THE BASIL POT

A new take on an Italian folk story inspired by the IP 'Turning Negatives into Positives'.

 

Lisabetta di Cara, Lisa to her friends,  is the youngest child of Franco di Cara and his British born wife Selina Browne, who was a top model in her day.

 

The di Cara family have a thriving wine and fresh produce business, with offices in London as well as back home in Sicily, and Lisabettas’ three brothers spend much of their time flying back and forth between the two, leaving Lisa and her mother running their large ranch-like home in Buckinghamshire, entertaining clients and generally keeping up the English side of the business.

 

At least, that’s how it was until Franco quite unexpectedly keeled over one day, probably due to a surfeit of rich food, cigars and vino.

 

At the reading of the Will, Lisa was extremely put-out to find that instead of being given an equal share with her brothers in the business, she had been allocated just a small interest, with proportionately minimal voting rights.  The fact that the house and farmland were left to her solely, with the proviso that it should not be sold while her Mother was still alive, was no comfort to Lisa, whose ambitions reached far beyond a bit of gentle viniculture and gardening in leafy Chalfont.

 

She made no secret of her resentment, and demanded that her brothers allow her to take a proper part in the running of the company; but they had other ideas; they were already sizing up what they considered to be suitable husbands for their pretty sister.  There were three prospective candidates, all from wealthy Sicilian families.  When linked with the di Cara fortune, the combined assets would make a formidable economic powerhouse.

 

The one flaw in this plan was Leo, who had been working for the di Caras for two years now; as a sales rep he spent a lot of time away in Italy and the States, where the Companies’ dealings were not always in strictly kosher merchandise, and there were often encounters with some very dubious characters.

 

It didn’t take Lisa long to wise up to the family’s scheme, which made her all the more keen on Leo.  Until one day, the eldest brother, Ricardo, known as Rick, called a family pow-wow – minus Lisa.

 

‘Enough is enough!’ He banged the table angrily.  ‘Lisabetta knows the company is not doing so well lately, and she should know it is her duty to help the family business!  And the best way she can do this is by allying the di Caras with one of the Carlotti, the Mangella or the Grimaldini families.  All three have sons whose tongues practically hang out whenever they see her; but the stubborn signorina won’t look at anyone else while Leo is hanging around’

 

‘Okay, so what do you propose’.  Tony the younger brother smirked.  ‘Kill him perhaps?’

 

Eduardo, the quiet one, joined in:

 

‘What else can we do?  Leo is a good employee, but he can be replaced.’

 

Ricardo laughed.

 

‘You are right, fratello mio.  And I have a cunning plan.  He is due back from Miami tomorrow.  We will meet him from the airport and do the job ourselves’.

 

‘You two go ahead, I’m having nothing to do with it’.

 

‘Tony, this is a family affair.  Mamma agrees it is for the best.  We three must go together.  We will each take supplies from the strong room, and drive him somewhere quiet to finish the job’.

 

Leo was surprised to find Ed waiting for him at Heathrow, and even more surprised when he found the other two brothers waiting in a black limo with darkened windows.  Rick swiftly injected him with enough tranquilliser to fell an elephant, and Ed subsequently finished the job with a clean bullet in the back of his head.

 

They soon arrived back on their land, and made straight for a field out of sight of the house where a new vegetable garden was being prepared.  Several tonnes of earth and a mechanical digger were already there waiting for work to begin, and it took little effort for Ed to use it to cut a deep grave in the half finished bed, and cover it with fresh soil.

 

Next day Lisa did wonder why Leo had not shown up; but she bought Rick’s story that he had stayed on in Florida to cut another deal.  He reckoned it would not be difficult a little down the line to spin her another yarn about him staying on with some girl!

 

The hired contractors were already at work preparing the rest of the land ready for planting, and the brothers presented it to Lisa as a new project just for her; her own little Market Garden business.  Rick thought it was a real big joke that Lisa would be growing her fruit and veg right over her lover’s resting place!

 

But Tony was the weak link in all this.  He slept little and drank much over the next two weeks until he could bear it no more, and spilled the beans to his sister.  How she wept!  But Tony was surprised that she seemed more angry than sorrowful’ and promised him she would not tell the others of his betrayal.  Instead, she threw herself into planning and planting the new plot.  She decided to start with a specialist Herb Garden; the family connections would make it easy to find outlets for good fresh herbs of all kinds.

