5
“I once made ten million dollars because I was willing 6
to deliver one million to a man hiding from the commu-7
nists in Nicaragua. That’s the American way.” He laughed.
8
“Why are you here, Mr. Knosos?”
9
“Last summer I had a deal fall through.”
10
I had gotten up to the gate and now I was shaking, too 11
afraid to go further.
12
“You know,” I said, “I don’t think I need to know this.”
13
“Let me stay a little bit longer, Charles,” Anniston Ben-14
net said. “You can take away the books and just feed me 15
bread and water if you want. You can keep the lights off 16
all the time, but please don’t ask me to leave here.”
17
“Are you crazy?”
18
“No. No, I’m not crazy at all. As a matter of fact I’m 19
very sane. That’s because I stopped for a minute and 20
looked around and saw what it was that I was doing. All 21
of a sudden I realized what was happening, what I had 22
done was so, so . . .”
23
“. . . evil,” I said, thinking that I was finishing his 24
thought. “You realized that you were evil?”
25
Bennet was rubbing his fingers along the rough surface 26
of his chin, considering my words.
27 S
“No, and yes. What had happened was evil. The child 28 R
torn apart and half devoured by a dog in the night.
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The Man in My Basement
Procuring a heart or a kidney for a man who I might need 1
as a business contact one day. The act is evil.” Bennet’s 2
face contorted to grapple with the concept he was ex-3
plaining. “Yes. And my actions were also evil, criminal.
4
But it was not me; it was the world around me. Not me 5
but the commerce and the language of our world.” He 6
scooted up to the edge of his plastic chair and held his 7
hands out separately, pinching the fingers together. “Death 8
and starvation are integral parts of our language system, 9
our form of communication.
