Hillbilly Elegy

the way home, Lindsay and I were
ecstatic. We were going to New York
City to become famous models.
The fee for traveling to New York
was hefty, and if someone had really
wanted us as models, they likely would
have paid for our audition. In hindsight,
the cursory treatment they gave each
individual—each “audition” was no
longer than a few-sentence conversation
—suggests that the whole event was
more scam than talent search. But I don’t
know: Model audition protocol has
never been my area of expertise.
What I do know is that our
exuberance didn’t survive the car ride.
Mom began to worry aloud about the