"What do you mean it got cancelled???" Mike was exasperated. He had been in the States for maybe 15 minutes and already was having problems.

"I went to verify your work visa with the dean of the school you named, and he said that he'd never heard of you." the ferret replied. He was talking as clearly and with as much of a neutral tone as he could manage. The poor guy was new and the anger scent coming from the 6'4" bison in front of him was enough to make a stampeding elephant take pause.

"Aw man, this is total crap." Mike groaned. He leaned on the counter and pointed at the phone behind the customs officer. "Gimme the phone. I'll talk to Mark myself." His temper had cooled down a little and his brain entertained the thought that this was maybe just a mistake, a glitch in the system perhaps.

The ferret handed him the phone without so much as a squeak and Mike quickly tapped in the now-familiar numbers into the phone. He tapped his hoof impatiently and waited for the secretary to pick up the phone.

"Hello, Professor Wolfe's office." the voice on the other end chirped.

"Hi Ruby, this is Mike Sobin from Canada. I need to speak to Mark right away." the bison said quickly.

"Can you hold, Mike? Professor Wolfe is busy."

"No Ruby, I can't. I'm stuck in customs right now and I NEED to speak to Mark." Mike said, cutting the finch off.

"Oh dear, that sounds serious. I'll let him know. Would you like to stay on the line?" Ruby asked, genuinely concerned.

Mike visibly exhaled, thankful for the nice furs in the world. "Very much so. Thanks Ruby." A few moments later, Mike perked up at Mark Wolfe's 'Hello?'

"Mark! It's Mike, the new English teacher? I'm stuck in Columbus International. The customs guy tells me I don't have a job. What's going on?" Mike tried really hard not to sound desperate, but it was hard considering he had worked his entire life to get a job like this.

The wolf on the other end pawed his face. He knew this was going to happen. "Michael, we had budget cuts to make and your position got the axe. You'll have to go back to Canada. I'm sorry, but please understand." he said and hung up the phone quickly. He looked at his secretary and said, "Ruby, don't accept his calls anymore. Moreover..."

"But Mark! You didn't cut his position!" the finch said, interrupting her boss.

"MOREOVER," Mark replied angrily. "you are not to let him see me at any time. Do you understand me, Ruby? Good, now go look busy." He turned around and returned to his meeting. Closing the boardroom door behind him, he looked at the fox he was speaking to. "So Mr. Fairweather, what do you think about being our new English teacher?"

                                                              **********************

"Hello? Hello??? You SONUVA...!!!!" Mike screamed a blue streak into the phone before thrusting it back to the customs agent. "What the hell am I gonna do now?" he lamented to no one in particular, sulking off to wander the airport.

Mike spent what seemed like hours wandering around the airport, stopping at every bulletin board board and phone booth to look for a possible job listing for people seeking green cards. Not even a peep. It was looking like he would have to call his bank to get a loan to buy a ticket home when he heard a woman scream.

"HELP!!!" she wailed. She was a rather petite femme and she was pointing frantically at a rat that was running Mike's way, a purse under his arm. Instinctively, Mike stepped in the rat's way and knocked him over. It wasn't all that hard, Mike had a foot on the guy and at least 125 lbs.

"Sorry about that, eh?" Mike said, doing his best Ignorant Canadian impression. "My mom always told me I make a better wall than I do a door, eh?" The rat hissed and tried to scurry out of the bison's way but the big guy shuffled along with him. "Can't do that, eh? You got somethin that doesn't belong to ya. I think you should give it back, eh?" His voice was friendly, but it was clear he wasn't going to let the thief get away without a fight.

The rat scrambled to his feet, brandishing a knife in the process. "Outta my way, cow!" he said threateningly, waving the knife around as if to prove he was serious.

Mike's right eye twitched. There weren't a lot of things that could get him truly angry, but being called a cow was one of them. Knowing full well that he could be hurt greatly by the knife, he lunged forward and grabbed the rat's wrist, twisting until he let go of the knife. The rat lashed back, cutting four long marks down the bison's face. He didn't need the knife, did he? he thought, feeling blood seep into the fine fur on his face. Well, if he wounds me, I'll wound him back

Mike stepped forward with his right hoof, placing it in-between the rat's legs which put him off balance. While the rat was still concerned with distancing himself from his opponent Mike leaned into him, thrusting his big meaty fist into the rat's stomach. A rush of air escaped the would-be thief's mouth and he crumpled to the ground, holding his stomach and whimpering quietly.

Seconds later, the security guards arrived. "What happened?" the lead one, a German Shepherd, said. He had his hand on his baton just in case the bison before him was blood-crazed and would lash out.

Before Mike could speak, the femme caught to everybody. "Oh my god!" she screamed in excitement. "This fur," she pointed at the rat, "stole my purse." She looked to Mike. "You got my purse back, thank you so much!" She leaned into him to kiss his cheek, but stepped back when she saw the blood. "Oh! Are you okay?" she asked, a look of surprise on her face.

Mike placed a paw to his face, looking surprised when he saw the blood. "Oh this, It doesn't hurt."

One of the guards had retreated to a first aid station when she saw all the blood and had returned with a first aid kit. She tapped Mike on the shoulder and held up the first aid kit. "Sir, we should still patch you up. We don't that to get infected."

