Earnest Ray found her in a restaurant stuffing oyster crackers into her purse. An hour after she met him, she was sitting on his lap, running her fingers through his hair; taking in the breadth and width of the big front porch that runs around his four-story house; playing up to his mama; and feeding tuna salad to his calico cat.

I spend long nights talking with my grandfather, whom I call Papa. We rage and speculate; we try to plumb the depths together. Over the years we have become close friends, able to share our most intimate thoughts.