6
“See ya,” he said and then drove off.
7
As he left, Anniston Bennet approached from the plat-8
form. I stood my ground, waiting.
9
“Good evening,” he said.
10
The air was cool but my windbreaker was enough to 11
keep the chill off. There were moths floating around the 12
floodlights, and I detected the barely distinguishable mo-13
tion of bats feasting on the fluttering bugs in the hovering 14
darkness.
15
I took a deep breath and prepared myself. I wanted to 16
start this thing with Bennet on the right foot. I never had 17
a tenant before and didn’t want to be taken advantage of.
18
Everything mattered. The fact that I waited for him to 19
walk to me, that I didn’t offer to take his satchel. All he 20
carried was that small leather bag. I wondered what he 21
was planning to wear for two months.
22
“Mr. Blakey,” he said.
23
“Mr. Bennet.”
24
“I tried to call,” he said. “But there was no answer.”
25
“I know. I got the telegram. Did you get my message?”
26
He shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he was there 27 S
because he received my message. That would have been a 28 R
good moment for me to take his bag, but I did not.
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 117
The Man in My Basement
“My car is over there.” I indicated the brown Dodge.
1
We made our way. Bennet threw his bag in the backseat 2
and we were off.
3
“Why did you need me to pick you up?” I asked, turn-4
ing onto the highway. “You know we didn’t say anything 5
about you paying for a limo service.”
6
“I want to be circumspect about this retreat, Mr.
7
Blakey. No one knows where I’m going. Part of the idea is 8
