Twenty-three: A Change in View

The ceremony for the new recruits would be arranged in two weeks and Wolford was suddenly out on the street in his disguise. He'd made a point to Xander that he'd been called into work to deal with some court stuff, making sure that he was covered for how long he would be away and how he could not be reached easily. He then went to the office in his casts, everyone laughing and greeting him with joy, before he'd gone to see Sargent Higgins who was looking very impressed as he showed off the sheep suit that the wolf was going to wear.

"It's a bit... small?" Wolford questioned as he pulled it up, but Higgins gave a haughty chuckle and then stretched it out a little to help show off how he could get into it. Wolford was not sure he could quite deal with it, but he clambered into the suit and to his surprise, the legs stretched out fine, his big paws made big hooves and the zip helped him cover his head completely. He looked like a tall sheep, so Higgins encouraged him to walk with slightly bow legs to appear shorter and more like a ram, this Wolford began doing but it was more than a little painful as he then found himself being sprayed up in the scent of sheep and then get coated in the scent of sheep body spray! It was pungent and unfriendly, but then Higgins gave a snort.

"Now you've got to talk like a ram... thing is you can't have your general gentle voice here son, you've gotta sound rough and speak the lingo of the sheep back where you came from. Think about it, how did the sheep in your hometown speak about your parents when you might overhear them as a child?" The hippo stated, trying to clip into Wolford's mind and make him tap into the kind of character he needed to play in order to go under cover. "What was the worse thing you ever heard someone call your parents?"

"Well... I once had a friend who was a goat who suddenly stopped playing with me and told me that I was a Bum-sniffer. I couldn't understand if that was a homophobic thing or a dog thing." Wolford stated anxiously, but Higgins paused for a second, before quickly stating he'd need to act as straight as possible as sheep were very into the flock identity as not having members that were 'different'. That was something that made Wolford give a funny face, was there a certain way to act like he was not gay? He almost wanted to ask for the manual, but Higgins pulled up the point about how the Bum-sniffer thing could be both and if he used it as part of his talk about other wolves, maybe he could be a homophobic sheep!

Wolford just blinked steadily, not that this sheep costume was able to blink anyway, he just seemed to wonder why Higgins wanted him to act like an asshole to find assholes. It was more than easy enough to figure out who was problematic in the group by just being the good boy and making a note of those that did things wrong, but then being too cowardly to 'report it', to make it like he was little more than a cowardly pencil pusher, but what could he do? He nodded his head and then was surprised when one of their sheep informants came in and jolted in surprise when she met Wolford, who waved a hoof at her.

"Good evening ma'am, I'm new recruit Bertram Bamford... please teach me the ropes." Wolford stated, making sure to elongate the ms and the bs just slightly as the ewe stepped over with a look excitement upon her face. She clapped her hooves together in delight, insisting that Wolford did wonderfully with the name and the statement, but then she insisted her had to sound a little more confident when talking to ewes. It made Wolford's ears pull back a bit in anxiety as Miss Cabria explained to him how there was an in-grown misogyny and the rams that were joining the community officer programs were some of the worst around. But then she patted his woolly cheeks and gave a chuckle.

"Don't worry Bertram, I'm going to look after you and as far as anyone is concerned, we'll pretend you're my nephew from Redwood who is not used to the city way of life yet. Can you remember what it was like the first time you came here?" She asked as she grabbed hold of Wolford and dragged him off in the sheep suit. She led him over to where the community officers were stationed and then passed him over the new uniform he would wear with the fluorescent tabard. Wolford knew it was not different from being on the beat, only like a metre maid you couldn't actually arrest anyone or respond to crime, just report it and give advice.

