Page 20 of Finding Basil (Foggy Basin Season Two)

Chapter Thirteen

Herb couldn’t believe his eyes. After watching Basil go into his house, he waited for a text or call, and there was nothing. Then he looked for his keys and realized Basil had taken them.

He sat, heartbroken near the window, staring at the telescope, wishing it was broken, that he hadn’t seen what he’d seen. He couldn’t imagine why Basil would need to go into his house, why he’d taken Herb’s keys.

Was he wrong? Had Herb been so wrong about Basil? Was Basil after the house, or the fields, or something else? Money? Herb had little in the house to steal, but what else could it possibly be?

When Herb watched again, waiting for Basil to come out, he didn’t see him exit the house. Leaving Lila’s Herb slowly made his way across Lila’s yard, and just as he was about to cross onto his own property, Herb did spot Basil, but he wasn’t alone.

Someone else came out of the house with him.

Herb was shocked still. It must have been a good five minutes before his legs would work again, and once they did, he found the spare key he kept under a rock alongside the gravel walkway leading to the greenhouse.

Once inside, the lights came on, and he started searching the rooms for signs of theft, but not one thing was out of place. Upstairs, he went from room to room too, but nothing was missing.

Not that there was a thing in the far spare room, but he went inside of it regardless, and that was where he found something.

The closet door was open, and the dim light was lit, showing…a ladder.

He remembered Cordelia mentioning an attic, and the attic was small, unfinished and generally used for the storage of seasonal decorations. He hadn’t thought of checking it out, because, well, if there was stuff up there, it was just more on his plate to deal with.

As he made it up the ladder, however, the flashlight on his phone illuminating the attic, he saw a totally different place than he imagined. There were a few boxes, but they were in a far, dark corner. What he saw shocked him with he rest of the place.

It was obvious someone had been living there, and they’d drawn and written on all the sloping and vertical walls. There was a makeshift bed on the floor, and empty soda cans, water bottles and even an old pizza box littering the floor.

He sat in the center of the room, and his eye caught some of the writing. It was all about Basil, and how they’d run off one day, heading to LA to be stars.

Steve had been living in his fucking attic. And Basil knew…

When he got back to Lila’s, he saw that she was awake, watching out the window. “Sorry, did I wake you?”

“No, I’m an old woman. I wake up so many times, it’s better exercise than I get in the daylight. Where were you?”

Herb sat at the table after turning on the stove under the tea kettle. “Want to stay up a while and listen to a guy whine about something?”

“I hate whiners, but I’ll give a listen if you’re making the tea.”

They sat as Herb told her what he’d found, and she didn’t seem all that surprised.

“Did you know?”

“Me? Of course not. I’d never let anyone live in a house where someone was hiding in. That’s just the devil of a meanness. I can imagine Steve doing it, though. Being near where he knew Basil would be, hiding out from his parents on top of it.”

“Why would he hide from them?”

“They would always throw him into the hospital and pretty much forget he was alive. He was an embarrassment, you see. He inherited the sickness from his uncle and his grandfather, both of whom had their episodes, and they were the family secret that wouldn’t stay a secret.”

“They sound…wonderful,” he sniped sarcastically.

“They’re true pieces of excrement. But…Steve found a good man in Basil, but his sickness made it impossible for them to get further than Basil taking care of him. That’s not the kind of love either of them needed.”

“And looks like Basil is still doing it.”

“I think it’s likely that Basil discovered that he was there very recently and somehow got him to leave and hopefully go to the hospital.”

Herb was heartbroken. The tea tasted salty and bitter, as bitter as he was, he supposed. “I thought it was over between them.”

“It is. But Basil, he…he’s not someone that just stops caring about someone because they’re not a couple anymore. Don’t hold this against him, Herb! Don’t be an ass.”

Herb’s eyes rose to hers. “How can I not hold it against him?”

“Easy. Don’t. Simple as that. Hear the guy out before you throw something away that could be the best thing you’ve ever had in your life.”

He had thought that. Someone so good and pure of heart. Maybe he wasn’t good enough for the guy; maybe he’d been deluded to think it would last.

“I see your mind just spinning with ways that this is a bad thing. I think you best take your goddamn ass back to bed and call him in the morning and let him explain before you go and do something stupid.”

