that the prisoner wasn’t dying. But then I thought that 8
Bennet’s death would make everything easier. No one 9
knew where he was, he said. I could just put him in the 10
ground in my family’s plot. If no one was looking for 11
him, he’d never be found. For a brief moment I consid-12
ered leaving him down there until he died of starvation. If 13
he died he couldn’t get back at me.
14
When I realized that I was contemplating murder, I 15
backed away from the window.
16
“Did you see him?” Narciss said from behind.
17
“No. No.”
18
“Then why’d you jump away from the window like 19
that?”
20
“I just remembered something. I have to go into the 21
city tomorrow for a meeting. I thought it was the day af-22
ter, but I just realized that I got confused.”
23
“Oh.” There was disappointment in Narciss’s voice.
24
“How will I get back to my car?”
25
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I’ll give you a ride to 26
your car when we get up.”
27 S
“Oh.” She hesitated. “I thought you were trying to get 28 R
rid of me now.”
3rd Pass Pages
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The Man in My Basement
“Why would you think that? You think I’d kick you out 1
of my house in the middle of the night?”
2
“You’ve been so restless,” she said. “I thought you 3
wanted to be alone.”
4
It was then that I realized what had happened to me.
5
Really, what had happened to the world around me. Be-6
fore Anniston Bennet had come into my life, I was invis-7
ible, moving silently among the people of the Harbor. No 8
one wondered about me; no one questioned me. Even my 9
best friends simply accepted what they saw. The card-10
player with a sharp tongue who couldn’t back up half the 11
things he said. The petty thief, the man across the street, 12
dead Samuel’s son. I might as well have been a tree at the 13
