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Samuel's Pick-Pocketing Surprise Chapter 1 - The Colours of a Dusty Beagle (Clean version)

Samuel looked across the square, he didn't like stealing from others but he had to eat and no one seemed willing to give a pup his age a job. He was often mocked with comments like "What makes you think, I would want a scrawny pup like you! Come back when you've got some muscles." It was true a lack of food and limited opportunities to bath in clean water had left the young canine less than the prettiest of sights. But he was willing to work if someone would just give him a chance.

None the less here he was, scanning the crowd for the right mark, some fur who looked rich enough to be able to loose a few coins without missing them to much. Then he spotted him, a very well dressed Dingo in a dark blue suit that complimented his fur colour almost making him appear to glow slightly. With a quick look around to make sure no law enforcement officers were around, samuel stepped out of the alley into the square and quickly made his way through the mass of furs who all seemed intent on getting where they were going, with few giving a second look at the scruffy young beagle pup.

Samuel fell in behind and slightly to the left of the Dingo who seemed to tower above the smaller dog now he was up close to him. This was the point of no return and samuel glanced around working out the best way to scamper once he had the object that was making that squarish bulge in the front left pocket of the dingo's pants. Samuel had come very close to being caught a number of times even loosing a tuft of hair from the tip of his tail on one occasion, but so far luck and a set of very fast paws under him had been on his side.

Taking a deep breath, Samuel reached out a paw moving fast enough to try and minimise other furs noticing his actions but slow enough to not alert the Dingo if possible before he had the money pouch firmly in his grasp.

However something was wrong, as he put is paw into the pocket opening what he felt on his paw pads was not a pocket lining but the unmistakable feel of warm fur.

The dingo startled by something brushing over his upper leg turned suddenly causing Samuel's paw to slide much deeper into the dingo's pants and over a large furry sheath. This in turn made the dingo let out a slight moan. Kuenia thinking briefly how long it had been since another fur had touched his sheath, looked down at a young face that might have been tan and white if the pup wasn't so dusty. As their eyes met the pup seemed to come alive and made a move to yank his paw back and run. Kuenia grabbed Samuel's arm stopping him from fleeing, "Hey, just one minute..." Kuenia said.

Samuel, adrenaline surging through his body shouted "Let me go!" as his brain began trying to come up with possible ways to escape. The large dingo was far to strong for him to pull his arm free, then it hit him, as he realised where his paw was and remembering how painful it had been when he had been kicked in his balls by an older feline who wanted the food he had just purchased. reaching down Samuel grabbed one of the large canine testicles, his paw not large enough to hold them both, he hoped one would be enough as he squeezed with all his strength.

Kuenia sucked in a sharp breath of air as an excruciating pain shot through his groin. "Plee. eese. sto. op. doo. ing tha. at." Kuenia growled out through clenched teeth.

Samuel relaxed his grip slightly, but did not release the tortured oval shape globe in his paw saying firmly "Let me go, NOW!"

Kuenia, still breathing somewhat raggedly as the pain subsided somewhat said "Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

Samuel simply repeated "Let me go!" giving another quick squeeze to the dingo's aching nut to emphasise his words in a desperate attempt to maintain the upper paw.

"Ok, Ok, you win! I'll let you go, but please don't run away, I just want to talk to you." Kuenia said trying to sound calm and relaxed despite the fact that his groin was still strongly protesting about the punishment it was being force to endure.

"You better let me go!" Samuel said as his paw dropped the testicle it was holding and quick as lightning grabbed the other orb hanging between the dingo's legs "Cos, if you don't..." Samuel added, applying mild pressure to the second testicle, causing Kuenia to wince again at being reminded that he had two balls at the pups disposal.

"So what is your name?" Kuenia asked as he released the beagle's arm, "mine is Kuenia." Kuenia added trying to smile despite the pain that was still obviously displayed on his muzzle.

Samuel looked up at the larger canine somewhat confused at what was happening, his young mind was racing. Was this a trick, why did this dingo want to talk, to him? If he let go the larger male's ball he would loose any control of the situation. yet wasn't this what he wanted now he could run and get away, but what was to stop the dingo from grabbing him again or chasing him as soon as his paw was away from the bigger male's genitals.

