The midnight moon hung over New York City and Myisha Procter began carefully arranging a life-sized cardboard Justin Timberlake in the back of an Uber.
She positioned his legs so he could sit upright, asked the driver to treat him as “precious cargo” and thanked her unlikely companion for everything.
Then she closed the door and watched him disappear without knowing where he was going.
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Within hours his head was wrangled into new form, posing as the star of a 97-year-old grandmother’s birthday party; the bizarre journey eventually winning the approval of the real Justin Timberlake.
The bizarre journey began eight years earlier, when Myisha moved to New York City in autumn 2018.
Originally from Chicago, the 40-year-old had spent several years in San Francisco while working in the beauty industry, but New York had been on her bucket list since childhood.
She arrived knowing nobody.
Myisha soon found a community and, after one night out, invited friends back to her apartment.
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The following morning, she found a folded cardboard figure sitting on the sofa.
When unfolded, the mysterious guest turned out to be Justin Timberlake.
Myisha remembers thinking: “Nobody knows where you came from and nobody has a clear answer, but I’m definitely not throwing you away.”
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Justin soon became an iconic figure in the Procter household; he was given his own space in the apartment and was brought out whenever Myisha hosted friends.
Guests posed for photographs with him and he became part of the fun of her new life.
Then the Covid pandemic began and the community Myisha had built suddenly disappeared from her everyday life.
She spent lockdown alone with her toy poodle, Malkia, while friends and relatives regularly checked on her.
Myisha began placing Justin beside her during family video calls to reassure her loved ones.
“I’d tell them, ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I’m not alone. I’ve got Justin,’” she told What’s The Jam.
“As silly as it sounds, this cardboard presence became a genuine presence in my life,” Myisha said.
Once normal life resumed, Myisha’s party days were waning and dust began to settle like snow upon Justin’s camel suit.
Wanting him to help somebody else who was starting over or feeling lonely, Myisha advertised him on Facebook Marketplace for $5.
The price was not intended to make money but to attract somebody who would genuinely value him.
“This was my friend,” she said. “I couldn’t just send him off with anybody.”
Then, while she was out having dinner with friends, an unexpected Facebook Marketplace message appeared.
A man named Dylan Markowitz wanted the cardboard cutout – and insisted he needed him that very night.
“I thought, ‘Cardboard cutout? Oh – Justin! Say his name!’” she recalled.
Myisha wasn’t planning to come home until late so naturally fobbed the request off.
“He replied that it didn’t matter what time it was – he really needed Justin by the morning,” Myisha said.
The urgency immediately made her suspicious.
“My city-girl radar went up,” she said.
“I thought, ‘Who desperately needs a cardboard cutout by the morning? What is this all about?’
After twice telling Dylan it was too late, something in her gut convinced her to take a chance.
She waived the $5 charge, ordered an Uber and placed Justin in the back seat.
The driver stared curiously as Myisha began saying goodbye to his unusual passenger.
“There were so many emotions wrapped up in that moment.
“Justin had been part of my entire journey – arriving in New York as somebody new, experiencing that cycle of loneliness and learning how to navigate it.
“I simply said, ‘Thank you for everything.”
“More than anything, though, I wondered where I had just sent my friend.
“Where was he going, and who so desperately needed Justin Timberlake at one o’clock in the morning?”
Myisha went to bed without an answer.
When she awoke the following morning, a message from Dylan was waiting.
Justin had been needed for a surprise 97th birthday party for his grandmother, Baba.
Dylan sent photographs showing that the cardboard pop star had kept his smart suit but been given an entirely new face – transforming Justin Timberlake into Dean Martin.
“Of course, I was a puddle of tears,” Myisha said.
Myisha shared the story on Instagram on 19 July.
It has since amassed 2.5 million views and more than 223,000 likes – while attracting the approval of Justin Timberlake himself.
The singer commented: “I approve this usage of image and likeness.”
Myisha initially assumed the message had come from a fan account.
“When I first saw the comment, I thought, ‘It can’t actually be him,’” she said.
“It was so wonderful and generous of him.”
Dylan also joined the comments to reveal that the newly disguised Dean Martin had become a hit at Baba’s nursing home.
He wrote: “Speaking for the Grandma in the pics (lovingly referred to as Baba) – Dean Martin (aka masked @justintimberlake) was the life of the nursing home!
“People kept taking pictures all day long!!! Love that you shared this, and thanks again for sharing JT with us!!!”
The heartwarming handover delighted viewers.
One person said: “This is the best story I’ve ever heard in my entire life”
Another person commented: “This is just TOY STORY 7.”
For Myisha, the reaction showed how strongly people connected with a story about loneliness, starting again and passing happiness forward.
She added: “People want to be reminded that there is a lot of love in the world – and that sometimes, saying yes is the right answer.”
