“Well if you do I hope you let me in on it.”
16
She smiled at my helplessness and said, “I’m sure that 17
all of this digging into your family history has made you 18
very upset. Bringing it all out. Thinking about selling it 19
off. It must feel like selling your soul, or even worse, sell-20
ing your ancestors’ souls.”
21
Again what she said cut right into me. I was beginning 22
to fear her words.
23
“It’s just stuff,” I said. “Something that’s been in the 24
basement. I didn’t even know I had most of it. I would 25
have thrown it away if it wasn’t for Ricky.”
26
“It might be better that way,” she said. “At least if you 27 S
threw away the spirit of your heritage, you wouldn’t make 28 R
it into merchandise.”
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 65
The Man in My Basement
“Are you trying to talk me out of this?” I asked the slen-1
der brown woman.
2
“I’m sorry, Mr. Blakey. You know, I come to the antique 3
business through school. I got my B.A. at Penn with a 4
double major in anthropology and archaeology. Then I 5
went to RISD for a graduate degree in textiles. Every-6
thing I know about antiques comes from the inside out.
7
It’s more than a business with me; it’s a way to see our his-8
tory. And I thought maybe you had the same feelings 9
when you got so low.”
10
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said again in that low voice. “I’m 11
sorry. This is all new to me. But you know I’ve got to sell 12
this stuff. Even if it’s something important and I don’t 13
know it. Maybe we could find some people like you to 14
appreciate what they got. How much do you think it’s 15
worth?”
16
“That depends,” she said. “If the paintings have artistic 17
value, which I doubt, they could go pretty high. But I 18
think I can authenticate the dates they were done and the 19
artist, Blythe Blakey-Richards, and so I’m sure there are 20
some museums and universities that would have at least 21
an anthropological interest. The furniture is Arts and 22
Crafts and earlier. The clothes have museum possibilities, 23
and there are also some collectors. The toys and tools 24
might be the most valuable items. I would try to sell them 25