Samuel had just decided that it was worth the risk, he would pulverise the dingo's ball and run as fast as he could out of the square, having learnt long ago that trusting other furs seldom led to anything besides pain.

However once again the situation changed as the dingo suddenly rapped an arm around the beagles shoulder and pulled the pup closer as a voice asked "Is everything ok here?" Samuel's head spun around his ears slapping the dingo's side from the abrupt movement of his head as he stared at the dark blue uniform of an enforcer, the silver buttons shining brightly in the sun.

"Oh, yes officer, everything is fine. My nephew here was just looking for my handkerchief to wipe his face." Kuenia said with a broad grin "But if he had bothered to ask before diving into my pocket, I would have told him it was in my jacket." Kuenia continued as he pulled a pristine white square of cloth from his inside jacket pocket and began wiping the beagles face in a loving manner.

Samuel somewhat stunned removed his paw from the dingo's pants and taking the hanky said "Thank you uncle, I can clean my own face."

The Doberman law enforcement officer gave a chuckle and said "Very good then sir, we have just had a few reports of pick pockets in the area and well your nephew sorta matches the description of..."

"I would choose your words very carefully officer" Kuenia said cutting the enforcer off mid sentence. "Just because my nephew gets a little dirty when he plays with his friends does not make him a thief."

"No, of corse not, sir, I didn't mean to imply... " the doberman spluttered "Ar... Have a nice day sir" he hurriedly said as he quickly walked away.

"Why?" Samuel said looking up at the dingo.

"Why not?" Kuenia replied "I don't think you would have liked spending time with the constabulary any more than I would. After all there are really only two reasons a young pup like yourself would have your paw inside a male's trousers to whom they are not related. One of those reasons would get you arrested, the other would get me arrested."

Samuel grinned as he thought about what kuenia had just said, he had never thought about it before, but maybe he could use that in the future to threaten furs with should he get caught again. After all, it would not be hard given is small stature to convince someone that he was being force to put his paw into a male's pants.

Kuenia unaware of the true reason for the pup's happy expression was warmed to see a small amount of joy replace the sad and scared look that had been plastered over the beagle's muzzle ever since they had met a few short minutes earlier. Kuenia now noticed just how cute the pup looked with those sparkling blue eyes and a smile on the young dogs somewhat cleaner face.

Taking this as a good sign Kuenia asked "Now may I know your name, young one?"

"My name is Samuel" the beagle replied the smile disappearing from his muzzle. While not ready to accept the older male as a friend quite yet, Samuel no longer saw the dingo as a major threat that he needed to run from immediately. Thus his curiosity was beginning to peak as to what the other canine might want from him. "Everybody always wanted something after all." Samuel thought to himself.

"Nice to meet you Samuel, my name is Kuenia, just in case you missed it while you were trying to ensure my bloodline would not be past on by my humble self."

Samuel realised that he had indeed forgotten the dingos name in the midst of the previous events, and now felt the need to apologise for his actions. While he would probably do the same thing again in the same situation he was still not the kind of fur who liked to cause others pain. After experiencing more than his fare share in the past two years, since his parents had died and he found himself living on the streets.

Looking at his foot paws Samuel mumbled "Yair, sorry about that Mr."

Kuenia tousled the pups head fur scritching behind his ears saying "No problem Samuel, although if you don't mind I would appreciate it if you didn't do that ever again, it really hurts."

"That was sorta the point." Samuel said smirking a little as he glanced up at the dingos face.

Kuenia burst into laughter saying "Oh, well in that case you did a very good job." gently punching the pup in the arm and then continued "Now since I am new in town I am still finding my way around, if you would be so kind as to show me where I might get some half decent tucker around here, I would be happy to pay for your meal in return for your time."

Samuel nodded his head saying "That sounds fare." trying hard to hide his obvious enthusiasm at the idea of a free feed. Waving a paw he indicated that Kuenia should follow as he headed for a small restaurant on the southern edge of the square.

As they stepped through the door, a female bilby dressed as a waitress rushed over, her large rabbit like ears and her breasts bouncing in time with each other as she approached saying "Sam, you can't come in the main dining room you know what the boss will do to me if he catches you again."

