I’m through with you, man. I called Ricky and told him. I 9
said no more Thursday-night blackjack, no more Saturday-10
night bar hoppin’, no more nuthin’. We’re through.”
11
Clarance was sputtering. I almost made a joke but then 12
thought better of it.
13
“Hey,” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean nuthin’. You 14
know it was the whiskey —”
15
“You sorry all right. Unemployed, drunk loudmouth is 16
what you is.” Clarance usually tried to articulate in the 17
ways of school learning. That kind of language was pro-18
moted among the older colored families of the Harbor.
19
But when he got angry, he talked
20
“I said I was sorry, man. What more do you want?”
21
“I don’t want nuthin’ from you. I don’t want you to call 22
or ask me for money or nuthin’ else. Just stay away from 23
me, you hear?” And with that he hung up the phone in 24
my ear.
25
I realized then that I didn’t have any kind of plan. All I 26
was going to do was borrow a hundred dollars from S 27
Clarance to put some cheap food in my refrigerator.
R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 34
Walter Mosley
1
I washed out a griddle and a saucepan, a glass and a 2
plate and utensils to cook and eat with. Then I cleaned 3
my fish and dredged the fillets in cornmeal. Fried fish 4
with hot sauce and a side of turnips was my dinner. I 5
laughed because it was better food than I would have had 6
if I had the money to go to the diner.
7
There were two shots’ worth left in the whiskey bottle, 8
just enough to keep me between self-pity and drunken 9
tears.
10
The house was a mess. There were piles of clothes and 11
dirty dishes in every room. Junk mail and bills were 12
thrown into corners, and every chair had something piled 13
on the seat.
14
I went upstairs to my bedroom and threw the blankets —
