Season 2 Update: Five Years Later

It is strange to be back, yeah it is so far it looks the same, yeah. A few months ago I drove with our producer Samara Freemark to a familiar town, we turned on to a familiar street, and pulled up in front of the familiar White House with dark shutters, there was a shiny white Nissan truck parked up front with a bumper sticker on the back window that said locally hated, we got to ask him about all these, we walked up onto the porch and a man in a black baseball cap and Nike slides came to the door, someone who I never thought would be living in Winona, Mississippi ever again. Hello, Curtis, is that you? Curtis Flowers. You are so skinny. I had you. I had you, they made me lose it because I'm a diabetic. Oh my goodness. That's so good to see you. You too. I said well surely they just got mad at me. The last time I'd seen Curtis Flowers in person was back in 2020, about a year after he was released from prison. Curtis had spent 23 years behind bars and had been put on trial six times for a crime that even the state of Mississippi now acknowledges he did not commit. The murder of four people at a local furniture store. Our reporting into Curtis's case had played a big role in Curtis getting out of prison. We'd uncovered false testimony, questionable forensic science, and a pattern of racial discrimination in jury selection by the prosecutor's office. Our findings made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where Curtis's conviction was overturned. The Supreme Court is thrown out the murder conviction of a Mississippi death row inmate who has been tried six times for a night. When I last saw Curtis, he was basically living and hiding in an undisclosed location out of state. It didn't seem safe for him to live in Winona, a small town where everyone knew about his case. And many people, in particular white people, still considered him guilty. This is Curtis talking about it back then. Winona is not somewhere I would just want to go and hang out. Just just to be safe and, you know, I just feel, you know, it's, I shouldn't have to worry about anything, you know, so I left decided to just move away. And so when I learned that Curtis had returned to live here, I was surprised. I wanted to know why, and I wondered what his life was like now. After all, Curtis was just 26 years old when he was arrested. He spent so many years on death row. By the time he got out, he was nearly 50. How do you rebuild a life after all that? Would you go and sit down? Yes, I agree. Where do you want? On a porch? Yeah, yeah. Where do you want to sit? I don't like to sit in the sun. Okay. We sat down in the porch at his parents' house. Curtis spends a lot of his time these days. There's two little plants, a candle, an ash tray for cigarette butts. The porch overlooks an empty field, and most days, the neighborhood around the house is quiet. There's all kind of houses open on this street. A lot of empty houses. I kind of like it that way because it's quiet, you know. I have to worry about a lot. When I first came home, you know, I didn't talk to people, you know, people didn't talk to me, but then, you know, he started to slowly, you know, and here I am. Sitting on the porch together, Curtis told me that when he first got out of prison, his life was very different. Oh, man, I came home and we were going everywhere. Curtis emerged from the confines of his solitary cell into the swirl of being a kind of minor celebrity. There were the junkets to speak to groups all across the country. We're really, really grateful to have with us here at Duke Law, Curtis Flower. Every time I was called, I was born and go, I went. There were the interviews on television. What's parchment like? The worst thing you ever dreamed about, like a nightmare. The invitations to participate in mock trials at the law school up at Ole Miss. So you have to, like, go back to trial again. Curtis, you've been to trial six times. Six times. You get a break. Well, I think it's kind of fun when you know you're not being railroaded. Trial's nice when you have the one on trial. There were the trips to places like New York City. We had a good time. We walked in terms of where we tried here at night. There was the dinner at a swankie Italian restaurant where the owner of the place recognized Curtis. She begged them to look at Curtis' motherfucking flower. And picked up the entire bill. He said, "I'll follow your case the whole way. Keep what y'all want. It's on me tonight." He said, "I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do tonight." "Yeah, my cousin said, "Damn, we're about to know you're him." There was Jay-Z's rock nation, betrothed with the NFL to put Curtis' name on a helmet. There was the millionaire who offered Curtis' use of his beachfront house in the Hamptons, where Curtis sat sending himself on the back deck, as someone who looked suspiciously like Matthew McConaughey, floated by on an inner tube. The star of a time to kill, or someone who looked like him, called out to Curtis. Curtis, this is like the weirdest transition from the parchment present to that. It was exciting and also a bit disconcerting. As