"Relax shelly, I've got money bags here to cover the tab." Samuel said pointing a clawed digit in Kuenia's direction.

Kuenia chuckled to himself money bags hey, if only the pup knew just how little money kuenia really had, after all the expense of setting up his new tailoring shop had been paid for this was likely to be his only meal out for a few weeks if not months, or at least until he started to make a profit. Which he would, Kuenia was very good at his craft as the clothes he wore could easily attest.

Kuenia greeted the young bilby "Good morning my dear, my name despite what you may have heard, is not money bags but rather Kuenia - tailor extraordinaire at your service." giving her a smile and a slight bow. Now if you could please point me in the direction of the rest room I would like to wash up before we eat and I would strongly suggest my young friend joins me in the pursuit of cleanliness even if that only extents to his face and paws."

Samuel stuck out his tongue in response to the mild insult that kuenia had just aimed at him.

Shelly grinned from ear to ear at kuenia, more than a little taken by this striking dingo's charm saying "It is a pleasure to meet you master Kuenia the wash rooms are behind those plants on the back wall." Waving a paw in the direction of a group of plants at the back of the restaurant.

"Thank you shelly" Kuenia said and placing a paw on each of Samuel's shoulders began guiding the younger dog in front of him through the maze of primarily vacant tables toward the back of the restaurant. Samuel doing his best to defend his right to remain dirty all the way. However truth be told the idea of washing with fresh warm water, was not unappealing to him. The river that served as Samuel's usual means of cleaning was frigidly cold and although not polluted as such was far from crystal clear and inviting.

Upon reaching the rest room door Kuenia released the pup, then in one fluid motion pushed the door open and raising a well polished shoe swung his leg so that the side of his foot paw squarely hit the beagle under the tail causing Samuel to stumble slightly and step into the wash room.

Samuel let out a wine of surprise before saying "Hey, don't push!"

Kuenia following Samuel into the wash room replied "Oh did I push you, I am so sorry. I just wanted to make sure you actually made it in the door to be able to wash those paws."

"Yair right!" Samuel said as he turned the hot water tap on and began to wash his face, paws and forearm fur.

After both male's had washed up they dried their fur under the blower and returned to the dining room of the restaurant. Raising a paw Kuenia got the attention of the attractive young bilby waitress, who in the absence of any other new customers had been waiting patiently for the two males to return.

Shelly laughed as she looked at Samuel's gleaming white face saying "Well Sam, I think you look much nicer with a clean face and paws. Now where would you hansom males like to sit? As you can see we have several nice tables currently available for you to choose from."

Kuenia glancing around the restaurant selected a table in the corner next to a window that looked out over the square, and just happened to be a reasonable distance from most of the other diners, which meant he could talk to Samuel in relative privacy.

"That is an excellent choice master Kuenia, it is the very table that the boss likes to sit at when he is dining with the customers. He seems to like it because he can keep an eye on what is happening inside and outside at the same time." shelly said leading the pair over to their table, and passing each of them a menu enquiring "Would you gentlefurs like a few minutes to decide, or do you want to order now?"

Samuel opening the menu he had been given said "I will have that, this and some apple juice." pointing a digit at a few pictures as he spoke to indicate to shelly what he was after.

Kuenia noted that Samuel didn't appear to read any of the menu and ordered only those things that were accompanied by pictures, making the dingo wonder if this was just a coincidence or was the beagle unable to read. He himself ordered a bowl of tropical style porridge which was one of the cheapest things on the menu; needing to be rather frugal with his dining, given that all the items on the menu that had pictures also happened to be the most expensive to order.

Shelly finishing writing down the two canines orders asked "Will there be anything else this morning gentlefurs?"

Kuenia reaching into his left pants pocket brought out his money pouch saying "Yes, I would like to pay for that all now if you don't mind, just to make sure I have enough money. My young friend here seems to have expensive tastes."

Shelly who until that moment had been a shade concerned that the pair might do a runner after scoffing down their food, given some of the stunts Samuel had pulled in the past; smiled at Kuenia, gratefully accepting the coins offered to her saying "Thank you master Kuenia". Taking the menus back from the pair, shelly said "I will be back with your meals shortly" then she turned and headed off to the kitchen to place the order.

