Walter Mosley
1
“The last time I fell for a man so fast, it was all wrong,”
2
she said as I was rubbing body oil into her shoulders. “It 3
felt wonderful, but he wasn’t the man for me.”
4
“But he was right for a moment,” I argued.
5
“He was awful. He would take things from my house.”
6
“Really?”
7
“Yeah. A pearl ring, twenty dollars that I kept in a 8
cookie jar, even large things like a toaster that I kept under 9
the sink. At first I thought I was going crazy. But then one 10
day I set a paper clip on the back of my jewelry box. He 11
must have lifted the lid without noticing the pin. I knew 12
immediately that he’d taken my zircon earrings. He did it 13
three more times after that, and I broke up with him.”
14
She pulled away from my massage and lay on her back.
15
I reclined, resting my head on her small stomach.
16
“Why did you wait?” I asked. “Why didn’t you get rid 17
of him after the first time?”
18
She sat up, pushing my head down into her lap. I kissed 19
her stomach. I remember because she had a ticklish reac-20
tion and then grabbed my hair to make me stop.
21
“It was weird,” she said. “Like The Twilight Zone. I 22
knew he was doing it, but he didn’t know that I knew. I’d 23
leave money in my purse or an earring on the night table 24
and then he’d come in and do that love thing he did.”
25
“It was that good?” I asked.
26
“He was a wonderful lover,” she said. “But that wasn’t 27 S
why I kept him on for so long. It was like he was my shy 28 R
prostitute, you know? He didn’t want to feel like a whore, 204
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 205
The Man in My Basement
so I would let him steal from me and pretend that I didn’t 1
miss it.”
2
I kissed her stomach again. This time she didn’t grab 3
my hair.
4
“So then why did you finally decide to break it off ?”
5
“Because I started to change,” she said.
6
“Change how?”
7
“I don’t know if I should talk about it. I mean I don’t 8
even know you.” Narciss stroked my head then, but I re-9
frained from any more kisses.
10
“That’s okay,” I said. “I understand. We all have our se-11
crets.”
12
Really I didn’t care about Narciss’s secret sex life with 13
her gigolo. I was thinking about the man in my base-14
ment, about what the consequences might be after he got 15
out of his cell.
16
“It’s not any kind of big secret or anything,” she said.
17
“It was just that I was acting like some other person and I 18
didn’t like who that person was.”
19
“And who was that?” I asked, sitting up.
20
“I was aggressive. I made him do things and I asked him 21
questions while we were . . . were doing it. I started calling 22
him names and doing things that I never did before.”
23
“What kind of things?”
24
She had finally caught my interest.
25
“I have to go to the bathroom.” She stood up and 26
walked out of my mother’s door.
S 27
I went to the window and cupped my ear to the pane.
R 28
205
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 206
Walter Mosley
1
It could have been a moose, maybe five miles distant.
2
That’s what I could have said.
3
I was tired and almost scared of what I had done to An-4
niston Bennet. I wondered if he had a strong heart — if 5
the stressful time in my basement might kill him. I wanted 6
to run down while Narciss was in the toilet and make sure 7
that the prisoner wasn’t dying. But then I thought that 8
Bennet’s death would make everything easier. No one 9
knew where he was, he said. I could just put him in the 10
ground in my family’s plot. If no one was looking for 11
him, he’d never be found. For a brief moment I consid-12
ered leaving him down there until he died of starvation. If 13
he died he couldn’t get back at me.
14
When I realized that I was contemplating murder, I 15
backed away from the window.
16
“Did you see him?” Narciss said from behind.
17
“No. No.”
18
“Then why’d you jump away from the window like 19
that?”
20
“I just remembered something. I have to go into the 21
city tomorrow for a meeting. I thought it was the day af-22
ter, but I just realized that I got confused.”
23
“Oh.” There was disappointment in Narciss’s voice.
24
“How will I get back to my car?”
25
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I’ll give you a ride to 26
your car when we get up.”
27 S
“Oh.” She hesitated. “I thought you were trying to get 28 R
rid of me now.”
206
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 207
The Man in My Basement
“Why would you think that? You think I’d kick you out 1
of my house in the middle of the night?”
2
“You’ve been so restless,” she said. “I thought you 3
wanted to be alone.”
4
It was then that I realized what had happened to me.
5
Really, what had happened to the world around me. Be-6
fore Anniston Bennet had come into my life, I was invis-7
ible, moving silently among the people of the Harbor. No 8
one wondered about me; no one questioned me. Even my 9
best friends simply accepted what they saw. The card-10
player with a sharp tongue who couldn’t back up half the 11
things he said. The petty thief, the man across the street, 12
dead Samuel’s son. I might as well have been a tree at the 13
end of the block. People saw me well enough to walk 14
around, but that was just about it.
15
And for my part I treated everything and everyone 16
around me in the same way. I could put a name on 17
them, maybe. But I rarely touched or spoke a meaning-18
ful word to a soul. Weeks could go by and not one worth-19
while piece of information would pass between me 20
and another human being. The only chance I had at inti-21
macy was with Clarance and Cat, but 90 percent of 22
my time with them was spent under the influence of al-23
cohol.
24
But now everything was different — half different, 25
really. Still nobody saw me. The people at Curry’s bar in 26
East Hampton, people on the street in the Harbor. Bethany S 27
and Narciss saw something that was like me — an image R 28
207
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 208
Walter Mosley
1
of what I thought I wanted to be — but they had no idea 2
what was on my mind.
3
What had changed was what I saw. It was as if 4
everybody had become like a mirror, and I saw reflections 5
of what they saw instead of what it was they were trying 6
to show me or tell me. Narciss had become a mirror and 7
an echo chamber, giving me back every word uttered and 8
gesture made. And when I saw or heard something I 9
didn’t like, I had the chance to alter my behavior.
10
“No, baby,” I said. “Not at all. I want to see you. I want 11