me Sergeant Bilko because of my bald head and the fact 25
that I could procure almost anything.”
26
“Are they after you?”
27 S
“Who?”
28 R
“The Americans. I mean, you were a traitor.”
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The Man in My Basement
“They don’t care about that. They dealt with me too. I 1
got three prisoners out from captivity for a fee. Asian com-2
munists are far more practical than the European variety.”
3
“You still haven’t explained why you want to be here.”
4
“I don’t want to be here, Charles. I have to be.”
5
“Because you shot that man?”
6
“No. I mean, that’s part of it. A small part. I’ve done a 7
lot of things. Too many things. Sometimes it was that I 8
did nothing. And now it’s too late. Like with love, it’s 9
grown up all around me and I can’t get away.”
10
Again there was a break in Bennet’s armor. He became 11
distant and misty. Not near tears but vulnerable.
12
“And you think being down here will help make up for 13
it,” I said.
14
“No.”
15
Through the diamonds of his cell Bennet took on the 16
quality of a martyr. He was like one of those death-row in-17
mates that they interview just before the sentence is exe-18
cuted. You see all the evil that they caused, but you still feel 19
like death is not the answer — that killing this man would 20
in some strange way take away his victims’ last hope.
21
But Bennet wasn’t going to die. He was on vacation. He 22
was in the Hamptons for the summer. He was a thief and 23
a murderer taking time off from his trade. This made me 24
angry. I began to resent the arrogance of Bennet. How 25
dare he think that by pretending to punish himself that 26
he would somehow have answered for his crimes.
S 27
“Why here, Mr. Bennet? Why my house?”
R 28
