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
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14 C
Lainie ate a bagged lunch every day at 12:30. Ham or 15
turkey or chicken on white bread, with a fruit and a nov-16
elty cake. She sat on the picnic bench half a block up 17
from the Winter Hotel on a slip of property that was too 18
small to sell. She was wearing a white silk dress that was 19
decorated with prints of giant purple orchids. A single 20
pearl hung from a pendant around her neck. There was a 21
dark freckle on her throat, next to the pearl. I was think-22
ing that that small spot of dark flesh was far more pre-23
cious than some stone from an oyster’s belly.
24
“How’s Peaches?” Lainie had regained her composure.
25
She’d opened her bag and was peeling back the wax paper 26
on the sandwich to check out the meat.
27 S
“Fine, the last time I talked to her. Her husband’s 28 R
mother passed.”
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The Man in My Basement
“I know. I was at the funeral. I was surprised not to see 1
you there.”
2
“Busy,” I said, not remembering the excuse I gave at the 3
time.
4
Lainie took a bite out of her sandwich and smiled. She 5
always smiled after the first bite of her sandwich. She told 6
me once that her mother, Arvette, made her lunch every 7
morning. I think the bread reminded Lainie of her mother 8
the way that Catholics are supposed to be reminded of 9
their Lord when they eat that biscuit.
10
Lainie and Arvette lived together just outside of town 11
in a small house where both of them had been born. Most 12
Negroes around the midisland lived in modest homes.
13
Our ancestors had been farmworkers mainly. Many had 14
come from the South over the decades, looking for a place 15
they could work in peace.
16
“I was out at Wilson Ryder’s new site this morning,” I 17
said.
18
“Really? Mr. Gurgel is the officer in charge of that loan.
19
He says that the Ryders have always been good business.”
20
She took another bite. But that was just eating — no 21
smile involved.
22
“Yeah. Well, anyway, I went over there to ask about a 23
job today. I mean, he had jobs. I know that because Ricky 24
Winkler works out there. But Mr. Ryder lied and said 25
that he didn’t have any jobs. And when I told him that he 26
was a liar, he started talkin’ about the bank and why didn’t S 27
I work there anymore?”
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Walter Mosley
1
Lainie took a big bite out of her sandwich. I think she 2
did that because she wanted time to think. After chewing 3
on her white bread and processed meat like it was a 4
mouthful of jerky, she stopped and took a deep breath. I 5
pushed down the urge to stand up and walk away.
6
“Did you ever take money from your drawer?” she 7
asked.
8
And suddenly it all came back to me like the plot of a 9
novel that I had read so long ago I didn’t even remember 10
the name of the book. But it wasn’t that long ago and it 11
was my own life that I was remembering.
12
It wasn’t really very much at all. I was a bank teller. I 13
counted money, gave change, made debits and credits. I 14
did passbooks, Christmas clubs, checking accounts, and 15
sometimes payroll. Anything else went to another win-16
dow. I wore a jacket and slacks every day with a tie. You 17
didn’t have to wear the tie on Fridays, but I did anyway. I 18
was good at my job. Always on time, friendly with even 19
the rude customers, I was good at math too.
20
But one day I was going to meet my then-girlfriend 21
China Browne for dinner. It was a Tuesday and I wasn’t 22
due for my paycheck until the end of the week. My ac-23
count was empty because I had just paid for an electric 24
food processor and China wanted to be taken out.
25
So I borrowed twenty dollars from the bank. I made up 26
my mind to pay a dollar interest when I got my paycheck.
27 S
And it really wasn’t any big sum. If they asked me about 28 R
it, I could just say that I must have made a mistake. Peo-28
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The Man in My Basement
ple make mistakes in banks all the time. Mr. Gurgel, the 1
senior loan officer, once missed a zero and the bank was 2
out ninety thousand dollars for a week.
3
Of course Friday came and went. China and I went 4
down to New York that weekend, so I put off returning 5
the twenty until I got paid again. But by that time two 6
more weeks had passed, and I figured if nobody noticed, 7
then why should I worry? Probably if I had left it at that, 8
everything would have been okay. But there were five or 9
six other times when I needed money. It was never more 10
than fifty dollars.
11
“No,” I said.
12
“Well that’s what they thought,” she said. “The presi-13
dent said that they had proof.”
14
“How could that be?” I felt indignant even though I 15
knew that I was guilty. “If they had proof, then why didn’t 16
they have me arrested?”
17
“Mr. Mathias told me that they had discussed it and the 18
bank felt it wouldn’t serve their interests to prosecute.” I 19
knew that she was reporting what she heard because the 20
words she was using were not hers.
21
“Why not?”
22
“Because it wasn’t a lot of money and almost every col-23
ored person in the Harbor has money in the bank. If the 24
bank prosecuted you over a couple’a hundred dollars, the 25
customers might get upset and take their money to East 26
Hampton.” Lainie peered into my eyes as she spoke. I S 27
don’t know if she saw my guilt there or not.
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Walter Mosley
1
I was guilty. Every time I pocketed a few dollars, I ex-2
pected to return it. But it wasn’t like the money I used to 3
steal out of my uncle Brent’s wallet. I took that money be-4
cause I hated him. I hated the way he smelled and the way 5
he talked about my father. I took it because my father’s 6
family had come directly from Africa, but Brent said that 7
my father really didn’t know our roots. He said that we 8