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The Fiery Trials of "Mary's Moment"

Susan G. Mathis • Apr 17, 2023

Welcome author and dear friend Susan G. Mathis back as she shares more about her latest release.


Mary’s Moment is about the terrible Thousand Island Park fires in the Summer of 1912. Thousand Island Park’s switchboard operator ​Mary Flynn is christened the community heroine for her quick action that saves dozens of homes from a terrible fire. Less than a month later, when another disastrous fire rages through the Park, Mary loses her memory as she risks her life in a neighbor's burning cottage. Will she remember the truth of who she is or be deceived by a treacherous scoundrel?

 

Widowed fireman George Flannigan is enamored by the brave raven-haired lass and takes every opportunity to connect with Mary. But he has hidden griefs of his own that cause him great heartache. When George can’t stop the destructive Columbian Hotel fire from eradicating more than a hundred businesses and homes, he is distraught. Yet George’s greater concern is Mary. Will she remember their budding relationship or be forever lost to him? 

Here's an excerpt of these fiery trials:     

 

Mary gulped in searing breaths of thick smoke as sparks flew all around her like devils on a mission, riding on the wind, settling on beautiful summer homes that smoked and kindled, ready to ignite. Ash peppered the wind and dusted everything in a deathly gray.

The air, dry as dust, choked her. Needles of heat pricked her face and hands. Her feet, immovable, stuck to the ground.

Fear sparked and flamed to life. Not another fire!

Her pulse thrummed at the base of her neck, and sweat tickled her scalp. Shrinking away from the flames, she shook like a dog cowering before a larger opponent.

Firebrands danced on the breeze. Flames licked up the grass, ignited the bushes. A spiraling column of flames trampled house after house like a giant on the move. A building collapsed. Rubble rolled into the street.

Children wailed. Neighbors cried. Screamed. Ran. Shoved. Prayed.

Older folks stared in silence as if turned to stone. Young people worked, fought, tried to save what they could. Grabbed their belonging and threw them into the streets.

Rats fled the barns. Cats meowed. Dogs barked. Horses neighed. Birds fell from the sky.

Glass melted, silver fused together, candles warped. Streets clogged with belongings. Chimneys stood like soldiers guarding the debris of people’s lives.

The flames overpowered the raised wooden sidewalk and caught the next veranda ablaze. Her aunts’ cottage? No! Angry clouds of smoke and ash whipped all around her. Fiendish flames of fire teased.

Terror mounted with every step, but she fought a rising panic. She had to save her precious aunts.

There, in the upstairs window, Aunt Maude and Aunt Stella banged on the glass, trapped inside their burning cottage. They screamed for help, but they couldn’t make themselves heard over the roar of the inferno.

The wind took on a menacing power as her aunties’ home exploded into flames. 

Fear fluttered in her stomach and she fought nausea, gathering her courage. She hoisted her skirts, dashing up the burning cottage steps and through the front door. Felt her way up the steep staircase, barraged by the heat. Choking on the smoke. Her nerves stretched and strained.

A headache swelled behind her eyes, her nerves taut as piano strings. Fear poured over her like a torrential summer storm. She reeled back, the flames pushing her to retreat, away from her aunts, like the bully it was.

The fire whipped into a whirling dervish. Flaming wallpaper spiraled down, hitting her on the shoulder, burning a hole in her dress. Flying embers attacked her, scorching her hair. Still, she pressed on.

She had to find her aunts and save them. Where were they? She tried to call out, but her voice croaked, indistinguishable, useless.

Sparks rained down like hail. A cloud of ash covered everything in a layer of white powder, making it hard to see. Her nose filled with it. Her eyes burned with it. Her throat choked with it.

The flames spread before and behind her, surrounding her with heat so hot she wondered if she had entered Hades.

She called for her aunties, but nothing came out of her mouth. Then … there … Aunt Maude’s paper-thin hand, a network of veins covering the back of it. She reached for her, but something pulled her back, kept her from saving her loved ones. She groaned, reached, pressed toward the hand …

 

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than twenty-five times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has ten in her fiction line including, The Fabric of Hope, Christmas Charity, Katelyn’s Choice, Devyn’s Dilemma, Peyton’s Promise, Sara’s Surprise, Reagan’s Reward, Colleen’s Confession, Rachel’s Reunion, and Mary’s Moment. Her book awards include two Illumination Book Awards, three American Fiction Awards, two Indie Excellence Book Awards, and four Literary Titan Book Awards. Reagan’s Reward is a Selah Awards finalist. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, two children’s picture books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan makes her home in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling around the world but returns each summer to enjoy the Thousand Islands. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

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