Uptown, downtown, a thousand miles between us

The night before we left, we wound up going over to Freddy Joe McVay's house. He is the youngest of the McVays -- a clan of five kids who lived across the street and one house down from Roy. Freddy talked to us about watching people fight in the street (Chatham was nicknamed Hell Street back then) and about learning how to mow yards under Roy's tutelage. He also showed us his shoebox full of pictures.

After we interviewed him then packed all our gear up, I went back in to say goodbye. I noticed a pair of photos on the wall -- he and his wife, naked except for a Confederate flag wrapped around them. They were posed in an old washtub. A sign -- "still hitched" -- hung off the side.

"These are some racy photos y'all have up!" I said. Without a lick of embarrassment, he said, "Oh, we took those up in Arkansas!"