But I didn’t want a drink to escape, not then anyway. I 9
needed a drink because I wanted to ask Narciss for that 10
rain check for the dinner we’d missed.
11
The first obstacle would be asking the question in the 12
presence of the adoring Geraldo’s imposing physique. But 13
I got over that. I could see that Narciss wasn’t all that in-14
terested in the Dominican artist. When he strutted and 15
preened, she hardly noticed. He was actually just an assis-16
tant.
17
But even when I saw that he was no competitor, I still 18
held back.
19
After being nearly crushed to death and then incarcer-20
ated in a mental hospital, the prince escaped and was run-21
ning. I decided to go in and check on my guests.
22
“How’s it going?” I asked, entering the room.
23
Geraldo sneered but Narciss took off her glasses and 24
smiled.
25
“We’re halfway through it,” she said. “It’s taking longer 26
than usual because I’m taking a separate slide shot. Some 27 S
of these pieces are so wonderful that I’ll have to send 28 R
them for projection.”
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The Man in My Basement
“Oh,” I said. “Good. Good. Would you like to get d-1
dinner after this?”
2
Just that one small stammer made me want to bite off 3
my tongue. One double skip on the letter
Narciss all about my fears and weaknesses. Geraldo was 5
standing behind me, but I’m sure he was grinning at my 6
failed manhood. The smile on Narciss’s lips I took to be 7
pity and pleasure at the discomfort of a child.
8
“I’m sorry, Charles, but I have plans,” she said.
9
“Uh-huh.” I nodded, putting an upbeat tone to the 10
grunt and realizing too late that that made me sound even 11
more pitiable.
12
“But maybe we can have coffee or something after we’re 13
finished here. There are a couple of things that we need to 14
discuss.”
15
