In the chap­ter titled “Encounter #2 with the Rain­bow-Haired Girl,” we delve into the inner thoughts of Miles Fall, a boy who pos­sess­es the unique abil­i­ty to see the souls of dogs, although he keeps this gift a secret. Hid­ing from school and the pres­sures that come with it, par­tic­u­lar­ly from Wynton—who har­bors a grudge against him for break­ing a bow—Miles finds solace among the grapevines near his home.

Miles grap­ples with feel­ings of inad­e­qua­cy, feel­ing he is out of place in his own body, fam­i­ly, and even town. He longs for gen­uine con­nec­tion but strug­gles to ful­ly engage with those around him, often feel­ing “there and not there” even dur­ing inter­ac­tions. His emo­tion­al state dete­ri­o­rates, caus­ing him to with­draw from the activ­i­ties and com­mit­ments he once enjoyed, includ­ing track, math club, and vol­un­teer work. Recent­ly, he made a dra­mat­ic exit from a track meet and has­n’t returned to school since.

In his soli­tary moments with his beloved dog, Sandro—who exhibits his own signs of distress—Miles express­es an under­stand­ing of their shared feel­ings of empti­ness and anx­i­ety. Sandro’s dark thoughts res­onate with Miles, empha­siz­ing their bond. Their dia­logue reflects both humor and seri­ous­ness, show­cas­ing their deep con­nec­tion.

The turn­ing point occurs when Miles encoun­ters a girl in a vin­tage truck shad­ed by grapevines, draw­ing his atten­tion. Upon clos­er inspec­tion, he dis­cov­ers she is adorned with tat­toos and sur­round­ed by books, yet she appears trou­bled. Their exchange reveals a volatile mix­ture of emo­tions; she fum­bles for her keys while Miles attempts to com­fort her. This inter­ac­tion esca­lates when she deliv­ers a pro­found quote from Joseph Camp­bell, hint­ing at the com­plex­i­ty of their encounter.

As the girl dri­ves away, Miles feels an unex­plain­able bond and long­ing for her, break­ing his usu­al indif­fer­ence towards girls. This encounter leaves an imprint on him, com­pelling him to jot down both her words and a sen­ti­ment from her tat­too. The chap­ter clos­es with Miles run­ning toward the truck as it stops, eager for a recon­nec­tion, sug­gest­ing the start of a jour­ney piv­ot­ed around new­found hope and pos­si­bil­i­ty.