repeated then.
24
She smiled again and I blessed my mom.
25
“How’s it going with my stuff ?” I asked.
26
“Great. I’ve sent out all of my inquiries and people are 27 S
starting to respond. A few serious collectors of African 28 R
American art were interested in the masks, but I told them that they were in your permanent collection.” She 140
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looked at me, and there was something like pride in her 1
eyes.
2
“How much do you think we’ll get in the end?”
3
“I don’t know, maybe eighty thousand dollars.”
4
If I was in my own clothes, speaking my own words, I 5
would have probably yipped and shouted. Instead I stuck 6
my lips out and nodded.
7
“That sounds good,” I said. “Sounds like what I ex-8
pected.”
9
Narciss was happy to be appreciated. I was happy that 10
she was happy.
11
“I’ve been reading about your masks,” she said.
12
“They’re really interesting. They were used for tribal iden-13
tification, but they also were to remind their owner of 14
their home and family — their people.”
15
I was listening close enough to have repeated her words 16
but I wasn’t concerned. Her skin and fingers and figure so 17
slight that it seemed like they could be easily broken —
18
that’s what I was thinking about.
19
“You know I’m busy for the next couple of weeks,” I 20
said. “But maybe after that we could have that dinner we 21
keep missing.”
22
Miss Gully’s mind was in Africa and history and identity, 23
but I don’t think she was upset to switch over to dating.
24
“That would be nice,” she said. “You know, I’ve tried to 25
call you a few times, but there’s never been any answer.”
26
“I’ve been away some lately.”
S 27
“Oh? Where have you been?”
R 28
“Down to the city. I’ve been considering working in 141
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Walter Mosley
1
Manhattan for some time now. You know, I’ve been here 2
my whole life. I think it’s time for a change.”
3
“Oh. But the city is so crowded, so overwhelming.”
4
I laughed in a knowing way. “Sometimes I’m crowded 5
and overwhelmed just living in my own head.”
6
Who was it talking? Not me. At least I didn’t think it was 7
me. Whoever it was, Narciss seemed to like him. She smiled 8
and pinched my baby finger with her forefinger and thumb.
9
I left there, making a beeline to Bethany’s apartment.
10
She answered the door and we fell into each other’s 11
arms, not wasting a single word.
12
When our passions were satisfied, she lay against my 13
chest and started crying.
14
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
15
“I wait for this every day,” she sobbed. “I love you, 16
Charles. But you don’t care.”
17
“There’s a lot going on right now, honey. A lot that I 18
can’t talk about yet.”
19
“You got a girlfriend?”
20
“No. Not that. It’s inside my head. My head.”
21
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
22
“I have to go.”
23
“To her?”
24
“To who? I’m not going to anybody.”
25
“If you aren’t going to anyone, then why do you have to 26
go? Don’t you like being with me?”
27 S
“I can’t explain it, Bethy,” I said and then stood up from 28 R
the bed. I still had a half-hard erection. Bethany stroked the hard-on lightly underneath and it jumped at her 142
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The Man in My Basement
touch. But I put on my pants anyway, being careful not to 1
do any damage to myself with the zipper.
2
“If you go now you can’t come back,” she said.
3
I didn’t answer. I didn’t really care.
4
She didn’t follow me from the bedroom. Her room-5
mate, Robin Talese, was sitting in the living-room chair. I 6
wondered if the chubby white girl had listened to our 7
hollering out love earlier on. From the way she was star-8
ing at my crotch, I was pretty sure that she had.
9
10
11
“Where have you been?” Anniston Bennet shouted when 12
I returned to the cellar at about 10:00 that night.
13
“I had car trouble,” I said. “Flat tire outside of Bridge-14
hampton. Sorry.”
15
I handed him a Kentucky Fried Chicken four-piece 16
meal that came with a biscuit, corn on the cob, cole slaw, 17
and a root beer. The large paper cup wouldn’t fit under 18
the bars, so I creased it and poured the soda into a squat 19
glass he’d used for lunch.
20
“You can’t leave me down here all day without a meal,”
21
Anniston said in an angry but soft tone.
22
“You want out?” I asked. “You can leave anytime.”
23
He didn’t have an answer to that.
24
“You want the light to eat by?” I asked.
25
“Please,” he said.
26
I left without sweating for the first time. And I slept the S 27
whole night through.
R 28
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2
3
4
5
17
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14 C
The next ten days passed as one. Every day was the 15
same as far as I was concerned. I delivered Bennet’s meals 16
at regular intervals. I pumped out his toilet twice and 17
gave him books. I never spoke to him except to answer 18
specific questions, and he was pretty quiet most of the 19
time.
20
Sometimes I’d come into the room after he’d gone to the 21
toilet. The smell was bad and I’d leave as soon as I could.
22
The air was pretty dead in there, so I opened the hatch 23
twice a day to freshen up the place with an electric fan.
24
For my part I dressed in my father’s clothes and went 25
down to Curry’s, an East Hampton bar where tourists 26
and summer residents went to mingle and get drunk. I 27 S
met people there and joked around and drank beers. Not 28 R
too much drinking. Just enough for a buzz. There were 144
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some nice white girls there who liked me, but I always 1
went home alone.
2
I received two letters in that time. One was from 3
Bethany apologizing for how angry she got at our last 4
meeting. She understood, she said, that I was under stress 5
and that we didn’t have the kind of relationship where she 6
could make demands. She hoped that I would under-7
stand how strongly she felt about me and that I would call 8
soon. The words she used were different but that’s what 9
she said.
10
The other letter was actually a postcard. It was Narciss 11
saying that she was looking forward to our dinner and 12
asking when I would answer my phone.
13
I kept those letters on the windowsill next to my bed, 14