went back inside my door.
3
Dear Mr. Blakey,
4
5r
I apologize for getting off the phone so abruptly the 6
other night. I called back the next day, but there was no 7
answer. Tonight I was up late working on my book and I 8
decided to write you.
9
I’m sorry for not giving you a chance to express your 10
feelings about your business. I suppose that we’re just of 11
different temperaments and shouldn’t try to force com-12
munication. But I want you to know that I do respect 13
your wishes and I will execute the sale of your property 14
with the utmost professionalism.
15
Sincerely,
16
Narciss Gully
17
18
The only reason I mention the letter here is to docu-19
ment how much my life had changed. Not my life exactly 20
but the circumstances of my world. Narciss wanted me to 21
call her, that is what I believed. She was up in the middle 22
of the night thinking about me, trying to get me out of 23
her head and then trying to write me out of, or into, her 24
life.
25
All that and I was no closer to love.
26
I made coffee and plans instead of going to bed. I 27 S
wanted something. I didn’t know exactly what that some-28 R
thing was, but I was pretty sure that Anniston Bennet was 178
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The Man in My Basement
the key. I had to come to a deal with him, an understand-1
ing. But up until then I felt that he was in control of every 2
interaction even though he was the one locked up.
3
I read Narciss’s letter a dozen times while thinking in 4
the back of my mind about Bennet.
5
She answered on the first ring. “Hello.” It was 5:00 in 6
the morning by then.
7
“Hey, Narciss,” I said. “I just found your note.”
8
“You’re up early,” she said.
9
“Let’s have lunch tomorrow. You know, not later today 10
but the next day.”
11
“I don’t know.”
12
“The Japanese place in Sag Harbor is open for lunch, I 13
think. Let’s go there,” I said.
14
“What time?”
15
“One-thirty. We can go at one-thirty and avoid a lunch 16
crowd.”
17
“I don’t know if I should, Mr. Blakey.”
18
“The name is Charles and don’t think about it, just 19
meet me. I won’t bite and I won’t make you see me again 20
if you don’t want.”
21
“Are we going to talk business?”
22
“No. No business. I just want to clear up a couple of 23
things.”
24
She hesitated. I heard a tapping on her end of the line.
25
“I don’t do much dating . . .”
26
“I just want to get together. It’s not a date. It’s lunch.”
S 27
“Okay. One-thirty tomorrow.”
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
“See ya then.”
2
“Okay. Bye.”
3
4
5
“Good morning, Mr. Bennet,” I said at 6:45.
6
I snapped on the light and he jerked up from his mat-7
tress on the floor.
8
“Good morning.”
9
I shoved the cold cereal and fruit under the door and 10
sat on the trunk.
11
“Here’s the deal,” I said.
12
Bennet sat in his red chair and ran his hand down 13
across his face until he was clasping his throat.
14
“Go on,” he said.
15
“Everything is a privilege. Food is a privilege and so is 16
water and light and the books to read. If you want me to 17
be the warden of your life, then that’s just what I’ll be.”
18
“How do I earn these privileges?” Bennet asked. He was 19
very serious.
20
“I will ask you questions. And you will answer them. If 21
you refuse or I don’t like your answers, then a privilege 22
will be taken away. If I don’t like your attitude, I will sus-23
pend privileges. If you lie, the same thing.”
24
“But how will you know if I’m lying?”
25
“You will have to prove it to me.”
26
For some reason that answer made Bennet flinch.
27 S
“And what are my rights?” he asked.
28 R
“You have only one right in here,” I said. “At any time 180
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The Man in My Basement
you can ask to be released. And then, ninety-six hours af-1
ter that request, I will open the door and you can go.”
2
“Don’t forget your money.”
3
“I don’t care about the money. All I care about is my 4
rules in my jail.”
5
“And why the ninety-six-hour delay?”
6
“Because you’re not going to be the boss here. This is 7
my house. If you want to play some stupid game, you 8
have to play by my rules. And believe me, if you say to-9
morrow that you want out, I will turn out the light and 10
leave you down here with nothing but a mug of water for 11
four days.”
12
I believe that that was the first time I saw the true An-13
niston Bennet. All artifice was gone from his face. His 14
brow knitted and his fingers did a jittery little dance.
15
“And if I don’t answer your questions to your satisfac-16
tion?” he asked.
17
“Same thing,” I said. “Solitary confinement. No light.
18
Bread and water. For four days.”
19
“What is this, Charles? Do you think you can break 20
me?”
21
“This is my home,” I said. “My home, my rules.”
22
“How long do I have to think about this?”
23
“Right now. Right now. Either you say that you agree 24
or I pull your ass outta there and drive you to the train 25
station in those pajamas.”
26
Underneath the glowering eyes a smile came to Annis-S 27
ton Bennet’s lips.
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
“I will agree on one condition,” he said.
2
“What’s that?”
3
“Even though I might not exercise the option, I reserve 4
the right to ask you one question for every three you ask 5
of me. And you give me your word that you will answer 6
as honestly as you can.”
7
“Deal,” I said.
8
“And if I answer the question you ask of me, that is, if 9
you believe my answer, then I won’t be punished because 10
your question was inadequate. Also you have to ask spe-11
cific questions and not something like Tell me everything 12
about this or that. ”
13
“Okay,” I said. I had already thought about the types of 14
questions that would be fair. I agreed with his reserva-15
tions. I believed that if I couldn’t ask the question, then I 16
didn’t deserve an answer. “Okay. I’ll be specific and I will 17
say why I don’t believe something.”
18
Anniston Bennet nodded his agreement. He was deadly 19
serious. I can’t even begin to explain how I felt.
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 S
28 R
182