He was dressed quickly with Cabria fussing him and Wolford had not expected he'd be thrown into the deep end the moment the suit had fit him. He did not know how to react to this, but obediently he was led to the room where several other rams were hanging around and looking rather dangerous. Where Wolford's suit had no horns, these guys had big horns and they were all sneering at him and Cabria as they walked in. Most of them looked like they'd been in bar fights before, scars and missing teeth on display to say these guys were certainly dangerous. As they greeted Cabria with grunts, they all started laughing at the way Wolford was walking nervously behind the female who was grabbing hold of him by the hoof.

"Now, now everybody... we're having a meeting to rearrange our work areas and this is our newest recruit, my nephew Bertram from Redwood... treat him kindly, city life is a bit new to him and he's more used to helping out at the parish back home. So, he's come here to make new friends and a different to the community, isn't that wonderful?" Cabria beamed in total delight, smiling and gleaming as she pushed him in front of everyone and he was forced to lift his hand and wave at them all. Wolford felt like the suit was not even on him, the rams seemed to be looking right through him as he scrunched down and introduced himself with an obvious stammer that made the big rams laugh before Cabria grinned. "Now Bertram, as you're new, you'll be going alongside Butch... he's our top community officer and he'll teach you the ropes."

"Heh... this is going to be interesting... Little Lamb Chop." The big black-eyed ram grinned in amusement, flashing a gold tooth and making the other rams chortle in delight at his rather unfair assumption on Wolford. Wolford was concerned, he was sure 'lamb chop' was a derogatory term, but maybe they were using it against him because he was acting nervous. He had no choice but to try and look as unintimidated as possible as he stepped over to the ram and bent his head forward for a butt... the traditional greeting. However, the male just spun on his heel and ignored him, grinning towards Cabria. "Well then female... where am I taking him?"

"Oh the Farmer's Market on McDonald Street, it's a good place to get to know the ropes." The ewe bleated in delight, clapping her hooves before she gave the others their assignment. Butch just gave a whistle through his teeth to beckon Wolford to follow and he followed, but there was no more information to be had. As soon as they reached the car with the green-yellow band, Butch opened the back door for Wolford and practically pushed him in before pushing a hoof into Wolford's back and pushing him down whilst spitting at the floor of the vehicle.

"I'll make things clear to you, yearling... you work for me, do what I say and don't ask questions. Our job is to take note of what's happening but not to get involved... we're just observers, got it? There's no pleasantries here and no second chances. If you disobey once, you'll find your aunty can't do anything to keep you in the job. Got it?" Butch snorted, his nostrils loud and he horns pressing against Wolford's sheep head. Wolford gave a bleat of obedience as Butch pulled back and then clapped his hooves in delight as Wolford sat in the back obediently and he gave a grunt. "Remember the rules of the flock kid... follow the ram and don't ask questions."

This was already the first thing Wolford needed to recognise that was wrong with the situation, the community support officers were supposed to be treating each other with kindness as they were a volunteer force, but it looked like the rumours of it being used by sheep crime network were true. Wolford just obeyed the ram with a nod of his head and sat in the back in silence, sitting calmly and patiently as they drove off to the market square and the ram got out first, insisting he stay in the car whilst the ram went and was talking to someone Wolford knew caused trouble.

"Ugh... Rufus Hopscotch... that bad tempered boxing kangaroo used to run fight clubs, what's he doing here?" Wolford was pretty sure that Rufus was on probation too, maybe that was why Butch had come out here, but he had a bad feeling as the two were talking and laughing to one another. It wasn't right if these two were friends, all of the roo's associated were on a watch list for racketeering practices! It did not bode well and Wolford felt uncomfortable as he then lowered his head as Butch came back.

"Out you come Lamb... we'll do a few circuits then sit up in the car." Butch grunted, already disobeying procedure with a plan to go and settle in the car. The support officers were supposed to be obvious at all times, but so far this was only telling Wolford that these guys were lazy, so he hopped out to join him. As they paced about the stalls, a few beast's approached to greet him and Wolford was introduced as a greenhorn... which he was sure was another racist word. But the ram would then step over to certain businesses that were obviously on the shady side and there Wolford was ignored and told to view the onions on sell whilst Butch talked.

