The Dark Horse

"Oh! you were there too. Then you know all about it. But there's still something that you don't know."

"The day had an unusual feel about it. The outdoors felt strange. Usually as you moved about early in the city you are greeted by foul, disgusting smells originating from man’s natural and industrial waste. Add to them the fragrance of artificial scents and you are bound to start your day with a headache. But today these seemed to be absent. There was absolutely no smell in the immediate world around. I could have smelt a rose at 100 meters but sadly there wasn’t any."

Alif: I think I am going to win today.

Jim: What makes you say that? As far as I remember you have never won. You are the most unsuccessful gambler I have known. In fact I think you are jinxed. If you bet on ‘Life Line’ then I would know the winner would be ‘Death Sentence’. It’s always like that. In a way what you bet on has always helped me win, coz you never win and I always do.

Zal: You also share your spoils with him, that’s an amazing thing you do. Never understood why you do that?

Jim: If I don’t then he won’t come to the next race and I won’t win. I don’t share the money with him due to sympathy; it’s a business association. He doesn’t put too much money on his horse anyway. It’s a known thing. Whatever he bets on gets jinxed. It has always worked.

Alif: But today is going to be different.

Jim: Hey dude! You need to stop that nonsense. You are beginning to freak me out.

Jim: Hey Zal you aren’t much of a gambler, are you?

Zal: I just don’t gamble on horses. I think I am more of a gambler than you are.

Jim: Really??

Zal: Look at you, you just bet on winning horses. Come here with this friend of yours who spells jinx on some poor horse and bet on a horse. You then put your money on a horse that makes you feel that you will win and you do. It seems more like an investment to me. And you have been winning haven’t you?

Jim: Yes I have, but I still need to bet one of the other horses. It’s not a two horse race you know. How are you more of a gambler than I am?

Zal: I am a struggling painter, my paintings have so far never fetched me any money. I do odd jobs to earn bits of money and survive. I don’t have money to bet on horses. But I like to watch the race.

Jim: So whom are you betting on today Alif?

Alif: I am betting on that Dark Horse.

Jim: You leave me no choice; I have to bet on ‘Total Despair’

Alif: Don’t, I am going to win today.

Jim: You are acting funny today.

Zal: Looks like today is the first time you are going to gamble. Hahaha.

Jim: Nevertheless it’s ‘Total Despair’ for me. I will go with what has always worked for me.

"The next day's newspaper had the following headline: ‘Hope’ wins the race. "

"And now this painiting of mine is the talk of the town. Who would have thought that a freak accident would see horses fall like nine pins and the slowest of them all slowly trots across the finish line?"

"This black horse looks silly, trotting along around the fallen horses, doesn't it? I will sell this painting to the highest bidder."

That day two people gambled on Hope and won.