Her eyes were a muddy color and her fingers were too 7
long it seemed. But when she splayed out those digits to 8
indicate the immensity of the trove I had uncovered, I 9
appreciated their reach.
10
“You think it’s worth anything?”
11
“I can’t tell until I’ve studied it, but it certainly looks in-12
teresting.”
13
“Hey, Charles?” came another voice.
14
“In here, Ricky,” I said.
15
When he came in I was disappointed because he wasn’t 16
carrying a bottle in a bag. Whenever I heard Ricky’s voice, 17
I got the urge to drink. I wondered then how often since 18
we were children that we had been sober together.
19
“Hey, Narciss. How are you?”
20
“Fine, Richard,” she said.
21
“You guys met, huh?”
22
“Yeah, Cat.” Ricky winced when I called him by his 23
nickname. I didn’t use it again that night.
24
Narciss was already down on her knees, looking through 25
the toys. She had on close-fitting khaki trousers with a 26
matching woman’s jacket. She took off the jacket, reveal-27 S
ing a loose black T-shirt. She was dressed for hard work.
28 R
While she worked Ricky and I sat side by side in the
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The Man in My Basement
window seat, watching her plow through my family’s ac-1
cumulation of junk.
2
“You wanna go get a shot at Bernie’s?” Ricky asked me.
3
That meant the drinks were on him. That was our code —
4
the man who suggested drinks paid for them.
5
I wanted to go. But I was also interested in everything 6
about Narciss. By then she was sitting in a half-lotus po-7
sition, going over old photographs and letters that my 8
mother kept in a miniature steamer trunk she’d inherited 9
