Our second meeting finds Cathy and I sitting together in the same place, only a few weeks later – this time to record the death of her oldest, Michael. The atmosphere inside, where we face each other, is heavy with the sadness of a mother who feels the responsibility to talk about another unspeakable loss. Where the last story about James seemed to pour out of her, demanding to be told, this one holds back. The heaviness of it hangs in the room. I am moved to begin because I want to understand the differences between the story of one son that so strongly needed to be told, and the story of the other that may still be too sorrowful, too confusing, and too painful to even be totally understood
This next story of loss is one of two parts. Cathy, mother of James and Michael, and I met twice so that we could have the time to adequately unfold the details of the death of each of her sons. The cast of characters who directly participate in this story of the younger son, James LeRoy, is a complex one: Mother, Cathy, who loves and grieves both her sons; stepfather, Jeff, who supports Cathy and first enters the picture during the unfolding of brother, Michael’s, death; nieces, Debra and Casta, who are like daughters to Cathy; three teens who are integral to James’ crime and subsequent time in prison; and two women, who each play a role in James’ search for a new life. Though the sons’ sto
