Betting until the end (Sheena-Tiger & Blobbles)

[Sheena-Tiger]

Nora Koppel was looking at the screen in front of her. It was hard for the woman to believe what was happening on it. The horse who she had bet on was coming in last, it had been the winner for several weeks without fail, it had been a sure bet. It was not as if she had placed any money on the race, no for her it was far worse, her honor was on the line here. It had started 2 weeks ago, when she had overheard some of her busy-bees in the office talking in the break room about the dares and bets they had made in their life. In an attempt to connect with her employees, Nora had chimed in, talking about a few of the bets she had made in the past, never for monetary gains but for the thrill and never having backed out of anything. For her it had always been a thing of honor, like you did not back out in a truth or dare or you would lose your face, albeit the worst that ever happened in such girl-nights were kisses and giggles or a prank-call to some random phone number.

This time though was rather different. Around a week later, after Nora had finished some important calls, one of her employees had knocked at her office, waiting patiently until called in, and closed the door behind her. And she had a rather intriguing bet to offer. A week from their little talk was a horse race she knew about. Nothing big, more a local thing, but it would be possible to watch it during working hours. The kick with her offer though was, the winner would have the loser for a whole day at their disposal, not after work though since her employee knew that Nora was starting early and usually worked a bit after everyone else already had left, no it would be a day of the following weekend. The woman in her managing position was liking the idea. She had a good week to gather information on horse racing and the horses on the track for that race they would bet on, this could not fail and she would have someone who could do the much needed cleaning in her whole house, more like a mansion. Every now and then she hired someone to clean it but they usually send a slow, old guy doing that who barely was able to finish the work but she did not want to spend more money on it than she absolutely had to. Getting a free cleaning who had a whole day though was quite the boon.

Now though it looked rather different. 'Lightning' was coming in last, there was no denying it. Nevertheless, she did not close the video-feed until the bitter end, making sure she was not making any mistakes until the official order was announced, Lightning at the last position. Breathing in sharply she sat back for a few seconds, and pushed the button to call her secretary. "Lydia, please call the employee we had talked about... you know, the one you let into my office a week ago without consulting me if I have actually time for her. She might already be on her way over here anyway... you MAY let her in this time without asking me first." She did not even wait until her secretary replied. In their stern talk she had offered her to not make such a mistake again or work for that slimy manager 2 floors below who was constantly requesting her as his secretary.