under his hand-washed prison pants. I imagined that he 11
had been masturbating when I opened the hatch and 12
didn’t have time to calm down. I didn’t ask him about it 13
though. I had more important things on my mind.
14
“Did you really sell a baby to a man’s dog?” I asked even 15
before perching on the trunk.
16
I had thought that we would talk about love. I hoped to 17
impress him with my self-realization. But once I under-18
stood my own impulses, I found that I was hungry for 19
more understanding.
20
“Yes,” Bennet answered in an almost silent whisper.
21
“Did you know about Rwanda before it happened and 22
didn’t say a word?”
23
“Yes,” he said a little louder. “But that’s different. Every-24
one knew that it was about to explode down there. Saying 25
words wouldn’t have mattered. I don’t know if anything I 26
could have done would have made a difference.”
S 27
“And you stole that painting?”
R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 228
Walter Mosley
1
He nodded.
2
“. . . and killed that sergeant?”
3
He nodded again.
4
“. . . and you bought human organs from a man who 5
dealt in that trade?”
6
Bennet hesitated a moment and then nodded again.
7
“But you still don’t think you’re a murderer? Even 8
though somebody’s got to die to give up a heart.”
9
Bennet almost answered that but then swallowed and 10
stayed silent.
11
“What was your failure?” I asked him.
12
“I thought you didn’t want to know about that?”
