“I’m sorry, Charles,” she said. “I just didn’t know what 25
to think. Mr. Mathias told me about what had happened.
26
And I was afraid that you’d lose your temper and that if 27 S
they did have some kind of evidence that they’d take you 28 R
to jail. I was worried about you.”
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 31
The Man in My Basement
She was getting weepy. Lainie had a kind heart. But I 1
wasn’t in any mood to worry about her crocodile tears.
2
What about me? Here I had waited until I was down to 3
my last dollar, thinking that I could always pick up a job 4
somewhere. But nobody in the Harbor would hire a thief.
5
And even if I went out of town, people would still ask for 6
references.
7
What I wanted to do was yell at Lainie until she felt the 8
pain that I was feeling on the inside. I would have yelled 9
if I were innocent.
10
“I’m sorry, Lainie. It’s not your fault. It’s just that bank.
11
I probably made some mistake and they decided that I 12
was a thief. That’s all.”
13
“What are you going to do?”
14
I considered her question for a moment, and then I 15
thought a little more. I opened my mouth, but there was 16
no answer forthcoming.
17
“I got to go,” I said. “Thanks for tellin’ me.”
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
S 27
R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 32
1
