A poisonous, lying, cheating con-man, known as Little Fingers, and an angry unemployed worker  mad at China for taking his job, even though it wasn’t China, it was a robot that replaced him, meet on the bank of a raging river, and Little Fingers, desperate to get across is afraid of the swift current, but he won’t admit it.

Little Fingers asks the miserable, angry worker to carry him across on his back.

The worker asks, “How do I know you aren’t lying to me? Everyone says you’re a liar.”

“Trust me,” Little Fingers says, “They are the liars, because I’m smarter than them. I never fail. If I sting you and you die, I will die too, and on the other side of the river, a job is waiting for you, and I’m the only one that knows where that job is.”

The worker is satisfied because of the promise, and they set out, but close to the opposite bank of the raging river Little Fingers stings the worker.

The worker feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp “Why?”

Little Fingers says, “It’s my nature,” and before the worker goes under, he jumps the few feet to shore and walks away with a swagger not bothering to look back as the workers goes under and drowns.

If Little Fingers had not made it across, he was doomed, because he owed the Russians money and they were blackmailing him for perverted sexual behavior captured on film that would ruin his solid gold plated reputation.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran, with a BA in journalism and an MFA in writing, who taught in the public schools for thirty years (1975 – 2005).

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Lofthouse’s first novel was the award winning historical fiction My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. His second novel was the award winning thriller Running with the Enemy followed by his award winning memoir Crazy is Normal.

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