harness on. As Toby suspected, it was a perfect fit. He wondered what Alicia’s scheme was, and whether or not Charlie was in on it.

“Can I take him for a run, please?” begged Charlie.

“I don’t know,” Alicia smiled. “He just got out of the hospital. He really should take it easy.”

Toby barked and pulled at the straps. Charlie got a look in his eyes you might see in movies like “Bambi.” “Pleeeaase?” he begged. “I won’t push him hard. And the doctor says I need fresh air. I’ll bet you anything it would do Toby some good too after all those smelly medicines.”

Alicia laughed. “Well,” she conceded, “I guess a quick run down the street and back wouldn’t hurt.”

Charlie cheered and hurried to the back of the sled. He slipped his crutches into a bag that had been tied upright to the side so they’d be easy to reach. Then he shakily stepped onto the back of the sled. It had little blocks fitted onto the runners to hold his feet in place. He gripped the handles and called out, “Mush!”

Toby needed no encouragement. He ran, making sure to keep the pace fairly slow. After all, he was only pulling a kid, and a cripple at that. But even at a reduced speed it felt wonderful to just be running again. He ran down the street, turned, and dashed back up again. Charlie was all smiles as they slowed to a stop. “Can we do it again?” he begged.

In the days that followed, Toby pulled Charlie more and more often. Sometimes it was just a quick run, other times Alicia would loan him to Charlie for the entire day. The boy’s parents, noticing how happy he was to be riding a dogsled, often sent him on little errands to the post office or the general store to give him an excuse to ride his sled. When they weren’t playing with the sled, Charlie sat on the porch and threw a ball for Toby to chase. And sometimes they would just sit for hours at a time-usually while they were warming up by the fire between runs-and Charlie would pat Toby and tell him what a good dog he was.

One day Alicia asked Charlie and Toby if she could have a talk with them. She took a deep breath and focused her attention on the boy. “You really like Toby, don’t you?”

Charlie nodded, patting Toby on the head. “He’s the greatest dog in the whole world,” he said. “Thanks for letting me play with him.”

Alicia smiled. “And how do you like it, Toby?”

Toby barked and wagged his tail, making Alicia and Charlie laugh.

“Tell me, Charlie,” said Alicia, “Are you still looking for a dog?”

Charlie shook his head. “No, not