5
“Because I started to change,” she said.
6
“Change how?”
7
“I don’t know if I should talk about it. I mean I don’t 8
even know you.” Narciss stroked my head then, but I re-9
frained from any more kisses.
10
“That’s okay,” I said. “I understand. We all have our se-11
crets.”
12
Really I didn’t care about Narciss’s secret sex life with 13
her gigolo. I was thinking about the man in my base-14
ment, about what the consequences might be after he got 15
out of his cell.
16
“It’s not any kind of big secret or anything,” she said.
17
“It was just that I was acting like some other person and I 18
didn’t like who that person was.”
19
“And who was that?” I asked, sitting up.
20
“I was aggressive. I made him do things and I asked him 21
questions while we were . . . were doing it. I started calling 22
him names and doing things that I never did before.”
23
“What kind of things?”
24
She had finally caught my interest.
25
“I have to go to the bathroom.” She stood up and 26
walked out of my mother’s door.
S 27
I went to the window and cupped my ear to the pane.
R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 206
Walter Mosley
1
It could have been a moose, maybe five miles distant.
2
That’s what I could have said.
3
I was tired and almost scared of what I had done to An-4
niston Bennet. I wondered if he had a strong heart — if 5
the stressful time in my basement might kill him. I wanted 6
to run down while Narciss was in the toilet and make sure 7
