13
But he had an eye for profit. One summer he and Clarance 14
ran a nighttime hot-dog stand in East Hampton. Charged 15
three and four dollars for hot dogs, and got it.
16
“How do I sell this stuff ? Yard sale?”
17
“That’s sucker shit right there, man. Uh-uh. There’s 18
some dealers in East Hampton and Southampton. I know 19
who they are, but you know they wanna rob you. But 20
there’s this sister out around Bridgehampton run a little 21
store that specializes in old quilts. Narciss Gully. If we 22
could get Narciss out here to look at your stuff and then 23
broker it with the other dealers, then you might make out.”
24
“You know her?”
25
“Ten percent.”
26
“Say what?” My tumbler was empty and I just felt the 27 S
Southern Comfort in my blood.
28 R
“Ten percent,” Ricky said again. “I don’t do any man-52
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The Man in My Basement
ual labor and I’m not responsible if at the end you don’t 1
think you got enough money.”
2
“What does she get out of it?”
3
“I’ll suggest ten percent for her too, but she might ask 4
for as much as twenty.”
5
“Thirty percent gone and you two don’t do nothing but 6
introduce?” I was arguing, but I knew it was a lost cause.
7
I had the woman’s name; I could have called her on my 8
own. But that would have cut Ricky out — I would never 9
have treated a friend like that.
10
11
12
I spent the next day pulling junk out of my basement. It 13
was a day full of the dry husks of spiders and centipedes, 14
and dust on top of oily grime that had been laid down be-15
fore the Civil War. I washed and swept and scrubbed with 16
every brush I had — even my uncle Brent’s old tooth-17
brush. My work yielded six boxes of old books (including 18
three diaries from three generations of Blakeys and 19
Dodds), wooden toys, tools that I couldn’t even figure out 20
