Near the beginning of “Stepping on Fingers,” Saddam Hussein’s former bagman and the impeached governor of Georgia are on their way to find Lea: “The knot in Tariq’s stomach tightened several turns as the Syracuse airport’s exit booth’s occupant came…
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Thriller about an American teacher's being sent to a penal colony in Russia by an American religious court
Dream of Choice v. Dream Picker
The beginning of an inventor’s quest to protect his patents for an innovation that allowed people to select a night’s dream in “Stepping on Fingers,” from an infringing corporation: “Mordoff had endured the delay and expense of obtaining broad US…
David Garvey gears up for Mordoff’s Patent Litigation
A brief look at the beginnings of Mordoff’s patent case in “Stepping on Fingers:” “David Garvey had also developed this uncharitable point of view when he’d been called for jury duty in a criminal case involving arson, drug running and…
Unplanned Procedure
Lea’s horrifying journey gets worse: “As light and dark began to drift apart, I felt something very heavy holding my wrists tight against a frigid, waxy metal surface. Except for patches of warmth between my legs and under the soft…
Escaping Lea’s Minder
In “Stepping on Fingers,” Lea takes action to save herself in a New Hampshire church where she and Drak were staying. “A sudden calm enveloped Lea. Her attention was drawn back to the large, heavy, circular floor polisher. Its three-pronged…
Escaping from Russia through Finland
Early in “Stepping on Fingers,” Lea is surrounded by her two minders as their train stops at the Russian-Finnish border: “As Lea listened intently to the Russian border guards clomping slowly toward them through the next carriage, Willy snuggled against…
The Father of Lea’s Daughter Wants Lea Back
Relaxing in Whistler, former Georgia Gov. Buddy Lassiter, Lea’s former lover, wistfully wants to reconnect: “Yeah, Boss?” “Want you to locate Lea Holderness. You know, my school teacher friend from up in that there Frigid Frontier.” “Sure thing…pluggin’ even as…
Memorial Day in Camden, Maine
Lea returns to America after escaping from Russian penal colony, the beginning of Memorial Day: “Propped up by nearly identical VA-issued aluminum canes, two bent old men in dark blue uniforms leaned over to salute a headless gray granite statue…
North Country Justice
Here’s an initial part of Doug McPheters’s “Stepping on Fingers,” where Lea Holderness is sent to a Russian penal colony by a US religious court for disagreeing with new laws restricting traditional Americans freedoms: “But I didn’t do anything wrong! …
Crisis in the Subway
A peek at action in “Stepping on Fingers:” “David gave Gillespie a sharp hip-check. Gillespie lost his grip on his litigation bag and tumbled onto the train tracks, landing in a puddle of used condoms, cigarette butts and yesterday’s third…
