Page 17 of Finding Basil
“Great,” he said, then blushed brightly.
Inside the greenhouse, Basil led him to a table in the corner that held a tall stack of green trays with two dozen cells in each. “You fill these with the seed starter, or just potting soil, then add three or four seeds in each cell.”
“Three or four?”
The look on Basil’s face as he spoke next just rocked Herb. It was as if he were picturing something so beautiful, so perfect, only his face could express it. “Growing things is bringing life into the world, just like children. One seed might not work, but out of the three or four, you’ll get a seedling. Maybe you get more, but life starts, and it grows. Us men, we can’t have a baby, but we can still bring life. This is how we can feel a little taste of what women feel when they make a child. It’s not the same, sure, but a tiny piece of that, we can feel.”
“That’s really beautiful.”
“I’ll admit that I’ve seen this done in making a baby too, recently. My sister and her husband have been trying for three years and finally are trying IVF. In vitro fertilization. They do the same with it, taking multiple eggs of hers and placing themin the dish, fertilizing them and implanting them back inside her uterus.”
“I’ve heard of it, yeah. Did it work for her?”
Proudly, chin rising, he said, “She’s carrying twins right now. Twin girls.”
Herb proffered his hand. “Congratulations, Uncle Basil.”
“Thanks. I’m pretty happy. I love kids. We have a big family, so there are always little ones running around.”
He could see Basil chasing the kids, playing tag, playing hide-and-go-seek. Basil’s sweet disposition would be welcoming to kids. “I love kids, but I’ll admit, I haven’t been around a lot of them. I don’t have a big family. I’m an only child, and most of my extended family was spread all over the place. I’ve never met most of them.”
“That’s really sad. Family is special, but then again, we can usually find people to make our own too. I have a few found families that I cherish as much as my birth family.”
He could see that too. Basil likely made friends wherever he went. “When are your nieces due?”
“She’s only eight weeks, so we have a ways to go. We’re really close, her and me. We’re only a little over a year apart, and all our siblings are a lot older. We were the annoying baby siblings that they had to babysit all the time.”
“I don’t have any, so I can only imagine. I always wanted siblings. Especially a big brother or sister.”
“Come to my house this Sunday for dinner. You can meet my family. Before the fried ice cream, you’ll have siblings. We’re a welcoming family.”
“I’d love it.”
“Good. Now, pay attention. Let’s get you farming.”
The first thing Basil set Herb to do was to get the greenhouse contained again with the new glass, which came the followingday, then he learned how to vent the hot air to keep the plants from wilting.
He learned the watering system, and then Basil helped him buy the soil to start some seedlings that he’d grow and keep in the greenhouse. A start, he said, to farming. If it went well, he’d show him how to plow and plant a small field for the first year. If that went well, well, he could do more the following year. Or if it didn’t, Basil said he could rent the fields out to another farmer and make money that way.
The few days after that initial trip to the hardware store, Herb found his way back there several times. First, he bought the things he’d need for the tile man to redo the tile in the bathroom and kitchen, then he purchased screws, stain and lumber for his back deck and the floors in the living room, which needed replacing.
As he watched his bank account getting smaller each passing day, he realized he would have to get good at farming just to stay in Foggy Basin. Putting the money to work for him was important, but it was very nice getting the house done. Like Basil said, the more he put into it, the more it felt like it was truly his own.
Sunday found him trying on clothes for two hours, never quite finding the right thing to wear to meet Basil’s family. It was strange for him to meet the family of a guy he was interested in, especially since they had yet to so much as date.
Not that it hadn’t crossed his mind a thousand times, but each time he wanted to ask, another thing broke or needed to be installed.
Basil came to pick him up, since it was a rural road with numbers instead of a name to find his family’s property, and even GPS had a hard time in sending people to the right place.
A soft green sweater with a white shirt beneath it and tan slacks was his final choice. As he climbed into Basil’s truck, Basil noticed his outfit and said, “You look nice.”
“I clean up okay, I guess. You always look good,” he said, then chuckled. “I mean…”
“I know what you mean. I wouldn’t flirt so openly with me once we get to my house. My abuela will become our chaperone until we’re married.”
“Oh, we’re getting married now?”
“Good Catholics don’t even kiss before marriage,” Basil said, laughing. “Of course, I don’t know many good Catholics.”
