Hissing in surprise, I jumped from the wall, dropping my stolen dinner in the process.

“And there you go wasting perfectly good food.” The voice said, as I stared into the bright green eyes of a medium sized cut with slivery blue fur. “We’re going to have to work on your reflexes, if you’re going to work for me.”

“Work for you? What line of trade are you in?”

“Boris- the one who you refer to as Hobo- and I are business partners. We head the Slight of Paw- Moscow division. Boris is in charge of recruitment and I do the training.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because you are going to work for us. We will train you, giving you all the tools you need to succeed in this business. Who know, perhaps one day you will even be able to move yourself up.”

“You want me to become a thief, like you?”

“Why yes? Do you think this life is too good for you?”

“I never said that.”

“Oh, but you did…and yet you were the one who was caught stealing food. Look I’ll get straight to the point. As far as I can see you don’t really have any other options. You’re a country cat in a large city and you have no pertinent skills to fall back on. Besides all of this you owe me for stealing from my stand. Now, I’m standing here offering to take you in and set you on a successful career path. Are you really going to let pride get in your way. I’m going to give you a few minutes to think over my proposal. When you have made up your mind, come and find me. I’ll be sitting at a table to the right of the deep-fried mouse food stand. Turning around he walked back into the center of the court and disappeared in the crowd.