about the masks. Now, either they didn’t know of their re-10
lation to the three African sailors or somehow your fam-11
ily inherited the masks from another clan.”
12
She was wearing a dark-blue dress that came to 13
midthigh when she sat. It was a sharp number — new, I 14
believed. I sat down, put my hands across the table, and 15
touched her elbows with my fingers.
16
“I was thinking,” she continued. “I mean, I haven’t 17
really pushed ahead with the sales yet. I was thinking that 18
maybe you would like to start a museum.”
19
“Museum?”
20
“Yes. An African American museum of the life out here.
21
We could use my upstairs. I could charge admission. You 22
wouldn’t make as much as you would if you sold the 23
pieces, but you could keep them and share them too.”
24
“It’s nice to see you, Miss Gully.”
25
She struggled not to look away.
26
“What did you want to talk about?” she asked.
27 S
Her skin enchanted me again. The subtle variations of 28 R
color gave depth to her.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Again words came out of my
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The Man in My Basement
mouth as if they were uttered by some stranger. “I felt bad 1
about how we got off the phone the other night. I like 2
you and I was hoping that we didn’t have to stop talking 3
before we had a chance to be friends.”
4
Narciss smiled and sighed. She touched her long fingers 5
against my forearm, and the waitress, a blond teenager, 6
came up to take our order.
7
I ate raw fish for the first time in my life. Yellowtail and 8
tuna, and smoky and sweet-tasting sea urchin on a mint 9
leaf. I paid for the meal and then took Narciss on a long 10
drive out to Montauk. I kissed her the first time on the 11
beach. We had been walking for more than an hour. She 12
had done almost all the talking — mostly about the mu-13
seum she wanted me to contribute toward — but there 14
were details about her mother and father and her activist /
