FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Crap, I'm gonna be late!" I thought to myself as I ran out the door of my apartment complex,

with a burnt, slice of toast hanging in my muzzle. I glanced at my watch, 9:34 A.M. read the

digital numbers,

"Alright, I was suppose to be there at 9:30 A.M. on the dot, but no one will care that much

right?" I asked myself, taking a bite of toast. I ran as past as my legs could carry me,

passing people, who glanced at the me. "It's alright, just your average wolf late... again!" The

thought was so random I just had to smile at it.

I passed a building with the side almost completely covered in missing children reports. I

nearly stopped to read them, hoping that some of them would of been taken down, a sign

that the child was found, but knew already that the flyers were all there. I sprinted down a

couple more block and finally stopped at a large, red-bricked, building. I sighed to myself and

checked my watch again, 9:47 A.M. not bad, guess all that time on the high school track team really

did pay off.

A sign on the door read: Now hiring Private Investigator, please ask the main desk for more info.

Times are 8:30 - 9:30.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said outloud as I stepped through the door.

The lobby of the place was small with a few hallways leading here and there, at a small

desk, in the middle of the room sat a rabbit. She seemed preoccupied with filing her claws

and didn't notice me. Walking up to her I felt my stomach tense up and started to get

nervous. Upon reaching her desk, she looked up at me.

"Excuse me sir, can I help you?" Her voice was delicate, yet had authority in it.

"Yes, I was wondering about that job applacation for a private eye." She looked at me

then at a foldier on her desk, on a bit of tape, in sharpie had a name written on it, my name,

Travis McQuinn, in big letters.

"Well, you're abit late for the interview but I can check and see if the boss will see you."

"Alright, thanks." I was surprised by how calm I sounded, I knew I needed this job, or I

might not be able to pay the rent. I was perfectly qualified to be a Private Eye, I had high

marks and everything... but who would hire someone that is late for the job. I thrusted this

thought out of my head. "It's going to be alright, I bet a lot of people show up late for there

interview and get hired."

I stood there for a few minutes and when my legs started to ache I went over and sat in

one of the leather chairs, in the corner of the lobby. The wait seemed like an hour as different

people walked in and out of the building, a fox, horse, and a few rabbits all walked in and out

of the building before the rabbit behind the desk called my name.

"Mr. McQuinn, this must be your lucky day, he will see you now." My heart seemed to jump in my

chest but I didn't let my excitement show, I walked up to the desk and the rabbit, her name

tag said Arlene Sanders, gave me directions to the boss's office.

I took a left and walked down a long hallway before reaching the boss's office, opening

the door, I stepped into a cloud of cigar smoke. Coughing, I waved the smoke away, The

office was pretty neat, considering what the lobby looked like. The boss's office was large

and had awards, documents, pictures of everykind posted on each wall. behind an nice

looking desk sat a pudgy, bulldog, with a cigar in his mouth, his eyes were closed and I

thought he was sleeping, but he soon opened then when I came into the room.

"Please, have a seat." He pointed to a seat of swivel chairs placed infront of the desk.

As I sat, he puffed on his cigar, finally, after a few seconds of puffing, he said,

"So, you wanna be a private eye?" I didn't answear, I was still coughing abit from the

cigar smoke. "Yes." I managed to choke out between coughs.

"Well, kid, I looked at your record and you seem to me to be pretty good. High honors,

good grades in school, everything. Just tell me this. Why do you want to be a Private Investigator?"

The question struck me as odd " It's because I want to make a difference in peoples lives, I

want to help people." The bulldog, puffed some more. "Well... alright, here's the deal, we are

low on the Private Investigators and since you do have high marks, I'll give you the job." I

couldn't believe what I was hearing, it coulnd't be that easy. "But"- he continued- "But if you

screw up, I assure you, the first, and last, thing comming out of my mouth towards you

are 'your fired' do you understand?" I nodded my head. "Good! Start tommarow at 8:00 A.M.

Oh and... do be on time, okay?" I nooded my head again. "Okay.... you can leave now."

I shot up from my seat and walked out of the boss's office, past Arlene and out the door, as

soon as I heard the doors close behind me I jumped for joy, tail wagging and head held high.

At the moment, I didn't care about the people passing by, or the fact that Arlene was staring

at me funny from the glass doors, I finally had a job and I could finally pay the bills!

The next day.

"Your office is right through here Mr. McQuinn." Arlene said as she led me

down a hallway and into a small room. The door had some sort of plastic on it that

made everything blurry if you looked through the window and my name was on the

door Travis Mquinn "Sorry about the misspell, we'll have someone fix that later on."

