The first lesson was about sitting. Edward met Muriel at the front door with his usual wild barking and jumping, but Muriel more or less walked right through him and pointed at his rump and and told him to sit. Edward stared at her. She then bent over and with a long pointed finger pushed his rump down.
'Now you kind of cluck your tongue' She told Macon, doing it herself to show him. 'That means you're pleased with him. You have to praise them when they do things right. And when I hold my hand out - see? That means he has to stay'
Edward stayed, but gave a short bark every few seconds. Muriel didn't seem to hear, and began to talk about herself. Macon wondered how long she expected Edward to sir there.
'When I was a little girl, I didn't like dogs at all, can you believe that? All I was interested in was how to change the way my hair looked. My natural hair is real straight and now look at it! I had it done and it made it so frizzy I can't even brush it.'
'Maybe you could just comb it.' Macon suggested.
Muriel shook her head. 'It's hard so pull a comb through it'
'Shouldn't we let Edward up now?' Macon asked anxiously.
Muriel snapped her fingers over Edward's head. 'Okay!' she said, and Edward jumped, barking.
Edward learned to sit when Muriel pointed, and then it was Macon's turn. He pointed to Edward's rump. Edward stood fast. Macon frowned, and pointed more fiercely. He felt foolish.
'Push him down' Muriel said
Macon leaned one crutch against the wall, and bent stuffy to push Edward's rump with a finger. Edward sat. Macon clucked. Then he straightened and back away, holding out his hand, but instead of staying, Edward got up and followed him.
'SSS,' Muriel said, between her teeth. Edward sat down at once. 'He doesn't take you seriously' she said.
'Well, I know that' Macon said crossly
His broken leg was aching, but the lesson went on, and Muriel went on talking and asking questions. She told Macon hoe lucky he was to get to travel to all kinds of places, like Paris, how wonderful and write guidebooks about them. She herself had never even been on an airplane, did he realize that?
When she had gone, leaving a new leash with a special training collar for Edward, Macon and Edward had learned to sit and stayed there, complaining and rolling his eyes, while Macon clucked in praise. A cluck was now part of the family language. Charles clucked over Rose's baked potatoes. Porter clucked when Macon dealt him a good hand of cards.
During the evening Edward chewed a pencil to pieces, stole a bone from the kitchen, and was sick on the sun porch rug. But now that he could sit on command, everyone felt more hopeful.