The two canines now relatively alone sat quietly for a second before Kuenia pulling out some brightly coloured squares of material from a jacket pocket said "Samuel while we are waiting for our meal why don't we play a little game?"

"What kind of game?" samuel said looking curiously at the small pile of coloured squares now sitting neatly between them.

"Its easy, we just ask each other questions about the other furson. If they answer the question, they get to take one of my fabric samples here and if they don't answer the question or lye then the other player gets to take the fabric square instead. Then who ever has the most squares when our meal arrives, wins." Kuenia explained.

Samuel looking a little dubious said "What do the questions have to be about?"

"Anything you like, I may not answer if its to fursonal or none of your business, but if that happens you get the fabric sample square instead of me." Kuenia replied, then went on "Here, I'll start, how old are you?"

Samuel thinking for a second deciding if he was going to play this silly game or not eventually said "I am 9 years old, how old are you?"

"I am 27, and since we both answered the question the other furson asked we both get one fabric square" Kuenia replied taking two squares from the pile and putting one in front of each of them. "Now its my turn again, have you lived in the city all your life?"

"No, I moved here with my mum and dad 3 years ago." Samuel replied.

"Really, I would like to meet them sometime" kuenia said.

"You can't, they're dead!" Samuel spat back quietly.

"Oh Samuel, I am sorry, what happened?" Kuenia ask with concern.

"I don't want to talk about it! Anyway its my turn to ask you a question" Samuel growled trying to think of a question that he didn't think Kuenia would answer so he could beat this stupid dingo at his own game. Coming up with "How do you hide your money in your pants like that?" if the older male didn't answer he would get a coloured square and if Kuenia did answer the information might come in useful later on.

"I have special compartments in my clothes to keep my valuables safe from being lost or permanently borrowed with out my permission by some fur with sticky paws." Kuenia responded raising his eye brows as he said the second part "I use velcro to seal the openings which makes it virtually impossible to get into without the wearer of my clothing knowing about it. Mind you today was the first real world test that the system actually works which was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about."

Kuenia taking a fabric sample from the pile continued "It's my turn again, were you after my money to buy stuff to live on or do you work for some big mobster pack?" The dingo trying to make his questions as light hearted and non-threatening as possible.

"I only take what I need, from furs like you, who can afford it." Samuel said seeing no point in trying to deny the fact that he had earlier attempted to steal from Kuenia since it was clear that they both knew it had been his intent.

"Fair enough." Kuenia said trying to show that he was not judging the young pup and tossing a fabric square to Samuel. Then added "You should know though that by the end of today I will most likely be completely broke after I have purchased food and supplies for my new tailoring shop."

This news surprised Samuel who had just assumed that the dingo was loaded saying "But, you look really rich!"

"Ah, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover." Kuenia said then continued as it was clear that Samuel was unfamiliar with the phrase "If I walked around in rags instead of this suit would I be a different furson?"

"No." Samuel replied not realising that the question had been rhetorical.

"So you see it doesn't matter what you wear it is the furson inside that counts. However I am proud of my work and by wearing it other furs can see how good a craftsfur I am, and are more likely to buy clothing from me." Kuenia said tossing another fabric square at Samuel.

"What's this for?" Samuel asked.

"You answered a question, it may have only been a one word answer but it was an answer none the less." Kuenia replied.

"Then shouldn't you get a coloured square for answering the question I just asked about this square" Samuel replied looking a little puzzled.

"No, questions and answers about the game itself don't count, so it's your turn" Kuenia explained.

"Cool!" Samuel said, happy to now be one up on the dingo. Then asked "So if your so good a tailor why don't you make yourself some underwear to put under that fancy suit of yours?"

"That's easy, I have underwear that I could wear under my suit, but on a nice day like this it helps me to stay smelling fresher when the air is able to circulate around my male bits. Besides the material that my suit is made out of feels really good brushing against my fur down there. Now it's my turn again. Do you live on the streets or have you got a home somewhere?"

