Page 28 of Finding Basil
Basil nodded and said, “I didn’t want to. He loved me, or thought he did, and he wanted off them to show me, you know,how much. Well, they left his system pretty fast. The doctors said because he’s got this really high metabolism. And once they were, he became a little obsessed with me. Especially after we…”
“Got it.”
“I talked him into getting help. It wasn’t easy. He made me promise to wait for him. That was two years ago, and he’s never left the hospital.”
“Not even when he got back on his meds?”
Basil’s face was pained, and he looked near tears. “They don’t know why the meds stopped working. They’ve been trying since to find a new cocktail of meds for him, but so far, nothing’s worked. It’s…it’s been very hard. He calls sometimes to remind me that I said I’d wait.”
“Was he from here?”
Basil nodded. “His family bought a place on the other side of town. They’re raising these special dogs. They retired and that is a hobby place for them. I go see them now and then to say hello. It wasn’t their fault, and they liked me.”
As uncomfortable as it was for him to speak about, Herb knew he had to do something. He turned Basil to him and held him close, breathing in the fresh air through his thick black hair. “It’s okay, Basil. I’m here for you. I’ll help you in any way I can, and him too. I can see you care about him.”
“I didn’t stop caring. I just stopped loving him. And…”
“You feel guilty about that. Especially after meeting me and we hit it off so fast and so much.”
“Yeah,” he said with a cracking voice. Herb held him while he cried a little, but then Basil kissed him. “Thank you.”
“No thanks needed. I like you, Basil. I’d like to become closer to you eventually, when we’re both ready. And that kind of relationship is a partnership. Partners are there for one another and do for the other as much as they do for themselves. So far, you’ve done a lot more for me.”
“I don’t think you know how much you’re doing for me, just letting me help you with this farm.”
“I’d give you the damn thing if it wasn’t just a money pit.”
“I’d never take it, and not for that reason.”
Basil took his hand again, and they walked into the fields. After he stopped, he kneeled in the dirt and took a handful of it before he asked Herb to join him.
After Herb kneeled, Basil handed him the clump of dirt. “This isn’t yours exactly. It’s been asked of you to look over it and cultivate it into food. You’ll watch over, protect and grow in it until it passes to another, who’ll be tasked with the same. Respect it, love it, nurture it, and in return, it’ll repay all the sweat and blood you’ve added to it.”
Herb’s eyes filled with tears as the emotion of it hit him. The weight of that, the heart of it, Basil made him feel it.
The house was just something that sheltered him. The real thing he’d purchased without even realizing it was the land that could grow things.
That was no small thing. Just looking into Basil’s dark eyes told him that. Basil believed in that, was raised it a reverence for the land that went as high as believing in God.
A place that could grow things to feed people. That was a cherished place. Fighting the elements, weather, pests, diseases, all to make enough food to feed a hungry populace.
“No matter what, Basil, I’ll work to make this place something you’ll be proud of.”
Basil smiled and whispered, “I know that. I see it in you, before you even knew it was there.”
On their knees in the dirt, Basil kissed him, and the sin was warm on their faces, the breeze cool on their skin, and Basil’s body close, tender as he was held like it was he, Herb Buffet, that was the cherished thing on that land.
When they got back, the glass was set in the greenhouse, and it looked beautiful. “Wow, this is so big. How much of the crop can we start here?”
Juan said, “A big bunch of it.”
Basil agreed, “herbs grow well, and fast. You can do a full crop here to start, then next year, you start here and plant outside, then start more in here. You can grow year-round. I’ll come tomorrow, and we’ll start ordering the seed, the dirt and other things you’ll need to get started.”
“Okay then, tonight, I’d like to repay you all with…pizza? Beer?”
Juan laughed as he shook his head. “We are having aquinceanera. My little girl turned fifteen last week. Why don’t you come?”
“That little girl Basil introduced me to? Carla?”
