The Man in My Basement
It was a show of respect, but not to me. I was Charles, son 1
of Mr. Blakey.
2
“Not angry,” I said. “It’s just . . . just this whole thing is 3
weird.”
4
“What?” Anniston Bennet asked, sitting back in his 5
chair behind metal bars as if he were in his den in Green-6
wich.
7
“You,” I said, “in this cell under lock and key, with me 8
like some kinda warden and butler all rolled up into one.”
9
Bennet smiled.
10
“Have you ever read the Story of Civilization? ” he asked.
11
“A long time ago,” I lied. “I’m not so good on a lotta 12
details though.”
13
“All throughout history there have been men who have 14
isolated themselves from the world,” he said. “They go to 15
mountaintops or sit in meditation for months at a time.
16
They flagellate themselves and refrain from having sex or 17
masturbation. That’s mostly what I’m doing here.”
18
“But you said that you’re a criminal paying for his 19
crimes,” I pointed out.
20
Anniston Bennet smiled and hunched his shoulders as 21
if to say, You got me there.
22
“Many ancient belief systems are based on the concept 23
of sin, my friend,” he said. “The Hindus accept as truth 24
that they are answering for crimes committed in previous 25
lives. The Hebrews and Christians are answering for the 26
sins of their long-ago ancestors.”
S 27
“But that’s not you, is it?”
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
“No. I don’t have the luxury of a god. But what I do 2
have is not contagious.”
3
“Come again?”
4
“In the eyes of the world, Mr. Dodd-Blakey, I am an 5
upright and innocent man. My time here with you would 6
be seen merely as an eccentricity. You can collect my 7
money and serve me dry sandwiches and Kool-Aid. No 8
one will blame you or indict you for the crimes that I rec-9
ognize as my own.”
10
“That’s just a lot of talk, Mr. Bennet. I think that it’s 11
crazy what you’re doing, but I took your money, so I’ll 12
hold up my side of the bargain. But don’t you think that 13
I’m gonna be a part of all this crazy talk. I’ll bring you 14
your meals and whatever else I have to do. But I don’t like 15
it and I’ll put you out of here in a minute if anything gets 16
to be too much for me.”
17
I don’t know how he felt about that because I left before 18
he could engage me anymore. Outside the cellar I began 19
to sweat. My heart was pounding and my ears rang. In-20
side my chest there was laughter, but the mirth could not 21
make its way to my lips. It came as a throbbing rumble 22
that might have been pleasant if it had an outlet.
23
I stumbled to the house, up to my room. There I sat on 24
the old maple bed, thinking about Brent and all the mean 25
things he had said to me. I imagined him walking down 26
the halls in his slow shuffling pace. I thought about him 27 S
cursing the summer for its heat and the winter for cold. I 28 R
hated his smell and scratchy voice.
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The Man in My Basement
I could almost hear him, his wheezing through those 1
last dying days.
2
Ears ringing, heart pumping, chest throbbing, and 3
sweat dripping, I tried to rise above my body, hoped for 4
my spirit to transcend grief.
5
It was grief I felt. Deep sadness that no mother or god 6
could calm. I hated Anniston Bennet, hated him. I blamed 7
him for everything that was wrong with me. His damned 8
money and smirks.
9
10
11
I was wondering how long a boiled egg and cornflakes 12
could keep someone alive. Everything was orange colored 13
through closed lids, and my skin was dry and cool.
14
I opened my eyes. The air and the light in the room told 15
me that it was afternoon. I had been dreaming of the pris-16
oner’s luncheon. His life was like an invisible pulsing bea-17
con, a second heart, a child who needed attention. He was 18
living in my dreams as well as my cellar. I despised him 19
already and he hadn’t even been there a whole day.
20
I prepared baked beans from the can, boiled potatoes, 21
and cranberry juice for his late lunch. He was already 22
halfway through the thousand-page volume of history, 23
wearing red-rimmed glasses and sitting in the red plastic 24
chair. The breakfast tray was already pushed out. I shoved 25
the lunch tray into his cell.
26
“What time is it?” he asked.
S 27
“Four,” I said, turning to leave.
R 28
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1
“It’s not so bad, is it?” he asked.
2
I turned back and said with false bravado, “Not bad for 3
me at all. I’m not the one locked up in a cold basement on 4
a summer day. I’m not the one kept away from my family 5
and friends.”
6
“That’s true,” he said. “But you know there’s a belief 7
that any society that is forced to punish its citizens is, to 8
one degree or another, an unhealthy state.”
9
“That’s crazy,” I said. “What country do you know of 10
doesn’t have laws?”
11
“It’s a question of degree, Mr. Dodd-Blakey,” Bennet 12
replied, “not one of law. A man who recognizes his crime 13
and accepts his punishment is a member of good standing 14
in his country. But the criminal who runs and hides, who 15
is unrepentant even though he knows what he’s done, is a 16
symptom of a much greater disease.”
17
“None of that has anything to do with you being here,”
18
I said. “You’re renting a room and locking the door —
19
that’s all.”
20
“No,” the enigmatic white man said to a space some-21
where over my head. “I am here answering for crimes 22
against humanity. I am doing so because I am guilty, not 23
because I was caught. And in doing so I am making the 24
world a better place. I’m setting an example down here.”
25
“How can you be doing that when no one even knows 26
where you are?”
27 S
“There’s more to the world than one plus one, Mr.
28 R
Dodd-Blakey.”
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The Man in My Basement
I barely heard him over the pounding of my heart. I 1
worried that maybe he wasn’t crazy, that he wasn’t even a 2
common crook. Even though I didn’t understand what he 3
was saying, I feared that maybe he was right, that he was 4
living out some moral dilemma and that I was caught up 5
in the center of it all without knowing it.
6
7
8
Once outside I was sweating again. I didn’t want to go in my 9
house, so I got in the car and drove into town. I went to 10
Harbor Savings with the money Narciss had sent. The teller 11
went over the check for a full minute before cashing it.
12
Everyone in the Harbor must have known about my thefts.
13
From the bank I went to Nelson’s Hardware, where I 14
bought three combination padlocks and heavy hinges to 15
hold them. Ricky was sitting on a public bench on Main 16
Street, drinking orange juice from a carton. I pretended 17
not to notice him from across the street.
18
“Hey, Charles,” he called.
19
I looked up, feigning surprise, and then crossed over to 20
him.
21
“Hey, Cat,” I said. “I thought you were working for 22
Wilson Ryder?”
23
“Took the day off,” he said. “Clarance said he saw you 24
at the train station in the middle of the night.”
25
“Yeah. I met some girl and she said she wanted to come 26
back out to see me, said she’d be on that train but damned S 27
if she was.” I lied smoothly and without a skip.
R 28
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