Samuel frowned, this dingo sure was nosey he thought to himself, saying "I've got a place, there's no running water but it's warm. What's it to you anyway, looking for somewhere to stay?" Samuel not waiting to be given a fabric square this time taking his prize from the pile.

Kuenia realised that he was making the pup uncomfortable, but he needed the facts about the beagle situation before he made his decision. "Thank you for the kind offer Samuel," Kuenia said choosing to ignore the sarcasm that had accompanied the words then continued "However I have an apartment behind my shop in crofts street. I was just concerned that it might be dangerous for a pup to be living on the streets alone."

"Who said I was alone, there is a group of us that look after each other. Everyone knows if you take on one of us, you take on all of us!" Samuel said defensively.

"Ah, strength in numbers, a very good strategy." Kuenia complimented, reading between the lines he guest that the pup lived alone but had some good friends to call on should anyone try and hurt the youngster.

Samuel really didn't know what to make of Kuenia's questions; no one took an interest in him like this. "Unless," Samuel thought to himself "maybe the dingo's friendliness was just an act, and he was going to try and abduct him or something if he appeared to be an easy enough target that no one would miss. He had heard of young furs occasionally just disappearing with out a trace.

"So where are you from and why did you move to the city?" Samuel asked deciding that maybe learning something about the older male's background might be useful, in the event he needed to tell an enforcement officer after he escaped from being abducted. The beagle full of the confidence of youth was sure he would be able to escape, not wanting to even think about the alternatives if he couldn't get away.

"Um that's two questions, or at least one and a half anyway, but let's see. I moved here because there were not enough furs in the town of Churchill in the Valley of Latrobe, where I am from, who were prepared to pay for the quality of clothes that I make. So I decided that rather than reduce the quality or my garments so I could make them cheaper; I would move down here to the city. It is my hope to be able to earn enough to make the clothes I want without having to cut corners to meet a price." Kuenia said before reaching for fabric square to add to the pile in front of him.

"How do you get food, when crazy furs like myself aren't taking you out for a meal?." Kuenia asked as he glanced towards the kitchen and wondered how much more time he had to ask questions, before their meals were ready.

"I get by, Shelly gives me left overs when she can. Sometimes I beg or you know, to get some money to buy something. I don't help myself to the market owners goods, since most of them are struggling to make money to feed their own cubs. Even then they give me the odd thing sometimes, if it isn't selling well." Samuel said brashly trying to make it sound better than the reality which was that all to often he would be going to sleep hungry.

"You may get by young one but only just." Kuenia thought to himself his heart breaking a little as he could plainly see that the beagle didn't have a scrap of fat on his small frame. "It was also very admirable that the pup seemed to only steal from those he felt could afford to do with out what he took." kuenia thought as the pup took another fabric square from the pile in the middle of the table adding it to his own collection.

"Do you have any puppies of you own?" Samuel asked wanting to change the subject away from his lifestyle if he possibly could.

"I have not as yet been so lucky to find the right female to bond and mate with, so no I don't have any pups to call my own. Kuenia said sadly, it was something that was missing from his life, that he hoped would change one day. The dingo suddenly smiled as reaching for a fabric square, he noticed it was a dalmatian print, and the memory of a zebra, who came to him one day saying "He was sick of stripes and wanted to try spots." swept into kuenia's head.

Samuel was going insane trying to work out this canine sitting opposite him, when he talked about not having puppies he sounded sad but at the same time he was smiling. What did it mean?

"So have you ever been caught pick-pocketing before young Samuel?" Kuenia asked trying to sound like the Enforcer that had spoken to them earlier.

"Nope! I'm to good, and I know the streets really well, and all the best hiding places." Samuel said somewhat boastfully, as he grabbed for another fabric square laughing a little at the older dog's funny voice despite himself.

"Well, that's not quite right after today, now is it?" Kuenia said teasingly, as he looked down his sandy coloured muzzle at the beagle pup.

"Well no..." Samuel said suddenly realising that he had completely overlooked the fact the Kuenia had caught him in the act and by all rights he would be in jail now if the dingo hadn't shown him some compassion. This thought was quickly replaced by another the older male had asked him a question which he had answered so he grabbed another square from the pile.

"Hey what are you doing?" Kuenia asked surprised at the pup nabbing another square.

