beside the passport masks that I had standing there.
15
Many nights I would imagine some Senegalese or Con-16
golese sailor on a Portuguese ship, carrying his mask to a 17
new land. A black man, infinitely darker than me, with 18
bright whites in his eyes, making his way to a world his 19
people had never even imagined. And when he saw 20
America, he jumped ship. The white people feared him as 21
the devil, so he probably took on a Shinnecock bride. He 22
came out to just about where I was now and built a life 23
that most people never even suspected.
24
Between my make-believe ancestors and the women who 25
loved my shadow, I was happy. Drinking and masturbating 26
and feeding my prisoner three times a day. Wearing my fa-S 27
ther’s clothes (sometimes even using his name) and preR 28
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1
tending that I was a summering lawyer or stockbroker. Life 2
meant nothing, but I was having a good time.
3
And then, two days before Anniston Bennet had agreed 4
to leave, I went down to serve his dinner.
5
“Will you let me have a whiskey?” he asked mildly.
6
“Sure,” I said. I was feeling flush and generous. Why 7
not give the convict a snort?
8
I went to the house and returned with a bottle and a glass.
9
“I don’t really want to drink alone,” he said. “Here, you 10
use the clean glass. I’ve got one from lunch.”
11
I poured the whiskey for both of us and then sat on the 12
large trunk used to deliver his books.
13
“It’s pretty odd being locked up down here,” he said.
14
“It’s great for reading. You can really concentrate if there’s 15
no phone or messages or radio. I mean, I don’t even know 16
what’s gone on in the world for almost two weeks. But 17
I know about the Renaissance as if it happened this morn-18
ing.”
19
He was the same man who came to my door two 20
months before. Friendly and humble in his gestures. He 21
didn’t fool me this time, but I was fascinated by the show.
22
“Tell me, Mr. Bennet . . .”
23
“Yes, Mr. Dodd-Blakey?”
24
“Doesn’t anybody miss you? Don’t you have a mother 25
or wife or good friend who you play golf with on Satur-26
days? Isn’t somebody asking where you are?”
27 S
“Does anybody wonder about you, Mr. Dodd-Blakey?”
28 R
His demeanor changed just that quickly. Suddenly he had 146
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The Man in My Basement
an insight to my soul. My heart gave a quick gallop and I 1
groped for an answer. But I needn’t have worried.
2
“I mean,” he continued, “we all disappear sometimes.
3
We have to go to the toilet or sleep, go to work or down 4
the street for some bread. It might take five minutes or 5
ten. It might be overnight. Sometimes you forget to call 6
or have to stay an extra day. Sometimes you fall in love 7
with someone else or have an accident. One day you die.”
8
He smiled knowingly, toasting me with his glass. I joined 9
him in the drink and then poured the second round.
10
“One day you just don’t come back,” he said. “People 11
are worried at first. They make calls to the police and hos-12
pitals. They hire detectives. They lose sleep. Some people 13
are so close to their loved ones that they’d die without 14
them. But most of us don’t. Most of us adapt. We recog-15
nize thirst. We go to the toilet and close the door for 16
privacy. We eat. New lovers and friends take the place of 17
those we miss. People die every day, Mr. Dodd-Blakey.
18
We live in the valley of death. That’s our heredity.”
19
“But you aren’t dead, Mr. Bennet. You’re alive and 20
locked up in a cage in a stranger’s basement. You aren’t in 21
love or lost or the victim of some car crash or mugging.
22
You’re in a hole in the ground reading books and farting 23
out cornflakes.”
24
Bennet laughed. I poured two more drinks and relaxed.
25
In the back of my mind I worried about letting my de-26
fenses down against this crazy white man, but then I S 27
thought to myself, He’s locked up; what can he do to me?
R 28
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1
“But I could be dead,” he said. “Just like the man who 2
goes away to prison, I’m gone from the lives of my peers.
3
Anathema and death are the same thing. Most people 4
don’t want to go to prison or even to know about it. They 5
don’t want to go to the toilet with you or witness your 6
fear. No one wants to watch you starve or bleed or suffer 7
in any mortal way. We can’t help but to see ourselves in 8
one another, and what we want to see is beauty and life.”
9
“You don’t sound like a businessman, Mr. Bennet. You 10
sound more like a philosophy teacher.”
11
“I don’t teach,” he said. “But I’m not what you would 12
call a businessman either. I’m a specialist.”
13
“Yeah, yeah, I know, in reclamations.”
14
“That’s right.” He smiled. “But the word has a different 15
meaning than one might think.”
16
“Like what?”
17
“Suppose,” he said, “you knew that there were dia-18
monds in the ground somewhere in Montana. Dia-19
monds. Fabulous wealth. But worthless unless you could 20
retrieve them. As worthless as dirt.”
21
“Get a mining company going and dig,” I said.
22
“But you’re not quite sure where they’re located. You 23
have the knowledge to go looking, but you don’t know 24
who owns the land. Maybe it’s government land, maybe 25
an Indian reservation. Maybe some old communist has it.
26
You don’t know.”
27 S
“That’s why they have corporations,” I said. “You go 28 R
into business with somebody and take your share.”
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The Man in My Basement
“But you don’t know who to go into business with. You 1
don’t know where the diamonds are, and if you let the 2
word out, people will start looking on their own. If they 3
have your knowledge, then they don’t need you.”
4
It made sense and I nodded. The whiskey tasted rich. I 5
smacked my lips.
6
“No,” Anniston Bennet said. “The diamonds only ex-7
ist for the man who has imagined them. They only exist for 8
the man who knows and who can realize their extraction.
9
That’s where I come in. Through various means I locate the 10
wealth and then acquire the property that contains it. I’m 11
paid handsomely for every step, and then I receive a stipend 12
based upon the value of my reclamation.”
13
“But it’s not really something reclaimed,” I argued. “It 14
belonged to someone else and you took it. It’s more like 15
stealing.”
16
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Knowledge is the only 17
true prerequisite for ownership. If you don’t know some-18