“Throughout the course of our life we’re wrought, hammered, honed, re-fired, and reworked. Like that old broadsword in the window down on Royal Street. This is all a part of this thing we call human existence. Attributes that we need to acquire: humility, compassion, charity – all these things, get worked into place provided we’re willin’ to yield to this Master Craftsman that’s workin’ us. Jay, I’m startin’ to realize that life’s not supposed to be a walk on the beach.” - Jimmy Mason, from the novel Page Thirteen.


Jimmy Mason was a good kid in a tough city. New Orleans in the ‘70s was a town where good and evil not only strove for dominion, but regularly rubbed elbows. Personal tragedies in the lives of good people were often the fruit of this unholy coexistence. Such was the heartbreaking scenario that led Jimmy and his widowed mother to the mountains of north Alabama with the hope of starting a new life. One would have expected that Jimmy, a highly recruited high school athlete, would have had a better than average chance at thriving in his new environment. After all, Arab High had lost their starting quarterback and Jimmy was one of the top in the country. Unfortunately, evil is unconstrained by city limits or even by geographic borders and the young man once again finds himself confronted by the worst society has to offer.


This story, the result of investigation and research by a Jefferson Parish character referred to locally as “Easy”, grabs a snapshot out of Jimmy’s heart, character, and life at a point at which the boy progresses into manhood. There is faith-based theme in the background.