Teri actually seemed quite eager to hear more of my story, but of course I could only give her the abridged version in the little time we had. She kept asking questions as I went along, wanting to know about everything Irwin had done, and what it had been like in that giant basement. By the time we reached the elevator to the craps table, I hadn't even gotten to the part about my escape.
"You seem awful concerned about this," I asked her. "Do you like being shrunk at all?"
"Sort of," she replied. "It's hard to explain. I do, and I don't, you know?"
"Not really," I told her as we got into the elevator.
She sighed and went on. "Ever since I was a kid," she explained, "I've liked the idea of shrinking, of walking around in my house at really tiny size. It just seemed cool for some reason. But I never thought it could be like this, you know? The people are so big! I'm so scared they could crush me underfoot, or pick me up and run off with me like that man did to you."
"I was afraid a lot at first," I said reassuringly. "It scared the hell out of me. But you get used to it after a while. In fact, being with Irwin showed me being small didn't have to be frightening."
"Thanks," she told me with a smile. "I'll remember that."
Now that was ironic, I thought. When I'd started here, all I got from the veterans had been the same kind of empty-sounding reassurances. I'd thought they were just saying it to make me feel better. But they'd been right in the end, as it turned out.
By now we'd reached the arena, and the two girls working the table came over to us to switch off. We exchanged hellos and goodbyes, then I nodded at Teri and we started our shift.
It went much like yesterday's did. I basically spent the afternoon alternating between running and resting. Several times I found myself having to do a series of fetches at the shooter's request, and of course these were followed by an equally long rest that was sorely needed. There was a little break room built into the side of the table, near where the croupier stood, and I found myself taking advantage of these more often than not. Mostly just for the bottled water, without which I would have become more than just a little dehydrated.
After what seemed like forever, the four-hour shift ended and Teri and I were relieved from duty. Totally exhausted, the two of us made our way down the elevator and back to the restoration machine. "I never thought I'd be that tired working here," Teri told me, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Me either," I agreed. "You know, I thought I was in pretty good shape before I started working craps. You sure seemed to handle it a lot better than me, anyway."
"I played soccer in high school," she explained. "I was a center forward. It's been a while, though. If I were still playing, this wouldn't have bothered me at all. I used to run almost nonstop for an entire game!"
"This was four hours, though," I reminded her.
"Yeah, but I got a lot of breaks. There was less running here than in a full game, I think."
By now we'd gotten back to the dressing room at normal size and started changing clothes. I was going to take a shower, but Teri didn't bother, simply throwing on a sweatsuit and moving towards the exit. "Sorry I can't stay longer," she told me. "My husband's waiting for me."
"Really? You're married?" I asked, surprised. Her young looks had thrown me there.
"Yep, two years now," she said. "We were in high school, you know. I don't see him enough, it seems like. We want to start a family, but we're both in college and working, too, so we don't dare. Maybe someday."
"Maybe," I replied. "Well, it was nice working with you, Teri. Maybe we'll see each other again."
"I hope so. It was nice meeting you, Ashley!"
Then she was gone, and I shook my head. Getting married out of high school was nuts, I thought, but if she'd managed to keep together for two years, it must be working!
Also, I thought as I took my shower, the fact that she was married put her outside the risk profile for a sudden disappearance. That made me feel better, since I could tell I already liked Teri. That wasn't unusual, though. So far, I seemed to like everyone who I'd met in this place.
Once I was cleaned off, I went out to the floor and started to leave, but then I remembered something. Lori was supposed to be working poker tonight for the first time, and I wondered if she was out there somewhere right now. I checked the training room first, but it was empty, so I went out to the poker area and started looking for her.
I spotted her at the third table I checked. She didn't see me at first, seeing as how she was doing what looked like exercises on a couple of playing cards, smiling and laughing all the while. She was so tiny it almost didn't really seem like her at all, but a little animated caricature of herself.
I watched for a bit, forcibly reminding myself that would be me tomorrow night, three inches high and pretending to be a poker chip. I felt the old familiar fear welling up inside me, but almost without effort I dismissed it as unimportant.
There were a dozen tiny women on the table, but only five gamblers. One of them seemed to have the majority of the ladies, which signified that he was doing pretty well. Lori was alone with her customer, and he was giving her his complete attention. They seemed to actually be discussing strategies, it seemed like, though how they could do that without him giving his hand away, I couldn’t be sure.
Regardless of that, she seemed to be enjoying herself, and the man she was with looked quite satisfied with her performance. He bet frequently, but always with smaller coins, seemingly unwilling to give her up. Finally he was forced into a position where he had to bet her, putting her up against a tiny woman from each of the other gamblers, leaving his pot empty. He lost the hand, and she waved a sad goodbye as she walked with the rest of the pot to her new "owner."
When she did this, she saw me watching and gave a happy wave, motioning me over to the table. "Hey, Ashley!" she yelled up at me, her voice only barely audible. "Look at me! I'm a ten thousand dollar chip!"
"I can see that," I replied. "I can't believe how tiny you are! What's it like?"
"It's fantastic!" she shouted. "This is more fun than I could possibly have imagined! And the men are great, too! They're so nice to us!"
I grinned and nodded, knowing exactly what she meant by that statement--she was getting some serious tip action! "You'll have to show me the rest tomorrow night," I told her. "I'm working the table with you starting at five, I think."
"Cool, see you then!" she yelled back. "I've got to get back to work!"
I waved goodbye and stepped back, watching for a little bit longer, but after a few minutes I'd seen all I cared to. Besides, Mark was waiting for me, I remembered suddenly. All at once I knew what Teri had been talking about when she'd been in such a hurry to leave.
Hastily I hurried out of the casino, heading off to join the man I was now almost certain I loved.