“Thirty-three,” I corrected.
1
“— thirty-three years old and you don’t even have two 2
nickels to rub together. What would your mother say?”
3
“My mother is dead. Maybe you could leave her alone.”
4
“Rude.” She said the word like it was a club to blud-5
geon me with. “Rude. And then you want me to write the 6
check. I’m sorry, Charles, but I have to agree with Floyd 7
about you. There’s no helping someone who can’t help 8
himself. I just hope you don’t lose our family home with 9
your foolishness. But maybe it would be better in some-10
one else’s hands anyway. I can see you don’t have a gar-11
dener anymore and from what I hear it’s a pigsty on the 12
inside.”
13
I hung up. It was the only way I could get her to feel the 14
pain that she was inflicting on me. I knew she was right.
15
I knew that my life was messed up. But what could I do 16
about it when I couldn’t get a job or pay my bills?
17
I spent the entire night cleaning. I collected eight big 18
plastic bags of trash. I swept and dusted and mopped and 19
straightened. When I’d get tired I’d stop for a little 20
chicken soup and black tea. Then I was off again, up and 21
down through the three floors. At 4:00 in the morning I 22
dragged the bags out of the house and into the street. I 23
wasn’t going to let Peaches and Floyd defeat me. I’d put 24
the house in perfect shape. I had plans to wax the floors 25
and mow the lawn. I’d trim the hedge too. After that I’d 26
paint the house. This last thought almost defeated me.
S 27
How could I paint with no money? I couldn’t even buy a R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 46
Walter Mosley
1
roller or brush, much less all the gallons of paint that I’d 2
need.
3
Outside I noticed a spark. At first I thought it was a 4
firefly, and I stopped to catch a glimpse of it again. Fire-5
flies were a miracle to me. The fact of their light seemed 6
somehow to prove that there was a God.
7
After a moment the light appeared again. But it wasn’t 8
a firefly at all. It was Miss Littleneck smoking a cigarette 9
in the dark. At first I was mad, thinking that she was spy-10