the years went by, Curtis' life got a lot quieter. He found work as a handyman, doing odd jobs. He got married briefly and then divorced. Nowadays, his life revolves almost entirely around one person. His father, Archie Flowers, "You guys want to talk to him today? I don't know. He lived here from the guy." "Yeah, I'll be great to talk to you." He was excited to hear it when I told him I said, "Well, you know, from the park here, they're coming." "Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. Yeah. Yeah. We went inside. "Thank you. That's my day." "Hello, Mr. Flowers." Archie was sitting in a chair in the dining room, watching Gunsmoke, the classic western. On a little TV, the Curtis had set up on the dining room table. "Yeah. How you doing?" "I'm good. How are you?" "I'm like with a devil." "It's so good to see you." Curtis headed for the kitchen to crush his dad's meds and stir them into a cup of apple sauce. He fed his father a spoonful. "You mean them?" "Would you?" "Would you?" Archie looked much older and weaker than I remembered. In the years since I'd last seen him, I'd learned he'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Back when I was first reporting this story, when Curtis was still locked up, I spent so much time with Archie and his wife, Lola. We would sit together in their living room. Archie, on the large-tepted ottoman, and Lola and me on the couch. Archie was a man who was more than comfortable with silence. The first few months I knew him, he seemed happy to let his wife do the talking. But over time, he'd let a joke slip or tell a story. Then he started asking, "Why didn't I come by more often?" "Yeah, right. Y'all come see me sometime anyway." This is from back then. "Sure thing. Always. If we first stop in or last stop, every time we're in town, that's right, that's right." And we developed a kind of routine. I would come over and we would just sit and talk. Every two weeks, Archie and Lola would make the drive to parchment prison to visit Curtis. And Archie would give me updates on those visits. How he and Curtis would use that time to sing together, in the visitation room, separated by a thick plexiglass divider. Later on, Archie invited me to meet his gospel group, The Melody Kings. I would drive out to watch their practices, in a spare room at the Greenwood Public Library. I actually got to see Archie perform a few times. Those performances are something I still think about, the intensity of them, how he seemed and completely lose himself in the moment. ♪ Every time, every time, every time ♪ ♪ Every time, every time, every time ♪ ♪ You know we have to love each other ♪ - Archie told me that when he was performing, he imagined Curtis singing right next to him. Free. ♪ Every time, every time, every time, every time ♪ ♪ You know we have to cry, hey ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ Archie did get to see Curtis release from prison, but his wife, Lola, never did. She died in July of 2018, just a year and a half before Curtis got out. After Lola died, Archie kept living in the family home on his own. But then he started having problems with his memory and those problems got worse. One time, nearly four years ago, he even went missing. Authorities put out a silver alert and he was found the next day by the Sheriff's Department, drinking coffee at a deli 80 miles from Winona. After that, Archie gave up driving. At a certain point, it became clear to Curtis and his five siblings that someone needed to stay with their father to take care of him. Curtis volunteered. Though he said his dad tried to talk him out of it. He said, "Man, you don't want to hang around, you're looking after me." You don't have to hang around here looking after me? That's a little, yeah, you can take care of me. I can't take care of you for a little while. Archie smiled and said to Curtis. I'm gonna tell Jesus about you. I said, "Well, I like the thing that he said already." He said, "Well, I'm gonna tell him anywhere." But that's my dad. And so, this is why Curtis returned to Winona. He moved back into the family home to live with his dad and take care of him. Curtis was trying to hire a caregiver for his father. But a lot of the time, the people he found fell through or wouldn't show up. Curtis' siblings help out, but most days, Curtis is with his father all day and all night. - Raise my feet him. - That's what. - Mm-hmm. He goes through a lot. And you just hate to see him go through it because my dad has always been this type of guy who's so independent. - Right. - I'd like to rely on nobody to do nothing, you know? And I hate to see him like that, but that's why I volunteer you to stay with him. - That's a lot of responsibility though. - Here's to deal. Oh, he was just stretching out. - Yeah. - You know? But he's a good dude. He really is. You ready? - Oh, you ready? - It was time for Curtis to help his father get ready for bed. - Oh, wow, yeah. - He never made me up. - I'm not going to pick you up right now. But you two are? - Two of us? - I'm dad and you. - Here you go. - Curtis reached out his hands for his father and held on to him as they walked slowly