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

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; nie