|
After dropping off the dress at the drycleaners, making it clear to the "assistant" that the stain on the skirt was WD40, an oil-based product, she headed out to the TV studios.
She parked the Gremlin in a sunny spot and headed to the main entrance. "Hello Raoul." She greeted the doorman as she flashed her...badge.
As she sat in make-up, she pondered her double life; how long would she be able to keep it up before one of her colleagues from her more serious life spotted her? This wasn't exactly a low profile job, even if the programme went out on Channel 76. More importantly, how long would it be before he recognised her and restarted his pursuit? Her breath quickened at this thought and her stomach muscles tightened: was this adrenaline-fuelled reaction fight, flight or desire? She couldn't distinguish.
Two hours later, she was on set with the red light on, dressed in a pale pink suit, which had a skirt that stopped mid-way down her thighs. Not a garment in which she ever attempted to sit. The audience were hushed: the contestant was faced with the decision of whether to stick with his original choice of box or to swap to the only other one left, now that she had opened the third and revealed a goat. Tension grew until he made the choice. With a flourish, she opened the rejected box - and a huge groan went up from the audience: the car had been revealed. Projecting an air of sympathy and regret, she went through the formality of opening the final box, whereupon the well-trained goat walked calmly out and stood by her side.
Her "beautiful assistant", a well-muscled 6 foot tall hunk dressed in one of those non-tuxedoes that showed off his tanned and hairless body, brought out the tasteful sculpture of a goat and presented it to the contestant, who looked a little uncomfortable as the hunk drapped himself over his shoulders. The sculpture was a requirement of their licence; the AHS didn't allow live animals as prizes. The excitement over, she closed the show, on autopilot for the banal statements and promises of excitement to come in the next show.
Later that night, sitting on the back porch with the goats grazing contentedly close by, she considered the finer points of probability. It always amazed her, the logic the contestants used - or claimed to use since she knew her words and actions sumliminally affected their decisions - to decide whether to change their choice or not. What all of them seemed to forget was that even if there were a 2/3 chance of being right, Murphy's Law ensured that the 1/3 chance of being wrong was the one that turned up! That and the psycology experts behind the scenes...
Leaving her day job aside, she contemplated the latest instructions received from Control. Apparently Blaine was becoming a liability...his training and initiation had been hurried and the police detectives questioning him were picking holes in his cover story that you could drive a Greyhound bus through. Something would have to be done, and as his cover girlfriend, she was the one chosen to do it. The question was: could she?
Partially inspired by the Challenge on Games Shows
| 
Re: Episode 3 - Cars, Goats and Boxes
