like I used to do as a child when my parents were out. Her 23
window was the observation deck for my fortress. I could 24
see our family graveyard and my great-grandfather’s stand 25
of oaks and then up the side of the piney hills behind our 26
community. As a child I sat there for hours shooting BBs S 27
R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
at Confederate soldiers or the English. I was a patriotic 2
Yankee fighting to protect my home.
3
My mother was still alive in that room. The basket with 4
her threads and yarns sat next to her spindly maple chair.
5
Her worn sewing slippers lay underneath the table, mak-6
ing it seem as if she would soon be coming up to use 7
them. I could see her in my mind, long face and coffee-8
and-cream-colored skin. Her nose was broad but not so 9
flat and her eyes were as round as some forest creature’s 10
orbs. She always smiled just to see me. That smile was 11
always waiting for me upstairs in her room.
12
My father was dimmer in my memory. Much darker 13
than Mom, he was thick. Not fat but strong like a tree 14
trunk. He had big hands and a giant’s laugh. Nobody 15
expected him to drop dead, certainly not me. Maybe if I 16
had warning I would have looked closer, listened more 17
attentively while he was still alive. As it is he’s just a big 18
hole in my memory, a hole where there was a yearning. I 19
looked away over the hills because if I paid too much at-20
tention to my father’s absence, the yearning would turn 21
into a yowl.
22
A dead leaf from the previous fall was tumbling on a 23
sudden wind. Its progress was almost musical; it seemed 24
to be tinkling in the breeze. I looked and listened and 25
then realized that the phone was ringing downstairs.
26
My foot hit the last step to the first floor when the ring-27 S
ing stopped. The leaf was still blowing in my mind’s eye 28 R
and I was laughing. I sat down next to the phone, won-48
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The Man in My Basement
dering whether or not to go up for my beans and corn-1
meal. My hesitation was rewarded with another ring.
2
There was a great deal of static over the line.
3
