Kathy, thanks for the link. And thanks for getting the information so quickly. That was it!

Wendy, thanks for permission to reference your story. For some reason, that little episode stuck in my mind and just attached itself to Lois's personality. That's why I thought it was a brief vignette. I'll rework my story to match more closely to what you wrote, and I'll certainly credit you. Thanks for the insight into Lois's childhood traumas.


Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.

- Stephen King, from On Writing