“No problem. Just as long as we’re through before seven 16
’cause you know I got to get out and eat something.”
17
Every word out of my mouth seemed calculated to make 18
me look more like a fool.
19
I went back into the kitchen feeling as if I were de-20
scending into a pit. Every step brought me lower. And all 21
it was was just that double
fingers were tingling, the light in the room refused to il-23
luminate. I didn’t feel hungry; I didn’t want a drink. My 24
months of unemployment, my loneliness, my drunken 25
poverty all came to the surface then. I would have liked to 26
cry but I couldn’t. The prince in my novel was reduced to S 27
a mass of unreadable words.
R 28
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 96
Walter Mosley
1
The minutes went by and I kept sinking. At some point 2
Narciss came in. She had sent Geraldo away, but I didn’t 3
care. She wanted coffee and I made it, but the brew was 4
unbearably weak and she took no more than a sip.
5
“Are you okay?” she asked. “I mean, you look kind of 6
sad.”
7
“Fine,” I said.
8
“Is this a good time to talk?”
9
“Sure.”
10
“It’s about those masks.” Narciss was excited. She took 11
a large book from her shoulder bag and opened it. Be-12
cause I didn’t move my head, she pulled her chair next to 13
mine and opened to a page marked by a red ribbon. On 14
the page was a carven mask that resembled the three masks 15
on my windowsill.
16
“Passport masks,” she said. “That’s what this is and it’s 17
also what we found in that box. They were used as iden-18
tification but also as a way of bringing home along with 19
you when you were away on a long journey. It’s hard to 20
say, but the masks you have could represent a family, 21
maybe three brothers or friends who set sail for America 22
as indentured servants. The majority of passport masks 23
are made of wood, so the fact that these are ivory might 24