together. Curtis walking backwards. His father walking forwards. As they made their way into the bedroom. - Come on, follow me. - Oh, look who it is. ♪ I got Jesus and that's enough ♪ - That's enough? - That's enough. - Hey, whoa, no. - That's all you need? - Yeah, you would tell me that I would kick you. (laughing) - Yeah. - You ready? - Oh, what the hell? - Right mom. - Curtis and his father share a bedroom. Curtis sleeps in his parents' bed and his father in a smaller bed right next to him. That's easier for him to get into these days. Curtis told me that even when Archie is sleeping, he worries about him. So he has a little alarm that he clicks on to his dad's clothing. It makes a sound if his dad tries to get up. - He's here. I click it on him. Is it if he raised up? (phone ringing) - Yeah. - I mean, I just wait 'til the way you go. There you go. Throw the bag that's lying up. - Curtis gently eased Archie into bed. - You're going the wrong way, huh? - Yeah. (laughing) - That's your thing. - Yeah. Wrong way. - Wrong way. - Hey. (laughing) - I'll go lay down. - Oh, you can lay down? - You can lay down. - I'll talk to Archie about it. - I got you. You can lay down. (gentle music) (gentle music) - Being there with Archie and Curtis, I was struck not for the first time by the unfairness of it all. This family had waited 23 years for this moment when Curtis would finally be out. But now, that moment was here. And Curtis's mother was dead and his father was struggling with dementia. - Touch it all nice. - Well, yeah, they sang a good night too. - Good night, good night. - Good night. - Good night. - You're going to have a great day tomorrow. (gentle music) (gentle music) - From Vanity Fair, I'm Mark Aduchis and I wanna tell you about their new show Fair Game. On every episode of Fair Game, I'll sit down with a leading character in our culture from the worlds of Hollywood, politics, style, Silicon Valley, and beyond. Fair Game is a deep dive into some of the personalities that shape our world and the stories that you need to hear. Think everyone and everything that you'd read about in the pages of Vanity Fair. So join me, Mark Aduchi, on YouTube, vanityfair.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts. It's all Fair Game. (gentle music) - Wired has always put a microscope on the people, power, and forces shaping our world. Uncanny Valley brings that same fearless reporting straight to your feet. Is Doge finally over? Will AI actually democratize American healthcare? Each week, wired journalists from across the newsroom are gonna unpack where politics, technology, and Silicon Valley collide. From conversations with tech leaders across Silicon Valley, internet fandom, investigations, and government crackdowns on rigged gambling, we're taking you all over the news cycle, going straight inside the priorities, pressures, and power plays driving today's biggest decisions. Uncanny Valley tackles the questions keeping you up at night and helps make sense of the future taking shape right now. Listen to new episodes every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. - Samara and I spent several days in Winona with Curtis and his father. Sometimes we'd sit with Curtis in the living room. On the same couch where I'd spent so many hours talking with Archie and Lola. The room was still set up in the same tidy way that Lola had it. Lots of floral patterns, heavy drapes, family momentos on the shelves and walls. Other times we'd go back out to the porch to talk while Archie slept inside. We talked about going for a drive around town together, but with no caregiver, it just wasn't possible. And so we stayed at the house and talked. I wanted to know what it was like for Curtis to be back living in the same place where so many people had judged him and thought he was a murderer. And I wanted to know what was up with that bumper sticker that we'd seen on his truck when we drove up. - You got to talk to me about these bumper stickers. - Oh, what does that one say? - Locally hated. - Locally hated. - At the time Curtis bought the sticker, he just moved back to Mississippi after having lived out a state for a while. And the sticker seemed like a way of bracing himself for the reactions he expected to get. - Hey, I just felt like that at the time. I just came home because what they hate me in a way. Let me get that, and I'll put it right in the center. - I told Curtis, "That seemed like a bold move driving around Winona, Mississippi with a bumper sticker like this. In a town where opinions about his case were divided sharply along racial lines. In my own reporting, before Curtis' conviction had been overturned, black people I talked to in town nearly all believed that something was seriously wrong with Curtis' conviction. Most believed he was innocent. White people held a different view. Nearly every white person in town I talked to was convinced that Curtis was guilty. Curtis told me that the first person to comment on his bumper sticker was a white lady. - I was in the real life. I seen a cop pull up, and we blow the horn. And then I was a white person. So I pulled over, and she pulled over too. She