Page 27 of Finding Basil
“Lila, that’s mean,” Basil chided. “He loves the place.”
“Sure, it’s a great place, but the house? I’d have bulldozed the whole thing and started over.”
Herb shook her hand and said, “If I’d have known the extent, I likely would have. How are you, Lila?”
“I’m fit as a fiddle, not sick a day in my life. You have some good men helping you out. Hope you’re not taking advantage. You city fellas are known for that kind of thing.”
Basil rolled his eyes as he laughed. “You’re awful, Lila.”
“Well, only to those who don’t take kindly to truth-tellers. Otherwise, I’m universally loved.”
Juan laughed at that. “Sure. Tell that to the city council, the manager at the grocery store, the police and fire chiefs, the—”
“We get the message, you shit,” she said and cackled more. “Like I said, those that hate the truth don’t care a lick for me.”
Herb couldn’t help but like her. “Listen, Lila, the well draining, it was…not original to the house, so to speak. Someone may have broken a pipe and caused it. If you see anyone around, can you let me know?”
“Like I pay attention to other people’s places,” she said.
“Lila…” Basil cautioned.
“Fine. Listen, Bas, you don’t think it was…”
Basil ducked his head and said, “No, I doubt it. He’s…away.”
“Mmhmm. Well, then, I’ll try to keep an eye, but I’m a busy woman. Got my own place to run. See y’all later.”
The cousins came over as they all watched her leave. One of them said, “That woman is a tornado waiting for a place to touch down.”
“Yeah, but she’s got a good heart under all that rough leather,” Juan said. “Helps abuela a lot. Abuela loves her.”
“So does Mom,” Basil said.
Basil’s eyes met Herb’s quickly and then told the others, “I need to talk to Herb for a minute.”
“Talk. Sure,” Juan said with a wink. “Okay, guys, they’re gonna do stuff we don’t care to see. We’ll finish the actual work.”
Basil took his hand and led him off down into the fields. “I guess I need to explain about my ex.”
“I’d never ask, but everyone seems to mention him.”
“His name is Steve. Steve Paladin. The reason I don’t think he did this pipe thing, well, it’s because he’s…in a place.”
“A mental hospital?”
“Yeah, a rehab, they call it, but not the drug kind. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite with Steve. He keeps going off his meds. He’s been diagnosed a thousand times, and they’ve had a hard time pinning any down for him.”
They walked in the sunlight, but the conversation was dark, as if a cloud was following their progress. “I’ve heard that before.”
“Well, he’s one of them. Bipolar for sure, but he’s also been told he has borderline personality, DID, but that one, well, they dismissed it. Um, others, I can’t remember them all, but the big one is bipolar. Severe bipolar. I mean, one day he could be so depressed he wouldn’t get out of bed, and the very next day he was up buying a tractor that he drove all over the county, through people’s yards and fields, just a mess. He even tried to buy a plane once, thinking he could learn to fly it by actually flying it.”
“Damn. I’m sorry, Basil.”
“I met him when he was on his meds. He was the sweetest guy, just loving and giving. Herb, I never thought I could leave someone because they were sick, but when he went off his meds…
“It was…I hate to say this to you, but the reason he went off his meds was sex. They made it hard for him to…”
“Get hard. Got it. No need to go into details.”
