were like all other American blacks, that we came from 9
“slave-caliber Negroes who were defeated in war and sold 10
into slavery because they didn’t have the guts to die in 11
battle.” He said that there was no such thing as free 12
Africans who had “chosen to come over and sell their 13
labor in indentured servitude” and that American Negro 14
citizens never existed before 1865, as my father claimed.
15
I kept Brent’s money. He used to complain to my 16
mother, but I’d just tell her that it must be his illness 17
affecting his brain. I don’t know what she thought about 18
it all. She didn’t like Brent’s mouth either, but he was fam-19
ily and my mother was the sweetest woman in the world.
20
“Well,” I said to Lainie. “I didn’t steal anything and 21
now people at the bank are telling everybody that I’m a 22
thief and I can’t get a job. And you didn’t even tell me.
23
Didn’t warn me or anything.”
24
“I’m sorry, Charles,” she said. “I just didn’t know what 25
to think. Mr. Mathias told me about what had happened.
26
And I was afraid that you’d lose your temper and that if 27 S
they did have some kind of evidence that they’d take you 28 R
to jail. I was worried about you.”
30
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 31
The Man in My Basement
She was getting weepy. Lainie had a kind heart. But I 1
wasn’t in any mood to worry about her crocodile tears.
2
What about me? Here I had waited until I was down to 3
my last dollar, thinking that I could always pick up a job 4
somewhere. But nobody in the Harbor would hire a thief.
5
And even if I went out of town, people would still ask for 6
references.
7
What I wanted to do was yell at Lainie until she felt the 8
pain that I was feeling on the inside. I would have yelled 9
if I were innocent.
10
“I’m sorry, Lainie. It’s not your fault. It’s just that bank.
11
I probably made some mistake and they decided that I 12
was a thief. That’s all.”
13
“What are you going to do?”
14
I considered her question for a moment, and then I 15
thought a little more. I opened my mouth, but there was 16
no answer forthcoming.
17
“I got to go,” I said. “Thanks for tellin’ me.”
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
S 27
R 28
31
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 32
1
2
3
4
5
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 C
I did go fishing — in a small river not two miles from 15
my house. I caught three good-size trout, not for pleasure 16
but to eat that night. I wanted to cook dinner but couldn’t 17
bear the idea of counting out pennies to some high school 18
cashier at the IGA.
19
It was after 6:00 when I got home. There was a little day-20
light left in the distance, but it was dusk. My plans were all 21
set by the time I got in, so I went right to the phone.
22
A woman answered after seven rings. “Hello?”
23
“Mona?”
24
“Hey, Charles. Hold on.” She put the phone down 25
with a loud knock and yelled, “It’s Charles!”
26
A few moments passed and then the phone hissed as it 27 S
was being picked up.
28 R
“What?” a man’s angry voice said.
32
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 33
The Man in My Basement
“Hey, Clarance. Listen, man, I got to borrow a hundred 1
bucks fast.”
2
“So?”
3
“This is no joke, Clarance —”
4
“Naw. That’s right. This ain’t no joke at all. This is dead 5
serious. I been thinkin’ about you and how you act since 6
last night. And it burns me up. Here I am tryin’ to be 7
your friend and all you wanna do is dis me. Well that’s it.
8
I’m through with you, man. I called Ricky and told him. I 9
said no more Thursday-night blackjack, no more Saturday-10
night bar hoppin’, no more nuthin’. We’re through.”
11
Clarance was sputtering. I almost made a joke but then 12
thought better of it.
13
“Hey,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean nuthin’. You 14
know it was the whiskey —”
15
“You sorry all right. Unemployed, drunk loudmouth is 16
what you is.” Clarance usually tried to articulate in the 17
ways of school learning. That kind of language was pro-18
moted among the older colored families of the Harbor.
19
But when he got angry, he talked street.
20
“I said I was sorry, man. What more do you want?”
21
“I don’t want nuthin’ from you. I don’t want you to call 22
or ask me for money or nuthin’ else. Just stay away from 23
me, you hear?” And with that he hung up the phone in 24
my ear.
25
I realized then that I didn’t have any kind of plan. All I 26
was going to do was borrow a hundred dollars from S 27
Clarance to put some cheap food in my refrigerator.
R 28
33
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 34
Walter Mosley
1
I washed out a griddle and a saucepan, a glass and a 2
plate and utensils to cook and eat with. Then I cleaned 3
my fish and dredged the fillets in cornmeal. Fried fish 4
with hot sauce and a side of turnips was my dinner. I 5
laughed because it was better food than I would have had 6
if I had the money to go to the diner.
7
There were two shots’ worth left in the whiskey bottle, 8
just enough to keep me between self-pity and drunken 9
tears.
10
The house was a mess. There were piles of clothes and 11
dirty dishes in every room. Junk mail and bills were 12
thrown into corners, and every chair had something piled 13
on the seat.
14
I went upstairs to my bedroom and threw the blankets —
15
along with a notebook, two dirty dinner plates, and a 16
dozen loose stones that I had picked up — from the bed.
17
I lay with arms and legs dangling over the sides of the 18
small mattress. On the windowsill next to my head was a 19
book I had been reading. Neglect’s Glasses. It was a science-20
fiction novel about a kid in the ghetto who had found a 21
pair of sunglasses somehow imbued with the intelligence 22
of an alien race. The ghetto child, just days away from his 23
initiation into a youth gang, is drawn into a swirl of 24
knowledge that takes him places that he never knew were 25
possible.
26
I laid there on my bed, reading, for well over an hour.
27 S
The boy, whose name was Tyler, was transformed into the 28 R
unknown hope of humanity. He did good things because 34
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 35
The Man in My Basement
the glasses always made him feel the emotions of those 1
lives he touched. And so when he hurt people, he experi-2
enced their pain. Helping others made Tyler feel good 3