“You are going to give us man lessons.”  Ariana let out a sharp bark of laughter, her eyes twinkling. “Him? Are you kidding? He’s going to give us man lessons?”  “We don’t need to look super convincing as men close up,” Kyra said. “We just need to give the impression of men Fred’s taken into his service. If you saw a potion bottle with a red stamp on it, your brain would make you think it was a red skull, and you’d think it was dangerous even if the stamp was actually a grinning squirrel.” Kyra looked at Fred skeptically. “I’m sure Fred can give us a few tips, at least, of how to act like men.”  “Hey! I am more than capable of giving man lessons.” Fred smiled broadly at Kyra. “What do you want to know?”  “For one thing, we need to know how to walk.”  “No problem. I’ve been walking most of my life.” Fred held up a hand. “Stop and watch.”  The girls leaned up against an apple tree with Rosie at their feet.  “First, you aren’t just acting like any kind of men; you’re going to be especially manly men. I picked you up to work for me, after all, and I wouldn’t choose just any men for that sort of thing. I need men who can fight and lift heavy things. You might want to spit occasionally.”  “Why?”  “It helps keep you from looking too smart. Now, because you are so manly, it naturally follows that you have large upper-arm muscles. Huge muscles, really. The way you let people know this is by slightly bending your elbows and holding your arms out from your body, like your muscles are so big they’re getting in the way.”  Kyra and Ariana bent their elbows and pushed their arms a couple of inches away from their bodies.  The edges of Fred’s lips quirked as though he was trying to restrain a smile. “Then you need to let them know that not only are you muscular, you’re confident of your abilities in all areas. You accomplish this by swaggering when you walk. Langley, stay.” He pointed for the dog to sit next to the girls.  Fred sauntered away from them under the lacey white boughs of the trees in a masculine strut.  “Your turn.”  The girls copied Fred’s walk while he stood back and watched.  “A little less hip swinging, Kyra.”  “I’m not—”  “And don’t walk so close together. Imagine there’s at least one invisible guy between you at all times.”  Ariana leaned over and whispered in Kyra’s ear. “He wants us to imagine him between us. Guys are so weird.”  “Men don’t whisper, but if you have to do it, at least do it the right way.”  Ariana and Kyra stopped walking and turned back to Fred.  “If you find you need to whisper, you don’t get up close to the other person and lean into their ear. Stay where you are, a person’s-width apart, and put a hand up on the far side of your face like a shield.” He demonstrated with his hand out straight from one side of his face. “Then turn your head slightly to the other person and say what you need to say.”  The girls exchanged a look.  “No ‘best friends’ glances at each other like that, either. Or ‘dears’ and ‘darlings.’ Men insult each other every chance they get.”  “Men don’t have best friends?” Kyra asked.  “You’d only know it by the ferocity of the insults. If a guy’s your really good pal, you let him have it at every opportunity.”  “Got it, fathead,” Ariana said.  “Perfect.” Fred plucked two blossoms from the tree above him and tucked one behind each girl’s ear, then grabbed another and tucked it behind his own ear. “You have officially completed man lessons. Now that you know how to act like manly men, what’s the plan?”