“Say what?”
8
“Teddy Odett down at Odett Realty said that you had 9
a basement where a man could stand fully erect, one that 10
has electricity and running water.”
11
“This house isn’t for sale, mister.”
12
“Bennet. Anniston Bennet. I’m from Greenwich, Con-13
necticut.”
14
“Well this house isn’t for sale, Mr. Bennet.” I thought 15
the small man would hunch his shoulders, or maybe give 16
me a mean frown if he was used to getting his way. Either 17
way I expected him to leave.
18
“Oh yes,” he said instead. “I know that. Your family has 19
owned this beautiful home for seven generations or more.
20
Mr. Odett told me that. I know it isn’t for sale. I’m inter-21
ested in renting.”
22
“Renting? Like an apartment?”
23
The man made a face that might have been a smile, or 24
an apology. He let his head loll over his right shoulder 25
and blinked while showing his teeth for a moment.
26
“Well, not exactly,” he said. “I mean yes but not in the 27 S
conventional way.”
28 R
His body moved restlessly but his feet stayed planted as
3rd Pass Pages
ManInMyBasemnt_HCtext3P.qxd 10/24/03 8:16 PM Page 5
The Man in My Basement
if he were a child who was just learning how to speak to 1
adults.
2
“Well it’s not for rent. It’s just an old basement. More 3
spiders down there than dust and there’s plenty’a dust.”
4
Mr. Bennet’s discomfort increased with my refusal. His 5
small hands clenched as if he were holding on to a railing 6
against high winds.
7
I didn’t care. That white man was a fool. We didn’t take 8
in white boarders in my part of the Sag Harbor. I was try-9
ing to understand why the real-estate agent Teddy Odett 10
would even refer a white man to my neighborhood.
11
“I want to rent your basement for a couple of months 12
