age. They were beautiful and commanding, fitting perfectly 7
in the wood box that, I supposed, was built to hold them.
8
“It’s the history of your history,” Narciss whispered.
9
The words came to me as truth. I believed I was look-10
ing at the cargo, carried on some European ship, of an 11
African who had sold himself into indentured servitude.
12
Maybe they were his gods, carved by some uncle.
13
“Touch them,” Narciss said like an impatient lover 14
showing a virgin the ropes.
15
Instead I closed the box and took a deep breath. When 16
I put down the lid, the music stopped. Not real music but 17
something that played in my mind. Something high-18
pitched but soft and repeating like a squeaky woodwind 19
playing its rendition of cascading water.
20
My intestines grew colder and a spasm wanted to run 21
down my spine but did not. I clutched Narciss’s forearm 22
for support and took another deep breath.
23
“Tell me about the rest of this stuff,” I said.
24
She had to disengage from my grip to look at her spiral 25
pad. She said a lot of stuff about quality and pedigree, 26
condition of resins and uniqueness in the market. She S 27
talked about the market a lot, but I didn’t understand R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
most of it. It was just good to hear her talking. So self-2
assured and serious. Every beat was a word and every 3
word meant something. Maybe I didn’t understand, but I 4
hoped to, I wanted to.
5
“So?” she asked. “What do you think?”
6
“About what?”
7
“Is there something wrong, Mr. Blakey?”
8
Just then Ricky broke out into loud laughter. I looked 9
toward the kitchen and then back to Narciss.
10
“Why do you ask that?”
11
“I don’t know,” she said with a frown. “You seem dis-12
tracted. When I came you were sitting in that window in 13
the dark, and you seemed like you . . . you were in a daze.
14
But I think I understand.”
15
“Well if you do I hope you let me in on it.”
16
She smiled at my helplessness and said, “I’m sure that 17
all of this digging into your family history has made you 18
very upset. Bringing it all out. Thinking about selling it 19
off. It must feel like selling your soul, or even worse, sell-20
ing your ancestors’ souls.”
21
Again what she said cut right into me. I was beginning 22
to fear her words.
23
“It’s just stuff,” I said. “Something that’s been in the 24
basement. I didn’t even know I had most of it. I would 25
have thrown it away if it wasn’t for Ricky.”
26
“It might be better that way,” she said. “At least if you 27 S
threw away the spirit of your heritage, you wouldn’t make 28 R
it into merchandise.”
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The Man in My Basement
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” I asked the slen-1
der brown woman.
2
“I’m sorry, Mr. Blakey. You know, I come to the antique 3
business through school. I got my B.A. at Penn with a 4
double major in anthropology and archaeology. Then I 5
went to RISD for a graduate degree in textiles. Every-6
thing I know about antiques comes from the inside out.
7
It’s more than a business with me; it’s a way to see our his-8
tory. And I thought maybe you had the same feelings 9
when you got so low.”
10
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said again in that low voice. “I’m 11
sorry. This is all new to me. But you know I’ve got to sell 12
this stuff. Even if it’s something important and I don’t 13
know it. Maybe we could find some people like you to 14
appreciate what they got. How much do you think it’s 15
worth?”
16
“That depends,” she said. “If the paintings have artistic 17
value, which I doubt, they could go pretty high. But I 18
think I can authenticate the dates they were done and the 19
artist, Blythe Blakey-Richards, and so I’m sure there are 20
some museums and universities that would have at least 21
an anthropological interest. The furniture is Arts and 22
Crafts and earlier. The clothes have museum possibilities, 23
and there are also some collectors. The toys and tools 24
might be the most valuable items. I would try to sell them 25
to dealers. The whole lot, with the exception of the 26
masks, might bring in anywhere from forty to a hundred S 27
thousand. Probably closer to forty.”
R 28
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1
“Damn.” That was Ricky. He was standing in the door-2
way to the kitchen. “Four gees just for knowing who 3
should shake hands. That’s what I need to do for a livin’.”
4
He rubbed his hands together and grinned. “You’all can 5
tell me the damage later. Right now I got to go see some-6
body. Have a nice dinner.”
7
Ricky shook my hand, maybe for the first time ever, 8
and he kissed Narciss on the cheek. Then he danced out 9
the front door, full of the expectations of Bethany’s 10
charms.
11
When he was gone I asked, “So how do we do this?”
12
“I’ll come over with a camera and photograph every-13
thing. You’ll get a copy of each image. I’ll give you a re-14
ceipt for the items and have them moved to a room above 15
my shop in Bridgehampton. Then I begin to invite buy-16
ers. As I sell off items, I pass on the proceeds to you —
17
minus expenses and twenty percent.”
18
“Twenty? I thought you got ten.”
19
“Richard wants me to retain his fee also. I said I would, 20
but if you have a problem with that —”
21
“No, no, no. That’s okay. So how soon before I see 22
some money?”
23
“Well let me see. I’m going on a buying trip starting to-24
morrow that will last for ten days. One day for the pho-25
tographing and delivery. Then I have to e-mail, call, or 26
write to the right clients. The museums may take months 27 S
to get back to me —”
28 R
“Months?”
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The Man in My Basement
“— but many of the dealers are around here and so I’ll 1
probably start getting something in a month to six weeks.”
2
I wondered how soon the bank would move in to try 3
to foreclose on the bad debt. I was already more than a 4
month late in my payments. I needed at least twelve hun-5
dred dollars to get the debtors off my back. For a moment 6
I wondered if I could get an advance from Narciss. It was 7
worth a try, but I couldn’t get the words out. I didn’t want 8
her to see me begging.
9
“It’s a little late for dinner,” I said. “I’m tired from all of 10
this work. Can we make it the day you come for photo-11
graphs?”
12
The momentary shadow of sadness across her face 13
made me glad that I hadn’t asked for the advance.
14
“Oh sure,” she said. “I understand. This kind of work is 15