saw a little sign in your back glass. She said, "Anyone gave you a hill about it?" I said, "No, they haven't." I said, "You're the first one to stop me and spoke on it, and you laughed about it." - Jesus, I don't think it's just so unique up to all you've been through. We needn't like the more I kept it. You know, more people come and only laugh at it. - So you have a bumper sticker that says locally hated. And the only response you've gotten to it is from locals saying that they love it. - They love it. - Yeah, and they found a fund. - So now do you feel, is it bumper sticker true? Do you feel locally hated? - No. I don't that's why I thought about taking it down, but then you know I said wait all of it we got him a positive feedback about it, so why not just leave it in there. Well it was nice that people didn't respond by trying to drive him off the road, over time the kind of nice reactions he got from people in town have been difficult in their own way. If I go to grocery store sometime, you know people see me and they just walk and start talking. How you doing Miss Fly I'm doing all right, how are you, it was just start talking. Where does describe these conversations is basically all going the same way and encounter with a white person at the grocery store or the gas station where the person would say to him we did not know we did not know we'd always just assumed you were guilty because the district attorney Doug Evans said you were. And then they'd go on to say how it was only many years later when the podcast came out that they began to question what they've been told and Curtis would be standing there trying to decide how exactly to respond to this. When you believe in the first time, you know how we do it as a joke to make them laugh. You know I said so you could have thought about it the first time. So people come up to you and say we didn't know like basically saying look we believe Doug Evans. From the get go. And what do you think came when people tell you that they should think for themselves and not take something somebody else say? What someone tells you like you come up to in a grocery store and it's been you spent 23 years of your life behind bars and they say oh I just always assumed you were guilty. I mean it's part of you like angry at that person. No, no. It's to be expected around here. Especially if it's someone that you know would believe Doug Evans over you. Yeah. And I hate to say the word with all the time so that's why I explain it that way. Well every time I wait people pretty much but but they were just so bent on because they were going to say this is my guy he's guilty. The district attorney Doug Evans the man who prosecuted Curtis over six trials retired in 2023. Doug Evans is still licensed to practice law and Mississippi according to a website associated with the Mississippi Bar Association. Since our reporting came out there have been at least three complaints filed against Evans at the Mississippi bar one has gone seven years with no known decision. Another has languished for so long that the lawyer who filed it has since written a letter of complaint to the Mississippi Supreme Court. We asked the bar Association to explain the apparent delays but they refused saying that they would not even confirm the existence of the complaints let alone comment on them. In 2021 Curtis filed a lawsuit against Doug Evans and three former law enforcement officials accusing them of pressuring witnesses failing to meaningfully investigate alternate suspects and preventing black people from serving on the juries. The lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. We reached out to Doug Evans and through a lawyer he declined to comment. Curtis also receives $50,000 a year from the state of Mississippi. A judge ordered the state to pay Curtis this amount every year for ten years. The total, $500,000, is the most the state allows for a wrongful conviction. Better late than never but 23 years of your life gone, you can't even get it back. If you think a few dollars are always there. But you have to really think about it, you know, no little years you can't get back. Just pick up, move on. Curtis told me he doesn't spend much time thinking about Doug Evans these days. But he does still think a lot about fairness. Curtis was the victim of a very big injustice. So big it was in the national, even international news. But these days the injustices he notices are smaller, more day to day. The kinds of things he sees when he's sitting outside on the porch. Like the police pulling over black people who don't appear to be doing anything wrong. You come crawl a little hill and they're everywhere, in that park right there, on that street before you get to that gym down there, lit up all day long. Just stopping somebody and getting nothing better to do. The family's porch overlooks an empty field, where a public school once stood. Before it was integrated by court order in 1970 and then mysteriously burned to the ground. Since I'd last spent in town, a tall metal fence had gone up around the field, cutting off what had once been a popular shortcut through the neighborhood. Curtis