Wolford listened very carefully and activated the recording device in his suit at last to get the goods. He was calmly looking at the fruit and vegetables on sell as the ballsy ram grasped the shirt of the goat selling and twisted it, pulling him close and gritting his teeth. They seemed to be arguing over whether this vendor was going to pay for something, but Butch kept his words vague enough Wolford knew he needed something stronger. All the same, Wolford bought some carrots and then moved with Butch to the next stall.

Everything seemed to be calm and dandy again until they reached the next stall with a familiar weasel selling counterfeit goods. Wolford was glad to be filming still as the weasel and the ram chatted away before the weasel pulled out some money. He insisted it was for the ram to take it easy and Wolford was almost growling as Butch stuffed it down his pocket. They went around in a circle of the stalls again and other vendors passed on money before Butch stepped over to his car and sat inside. Wolford sat behind, dropping a camera where it would catch things but not be noticed as Wolford gave a soft sigh and the ram chuckled.

"Some little baby sounds like he wants a nap, why don't you buy me a latte and get yourself something to drink too from Chamois." Butch grunted before flicking some money over to Wolford to go and do the job. It was a typical errand for a newbie, but Wolford was confused how he was being asked to go to a fancy cafe on the other side of the street! Wolford grimaced in surprise but got out, taking the bill but putting it in his pocket so that he could take it as evidence later. Wolford had a bad feeling at what he was leaving behind him....

He came out with a grimace, confused how he was laughed at by the staff in the ruminant restaurant and then Wolford came back to chaos! He was looking at a trashed market save the stalls that had paid Butch money when Wolford had been walking around with him that day. It bothered Wolford greatly and he made a point to inform Cabria about it when he got dropped back off and she and he wrote it up together, before Wolford e-mailed a copy of the file to Higgins' current alias so they would have the copy... just in case Cabria was dirty too.

The next day, Wolford was taken out again and Butch still did not trust him, but he took him to a different area where they were to be on patrol where a couple of the teen gangs hung out. Unlike police officers on the beat, all they could do was warn and advise and call in the police and n this area it seemed far too dangerous a place for a trainee, let alone any community support officer to go and it was not what had been on the list. Wolford decided he had to play into the sheepish character again and he shivered in the car as they'd pulled up.

"Uh... Butch... sir... this isn't the place we were assigned... this place is really bad for predators and..." Wolford shook and made sure to extend on the bs to make him sound even more pathetic. It made the ram turn around and glower at him with an expression that screamed Wolford was a weakling. But the big ram insisted that they were there to help some of the youngsters in the area reconsider their lives and aim in the right direction. It sounded right, but Butch was not the kind of guy that Wolford could say was compassionate about anything.

"Just stay in the car, alright? Let me know if you see any of the other officers turning up and if you do, go out and tell them what I told you we're doing here. The problem with cops in these areas is, when there's something going on with the kids they tend to react immediately and not ask the right questions. Got it?" Butch stated with a grunt as he left the car and Wolford nodded his head gently but was looking at him in suspicion. The wolf glared out at the ram as Butch's seemingly important mission was turning into him talking to a different looking bunch... once more animals that Wolford knew were drug providers and once more he was switching money across with them and Wolford could not understand it!

When Butch returned, nothing much had happened and Wolford was just frustrated that there was so much corruption in these guys. When he was brought back, he decided that everything should be over already and so he sent in his information to Higgins again, but was told to keep gathering information for longer. In the end, Wolford was working a whole month and being irritated more and more to be treated like crap, tricked into stepping away from situations which were starting to include more and more drug swapping, Wolford finally got a moment to stop. He and the others had passed their information and finally, the sheep involved in his lot as well as the other prey animals causing trouble in other areas Higgins had been working on, stopped.

But for Wolford... the most important thing was to go back and to be with the bat-eared fox and focus on his happiness, not just work!