"You asked a question and I answered it, they're your rules, don't come crying to me if I follow them." Samuel said grinning. Kuenia fell back against the back rest of his chair laughing saying "Well I can't argue with that."

"Now if you would let me ask a question you might get a few of these." Samuel said picking up a few fabric squares and waving them at Kuenia, the beagle feeling very happy with himself.

"Please, ask away." Kuenia said with the wave of a paw. Then added "I'm all ears." cutting the beagle off just as he was about to start talking, getting a slight growl from the young pup sitting opposite.

"When you caught me, you said you wanted to talk, what did you want to talk about?" Samuel finally managed to ask.

"I wanted to know, if you or someone you knew would be willing to be my guide for the day, for a modest fee. Since as you now know I am new to the area and I need to get setup in my shop as fast as possible so I can start making money as soon as possible. I intend to buy enough food today to last about a month and purchase some suitable materials to make my clothes. If I haven't at least broken even by the end of the month, I will have to put my tail between my legs and head back to the country; where it is cheaper to live or find another job here in the city. However I have no doubt that I will do well here, based on what little I have seen of what the furs in this area are currently wearing." Kuenia said taking another fabric square.

"I just have one more question which will have to be the last one, since I see shelly coming with our food. First let me say this is nothing to be ashamed of if the answer is no, but I would really like an honest answer." Kuenia said gently. Samuel wondered what in the world was coming next.

"Have you gone to school, do you know how to read, write and do basic maths etc." Kuenia said leaning forward a little so the pup would not have to speak to loud, just in case he was embarrassed by the question.

Samuel sighed, that was an easy question. "I can read good enough to get by and as for the rest it doesn't matter. I went to school when we first moved here, but I stopped going after my parents... I didn't see the point since school doesn't put food in your belly." Samuel said matter-of-factly.

"Well it can help you to get a job, which in turn would put food in your belly, "but I take your point." Kuenia said picking up all the coloured fabric sample squares and counting how many each of the canines had as he did so.

"Well done Samuel, you won." kuenia said smiling at the young beagle, as he put the fabric squares back into his jacket pocket. Then rummaged around in another pocket pulling out a small glass marble, just as Shelly arrived at the table with their food.

"That's pretty." shelly said as she put two large plates in front of samuel, by comparison the bowl of porridge shelly put in front of Kuenia looked rather small. To any fur looking in through the restaurant window it would have seemed that the wrong meals had been sad in front of each canine.

"This little bobble, is Samuel's prize for winning our game, while we were waiting for this fine food to arrive." Kuenia said passing the marble to Samuel.

"Samuel looked at the marble for a second and then said "Are you really giving this to me, it's mine?"

"Sure, you won it fair and 'square' " Kuenia said chuckling at his own bad pun which went straight over Samuel's head.

"Well in that case I would like to give it to shelly" Samuel said offering shelly the marble.

"No, I can't take your prize Sam" Shelly said trying to gently push the beagles paw away.

"Kuenia said it was mine, and I want you to have it. You can get freddy to make it into a beautiful neckless that would look lovely on you." Samuel said wanting to do something nice, for the female bilby who had always been so kind to him.

Shelly looked at Kuenia who said "Hey don't look at me, it's Samuel's to give if he so chooses, but I must agree that it would look lovely as a neckless against your beautiful dappled grey fur."

"Well, thank you Sam, it was incredibly kind of you, I will treasure it." Shelly said kissing Samuel on the head between his ears.

Samuel blushed slightly under his fur and smiled saying "Don't mention it Shelly, I'm glad you like it."

"I think I will go and show everyone in the kitchen, let me know if you gentle furs need anything." Shelly said and then headed of towards the kitchen once more.

Kuenia couldn't believe that such a small and fairly cheap bit of glass, that meant very little to him turned out to be so precious to the two furs. He had intended to tell Samuel how he had found the marble on the road sparkling in the sun when he moved down to the city. However to do so now Kuenia decided, might disrespect the sentiment he had just witnessed. So instead he just said "Lets eat, I'm starving." and began to eat his porridge.