said the cops had taken to trying to arrest people who jumped the fence to use the shortcut. I seen a guy come, look, young kid come through here once a day or more and he jumped the fence right over there. He's just walking down through there, he got a walkman on, looking down, he don't even see the police pull right down there and get out of the truck and just came around and didn't get to do the weighted on. I've been doing it right. You tried to wave him off. You were trying to do it? No, he didn't know. He didn't really even pay me no attention, he just walked. He had right out on that platform and seen him, he just froze and he tracked. He looked this way, he looked that way, I think he's thinking about right enough. He said, come on out, I'm around. He walked on down and he put him right in the truck and pulled off with him. They took the kid away for walking across this field, for like trespassing or something? No trip, they didn't mean it. Curtis told me that one day a guy came by with some bolt cutters, cut a hole in the fence. The next day a cop showed up at Curtis's house. He said, hey, how you doing Curtis, what's up doing all right, he said, look, do you happen to see anybody over there on this side of the fence, what's the nice, something particular person you live in for, or someone cut the fence out of the aisle, I don't know them about their death. Curtis said the cop even asked him about his security camera. He said, I can't help but notice, y'all have a security camera, as a now, you know a lot, I'm not convinced, I don't give you no footage. The black guy, the black guy behind him, star left, and I said, I don't have to give you no footage. I said, I did 23 years, I did 23 wrong for you, as a now, I'm sorry to turn him some footage over and helped him gather, I said, I don't want to wrap people out like that. But. He said that to the cops? He said, have a night day, Curtis, you too. They walk around and laugh. I think a lot of people would make a different choice, but. He's yeah. He said, hey, you come in and we have me tell them my idea, would you try and give him 23 you too. Do you think there's a way in which you being so known for everything that happened with you protects you in a way from being treated even worse than a local police, or do you think it's opposite or. I think it helps. Yeah. Because you know so many people know me and know me that, you know, I feel they have to watch how the approach is. Wired has always put a microscope on the people, power, and forces shaping our world. Uncanny Valley brings that same fearless reporting straight to your feed. His doge finally over will AI actually democratize American health care? Each week, wire journalists from across the newsroom are going to unpack where politics, technology, and Silicon Valley collide. From Vanity Fair, I'm Mark Aducci, and I want to tell you about their new show Fair Game. On every episode of Fair Game, I'll sit down with a leading character in our culture, from the worlds of Hollywood, politics, style, Silicon Valley, and beyond. So join me, Mark Aducci, on YouTube, VanityFair.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts. It's all Fair Game. Over the days we are in Winona, there were times when Curtis was especially exhausted from taking care of his dad. I think he was up a lot last night. We had the episode, I cleaned him up, and then we just ended up talking. He went and ready to go back to sleep. Everyone was sitting on the edge of being just rocking, and he told, "I looked up at the clock one time, about three-fifth thing, and I was like, look, it's time to lay down again." He said, "Go ahead, I don't know." Curtis said he'd been up for hours, just rocking his father back to sleep, trying to keep his own eyes open. And by the morning, Archie was full of energy, sitting in his chair at the dining room table, and Curtis was spent. And then we'd been full, steamer here this morning. Yeah. Mmm. He had a little mojo in him legs too, he would move it, and move it. I walked in the kitchen, I'd come back, he was sitting right there, I went into the room, I'd come back, he'd sit right over here. Something is wrong, what you got in. Something wrong with you. Oh man. Do a little bit of. I don't think I saw that. You might know. I don't even forget. I tell you what, you don't like this. Have been heavy. But I heard the street. I haven't been to heaven, but I heard the streets were clean. It's a place to rest. And to make your weary soul. That's it. You remember? Oh, Lord, please hear my prayer. Oh, it's all on the same. Give so much more. You're free, you're free. You're free. When I get there, you see. It's a song that. Me and Dad have been trying a lot of songs sitting here every day all day. I come through to do a humming like. You know what you want? We go for no. You go for no. On our last morning in town, when we pulled up, I was surprised to see Curtis outside in the driveway by himself. Oh, Curtis. So, not the trash. It was literally the farthest I'd seen Curtis get from his father the whole time we'd been in town. Good morning. A caregiver Curtis had been trying to hire had showed