RamPrompTime

Early Winner (Prompt: Stop)

Little did they realise I would be an early winner, a double-winner at that. No wonder they are contemplating scrapping the show. 

So, this is what happened. I enrolled in a reality contest that needed us to spend time in not so normal places - a day in a penitentiary, an entire night in a graveyard parking lot, An entire week on an uninhabited island and I had made it through all. The secret? My needs were very simple - food and coffee and I was allowed to take with me one of them when none was on offer. I chose coffee and I made my own food elsewhere. I mean, the dead wouldn't mind fewer apples. 

The next round was the one that got everyone excited about the show - viewers, participants and investors alike. The entrants would have to live in a zoo and leave only when there would be a twin rainbow. That almost meant zoo-for-life, given even rains were rare in the area. Consequently the stakes were high - five hundred grand for the winner. 

But there was a catch. If the participant was found harming wildlife, he/she would be evicted without a penny. No one wanted people killing revenue-making animals for food or sport. There was also an extra clause - I suspect added to deter me from entering - that nothing could be carried inside by the participants. Now, that was a big dampener. 

Thankfully, for every clause and deterrent there is usually a loophole and the terms of this round had one too. If the organisers removed a participant without sufficient proof of contravention of the rules, they had to double the payment to a million. And I wanted to capitalise on this. 

The day came and before the gates would shut behind me for good, I stood in full glare of the media spotlight and signed the agreement. After the customary jokes about how I'd be the George-of-the-Zoongle, there was a short press meet - my do or die chance. 

"What if there is only a single rainbow?" One of the interviewers asked me. "Well, I could hold a mirror and double it."I said and the crowd laughed at the silly joke. And then there were some more. Finally, there was a pertinent question. 

"How do you plan on living without coffee, given food will be served inside and you can take nothing?"

"I won't, but my friends will," I said smugly

"Friends?" 

"Yeah. The monkeys."

"Monkeys?" 

"Let me explain," I said, straightening up as a sepulchral silence overcame. "I will train the monkeys to steal coffee pouches from nearby stores." 

"Why would they do that for you?"

"They will, if I reward them with bananas?" 

"And pray who will give you bananas?" A sharp reporter said. 

"I'll befriend the elephant and steal the odd one from the bunch they feed them on." People started shifting in their seats.

"How do you plan on befriending the elephant though?"

"Well, there is no clause preventing me from befriending animals. If I am denied, I will sue." 

"But there must be someone watching you... " someone said tentatively. 

"Like the security? "

"The guy who feeds the elephant, for starters... "

"I will have the monkeys deliver more coffee pouches, give him a share so he can sell them for money. I could make him sell them to the restaurant in the zoo so they too can make extra money. I will settle for some coffee and a large bunch of bananas to keep the ecosystem going."

"That means everyone but you will work hard, but you won't and yet, you will reap the benefits?"

"Yes," I said. "That's the reward for ingenuity."

"Ingenuity? This borders on corruption," a young reporter remonstrated.

"Corruption is a human term. Incentive is more universal. Now, may I tell you how I plan on sneaking out once in a while without contravention... "

"Stop!" The organiser slammed his fist on the table in front of him. "At this rate, you will turn the zoo into a circus and us into clowns. You can't ruin my enterprise like this. Get out!" 

And get out I did, with a million bucks in the kitty after pointing out the agreement's get-out clause.