The conversation during the meal was little more than grunts and the occasional burp; due in no small part to the fact that Samuel was shovelling food into his mouth like it was going to get away, if he didn't cram it into his muzzle.

Kuenia finishing his porridge, had noticed that Samuel was starting to struggle to fit any more food into his already overly full stomach said "Well I guess you will just have to take the rest with you, we don't want you exploding after all."

Samuel had become used to eating as much as he could when food was available to him. The young pup never knowing when he might get his next meal, looked at Kuenia saying "Really, I can take it with me?"

"Sure, it's paid for, you can do what you want with it: eat it, give it away, even shove it up under your tail if that makes you happy." Kuenia said with a smile. Making Samuel laugh at the older male's crudeness.

A serious look appeared on Kuenia's face as he said "Now Samuel, based on all the questions I asked you before our meals came, I have a proposal that may possibly interest you. I would like to offer you a job making deliveries and running errands for me etc. As I have already mentioned by the end of today I will most likely not have any money left to pay you, but I can offer you a roof over you head with indoor plumbing and 3 regular meals each day in exchange for your help."

Samuel looked like a stallion had just kicked him in the head. "Was this real, the canine didn't want to abduct him, he wanted to offer him a job." Samuel thought to himself "Good things never happen to him, there must be a catch." Finding his voice Samuel asked "Why would you want me, I'm just a skinny little runt."

"Please don't talk about yourself like that samuel, I want you because you have some unique talents that are valuable to me." Kuenia said soothingly.

"Like what? A bad pick-pocket!" a tear appearing in the corner of his right eye.

"Samuel!" Kuenia said firmly then lowering is voice continued "I admit the pick-pocketing stuff would be useful to me. If you could test my designs to see how vulnerable they are to those who might steal from my customers. However that is only a minor consideration. What I really need is a fur who knows the streets and can get messages and deliveries to where they need to go quickly and with a minimum of fuss. The clothes I make are generally not heavy so you don't need to be the size of an ox to carry them. The bolts of fabric I use can be quite heavy, but you wont be asked to carry those anyway because I like to paw pick each roll to make sure I only get exactly what I am after for each of my custom made garments. Furs come to me for the quality of my work and the fact I only use the very best materials. Part of your job will be to help me find merchants who can provide these quality materials at a fair price and keeping your ear open for any furson that is looking to buy fine clothing. I will also expect you to help with the cooking and cleaning especially if the shop gets busy. However if the shop does get busy that also means that I will be able to start paying you a wage, so you will have your own money to spend on whatever you want. Now what do you say?"

Samuel who felt quite overwhelmed as more tears ran down the side of his muzzle, didn't answer. Shelly who had noticed that Samuel appeared to be crying had come back over to the table, and casting an accusing eye at Kuenia ask "Sam, what's the matter?"

"He wants to give me a Job as a delivery pup." Samuel blurted out.

"Well that's great, isn't it?" shelly said smiling.

"I don't know." Kuenia said "He hasn't said yes yet."

Shelly walloped Samuel in the ear sending the fur covered flap of skin flying, shocking the young beagle back to reality and said "You idiot! Say yes!"

Samuel rubbing is ear, looked at shelly then back at Kuenia and said "Yes, thank you Kuenia I would very much like to work for you."

"Yea!" shelly shouted as she attempted to hug the two canines simultaneously, which was a dismal failure as the table prevented her from pulling the two dogs together into the one embrace. Giving up shelly settled for giving each male a kiss on the side of their muzzle.

"Thank you my dear, and rest assured I will not let any harm come to our young pup here." Kuenia said earnestly doing his best to assure the cute female bilby who obviously cared deeply for the beagle pup.

"Now, if you would be so kind as to wrap up the remains of this dog's breakfast into a doggy bag, my colleague and myself have places to go, furs to see, and stock to buy." Kuenia said smiling broadly at shelly.

End of chapter 1

A/N: Sorry about the bad puns in the last paragraph, but I just couldn't resist. I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. Chapter 2 - "First Day On The Job." goes into what happens to kuenia and Samuel throughout the rest of their day.

Now if you will excuse me, I suppose I probably should go and actually write chapter 2, just in case anyone is indeed reading this story.

As always all comments are most welcome.