The Man in My Basement

and then say I didn’t?”

25

The smile this time was a memory of some previous 26

event. “In my experience, Mr. Blakey, people rarely re-27 S

nege on their promises. It’s always easier to keep your 28 R

word than to enter into lies or intrigue.”

74

3rd Pass Pages

ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 75

The Man in My Basement

Looking back on it I should have been scared by his 1

words, but instead I was confused. I wondered what point 2

of view could see honesty as the stronger virtue in a world 3

I knew was full of cheating and lies. Didn’t they lie in 4

commercials on TV and ads in newspapers? Didn’t politi-5

cians lie about what they’ve done and what they’re about 6

to do? Clarance lied all the time to his wife, and he had 7

more girlfriends than I did.

8

But then I thought about Narciss and how the truth 9

had been so easy with her.

10

“You say you’re going to lie to the government, not tell 11

them about the money,” I said.

12

“The government isn’t real,” he replied. He might have 13

been talking about Santa Claus or God. “I don’t owe any-14

thing to anyone who in themselves are lies and liars.”

15

Talking to the white man made me very nervous. There 16

were all these thoughts in my head. Thoughts about love 17

and lies and money. Especially money. Money and the 18

mortgage and food and work. I had been calling around 19

about jobs for days, but no one wanted to hire me ex-20

cept for a McDonald’s out on the highway and the plas-21

tics factory in Riverhead. But those jobs were part-time 22

and minimum wage. No way I could pay my bills with 23

that.

24

“Why did you come to me, Mr. Bennet? Of all the 25

places out here, how did you choose my house?”

26

“I had an associate of mine question Teddy Odett. My S 27

friend was looking for a place that I could go. He knew R 28

75

3rd Pass Pages

ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 76

Walter Mosley

1

my requirements and asked Odett and also Minder at the 2

bank in town what my best options were. As you know 3

you can’t find a job around here and your mortgage is in 4