Bacon Training

 

“HOW DO YOU get her to do that?” Rex asked from his perch on the steps of Grandma Sissy’s bakery. Georgie was sitting balanced on her butt, her front legs in front of her chest like a little squirrel. Her black eyes followed Odette’s hand as it traced a pattern—left, up, right, down, again and again.

“I trained her with bacon,” Odette answered. Then, to Georgie, she said, “Come!,” and the little dog trotted over for her reward, which Odette retrieved from a plastic bag in her pocket, a little scrap of crispy bacon.

“How’d you learn to do that?” Rex asked.

Odette shrugged. “Dogs like bacon.”

Rex was quiet for a minute. Then he asked, “Do you think we could train Paul like that? To listen and wait and come on command?”

“That depends, I guess.”

“On what?”

Odette smiled. “On how much Paul likes bacon.”

“I’ll go get him,” Rex said, and he stood up and ran inside, the bakery’s door jingling behind him.

For a minute, Odette felt annoyed. She’d come out to be here alone, and now Rex was going to make the whole afternoon about him. But on the other hand, he was her brother. And maybe it was kind of cool that he wanted her help.

She looked back at Georgie, who was waiting smart as could be, her eyes trained on Odette’s hand. “Good girl,” Odette said.

The bell sounded again. Still focused on Georgie, Odette asked, “Are you ready?”

“Always,” said Dad. Odette looked up, surprised, and Georgie dashed forward to snatch the bit of bacon from her hand.

“Was she supposed to do that?” Dad asked, looking amused.

“She’s a work in progress,” Odette said.

“Aren’t we all,” Dad said. He leaned against the handrail and watched Odette pull out another scrap of bacon, watched Georgie’s eyes follow the bacon in Odette’s hand—up, down, left, right.

“Up,” said Odette to her dog, and Georgie leaned back on her heels, sitting up proud and tall, never taking her gaze off the bacon. “Good girl,” Odette said, and tossed the treat to Georgie, who caught it neatly.

“She’s a smart one,” Dad said.

“Uh-huh,” said Odette. Then she said, “I guess I never thanked you for getting her for me.”

“Nope,” said Dad with a smile. “You didn’t. Not yet.”

“Well,” said Odette. “Thank you. Georgie is the perfect dog for me.”

“You are welcome,” Dad said. “And thank you, too.”

“For what?”

“For being my kid,” he answered. “You and Rex are the perfect kids for me.”

Odette smiled, even though it was a goofy thing for him to say. She wanted to ask, What about Mom? Is she perfect for you too? But she didn’t.

Her parents had been holding hands a lot. A few times Odette had listened outside their bedroom door to hear both of their voices, late at night. Once or twice she had even heard them laughing. Part of her wanted to make Dad promise that everything would be okay with him and Mom. Instead she said, “Watch this. I’m trying to teach Georgie how to walk on her hind legs.”

Then Rex came out with Paul, who must have been sleeping, because his eyes were squinty and he kept yawning. “Okay,” he said. “Here he is. Give him some bacon. Let’s see if he likes it.”