23
“I thought you had just started hiring.”
24
“It’s hard times, Charlie,” he said. “You got to get there 25
first if you want to work nowadays.”
26
“But somebody told me last night that you’d still be hir-27 S
ing today.”
28 R
“Well,” Ryder began. He was ready to carry his lie further.
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 21
The Man in My Basement
But then he looked at me, really I think he was looking at 1
himself, wondering why the hell he was going through all 2
those changes over some unemployed local Negro.
3
“You used to work for that bank, didn’t ya?” he asked.
4
“Yeah?”
5
“Why aren’t you there anymore?”
6
“I don’t know. They just let me go.”
7
“Well let’s just say that I’m lettin’ you go too.”
8
It didn’t make any sense. How could he let me go if I 9
didn’t even work for him? I almost said something about 10
it, but I knew that I’d just sound stupid.
11
Wilson gave me a crooked little smile and friendly nod.
12
13
I cursed him all the way down the road to the town of 14
Sag Harbor.
15
16
17
I grabbed a clam roll and a beer at the stand down by the 18
pier, using the last of my paper dollars to pay for the meal.
19
From then on I’d have to pay for whatever I bought in 20
change. I could already hear the teenage cashiers snicker-21
ing behind my back.
22
If suicide meant just giving up, I would have dropped 23
dead at that moment. With no job, no money, and no 24
