12
Maybe they were his gods, carved by some uncle.
13
“Touch them,” Narciss said like an impatient lover 14
showing a virgin the ropes.
15
Instead I closed the box and took a deep breath. When 16
I put down the lid, the music stopped. Not real music but 17
something that played in my mind. Something high-18
pitched but soft and repeating like a squeaky woodwind 19
playing its rendition of cascading water.
20
My intestines grew colder and a spasm wanted to run 21
down my spine but did not. I clutched Narciss’s forearm 22
for support and took another deep breath.
23
“Tell me about the rest of this stuff,” I said.
24
She had to disengage from my grip to look at her spiral 25
pad. She said a lot of stuff about quality and pedigree, 26
condition of resins and uniqueness in the market. She S 27
talked about the market a lot, but I didn’t understand R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 64
Walter Mosley
1
most of it. It was just good to hear her talking. So self-2
assured and serious. Every beat was a word and every 3
word meant something. Maybe I didn’t understand, but I 4
hoped to, I wanted to.
5
“So?” she asked. “What do you think?”
6
“About what?”
7
“Is there something wrong, Mr. Blakey?”
8
Just then Ricky broke out into loud laughter. I looked 9
toward the kitchen and then back to Narciss.
10
“Why do you ask that?”
11
“I don’t know,” she said with a frown. “You seem dis-12
tracted. When I came you were sitting in that window in 13
the dark, and you seemed like you . . . you were in a daze.
14
But I think I understand.”
15
