In Fog | New Orleans, LA | 2016
It was a slack day on the immense field where the Battle of New Orleans was fought in 1815. We were two of four visitors that morning at the national historic site. So I was curious about this guy walking slowly up the drive followed by a car creeping silently behind him. He stepped haltingly, zombie-like, using up a full 20 minutes to walk the distance. I’d study a few interpretive signs, inspect a cannon or two, then look up to check on his progress. Still coming my way. I lost sight of him for a minute — and I mean, really, it was under 60 seconds — when I stepped into a doorway to read a few dedication plaques. When I emerged, he was gone. The car, too. He wasn’t on the road or at the battlefield. He wasn’t at the visitor center. Maybe he jumped in the car and they sped away? I didn’t hear anything — not the shuffle of feet, not the slam of a car door, not the rev of an engine. Except for their images in this photo, the man and car I’d tracked for 20 minutes had vanished.
IrwinFoto 