He’d regret that if he didn’t give Basil a chance to explain. The thing was, he was terrified of what the explanation might be. So fearful was he that Basil would break the news to him, that he was still in love with his old boyfriend.

“Go on, now, and get some sleep. He’ll be around later, I’m sure of it, and you can have your talk.”

“Do you think I can sleep?”

“I got pills for everything.”

He laughed and said, “No thanks. I’ll…try to sleep on my own.”

He didn’t, though. Lying awake and watching the shadows of the branches of the nearby trees moving across the ceiling was all he could manage.

Even Herb’s mind wouldn’t cooperate. He tried to think positively, but each time he did, a negative moment would arise to kill it.

When he got up finally at four, he found Lila back in the kitchen, and she rolled her eyes at him. “Didn’t sleep a wink.”

“It shows?”

“Dark circles under your eyes. Not a good look for a man your age.”

“I…Lila!”

She pointed to the other chair and told him to sit before handing him a cup of coffee. “Just use a little hemorrhoid cream on them bags. Does them right up.”

“Enough about my bags. When should I go talk to him?”

“Well, if it’s going and talking to him or moping around here, go now. I don’t take kindly to mopey people.”

He smiled at that. “I promise not to be overly mopey unless he breaks it off with me. Then, I cannot promise anything.”

“Well, there is some hope. Fifty/fifty chance I will want to throttle you by the time you leave.”

He went to his house and went up to the attic again. Looking around, reading the…well, it was an altar to Basil, was what it was. All about their first date, their first kiss, Steve’s wishes and dreams for them.

It was beautiful, in a run-on sort of way. Basil deserved every line, every compliment. Just reading it, however, he knew Steve was not in his right mind. Even his handwriting went from bad to worse, as if his mind was speeding up the more he wrote.

He’d known people with bipolar disorder, but they were all medicated. He’d never been close to someone who was manic. Shit, in LA, most of the people he knew were highly medicated on one form of anti-depressant or another.

He sat on the floor, flicking an empty Dr. Pepper can with his thumb and middle finger as he called Basil.

The longer the ringing went on, the heavier his chest became, like he lived in Salem during the witch trials and was having rocks piled on him like Giles Corey. That was exactly how it felt, and Steve was placing each one.

The phone call went to voicemail, but he didn’t leave a message. His heart hurt too much.

When he got back to Lila’s, she saw his face and knew. “He’s not home.”

“He’s not answering his phone.”

“I didn’t know that, but Michelle called me and asked if Basil was with you. I gave her your number, so she’ll be calling, I suppose, but I told her what you saw last night. She’s very worried.”

“You don’t think he would hurt Basil, do you?”

“My thoughts of Steve are a mixture, for sure.” She went to the window and sighed as she looked out at the gathering clouds.

“He’s a mess. He won’t do what is needed for him to live a nice life, and that’s on him.

I won’t make excuses for people who won’t do what’s best for them, especially if they have the means to get whatever it is.

And he does. But…he never had love, not the kind a boy needs.

And that’s on his folks. I just…I know that being mentally disabled isn’t naturally violent, but things happen in people’s minds, even people without mental disorders. Something snaps.”

His fear made him short of breath, and he stood and pled, “Lila, I have to know if Basil is okay. If something happened to him, and I could have stopped it…”

“You didn’t know.”

“But I saw them. I was close. I could have called out or ran over and I was too busy thinking he was stealing from me or something.”

Lila grew angry. “Stop beating on yourself and feeling sorry for yourself. Go find him and make sure he’s okay. In fact, I’ll call the sheriff. I think it’s time the law was brought in, Steve’s jailing or not.”

As much as he didn’t want to hurt Basil by reporting Steve, he also had to make sure Basil was okay. He could live with Basil being alive, healthy and angry than anything else.

He drove to Basil’s house, meeting the sheriff there. When he arrived, he saw the sheriff just exiting his patrol car. Herb hurried over to shake the man’s hand. “I’m Herb Buffet, one of the people who called about Basil.”

“Sheriff Clay West,” said the man, who was built hard, muscles showing through the loose sheriff’s uniform.

He was handsome as hell and had a deep tan, telling Herb he was a guy who loved being outside. Big hands, eyes cornflower blue, and if Herb wasn’t in the middle of a breakdown from missing his boyfriend, he might notice how absolutely attractive the guy was.

“Sheriff, it’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry it was under these circumstances, but it is what it is.”