Short Story

I didn't want to go to sleep yet. It is too early.

Plus my allergies are acting up so I'm going to stay awake until I feel like I've got them under control.

Besides, if I go to bed now, assuming my normal 7 hours of sleep I would be waking up at 6 am tomorrow. And I don't want to wake up at 6 am. I want to wake up at at least 7:30 am at the earliest. But I know that won't happen. I'll probably be up at 7 am. Ah well, what's another 30 minutes?

And I am going to post this in August. Because I didn't get a chance to write my 4th post in August because of the vacation I took.

So here goes my imagination...

Murphy stood there, hands grimy from all the oil and car parts he had been working with all day. On his hips, they smudged off a bit of the crap on to his uniform. Looking across the garage and out in to the world he could see the storm front rolling in. And when he looked up again it was like God had tipped over the bucket and was trying to create another river where his business stood...or maybe an ocean.

Damn this hurricane season he thought to himself as he shook his head in disgust.

The storms down here in Georgia had been frequent, but luckily not as strong as they had seen a few years ago. In a way he kind of enjoyed the fact that a few more storms and hurricanes would be rolling in over the next 2 weeks because he knew what it meant for his business. Plenty of flooded engines. Damaged cars from falling trees, hail storms and just plain old bad weather driving.

22 years ago he had taken over the business from his father - rest his soul - after he had come down with lung cancer. And even to this day Murphy was still trying to break the habit himself.

Guess it's time for a smoke break.

Looking behind him standing under the section of the porch that somehow didn't get wet in even the craziest sideways rain he smiled and thought about how this business had grown from just helping out a few friends and neighbors with their vehicles to now the largest and most reputable car service company in town. They did everything from oil changes and tire rotations to full on body work and engine repair. He understood he was a big fish in a little pond, but he liked it that way. People knew and respected him in town and he wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Hey Murph!" shouted a voice from behind him.

"Yeah?"

"Hey bud, think I'm gonna be headin' out of here before the road washes out." Jim said to Murphy as he pulled on his coat and patted him on the back. "Don't you think you should get goin' yourself?"

"Yeah, just wanted to see if this wall of water was going to break any time soon..." his voice trailed off as the drops beat down harder on the pavement almost in mocking fashion of what Murphy had just said.

"Alright buddy, I'll see you maybe tomorrow then?"

"For sure. Oh and don't bother coming in if it's like this tomorrow too. I'm sure we'll have plenty to do when this weather clears up."

"Can't wait." Jim said chuckling, knowing full well if he wasn't going to come in tomorrow there was going to be some overtime to make up for it.

Author's note: I can't decide how I want to end this short story. I can end it like it is...almost as if it's just an open ended story. Normal end of work conversation.

I was thinking I could end it like this:

Alternate ending: Little did Jim know that those were the last words he would ever say to Murphy.

Author's note: But I think that was a little bit harsh - plus I think even I would want to know what had happened to Murphy in that storm on the way home. And really, I'm not a big fan of trying to come up with something that seems normal yet interesting enough. And the story could really go from a short one to a medium one given that I continued writing. So to prevent that I'll leave it open ended.