6
From there I wondered about the word
while. Was it an old seafaring term? Was the image of a 8
sailor throwing up over the side of the ship, hanging on 9
for his life? That brought me around to thinking about 10
liquor, Southern Comfort to be exact. Ricky loved South-11
ern Comfort and I did too.
12
“Hey, Cat,” I said into the receiver.
13
“Charles, hey.”
14
“You doin’ anything?”
15
“Uh-uh, man. Not me. Clarance out with his wife an’
16
kids. He sure don’t wanna see you after Thursday night.”
17
“Yeah.” I paused, anticipating the drink. “Hey, Ricky?”
18
“Hey what?”
19
“You wanna pick up a pint of SC and come on over?”
20
“Shit.”
21
“I’ll pay you for the whole thing when you get here, 22
man.” That was a good offer and Ricky knew it. “I need 23
some help with my basement.”
24
“Okay,” he said. “I gotta give my sister a ride, but then 25
I’ll be over.”
26
27 S
¦
¦
¦
28 R
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 51
The Man in My Basement
“Is it dry?” Ricky asked, holding his tumbler of iced 1
Southern Comfort and peering down into the darkness of 2
the cellar.
3
“Yeah. These doors are triple ply and high. No rain can 4
get in.” I took a few steps down and pulled the chain on 5
the light.
6
Ricky followed.
