Q is for Quin O'Toole

by Kim Van Sickler

[Kim's posts will all relate to her MG historical fiction novel with a paranormal twist: Muleskinner. Here's the pitch: An extraordinary canal dog gives twelve-year-old mule driver, Clay, the conviction to fight against a highly suspect Indenture agreement his pa supposedly signed...right before Pa was found swinging from a tree above Lonesome Lock.]

Quin O'Toole. Nickname: Goose

Quin is already dead when Muleskinner starts. He was a canaler married to the prettiest woman on the Ohio Canal before she died birthing their second child: Aidan. A happy go-lucky fellow by nature, his fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse when he got ensnared in Slice Fermer's gambling enterprise. Before his body was found hanging over Lonesome Lock, an indentured servitude agreement had been signed, promising his son Aidan would work for Slice as his muleskinner when the boy turned ten years old.

Quin's unfortunate past haunts Clay. It's up to Clay to straighten out what his father fell victim to and set himself free.