A Peaceful, Easy Feeling

His childhood scarred by a traumatic event, Patrick Sayer moved to rural Maine as a young man in search of a simple life close to nature. As he puts it in his story: "The guy I call me lives in central Maine, in the sticks. Or since the nearest town, Milligansett, qualifies pretty well as the sticks, you could say I live outside the sticks."

But now, more than twenty years down the line, he finds himself embroiled in a hateful battle in a one-industry town. Workers at the paper mill have gone on strike, and as money runs low, tempers run high. Patrick finds himself caught unwittingly in a deadly struggle between labor and management, and he becomes terrified when his own life is recurrently threatened by he knows not whom nor why.

In his extreme anxiety, he seeks solace from his girlfriend, Julie, and help from the worldly labor leader, Murph. In desperation, he even seeks succorance from the unworldly Father Tim, an elderly mystic who lives with his sheep and his dog Shep at the old Carthusian monastery outside of town. Can Patrick find the strength to conquer his fears and overcome his adversaries--both within and without?