Goodreads asked Richard McClellan:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Richard McClellan In 1979, I lived in London with my family, while I worked for a North Sea drilling rig design contractor. One lunchtime, I was out doing errands and took the tube (the underground subway in London). Most of them were underground, some rather deep, which in those days meant long stairs to get back to the surface level. While walking up the tile and steel stairway with thousands of other travelers, a young lady was pushed or some fell. I was right behind her and only my presence kept her from tumbling all the way down. Her back was hurt, so I sat there and let her lean against me to support herself. We spoke only a few words, and soon the ambulance service arrived to take her away. Since I was married with two kids, that was the end of the encounter.

I've thought recently, what if the young man in the story was another guy who was single, perhaps a US Navy officer working at the American embassy? THAT will be the plot of a novel for me someday, his quest to find the lovely but mysterious young lady.

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