thing, then you can’t work with it. There are only two 19
things that are important in ownership. The first, like I 20
said, is knowledge. The second is the ability to exert con-21
trol over the wealth. Seize the day. That’s what I do.”
22
“So you work in Montana?” I asked in a doubting tone.
23
He smiled at my insight. I was proud of his attention 24
and embarrassed by my pride.
25
“No,” he said. “America has been picked clean. There’s no 26
wealth here. Not in its natural state, at any rate. There’s no S 27
meat on the bone. I mean, I guess there’s some potential.
R 28
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I’ve been playing with the idea of real estate and graveyards.
2
That’s one natural resource that could give up a few bucks.”
3
I poured the glasses full. I drank and experienced a cer-4
tain tipsy joy, but it wasn’t just the liquor. I was in the 5
presence, I believed, of a kind of mastermind, a Moriarty 6
or Iago. A man who had been across the line of lies that 7
defined good and evil for most normal folks. I mean, we 8
all say at some time or other that politicians are crooks or 9
that the rich are the best thieves. But no one seems to 10
really know how they cheat and steal. It always comes as a 11
surprise when some politician has taken money. As a mat-12
ter of fact, it’s hard to see sometimes when a crime has 13
been committed even when it’s been proven and docu-14
mented. But Mr. Bennet could explain the arcane prac-15
tices of the rich and powerful, and he was willing.
16
“So you spend your time making up schemes,” I 17
prompted. “Figuring out where to reclaim something no-18
body has found yet.”
19
“No. Most resources are already known. There’s uranium 20
in some third-world countries. Other natural deposits or 21
labor that’s dirt cheap. The usual question is the cost of ex-22
traction. How much do I have to put in compared to what 23
I can pull out? No. I don’t have to find lost treasure. The 24
companies come to me as a kind of consultant when they 25
want to get in on the ground floor or, more often, when 26
they want to keep a good thing.” Bennet clasped his hands 27 S
under his chin as if he were preparing to pray.
28 R
“It’s a complex world, the one in which we live,” he said.
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The Man in My Basement
“The elements of power — greed, public opinion, applied 1
wealth, hunger, the natural distrust between groups, and 2
the quirks of politics and current events — must be dealt 3
with in such a way that you and your tribe are able to end 4
up on top. Sometimes it’s simple. A million dollars in a 5
military bag or toward both sides in a political campaign 6
can yield hundreds of millions. You never have to worry 7
about your commitment to a side or ideology. Your ideol-8
ogy is always the same. It’s amazing,” he said, looking up 9
at me in wonder, “how a girl-child of eighteen can get a 10
senator or prince to the conference table.”
11
“Do you kill people too?” I asked. God bless whiskey, I 12
say. Four shots and I knew no fear.
13
His look was both stern and startled. His left eye quiv-14
ered; his shoulders hunched slightly.
15
“Life,” he said, “has little to do with progress. More of-16
ten than not men make the decisions that lead to their 17
own deaths. They delegate, hate, stay when all the signs 18
say go. Mostly they’re unwilling to make a deal. And 19
they’re almost all forgotten. No better remembered than a 20
cockroach who succumbs to a poison that you set down 21
under the pantry six months before.
22
“Did you kill the Kurds in Iraq? Was Roosevelt guilty of 23
the gassing of the Jews because he refused to bomb the 24
camps or the rails leading to them? What about God at 25
the River Jordan using Moses as his word?”
26
It was a good enough answer for me. Even leaning S 27
toward drunk, I didn’t want the details.
R 28
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1
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess we all have some blood on our 2
hands. If America does something, then the people do it 3
too. That’s why they call us Americans.”
4
It was a lame attempt to end what my question had 5
started. I believed every word that Anniston Bennet had 6
said, and I didn’t want to hear any more. He smiled, under-7
standing my discomfort.
8
“Could you bring me down some detergent?” he asked.
9
“I’d like to wash out my uniforms. They’re starting to 10
smell.”
11
I went up to the house and brought back a cupful of 12
soap flakes. I also brought a flatish and wide aluminum 13
bowl that slid neatly under the locked cage door. He 14
thanked me and I left quickly.
15
The moon was out that night, and I watched it for a 16
long time. Well, I didn’t watch as much as I looked. Be-17
cause my mind was not on the moon but back in the 18
basement, hearing things that were something like an-19
cient secrets that had been revealed coincidentally in my 20
presence.
21
22
23
24
25
26
27 S
28 R
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2
3
4
18
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Up in my room, I studied the passport masks on the C 14
windowsill. I had them standing on their chins with their 15
heads propped up against the glass. One’s mouth formed 16
an O, making him seem like he was singing. The two oth-17
ers were tight-lipped, maybe humming the music for their 18
brother’s song.
19
Maybe they were black slavers, I thought, and maybe An-20
niston Bennet’s ancestor owned the ship that they navigated.
21
I realized that I wasn’t afraid or upset for the first time 22
in many years. And even though I had had a lot to drink, 23
I wasn’t tired or even tipsy anymore. The talk with Ben-24
net exhilarated me. I didn’t even remember at that time 25
what he’d said. I just knew that it was important, that I 26
was privy to a way of thinking that wasn’t taught in S 27
schools or at the dinner table. In some crazy way it was R 28
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1
what I liked about the wild. There were no moral laws or 2
rules governing the lives of wolves and bears. Those crea-3
tures lived only by the instinct of survival. What Bennet 4
said about the world was the same thing, only with the 5
added ingredient of sly thought. Looking out of my win-6
dow, I wanted to howl at the moon.
7
8
9
The night moved along, but I did not tire. Snatches of 10
phrases kept returning from my discussion with Bennet.