whisper two words and expect me to go away just like 21
that.
22
“Well?” he said.
23
“I thought you had just started hiring.”
24
“It’s hard times, Charlie,” he said. “You got to get there 25
first if you want to work nowadays.”
26
“But somebody told me last night that you’d still be hir-27 S
ing today.”
28 R
“Well,” Ryder began. He was ready to carry his lie further.
20
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But then he looked at me, really I think he was looking at 1
himself, wondering why the hell he was going through all 2
those changes over some unemployed local Negro.
3
“You used to work for that bank, didn’t ya?” he asked.
4
“Yeah?”
5
“Why aren’t you there anymore?”
6
“I don’t know. They just let me go.”
7
“Well let’s just say that I’m lettin’ you go too.”
8
It didn’t make any sense. How could he let me go if I 9
didn’t even work for him? I almost said something about 10
it, but I knew that I’d just sound stupid.
11
Wilson gave me a crooked little smile and friendly nod.
12
Can’t win ’em all — that’s what the gesture meant.
13
I cursed him all the way down the road to the town of 14
Sag Harbor.
15
16
17
I grabbed a clam roll and a beer at the stand down by the 18
pier, using the last of my paper dollars to pay for the meal.
19
From then on I’d have to pay for whatever I bought in 20
change. I could already hear the teenage cashiers snicker-21
ing behind my back.
22
If suicide meant just giving up, I would have dropped 23
dead at that moment. With no job, no money, and no 24
chance for a job, I was as close to penniless as a man can get.
25
“Negro so poor,” my uncle Brent used to say of his less-26
fortunate brothers, “that he’d sell his shadow just to stand S 27
in your shade.”
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
The weather was pleasant. I went to the end of the pier 2
and looked down at the tiny fishes coming up to get 3
warm in the weak sunlight. Two small jellyfish were wav-4
ing in the current. I sat on the edge of the big concrete 5
dock and stared down at the water. That was 10:45. At 6
12:15 I was still there. From the time I was a child, I’d 7
have moments like that. In class if I saw something inter-8
esting, usually something natural, I could stare the whole 9
period long. I never thought anything at these times. I 10
just stared at the spiderweb or the furious bird making 11
her nest. One time I watched an ant search the entire 12
third-grade floor for nearly an hour. She finally ended up 13
under Mrs. Harkness’s shoe. I was so shocked by the sud-14
den death that I broke down crying and was sent to the 15
nurse.
16
17
18
I hadn’t been in the bank since I was laid off nine months 19
before. Arnold Mathias was still at his post by the door.
20
Less a guard than a greeter, he knew everybody’s name 21
and any special need that he or she might have.
22
“Hello, Millie,” he said to the octogenarian Mildred 23
Cosgrove, who doddered in before me. “Mr. Hickey isn’t 24
in today. He’s got flu, I believe.”
25
“Oh,” the old lady said. There was shock and pain in 26
her voice. While she stood there, Arnold looked over her 27 S
head and saw me. He put up a hand, not in greeting but 28 R
to stop me until he had finished with Millie Cosgrove.
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“Will he be in later?” she asked in a fearful, tremulous 1
voice.
2
“He won’t be back until next week, Millie.” Mathias, 3
himself in his late sixties and shaky, held out a hand to 4
steady the older woman.
5
“Oh,” she said again. “Well maybe I better wait until 6
Monday then. You know Mr. Hickey has all my records.
7
He knows what I want. Monday you say?”
8
“I’m sure he’ll be back by then,” Mathias said. “And if 9
he comes back earlier, I’ll have him call you.”
10
“That would be nice. Yes. You know I have to take my 11
money out of the stock market before the world goes to 12
hell in a handbasket. He talked me into it before, but now 13
I just want a passbook. I want regular interest with no 14
nonsense. The stock market is no better than roulette, 15
and gambling is a sin.”
16
“I’m sure Mr. Hickey will do what you want . . .”
17
The conversation went on for another few minutes. Mr.
18
Mathias listened to Mildred’s woes. Everyone knew that 19
old Mrs. Cosgrove had barely a hundred-dollar balance in 20
her account. She lived off social-security checks. But her 21
family had been some of the bank’s first depositors. Treat-22
ing her nicely was the best advertisement they could have.
23
“Yes, Charles?” the guard asked after Millie left. “Can I 24
help you?”
25
“No.”
26
“Did you want something?”
S 27
“Can’t anyone walk into this bank, Arnold?”
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
“Of course. But I didn’t think that you had an account 2
here anymore.”
3
“I came to see Lainie,” I said.
4
“Oh, I see. Lainie.”
5
The greeter had reverted into guard and had no inten-6
tion of standing aside. So I went around him and across 7
the wide tiled floor of the bank.
8
It was a domed building with a round floor. At the op-9
posite side from the entrance was a group of seven desks, 10
separated from the main room by a waist-high mahogany 11
wall. The center desk belonged to Lainie Brown.
12
Lainie was the only black bank officer. She’d started as 13
secretary the year I was born. Her boss was a liberal 14
thinker, and she trained Lainie and then forced the bank 15
president, Ira Minder, to promote her.
16
Lainie had been my friend at the bank. We ate lunch 17
together, and she told me that she hoped to make me into 18
a loan officer one day. But then I was fired, and that was 19
the end to my banking future and our friendship.
20
“Charles.” Lainie was surprised but not necessarily 21
happy to see me. She was a heavyset woman with auburn 22
skin. Her eyes were large and spaced wider than most.
23
Every tooth had a space between it, and her smile, when 24
she smiled, seemed to wrap around her whole head.
25
But Lainie wasn’t smiling right then. Her look was 26
somewhere between surprise and caution. I might have 27 S
been a snake on her front porch or a strange purple sky.
28 R
“ ’Bout time for lunch, isn’t it?” I said.
24
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The Man in My Basement
“Uh, why I suppose it is.”
1
“I already ate, but I’ll sit with you if you don’t mind.”
2
“No,” her lips said. Her eyes held the same answer with 3
another meaning. I suppose somebody else might have 4
taken the hint and offered to wait until a better time.
5
“Well let’s go,” I said.
6
Lainie rose up out of her generous walnut seat, releas-7
ing a sweet odor. Her perfume was one of the best bene-8
fits at Harbor Savings. It was one of the few things I 9
remembered about work.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
S 27
R 28
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