Probability: When The Future Comes Calling

For more than thirty years, bartender Mike Murphy watches the same customer arrive at exactly the same time each weekday, order a single beer, and quietly disappear. Rabelais Pettis seems destined to live an ordinary life, working the same drafting job while tinkering with inventions that never appear to work. Then one evening everything changes. The timid regular walks through the door with complete confidence, spends money as though it has no limit, and insists the impossible has finally become possible.

What follows is one of classic science fiction’s most entertaining time-travel adventures. Louis Trimble blends humor and clever speculation as an ordinary night at the neighborhood tavern becomes an unforgettable journey into the near future. Pettis refuses to treat time travel as a license for reckless adventure. Every decision carries risks, and even the smallest change may alter events no one can fully predict. As Mike begins to understand what his unlikely friend has accomplished, he discovers the greatest challenge is not visiting tomorrow—it’s choosing the version worth fighting for.

Probability succeeds because its extraordinary events are experienced through the eyes of an everyday working man. Mike’s practical outlook keeps the story grounded even as fortunes change overnight and history begins to shift. The result is a fast-moving tale filled with warmth, wit, and genuine charm.

Louis Trimble (1917–1988) published science fiction, mystery, and adventure fiction in Astounding Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, and Fantastic Adventures. He later became known for his Peter Quintard mysteries and, with his wife Jean, co-authored numerous crime novels. First published in Fantastic Universe in 1953, Probability is a delightful blend of inventive ideas, memorable characters, and timeless storytelling.