The Shape of Love

More about The Shape of Love

Sue Lilly had a pottery studio where she lived in the back of an old dairy barn, a one-story structure. Right next to it was a grinder barn, and Nick de Vos used to sleep there in the hay. Behind that barn was Nick de Vos’s collection of steers. He kept a variety of breeds—some of them looked almost antique, like something out of a classical Dutch Golden Age painting by an artist who specialized in livestock.

There was one bull that was larger than the others, a big red monster, like something out of The Last Unicorn. It was the boss of the herd. Imagine all those bulls, and then one at the top ruling them.

Around this time—early 1980s—Nick de Vos bought a Trans Am, and everyone commented on it. Did he sell his tractor to buy the Trans Am, or was it meant to go with his new love life with Sue Lilly?