James Ladd Thomas

Lester Gordon is an odd man, just like everybody else. He's on the lower end of the spectrum, walking unnoticed in the world, just like so many others. After he loses his wife and the mother of his young children to cancer, he decides to sell his family's car wash and become a hospice nurse. He wants to comfort the dying just as his wife's hospice nurse had comforted their family. All went according to plan until Lester's first day of attending patients by himself. He feels he's made a terrible mistake. He soon learns one of his young sons is interested in drawing nude women and being a bookie for the neighborhood kids. An old friend shows up with a plea to hide out with his family to escape a couple of goons who are after her and the money she stole from an Oregon marijuana farm. And white dogs keep showing up with a curious interest in Lester. He's odd, full of anxiety and fear, troubled, and making stuff up as he goes. Just like everybody else. Certainly humorous and a bit absurd, Lester Lies Down explores many economic and social issues, including cultural justice in the Deep South, mortality, the value of love in relationships, and the need for compassion for people who are different.