New Yorker Profile
May 10, 2023 – May 11, 2023
The following photographs were taken during the writing process
Chip and Lucas take off to see Mason and Jimmy.
Lucas snaps this at Chip's old home at Morningside Gardens.
After four hours driving, Lucas takes this as Mason comes out to greet Chip.
Inside Mason's new trailer home, still in Lot 7: The top screen is security. The bottom is the television, on all day. Star Trek is a favorite. The hallway leads back to Jimmy's room.
Mason and his favorite cat.
Mason drives Jimmy and me to a buffet restaurant two towns over, which they have chosen, and I treat us all to dinner. (I had really forgotten Mason's table manners.) Later, we go back to the house, and Mason and I turn in. The next morning, I grab this shot of snoozing Jimmy. While I was sitting on the couch the next morning, I drifted off to sleep, and when I awoke . . .
Lucas goes off to his motel. I am staying the night with Mason. Later . . .
Lucas was already there, talking with Mason. On his computer, Jimmy made me a dozen printouts of cartoons about Trump: This is Trump territory, but Mason and Jimmy are both Democrats.
Lucas and I say goodbye to Mason and Jimmy . . .
And as we get ready for the four-hour journey, I catch Mason giving Jimmy a farewell pat, and we begin the long drive home.
"It was a six-hour drive back to Philadelphia. We stopped for lunch at a Creole restaurant in Kingston, where Delany declared our server, a green-haired young man with piercings, 'cute as a button.'"
—Julian Lucas
