the wide tiled floor of the bank.
8
It was a domed building with a round floor. At the op-9
posite side from the entrance was a group of seven desks, 10
separated from the main room by a waist-high mahogany 11
wall. The center desk belonged to Lainie Brown.
12
Lainie was the only black bank officer. She’d started as 13
secretary the year I was born. Her boss was a liberal 14
thinker, and she trained Lainie and then forced the bank 15
president, Ira Minder, to promote her.
16
Lainie had been my friend at the bank. We ate lunch 17
together, and she told me that she hoped to make me into 18
a loan officer one day. But then I was fired, and that was 19
the end to my banking future and our friendship.
20
“Charles.” Lainie was surprised but not necessarily 21
happy to see me. She was a heavyset woman with auburn 22
skin. Her eyes were large and spaced wider than most.
23
Every tooth had a space between it, and her smile, when 24
she smiled, seemed to wrap around her whole head.
25
But Lainie wasn’t smiling right then. Her look was 26
somewhere between surprise and caution. I might have 27 S
been a snake on her front porch or a strange purple sky.
28 R
“ ’Bout time for lunch, isn’t it?” I said.
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The Man in My Basement
“Uh, why I suppose it is.”
1
“I already ate, but I’ll sit with you if you don’t mind.”
2
“No,” her lips said. Her eyes held the same answer with 3
another meaning. I suppose somebody else might have 4
taken the hint and offered to wait until a better time.
5
“Well let’s go,” I said.
6
Lainie rose up out of her generous walnut seat, releas-7
ing a sweet odor. Her perfume was one of the best bene-8
fits at Harbor Savings. It was one of the few things I 9
remembered about work.
10
11
12
13
