"BT/BA AlexRobertSmithPaineWitterReynoldsDiscoverMorganMerrillQuist"
read the gold letters on the faded sign. Underneath in smaller letters it said:
"Giving investors bull since lo these many years"
With a buttery wave of her hand, she dismissed the offer of a "warm roll" from the short bread vendor, and walked up to the sign, which had something disturbingly familiar about it.
She repeated the name to herself, over and over.
"I know that name from somewhere...but where?"
A dim light shone through the grime-encrusted windows of the tiny storefront below the sign. Muffy tried to peer inside, but the glass was too opaque, and would only reveal the faintest blur. So she pushed open the ancient wooden door, and found herself in the dirtiest, darkest office she had ever seen, inhabited by a small group of sad looking clerical workers. She was amazed to realize that she recognized them. These were her colleagues from the brokerage, several hundred posts ago! All sitting at huge, baroque desks made from some dark wood, each with nothing but a guttering candle to light the stacks of papers before them.
One or two looked up at her, and resumed their work without pausing.
"Hey, gang! It's me! Muffy!! Doesn't anyone remember me?"
Not a head was raised.
"I know look a bit different, being naked and covered in congealed butter and all, but..."
"Who let the wench in?" came a voice from the darkness at the back of the office, a voice that sent chills of fear up and down Muffy's spine. Then, the sound of footsteps; hard, heavy, footsteps of something, something very large, coming towards her.
The clerks made their scratch marks, not lifting their eyes from their papers.
Muffy was scared. There was something huge and evil coming towards her from the darkness. And then the smell hit her - Minotaur breath!
So this was it! She had heard the rumors, of course, and the dirty jokes, and at the time had dismissed them, but now she realized that the stories were all true. The secret force behind the world's largest, most powerful brokerage house was... |
