Cheating the Hog — Rae Ellen Lee

Echo needs a miracle. She's turning fifty, living with her gun-toting mom, and her lover's been killed in a logging truck accident. She made front-page news as a Salvation Army bell ringer, but that job ended and she's digging for change to pay off a gambling debt. Then she hits pay dirt. The local sawmill hires her to do cleanup and odd jobs, like cheating the hog. And now, with high pay and benefits in sight, Echo expects to be farting in silk. But on the first day at the mill, she realizes this job could kill her. Can she survive hanging from a narrow ramp twenty feet in the air while untangling cedar bark? Will a forklift driver named Bullfrog run her down before she gets her first paycheck? When tragedy does strikes, she leads the other women mill workers to fight back with a few leveraged threats and wit as sharp as band saw teeth -- earning her respect on the job and the attention of a strong-hearted man.