Jean was evasive when asked about his history. In my long association with him I did pick up a few things though. I knew he was born in Louisiana to a Creole mother, whose maiden name, for reasons he never explained, he appropriated. He claimed his father was the writer Ambrose Bierce. This was absurd. Bierce had gone missing in Mexico in 1914 (his disappearance had never been solved). I assumed at the time that the Bierce story was just part of this carefully manicured air of eccentricity. Later, I had cause to wonder.

David Nassar – The Cave of Wonders