11
Knowledge and ownership, a hundred times the return on 12
an investment. But most of all I was taken by his confi-13
dence and certainty. He knew how the world worked. Not 14
like Clarance or the construction boss Wilson Ryder. They 15
just repeated what they read in books or what they wanted 16
to believe. I believed that Bennet knew the truth that lay 17
under the newspaper stories and the hypocrisy of politics.
18
He made me question what was, when for a whole lifetime 19
up till that moment, I accepted the world’s excuses.
20
21
22
Wandering the house and thinking about my prisoner, I 23
was still awake at 2:00 in the morning. Not only awake 24
but excited. All of my fears about being tricked and sent to 25
prison — all of my worry about how odd Bennet was —
26
dissipated with the thrill of a new way of seeing the world.
27 S
I tried to lie down, but sleep wouldn’t come. Finally I 28 R
decided to call Narciss. Not her, actually, but the answer-154
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 155
The Man in My Basement
ing machine at her store. I wanted to go out with her, to 1
discuss passport masks and notions of power.
2
She answered on the first ring. “Hello?”
3
“Narciss?”
4
“Mr. Blakey? Is something wrong?”
5
“I’m sorry, Narciss. I thought that you wouldn’t hear 6
the shop phone. I was going to leave a message on your 7
machine.”
8
“It’s okay,” she said in a voice more sultry than usual. “I 9
don’t sleep very much. The doctor says it’s my metabo-10
lism. I take naps during the day and work most nights.”
11
“On your book?”
12
“On anything. I read and quilt and watch bad TV.”
13
“Huh. I sleep most nights through. But tonight I was 14
just up.”
15
“What’s wrong?”
16
“Nothing.”
17
“Then why did you call?”
18
I wasn’t prepared to set up a date with a real person.
19
Not with Narciss at any rate.
20
“Did you ever study evil at college?” I asked instead.
21
The question surprised me. “I mean, what people in the 22
past thought made a man evil, bad?”
23
“No,” she said with a note of wonder in her voice. “No, 24
we never studied that. And now that you mention it, it 25
seems that it should have been at least a seminar if not a 26
whole branch of study.”
S 27
“That’s the thing, right?” I said. “I mean, here we got R 28
155
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 156
Walter Mosley
1
evil all over the place: in our history books and fiction and 2
on movies and TV. We just fought a war against a sup-3
posedly evil man, but then if you ask what evil is, every-4
body has a different answer.”
5
“I suppose they cover it in divinity school,” Narciss 6
said, “but that would be religious, and you’re really asking 7
about something else. The idea of evil. Why do you ask?”
8
Because I have the devil living in my basement — that’s 9
what came to my mind.
10
“I don’t know,” I said. “I was just sitting up thinking 11
about it and I thought about you and archaeology and 12
thought maybe you would know. I went to college for 13
three years and I never heard anything about it.”
14
“What college did you go to?”
15
“Long Island City College. I studied political science 16
mainly.”
17
“Why’d you stop going?”
18
“I don’t know. I really don’t. My grades weren’t so good 19
and I couldn’t remember anything. Nothing. The last se-20
mester of my sophomore year I was going to fail a course 21
in ancient political thought. Some of those guys talked 22
about evil. But that was a long time ago. You’d think that 23
there’d be a modern study of it.”
24
“Are you ever planning to go back?”
25
“To school? No.”
26
“Why not?”
27 S
“It doesn’t mean anything to me. I mean, let’s say I 28 R
went back. I’d go for a year and a half and then I’d have a 156
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 157
The Man in My Basement
bachelor’s degree. What then? They don’t have political 1
scientists in the want ads —”
2
“But they have jobs for college graduates.”
3
I stopped myself before I could say any more. I realized 4
that I was about to start talking like I always did. I was go-5
ing to make fun of school and jobs and careers. That’s 6
what I always did when somebody tried to give me ad-7
vice.
8
“I got other plans,” I said. “School didn’t do it for me 9
and so now I have to find another way.”
10
“What way?”
11
“Reclamations,” I said. And then before she could ask 12
another question — “It’s a form of international finance.
13
I’ve been studying with a guy named Dent. He’s been, ah, 14
tutoring me, kind of. That’s one of the reasons I go down 15
to New York. I meet with Mr. Dent every week or so.”
16
“Is he a teacher?” she asked.
17
I could tell by the tone in her voice that she believed 18
me. But that’s not what shocked me. I was stunned that 19
the lie, as it came out of my mouth, became truth. The 20
most important part of what I said was true. I was Ben-21
net’s student. That’s why I was wandering the house, be-22
cause I was learning.
23
“Yes,” I said to Narciss’s question. It seemed like hours 24
since she asked it. “And no. I mean, it’s not like school.
25
We just happened into each other at Curry’s bar a while 26
back. He explained to me that he worked for multi-S 27
national corporations, helping them to acquire wealth all R 28
157
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 158
Walter Mosley
1
over the world. I was interested and he said that not that 2
many people showed real interest in what he did. He 3
agreed to teach me, to tell me what he knows.”
4
“It doesn’t sound good,” she said. “It sounds like what 5
all those American businesses do when they go to other 6
countries and exploit labor or just steal. They say that 7
Nigeria is one of the richest African countries, but most 8
of the people there live in poverty. They say that’s because 9
of the oil companies.”
10
“That might be, Narciss,” I said in earnest. “But stand-11
ing on the outside quoting Engels and Marx isn’t going to 12
help. Sayin’ that’s not fair won’t do anything either. What 13
I want is to find out, to get in there and see for myself. Be-14
cause you know they aren’t going to stop doing what 15
they’re doing just because we whisper something against 16
them at night on the phone. I mean, I put gas in my tank, 17
don’t I? That’s what voting is to big business, you know.
18
It’s not a secret ballot; it’s a purchase. If you buy from 19
him, that’s your vote of confidence.”