told him what would happen after he died. How the rest 6
of his friends and his loved ones would suffer. When he 7
refused me I told him that I would have to give his sister’s 8
name to the army because she was working against them 9
too. All he had to do was agree to keep silent and the min-10
eral company would forget him and give him money to 11
migrate off the continent.”
12
“Did he agree?” I asked.
13
“Yes.”
14
“So you saved him.”
15
“He died from drink in Morocco in just two years. You 16
can’t save fools and you can’t save victims. That’s why I’ve 17
got this bubble in my head. It’s like every step is planned 18
from the beginning.”
19
Weeks passed. Every day I spent down in the basement 20
with my prisoner and my secret tape recorder. That’s how 21
I began to think of him. My prisoner. As long as he was in 22
that basement, I figured that the world was a little safer 23
place. I was also his confessor, the chronicler of his sins.
24
After hearing about hundreds of crimes, I decided to 25
ask about Bennet’s own past.
26
“Did you ever find out who your father was?” I asked.
S 27
“I’d rather not talk about that.”
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
“Would you rather four days in the hole?”
2
Bennet was afraid of the dark by that time. He had ex-3
perienced something down in the darkness that scared 4
him. I knew he wouldn’t refuse my questions. I had dom-5
inated him with the fear of isolation.
6
At that time I felt that my actions were justified.
7
“I don’t know who my father was. Except that he really 8
was from Turkey and that he was murdered after making 9
my mother pregnant.”
10
“How do you know that?”
11
“I hired a detective to search for him. He found that a 12
Tamal Hikmet was murdered in Harlem buying heroin 13
eight months before I was born. Tamal was a Turkish ille-14
gal. He was an addict and a playwright. No one could 15
have saved him. No one can save anyone, not even them-16
selves.”
17
“But maybe they can be redeemed,” I suggested. To my 18
knowledge that was the first time in my life that I had 19
ever used a derivative of the word redemption.
20
“What does that mean?”
21
“Maybe they can make amends for their crimes. Maybe 22
they can make a stand. Tell the world what is right.”
23
“You ever read Moby Dick, Charles?”
24
I had not and shook my head to say so.
25
“There’s a cook in that book,” my prisoner said. “A 26
cook who lectures to sharks about their nature. He tells 27 S
them that they could be angels if they just mastered their 28 R
appetites. He preached to them, but they didn’t under-242
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The Man in My Basement
stand. Our hearts are like those sharks. There’s no curbing 1
the appetite of a hungry heart.”
2
“Maybe he was talking to himself,” I said, not thinking 3
really, just making up words.
4
But Mr. Anniston Bennet, Tamal Knosos, aka Hikmet, 5
looked up at me with something like wonder in his face.
6
He wrestled with the words that I had already forgotten 7
and then repeated them and then wrestled some more.
8
“Talking to himself,” he said a third time.
9
10
11
Anniston Bennet was a murderer if you went by his 12
words. He had people killed, and he killed with his own 13
hands four times. Never in self-defense — he was a pred-14
ator with no natural enemies. But he never killed without 15
the say-so of officials in the government; he never killed 16
for passion — at least that’s what he said.
17
When his time in my cellar was almost up, he became 18
jaunty. He made jokes with me and said thank you every 19
night before I left him.
20
I was happy then too. I had three girlfriends, money in 21
the bank, and plans for my future, and I was friends with 22
Clarance and Ricky again. Some weeks earlier I told Nar-23
ciss that I wanted my family heirlooms back so I could 24
make a museum out of my ancestry in the house where 25
that family throve.
26
Every now and then Bennet would say to me, “The S 27
cook was talking to himself, huh, Charles?”
R 28
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1
“I don’t know,” I’d say to him. “I just said it. You’re the 2
one who read the book.”
3
He’d smile at me and sit back in his red chair. He had a 4
full beard by then, and he never wore his blue contacts at all.
5
6
7
It was his last Thursday in my home when I came down 8
to see him. I opened the hatch and was greeted by silence.
9
Usually I could hear the rustle of his movements, his 10
standing or rising from his cot. But that Thursday he did 11
not rise. He stayed sleeping in his bed.
12
“Mr. Bennet,” I said, but he made no motion.
13
I said it louder with no more effect.
14
By the third time I was frightened.
15
By the fifth I went back to my house to find the key to 16
his cage.
17
Anniston Bennet was dead. Peaceful and placid, lying 18
with no blankets, dressed only in his self-styled prison 19
pants. Under his bed was a neat stack of envelopes that 20
were sealed, stamped, and addressed to different people, 21
including me.
22
There was no wound or other sign of trauma. He had 23
just gone to sleep and drifted off to death. I never even 24
considered calling the hospital. His body was already stiff.
25
The letters were addressed mainly to people in New 26
York City and Washington, D.C. But there were en-27 S
velopes destined for Europe and Africa, Asia and South 28 R
America too.
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I opened only the one addressed to me.
1
2
Dear Charles:
3
4
Or should I say Warden? You have found me now, 5
dead, in your basement. I wonder what you will do with 6
my corpse? I have left letters for my business associates 7
and the two friends I have. There are also notes for two 8
wives and children. I have said good-bye to all of them. It 9
would be nice for you to send them.
10
But I know you may not be inclined to let out the news 11
of my death in your custody. There may be those who will 12
feel uncertain about your part in my death. And though 13
no one will hold you responsible, they might worry about 14
what I told you, seeing how crazy this suicide might seem.
15
There is one pill left in the glass on the floor. It is a fast-16
acting poison called Sleeper that was designed to be pain-17
less. I leave one for you in case you one day feel at an end.
18
I had the pills, but I wasn’t sure when I came to you 19
that I wanted to die. I mean, I’ve wanted to die for a long 20
time now, but I could see no reason until you left me in 21