The Man in My Basement

I didn’t touch or talk to him; I didn’t go into his room 20

at night. Every day he got weaker and I thought to myself, 21

Good, I hope he dies soon. I hope he dies tonight while I’m in 22

my bed thinking about the Playboy magazines that I stole 23

from under his bed.

24

One morning the nurse found him on the floor next to 25

the door. He must have been trying to get out. Maybe he 26

was trying to get to me. I heard something in the night, 27 S

but I really thought that it was squirrels in the gutters, not 28 R

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The Man in My Basement

my uncle scrabbling on the oak floor trying to escape 1

from death.

2

The police asked me if I had heard anything. Everyone 3

knew how much I hated Brent. But nothing came of it.

4

He died of cancer. They couldn’t arrest me for not being 5

friendly, for rubbing my urgent erection on the mattress 6

while thinking about impossibly endowed Tammy Lee 7

Naidor, the Playmate of the month.

8

“No,” I said to Bennet. “No, I’ve never killed anyone.

9

And now I have to go. I’ll come down tomorrow and ask 10

you some more.”

11

“Whatever you say, Warden.” Bennet smiled.

12

“You want a book?”

13

“If I may,” he said.

14

I passed him a paperback that I brought in my pocket.

15

Hothouse by Brian Aldiss. It was a book set millions of 16

years in the future, where plants had ascended to be the 17

dominant species on Earth. Maybe I gave it to him be-18

cause it was one of my favorites. I don’t know.

19

20

21

I sat up at the head of my bed and communed with my 22

ancestors. I didn’t know a damn thing about them except 23

that my family had kept and then forgotten them in the 24

basement for hundreds of years. They were the only thing 25

in my life of value right then — a hope that I came from 26