When Laymon was 24, he lived in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, under the second-floor apartment of a man named Trimp who lived with three little boys, his wife, and his girlfriend. Laymon was in Pennsylvania working on his graduate thesis. His girlfriend at the time, a woman named Nicole, was interning at Rodale Press. His time in Emmaus was Laymon’s first contact with poor white people. Trimp’s children ran wild and were often dirty.

In his apartment, Laymon often played music from Lauryn Hill, OutKast, Joni Mitchell, and Curtis Mayfield, while Trimp loudly played Led Zeppelin. The screams of his children and noise from the Cartoon Network also emanated from his second-floor apartment. One July weekend, someone got shot in the building next door. Trimp and Laymon walked over to investigate the situation. On the way back, Trimp asked Laymon how to pronounce his first name. He had heard his children call Laymon “Keith.” Laymon said “Keith” would work fine. After asking Laymon if he could borrow ten dollars, Trimp asked Laymon if people got shot where he came from. Laymon ignored Trimp’s question, which triggered thoughts of a friend of his who had murdered a young woman in Central Mississippi, and “asked him about Pennsylvania amusement parks, Italian ices, and when he planned on getting a job” (132).