up unexpectedly, and she offered to watch Archie for a few hours. Well, yeah, Ms. Cunahan showed up. I also have to see her. That's all of our good. Thank you. Wow, and again, let's see if we've not come right out of the house with the tray. Now that you're getting a little break, 'cause that's a lot. I mean, I know you don't mind doing it, and some ways you like doing it, but man, you need a break. We decided to spend the free morning driving around town. We all piled into Curtis' truck. All right. We about reaching out. I'm going to ride shotgun. We drove down Summit Street, Powell Street, Applegate. Through neighborhoods where it's been so much time years earlier, knocking on people's doors investigating Curtis' case. Are you guys a problem for me with some of these here? Oh, yeah. I'm very familiar with a lot of all. I mean, this is just like a strange experience. I got to say Curtis, 'cause we have driven this route so many times, like piecing this all together, and I never thought that one day I would be driving this route with you. The actual person. Yeah. Are we coming up into town right now? We drove past the police station, and past the courthouse where Curtis was put on trial. But since I've been in this courthouse, I have my picture on the wall in here. Did you picture on the wall? No. That should be like Marlota King. I said I went down in history with them. There should be a Curtis flower statue outside. All right, all right. I ended up in this field. No, we put him to so much hail that we gave him a statue. See, I want to be doing what this guy is doing right now. Right in Mozart. A man was riding by us on an old black motorcycle. Earlier on the porch, Curtis had pulled up some photos on his phone to show us the exact type of motorcycle he dreamed of having. Look at that. There I do. A red can-am spider, a three-wheeler that looks like a cross between a motorcycle and a snowmobile, or maybe an ATV. That's a pretty machine. I'll be looking at my every day. And I want to get out there and just ride, ride, ride. Oh, man. I'm not here. I don't even have here. Yeah. I'm serious. I wanted to get that bad. So do you think that eventually you'll leave one owner? Yes. Yeah. I tell my sisters and my brother, you know, they're the only reason I'm still here right now. I said, Lord, no, someone would have happened to him today and I would be out of here before the weekend. Really? Yeah. We're probably back in Texas somewhere. Alabama. I think it went better than here. Do you think you'd like to live in a place where not everybody knows you? I prefer that way. I just want to first start, you know. Just being with somewhere where people don't know me. Just start a new life, you know? It's just a lot easier to forget the past and move on. Like around here, if I stop somewhere, people want to talk. Curtis, are you Curtis? Every time you see someone, they bring up what I went through. You feel like every day, it's like you're reminded of you. What I've been through. Because when I'm out in public, someone says, hey Curtis, that was so wrong or hey Curtis, I changed my mind. They think they're being nice, but they're just reminding you. Exactly. I'll always bring it up. And they're just welcome to talk. Hello. It's key. My name is so and so and so and so. And I just saw you and I just want to speak and say, it's just a shame what you had to go through. I see a city of them, but they just keep talking. They're following you through the stone and I be trying to find a milking of bottles. I can hear them get out of here. For some time, I'll pull out my phone and excuse me. Hello? Yeah, and y'all, I'm headed out now. You know, it's something like that. Like pretending to be like I have to go now. Just get away from them. Because now I've got this to it and now I'm thinking about it now. The day will go on good and somebody brought that up. We kept driving. Curtis turned on to a gravel road. That's the cemetery right over here. I guess it's the other time I had to ride through here now at the time. Because it's going to be raining a little bit. See the sky. The cemetery sits on a small sloping field surrounded by trees just around the block from Curtis's house. We pulled over to the side of the gravel road and got out. All these right here, family. Family, family, we're deeper here. We walked with Curtis through the cemetery. Let me see you. Let me see you. Let me see you. My mom's sister's son. Let me hear you. Rufus John. All these seals and sanders, flowers, camels, woods. They are family. This whole little hill here, nothing but family. As you can see, we have mom around over here. Lola Flowers' grave was marked with a granite stone with the word mother etched in front. Next to it was another gravestone, marked father. It was for Archie. The guy who owned a tombstone play, he said, you know, I know your mom for years. I'm not going to let you guys bow to the tombstone. I'm going to do it myself. And he just went on and had a daddy to it. Curtis's mom had always believed that Curtis would get out one day. She was so convinced of it that she even saved up money and bought him a small house, right