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I did go fishing — in a small river not two miles from 15
my house. I caught three good-size trout, not for pleasure 16
but to eat that night. I wanted to cook dinner but couldn’t 17
bear the idea of counting out pennies to some high school 18
cashier at the IGA.
19
It was after 6:00 when I got home. There was a little day-20
light left in the distance, but it was dusk. My plans were all 21
set by the time I got in, so I went right to the phone.
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A woman answered after seven rings. “Hello?”
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“Mona?”
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“Hey, Charles. Hold on.” She put the phone down 25
with a loud knock and yelled, “It’s Charles!”
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A few moments passed and then the phone hissed as it 27 S
was being picked up.
28 R
“What?” a man’s angry voice said.
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 33
The Man in My Basement
“Hey, Clarance. Listen, man, I got to borrow a hundred 1
bucks fast.”
2
“So?”
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“This is no joke, Clarance —”
4
“Naw. That’s right. This ain’t no joke at all. This is dead 5
serious. I been thinkin’ about you and how you act since 6
last night. And it burns me up. Here I am tryin’ to be 7
your friend and all you wanna do is dis me. Well that’s it.
8
