FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Giovani yawned widely as he awoke for another day of work. He quickly donned his best suit, grabbed his suitcase from the closet, and placed his fedora, which nestled perfectly between his pointed ears, onto his head from the rack by the front door. He had a feeling that today would be a good day, bringing him that much closer to his performance bonus and possible promotion within the company.

You see, Giovani was a vacuum salesman, and just like any other salesman, he dreamed of being a successful business man and either advancing up the corporate ladder, or perhaps starting his own business one day. The fox stepped through his front door with a bounce in his step as he headed to an area that hadn't been visited yet.

It was a typical Wednesday morning. Many people were off on their own endeavors to make money to live happy and well, while there were those who either did not work or stayed home while their significant others paid the bills. Mrs. Miller was one such person. She had spent a great deal of the morning cleaning, interrupted with occasional breaks to watch her favorite game shows on TV. As she sat on the couch watching Wheel of Fortune and wishing she were up there winning that money, she saw ripples in her glass of water as dust floated down from the ceiling fan overhead. She simply dismissed it as a slight draft from the open windows and paid no more heed to it. The TV station began to air its regular commercials just as the winner was to be announced.

"So typical. Just when things were getting good," she spoke to herself, rising from the couch to start the dishes before the show came back.

As she entered the kitchen, she knew something was off. The dishes in the cupboards were rattling; was that thunder she heard in the distance? She drew the curtains in the window above the sink and briefly gazed outside, only to be met with blue skies and sunlight with not a single cloud in sight. "Well that's rather odd." Suddenly, she heard her show come back on the air and quickly shut off the water in the sink and hurried back so she wouldn't miss the finale. Her eyes, glued to the TV, failed to notice the sky start to become darker slowly as a shadow passed over her house.

"I would like to solve the puzzle," announced the contestant on the screen. "It's..." BOOM! That was all Mrs. Miller heard as her world shook her to her knees. Thinking it was an earthquake; she crawled her way under the kitchen table and assumed the fetal position like she was supposed to in such an event. She waited and waited, but felt and heard nothing else besides car alarms going off throughout the neighborhood. Uncurling, she began to extract herself from under the table, hoping she didn't miss the end of the show.

Upon returning to the living room, the show had already reached its conclusion and the next item in the daily programming had started. She silently cursed under her breath and began to walk back to the kitchen to finish her chores. There was suddenly a knock at the door and she froze in the middle of drying a plate to be put away.

"Coming!" She yelled. Did they really need to knock so hard it sounded like they were going to break the door down? She opened the door and the next sound was shattering glass as the plate hit the floor. Before her was the largest eye she had ever seen.

"Howdy ma'am! I'm a representative of Wormhole vacuum cleaners. I'm sorry for startling you, but it looks like you could use a vacuum if you don't already own one," he said, that large pupil of his gazing downward at the shards around the woman's feet.

Mrs. Miller couldn't seem to extract any words. She'd heard that macros existed, but she'd never actually seen one before. They were supposed to stay in their own sections of the city.

Giovani sat in a nearby park as he spoke. It was a place where he could easily access a good portion of the neighborhood without causing any damage. "Would you like a demonstration of any of our products?" he said while opening his briefcase. "I can't really demonstrate myself, but I can let you try one of our models out free of charge."

Mrs. Miller still seemed unable to speak. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, though no sound emanated from between her lips. Giovani, as one of the best salesmen for the company, instantly picked this up.

"I'm rather sorry for intruding and I know you probably aren't used to seeing people like me. If I'm bothering you, just say so and I'll be on my merry way." His features contorted at the end of that statement, not unlike those of a sad puppy, ears drooping and eyes widening as he frowned. Mrs. Miller finally sighed. After all, who could refuse a face like that, even if it did take up most of her view of the sky.

"Well alright, let me see what products you have," she said rather hesitantly.

The large fox suddenly seemed as if nothing had ever been amiss, ears shooting upright in the blink of an eye. "Thank you, ma'am. You won't be disappointed!"

He promptly reached into his briefcase and carefully plucked out several full size vacuums between the claws on his thumb and forefinger, placing them in a row on the sidewalk before Mrs. Miller's house. "Go ahead, try out one that catches your fancy. Try all of them if you'd like. Not many salesmen let the customer try out the product after all." Mrs. Miller stood in her doorway for a moment, she still felt unsure of stepping out into the open with this large 'person' standing outside. She did say she'd take a look at what he had to offer though, so she very slowly stepped up to one she felt may be within her price range and wheeled it inside to clean up the shattered plate just inside her front door.

The vacuum did as was expected; it cleaned up the mess from the dropped plate. She did need a new one soon since the one she currently had was beginning to have issues. "How much does a basic model like this cost anyway?" she asked, poking her head out the front door.

"For you, I'll let it go for $75." This time it was the woman's jaw that could be heard hitting the floor. Appliances were never that cheap.

"I-I'll take it," she mumbled, hardly believing her ears, or eyes.

"A wise choice. That is our most economical model," replied the giant fox as he carefully collected the samples once more. He then very slowly extended a finger towards her with a piece of paper resting on the tip of his claw. "Now if you'll just fill out this form, your new vacuum will arrive within the week. I apologize, but I'm sure you'll understand if I don't offer you a pen."

She gingerly accepted the paper, absolutely baffled as to how he could so delicately balance it there, and disappeared inside for several minutes to fill in all of the required fields. Her hand was trembling uncontrollably from the combination of anxiousness at the creature sitting outside and the excitement for practically stealing a vacuum. Needless to say, she found herself having to use whiteout several times to cover up some misspellings. Once the form was completed, she emerged from the house once more to see the fox's claw still hovering over her driveway. Unsure of how she was supposed to return the miniscule form to him, she simply set it on the claw tip since that was how he had lowered it to her, and sure enough, he lifted his had slowly upwards so the form was not lost. He put the form in a very small pocket on the inside of his briefcase.

"I appreciate your time and sincerely hope that you enjoy your new vacuum. Have a wonderful day," he said, tipping his hat in her direction. She nodded her thanks before quickly returning to the interior of her home, heart still racing from the encounter. She flopped down onto the couch heavily to watch The Price is Right as she heard the same heavy tapping, undoubtedly from one of his claws, on her next door neighbor's house.