[Short-Short] Eight or Nine Times Out of Ten, 7-5-3
For some reason, a cat is walking down the dimly lit corridor leading to the paddock. I clicked my tongue and kicked the soft-looking creature as it clung to my feet. The cat bristled its tail, bared its fangs, and hissed at me.
I snorted, glanced at the cat, and called out to the old woman standing in the corner of the paddock.
"Hey, how's it looking?"
"...Is that you? Here."
With that, the old woman held out her wrinkled hand. I clicked my tongue again and pulled a few crumpled ten-thousand-yen bills from my pocket.
"That's right. Today... eight or nine times out of ten, it's going to be 7-5-3."
"Eight or nine times out of ten, huh? Just like you said, I made a profit on the last race, but..."
"Whether you bet or not is up to you."
Staring intently at the horses running in the paddock, I headed toward the betting window.
When the gates opened, the horses took off all at once. Number 7 was in the lead, and 5 and 3 were in good positions too. As they rounded the final corner, the venue was engulfed in a whirlwind of excitement that was hard to distinguish between cheers and angry roars.
7-5-3. Keep going just like that.
Near the finish line, something crossed in front of the horses. The horses neighed, and the jockeys were thrown. The cause of it all was yawning and stretching as if it had nothing to do with it. The betting ticket I had poured all my money into had become scrap paper because of a cat.
I scatter breadcrumbs for the cats gathering around me. What happened the other day was truly karma. From now on, I will be a man who is kind to cats.
I can't miss today's race. The connecting path to the paddock. A mouse runs past me. I kick the mouse away—and so on.
The End
I've never been horse racing, so this is just my imagination 😓
I participated in Tarahakani-sama's weekly short-short [Eight or Nine Times Out of Ten, 7-5-3].
The previous topic is here
#WeeklyShortShortNote
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