 

………………………

 

As the weeks and months passed, the carefully planted herbs flourished.  Lisa would often sit on the large patio she had had built behind her private sitting room, with pots of fragrant flowering herbs surrounding the tables and chairs.  Basil, or Basilica as Lisa preferred to call it in her family’s native tongue, grew very well in that spot, and she had a beautiful huge ceramic pot specially imported from Italy, filled with the most spectacular Basil plants, placed right outside the patio door, so she could tend it lovingly every day whatever the weather.

 

When the new business, named ‘Lisabettas’ Herbs’ was officially launched, Lisa invited the family over for drinks on the patio. Everyone remarked on the lushness of the Basilica growing in the flame-red terracotta pot.

 

‘How beautiful’,  said her Mother, and plucked a sprig to try.

 

‘Delicious!’ she announced, licking the luscious leaves.

 

Lisa smiled, and gestured to her brothers to try some also.  They nodded approvingly as they chewed.

 

‘Perhaps’ she said, ‘you might like to know the secret of the success of this plant’ – and to their amazement, she picked up a heavy garden spade, and swung it against the expensive pot, smashing it to smithereens.

 

No-one said a word;  at first the basil plants remained still, as if suspended magically at the top of the mound of earth; then the contents trickled slowly to the floor, like a reluctant landslip, spreading rich brown earth all over the marble slabs of the patio.  A large clump of earth rolled out and came to rest at Selinas’ feet.  She pushed it with her toes, then let out a long low moan, like that of a wounded animal.

 

Rick bent to examine it, and lifted into the air Leo’s rotting head, still quite recognisable, preserved by Lisa’s daily watering and tender ministrations.

 

The men took a sharp step back – Rick dropped the ghastly object, and their mother clutched her heart, sinking theatrically into a rattan armchair.  Lisa smiled.

 

‘Yes, my beloved family, I know exactly what happened.  It didn’t take long for Tony to crack – has no-one noticed he hasn’t been sober for almost a year now!’

 

Rick regained his composure.

 

‘Well, my dear sister, what do you actually intend to do with this knowledge?  Me and Ed, and Tony when he’s not too drunk, can easily do away with the evidence – no-one will believe your story – I could call the cops and who would they believe – us or a mad woman scorned and all that!’

 

‘Really, Rick, don’t you think I’ve thought of all that?  VINCENZO!  Come out here’ A good looking man wearing extremely expensive casual clothes stepped out into the sunshine.

 

‘Hi guys, remember me?  Vince Minguzzi – my Papa and your Papa used to do a lot of business together – I reckon once me and your lovely sister are married there’ll be plenty more money to be made!’

 

Rick spat out:

 

‘Over my dead body!  Your family shafted my family – Papa hated you all!’

 

‘Well my Dad said much the same about yours – who knows the truth?  The old men are dead, now it’s our time.  Makes sense, two old Italian families united into one great business empire!’

 

‘And what if I refuse?’

 

‘Lisa already told you.  We turn you in.’

 

‘You have no proof we were involved!’

 

Lisa joined in.

 

‘Oh my dear brothers, I forgot to mention that quite by chance I had already had Vincenzo’s company put in some surveillance equipment ready for the opening of the Market Garden just before Leo went away, what with the plot being out of sight of the house and all.  Lucky wasn’t it!  It caught everything on camera.  I checked the recordings as soon as Tony came to me – and there you all were, clear as day!  I had him bring me poor Leo’s head – after all, I was quite fond of him! That nearly sent Tony right off his own head if you excuse the pun.  No wonder he’s been drinking!  So you see, you have no real choice here.

 

Vincenzo and I have been seeing each other for quite a while – Leo was just a front, we knew there was bad blood between our two families, and were biding our time.  Anyway, enough already.  This is the deal.

 

We turn our two companies into one large corporation.  I will run Papa’s side, Vincenzo his Papa’s side.  You will all work for me.  We all keep our mouths shut. We share profits. Me and Vincenzo get married.  Everyone’s happy’.

 

And so it was. The Elisabetta Minguzzi Corporation was formed and both family firms flourished.  They were known all over the world for their ethical dealings and charitable donations.

 

Their wines and fresh produce were sold in the best delicatessens everywhere, enabling their other, less salubrious enterprises to prosper.  Wars all over the globe were fought with weaponry supplied by Lisa and Vince, and their widowed mothers grew plump and content on the profits, sitting happily in the Sicilian sunshine surrounded by their ever growing tribe of visiting grandchildren.

 

As for Lisa and Vince, they would often sit on their verandah sipping their own fine wines and enjoying the delicious aroma of the splendid Basil growing in a huge round terracotta pot by the door, reflecting how true it is that a bad situation can sometimes actually be a blessing in disguise.