Mike nodded in agreement and sat down so the guard could attend to his injury. Now that the adrenaline had worn off he could get a good look at the Sifaka lemur whose purse he had just saved. She was small, maybe 5'5" at most. Her long brown hair was tied back in a high ponytail. Her body was... well, Mike tried really hard not to stare; she was gorgeous. The occasional strand of hair had escaped the ponytail and framed her face, which was stuck in a look of concern for the bison. "Again, thanks so much for stopping that guy. I'm Christy." she stuck out her paw.

Normally, Mike would have kissed her paw but the lady attending to his wound was picking hair out of the gashes on his face. Instead, he reached out and shook her hand firmly. "I'm Mike, and it was no problem at all, eh?. I was just doing what came naturally."

Christy look at him oddly, turning her head to one side. "Are you a cop or something?" she asked quizzically.

Mike laughed and got poked in the ribs for his efforts. The guard turned medic shook her head and pointed at a sharp fur razor that she held in her paw. Mike nodded and waited until she was done shaving a small spot on his face before continuing. "No, I'm not a police officer. Back home I was raised with the expectation to assist those who needed help, regardless of the situation."

Christy weighed his response before smiling. It was the best thing that happened to Mike that day. "That's cute." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and handed him a card. "If you're staying in Columbus for any length of time, give me a call and I'll thank you properly." She winked and walked away seductively.

"First day in Columbus and you already got a phone number? You got some kinda luck, pal." The Shepherd said with a hint of envy. At about the same time, the other guard stood and patted Mike on the back. "That's about all I can do. If the wound doesn't start to close in a few days, you should go see a doctor."

Mike stood as well and shook each guard's paw. "I don't see an event report. Should I follow you guys so I can fill one out?"

The Shepherd shook his head. "You're the hero, leave the paperwork to us. Besides, you did most of our job for us. You have yourself a nice stay in Columbus." He smiled and walked off with the other guard to file the report.

Mike nodded blankly and sat down, shaking his head. 'Have a nice day?' Hardly. He still didn't have a place to stay, nor did he have a job. He was stuck in an unfamiliar place with no connection to anything.

"Hey."

Mike raised his head and looked around. He didn't see anybody. "Someone talkin to me?" he asked, confused.

"Over here." Mike turned around and saw that he was speaking to a cheetah. His markings were indicative of most cheetahs, but the fur around his mouth was greying and his headfur was a distinct silver. He continued, "You're the guy who stopped that purse-snatcher, right?"

Mike looked at him quizzically. Where was this going? "Yes, that'd be me. What would you like?" An autograph? Weirdo.

The cheetah smiled. "I saw you were having some immigration problems. How would you like to come with me?"

Mike shrugged and followed the cheetah to the very same Customs desk where only a few hours earlier he was denied access to the United States. The cheetah leaned over the desk and grabbed a form from the various piles on the desk. "Start filling these out son; I'll go talk to Hal."

Mike glanced oddly at the man, but began to fill the work visa form out anyway. About fifteen minutes later, the cheetah and 'Hal,' a rather skinny looking meerkat, walked back into view. "So there, uh.... Mike." the cheetah started, peering at the visa form to get his name. "How interested are you in doing a job for me?

Mike's suspicion meter went into overdrive. What kind of crap was this guy peddling? "What kind of job?" he asked warily, an eyebrow raised. This guy could be a con-man or even some kind of drug smuggler.

The cheetah laughed. "Whoa, boy. Not that kind of job. I'm Frank Hanson, owner and operator of Knox Security Systems. I want to hire you on as a guard." He extended his hand to show that there were no ill intentions.

Mike shook his quickly before getting back to his form. "How do you know if I'm certified or not? All you saw was one single incident." he said without looking up at the other fur.

The cheetah's mouth slid up into a grin. "I saw how you handled that thief and I say I'm quite impressed. I also saw that you knew the procedure for incident reports. You've either completed security training or you're extremely intuitive about that kinda stuff." he paused for a moment to read the other man's emotions. Once again, the older fur's intuition was bang on the money. "Trust me son, I take care of my boys and I'll do everything in my power to make sure your immigration goes through smoothly."

Mike was dumbstruck. "I-i-i-i really don't know how to thank you!" he exclaimed. "But, uh.. I don't have a place to stay. My original arrangements were dependent on my original reason for being here, which I was promptly shafted out of."

Frank nodded, pulling out his wallet and placing a few $20 bills in Mike's paw. "Well, here's some money. Take a taxi and shack yourself up at Jacob's Motel. I'll come to your room tomorrow, brief you about your jobsite and take you there. In the meantime, I'll mark your lodging bills as a company expense until I can set you up with a decent apartment."

Mike was finished with his visa form, so he handed that to Hal before shaking Frank's paw. "You're a regular Good Samaritan, you know that?"

Frank smiled and then wrung out his paw. "It's a good thing you didn't hug me. Mighta crushed a few ribs!" He replied, laughing.

Before parting ways, Mike turned to his new boss and asked, "By the way, where am I working?"

Frank's grin couldn't have been any wider. "Considering how good of a kid you are, I'll send you to a little movie studio I have a contract with. You'll thank me later."

                                                               End Chapter One