The New York Times magazine this week has a huge feature, available now on the web, about the relationship that developed on Death Row between the West Memphis 3’s Damien Echols and Lorri Davis, the New York architect who’d become his advocate and wife.
The story by Geoffrey Gray mines the couple’s years of correspondence and touches a bit on the sometimes uneasy re-entry of Echols into the free world. He and Davis are living in New York, where one of his favorite places is the Gothic Renaissance, a costume shop.
As a couple, they are still adjusting to being together. She has learned to tolerate some of his passions (“I’m eating pizza every day”) and the occasional violation of etiquette.
“I’m not used to eating with utensils,” he said.
He hoped they would spend more time alone together, just absorbing each other up close. But there were so many things to do. Adventures. Errands. Japanese food. That Red Sox game.
They talked about seeing a movie later that evening. “I want to see ‘Fright Night,’ ” he said. “They’re rereleasing it in 3-D!”
Davis gave him a look. “ ‘Fright Night?’ ”
“She tries to introduce me to all these highbrow novels and these foreign films and stuff — and Woody Allen,” he complained. “You know, these stories that are all about the human condition and slices of life. They’re so boring! No wonder everyone in New York is depressed!”
Rock Candy has news on Echols’ memoir and his possible role in “The Hobbit.”