# Sales Pressure

Author: Nochtis_Dragon
Tags: Fox, Macro, Micro, gentle, salesman

Another story that I wrote before an audience. It is rather short, but good in my opinion. If you wish to watch me write, visit irc.bigfurs.com and join the channel #DragonsLair

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.

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/dmBlwaX1