Murphy's Quest (standard:fantasy, 9658 words)
Author: Ruby E. Roe	Added: Nov 11 2000	Views/Reads: 3580/3137	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Murphy leads a boring mundane life until suddenly he is yanked into an alternate world where it is up to him to save all the worlds from the curse of two evil Lords. The curse is meant to destroy all the good in humanity. If it succeeds in this alternat

MURPHY’S QUEST 

“Murphy, I’d like a word with you before you leave, please,” Jerry
called while he was still some distance away. 

“Certainly Jerry.  What’s on your mind?” 

“It’s about this back room.  The inventory last week showed that there
was an unusually large amount of damaged goods lying about.  I need 
your explanation of that,” Jerry said, as he walked closer. 

“That is because of the restrictions that have been placed on returns,
Jerry.  I mentioned that to you weeks ago.” 

“The restrictions are there for a purpose.  But that doesn’t mean for
you to hold everything.  I want this cleared up tomorrow.” 

“What am I supposed to do with it?”  Murphy was tired and feeling
rebellious. 

“Follow procedure, Murphy.  You have the new procedure booklet, use it. 
This back room is your responsibility.  If you think that you can’t 
handle it, let me know.”  Jerry turned and walked away.  Murphy made an 
obscene gesture at Jerry’s retreating back. 

“Great!  That means another fourteen-hour day tomorrow.  Oh, the joys of
working for a salary.”  Which of course, meant there would be no 
overtime pay.  Murphy placed the recent invoice inside his desk and 
removed his apron. 

On his way out of the store, he purchased the makings of a bachelor
steak dinner.  It didn’t please him to notice that the cashier gave him 
the ‘eye’ as she rang up his purchases.  He ignored her as much as 
possible.  He tried to keep his personal life away from his work place, 
much to the dismay of the single female employees. 

On his short drive home, he stopped on impulse at the corner liquor
store.  The Asian proprietor asked for his identification before 
allowing him to purchase his beer.  He carded Murphy every single time 
he came into the store.  It stopped being flattering after about the 
twentieth time.  At twenty-four, it wasn’t really flattering to look 
like a child.  Even growing a mustache had not helped.  He would 
probably have to go bald or gray before he stopped getting carded. 

Taking a back street from the liquor store, he drove through an area
that was mainly custom built homes.  Craning his neck around to gawk at 
the beautiful houses, he felt the familiar feeling of envy that always 
came over him when he drove through this neighborhood.  It just didn’t 
seem fair to him that some people had all the money and luck to afford 
a house like one of these, and deserving people like him had to work so 
hard just to keep his head above water. 

An elderly man walking his pedigreed poodle paused to look suspiciously
at the battered gray compact car driving slowly by.  He probably 
thought that Murphy was a criminal casing the area.  Murphy stopped 
gawking and accelerated quickly out of the area, before the old guy got 
nervous and called the cops. 

There was a street light out ahead.  It plunged the surrounding area
into total darkness.  It was amazing what a difference one of those 
lights could make.  Murphy felt a queer feeling of uneasiness as his 
headlights penetrated that darkness.  Being a custom home area, the 
streetlights were farther apart than normal, so that one light being 
blown out caused quite a large area to be dark.  Murphy shrugged off 
the feeling of unease. 

Suddenly, at the edge of his headlights, he thought he saw something
white.  A flicker caught his attention.  He looked that direction 
closely as he slowed the car down.  It looked like a woman.  She was 
garbed in a flowing white gown that fluttered around her in the breeze. 
 The only trouble with that was, there was no breeze.  The air was as 
still as a tomb.  Murphy winced at that thought.  That was a bad 
analogy, he thought.  His uneasy feeling coming to the surface again 
must have caused that thought. 



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