across the street from the family home. Though she later had to sell Curtis's house to pay for her dialysis treatments. I come up here and I clean the grave off and try to get it looking neat, especially doing Easter and stuff like that. Curtis comes here whenever he can, whenever he can find someone to watch his father. I've got a lot of my mind and I come up here and just sit sometimes. And as you get out, I come over here and you know, sit on, do you get a more truck and just be talking. You know, I see too many people that I walk through and then I get in trouble because they see me, they're going to come and talk to me, you know. Curtis said he sits there and talks to his mom about all kinds of things. I can have a conversation with my mom, you know, talk about things that are going on, what I'm feeling. So I come up, you know, I said, mom, you know what I'm going through, you know, I'm taking care of daddy, you know, or can't get nobody else to come and relieve me and do stuff like that. And I do, I still do it today. I mean, you talk to your mom probably more than anybody while you were in prison. right? Me and you talked to her like every day? Every day. Sometimes three full times a day. And these are like 25 hours of call. Yeah. She always wanted to go on on with me and my aunt, but my mom, she was always like that. Do you feel like she's with you when you're sitting there? Every time I leave, I got this as a karma with me, you know. We had to get back to the house. The caregiver needed to leave at one. They mean they had to do it again. One on one. I hope she been keeping him up because if he hadn't been sleeping, how am I gonna do? Curtis headed inside to check on his dad. It turned out the new caregiver had mistakenly allowed Archie to take a nap throwing off the schedule. So now Curtis was guessing he'd be up late trying to get his dad to go to sleep. He did try to cheat on me. He got you. So he got you the day day. I asked was he ready to get up? Because he did walk up. That way you can see him. Oh she is. I know you don't want to see me. You see me every day or night. I was on all these beautiful faces. I'll take an in-god water. Oh you put in no danger. Oh in God's wine. I know. I know. After a few days, our trip had come to an end and we had a plane to catch in Memphis. We said goodbye to Archie Flowers. Well I'm glad we got a chance to see you Mr. Flowers. It was really good. Yeah. Yeah. Take it easy. Okay. Curtis followed us outside to the car. You guys can't think of anything else? It's really so good to see you. We shouldn't let another five years go by. Thank you. Thank you young come back sooner than that. I hate to see you go now. I feel like we've been together all week. I know. I'm great to see you. None of us really wanted the visit to be over. Oh you're home call me. Anyway I'm going to miss you guys. Yeah. Yeah. If y'all get born, whatever you call me. All right sounds good. All right. I wish you'd embarked to come take to the airport. I've been out out in for a long time. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Curtis walked back inside. There were dishes to wash, pills to crush, meals to prepare, songs to sing. His father was waiting for him. We visited Curtis and Archie back in March. After we finished writing this episode and were preparing to release it, we received some sad news from Mississippi. Curtis's father Archie Flowers had died. He passed away peacefully on Monday, October 6th. Curtis and Curtis's sister Priscilla were by his side. I talked to Curtis the day after his father died. He told me about their last conversation. He said his dad asked him to be there for the family. Archie said, "I need you to be the glue for everybody. Keep them together and make sure they stay happy because daddy's tired and I'm ready." Archie Flowers was 83 years old. [Music] [Music] [Music] This episode was reported and produced by me, Madeline Barron, and managing producer Samara Freemark. With help from Raymond Tungacar, reporter Parker Jesko, and producer Natalie Giblonsky. It was edited by Alison McAdam, additional editing by Willing Davidson and Julia Rothchild. This episode was mixed by Corey Shreffel, music by John Evans and Gary Meister. Fact checking by Teresa Matthew and Raymond Tungacar, legal review by Fabio Bertoni. Our managing editor is Julia Rothchild. The head of global audio for Conday Nast is Chris Bannon. The editor of The New Yorker is David Remnick. You can support our work by subscribing to The New Yorker at New Yorker.com/dark. And thank you. [Music] Wired has always put a microscope on the people, power, and forces shaping our world. Will AI actually democratize American health care? Each week, wired journalists from across the newsroom are going to unpack where politics, technology, and Silicon Valley collide. From conversations with tech leaders across Silicon Valley, internet fandom investigations, and government crackdowns on rigged gambling, we're taking you all over the news cycle, going straight inside the priorities, pressures, and power plays driving today's biggest decisions. 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