Arlene continued. I walked into the office, MY office with a spring in my step,

althought I am usually someone who dosn't freak out that much, I was barely

keeping my tail from wagging a mile a minute.

"Okay, thanks, Arlene." I said, still taking in the room, it was small office, a

nice woody aroma came off the walls and the floor, like the rest of the building,

had a nice, hard wood floor. It seemed simple enough, one desk, two chairs, two

windows, in the back of the room.

"You can fill this room with whatever you want, as long as Mr. Bullman

approves." Mr. Bullman, was the boss. "Well, anyways, I have to go back to my

desk, if there is anything you need don't hesitate to ask." she turned and left, her

heels making clicking noises as she walked down the hall. I sat behind my desk

and gazed about, thinking of where to put what, when there was a knock at the

door.

"Come in." I said, a hint of excitement in my voice. The door opened and in

walked Mr. Bullman, he held something behind his back. "Hi, Mr. Bullman. What

do you have there?" I asked, easing back into my new chair.

"Well, as the boss of this joint, I get to do my favorite job, making someone an

official Private Eye by giving them this." He placed what was behind his back on

my desk and slid it over to me. At first it looked like a wallet but when I opened it,

the first thing that caught my eye was the big, shiny, P.I. badge, with my name

engraved on the top.

"Wow, thanks, Mr. Bullman, this is great!" I could barely contain my

excitment. "It's alright, Travis, oh and just so you know, you'll need to take the gun

course if you want to have a firearm." I nodded my head and we said our good

byes and he left, I sat down in MY chair, I couldn't believe it, a small tear was in

my eye.

"If only you could see me now, Jenny." I muttured to myself, leaning back, staring up at the ceiling

thinking about Jenny.

When I had been a cub, I was mean, restless, angry with everything, I lived in a broken down house

on the north east side of town. When I was fifthteen I join a small gang of people. The "Outcast" as we

called ourselves were nobodies that had been thrown out by society, had given up on themselves, been

in one too many fights, or whatever your excuse was to wear crappy jeans and a leather jacket with a

wolf skull on the back. When I was sixteen me and a group of guys mugged a fox that was walking

home from school. She was so little, must of been fourteen maybe less.

we had encircled her like a pack of feral wolves, now that I look back at it I believe a few of them

where feral, I was in the back and didn't see, no didn't want to see, what they did to her but I saw the

aftermath, a beutifull fox battered and bloody from where some of the guys had punched her when she

didn't give them her back pack

Her nose had been broken and her back pack was torn to shreds, the contents of the backpack

spilt all over the sidewalk. All the guys had run. All but me, I stood there and watched her, a few times

she tried to get up but her leg had been stomped on hard enough to fracture it. and she crawled

towards her back pack. Finally, after watching her try to search through her back pack for something, I

walked over and helped her. She flinched when I got close but relaxed after I made it clear that I didn't

mean her no harm. After a minute of searching I found her cell phone, her eyes widened, apparently

that was what she was looking for.

I knew if I gave her that phone I was probably going to go to jail but after what they did, I probably

deserved as much. Giving her the phone I watched, I was afraid, I could smell the fear comming off of

me as she dialed 911. I could hear a muffled voice then she spoke.

"I've just been mugged, they beat me up and I think my leg is broken." Her voice was sad, she was

breathing in short breaths, but also beutifull, just like the rest of her. the fur around her face was a solid

red, except for some white under her chin, her school uniform was ripped around her arms, shoving

more of that solid red.

She had just finished her 911 call when she turned to me. "You better get out of here before they

get here." I stared at her for a second, trying to process what she just said in my mind before I got up

and left.

Several days later, I visited her in the hospital, I had left the gang, after what had happened I couldn't

look at them anymore. I still wore my jacket, which brought some distrust among the hospital staff but

none said anything, just pointed me to her room.

When I entered the room, I saw her, she was wearing a hospital robe and had some bandages on

her left foot. She was sleeping, I sat down in the chair next to her, wishing she was awake so that I

could tell her that I was sorry or something, anything! Instead I sat up and left my leather jacket on the

chair, hoping she'll know who it was from and what it meant.I walked out of the hospital, holding back

tears, not saying anything to anyone. I went back to my home, slamming the door and wishing I could

do something to show her that I was truly sorry.

A knock on my office door, awoke me from my memories, as a Bloodhound entered my office.

"Sorry to wake ya, just here to fix your name on the door."

"Okay, thanks." I rubbed my eyes, to my surprise I had cried abit. I turned my head away quckly so

the Bloodhound, a name tag pinned to his jacket said Otis, wouldn't see my tears and ask why I was

crying. I looked out the window, Jennie's memory still in my mind,

"If only you could see me now, Jennie.... if only."