“Help me with these,” he said, dragging the table and 16
chair toward the small door of the cage.
17
He crawled into the cage, and with a little effort, I 18
passed the furniture in to him.
19
He arranged the pieces like a small bedroom. I handed 20
him the clothes and stationery and a few other small 21
items.
22
“Pass the crapper,” he then said. I dragged the oval-23
shaped cylinder to the door, and he strained over it until 24
it was against the back wall of the cage.
25
“Now all we need is to put the pump back here and 26
we’re in business,” he said.
27 S
He stood up then and approached me. Looking at him 28 R
through the diamonds of the cage, I thought not for the
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The Man in My Basement
first time that the structure might bear more than a re-1
semblance to a prison cell.
2
“Have you figured it out yet?” he asked me as if reading 3
my mind.
4
“What?”
5
Again the silent laugh.
6
“What?” I asked again.
7
“This is my prison,” he said. “And you are my warden 8
and my guard.”
9
“Are you crazy?” The sentence just came out of my 10
mouth. It wasn’t really a question.
11
“You like to drink, don’t you, Charles?” he asked. “Why 12
don’t you go up to the house and get us some liquor? I’ll 13
explain to you why I’m not crazy and why this is impor-14
tant for both of us.”
15
It was a request bordering on a gentle command. There 16
was no polite answer except to go get a bottle and two 17
glasses. I wanted to be out of his presence for a minute.
18
Anniston Bennet was a man who made you do what he 19
