“Their mistake. The company which holds the franchise gives you a manual with the seeds to ensure the best crop yield, and it says never to use insecticides, fertilizers, or any other chemicals near the Malvaos. It’s even printed in big, bold letters.” Joe shrugged. “Big and bold may be good for those with poor sight, but not for those poor of mind.”

Jenny looked down and kept her silence. Her uncle Joe was too harsh when it concerned others. Like with Uncle Bill who flunked high school. Everytime Uncle Bill opened his mouth, Uncle Joe quacked and circled around him while flapping his arms.

The silence spread for some minutes, then Joe said all of a sudden, “You ever heard of the Padres’ lost mine?”

“What’s that?” Jenny wrinkled her nose. She stared at her uncle waiting for him to answer his question. He might be opinionated and a bit rude, but he was full of stories that always managed to drag her from the city to visit him.

“It’s a local legend of sorts.” Joe adjusted his seating and turned to face Jenny. “The legend goes that around a hundred and fifty years ago, some priests fell on a gold vein so big, a mother lode of the highest grade, that it’s never been heard of before.”

“They managed to convince some Indian locals to work for them and they built a huge mine around the gold vein.” Joe nodded as if to some hidden audience and smiled. “But, for some unknown reason, the Indians got the impression that they were played for fools by the Padres.”

“One day, they took it in their heads to punish the Padres, and poof, the mine was gone.” He snapped his fingers and winked to the raptly fascinated Jenny.

“Some say that they just dismantled the whole thing, buried the mine, and changed the markers of the geography around it for the padres never to find it again. Which they didn’t.”

“Others say that they used ancient magic and sent the mine to their ancestral grounds.” He pointed to his nose and nodded.

“While yet others swear that it is located right here on my land and that someday when the curse is lifted, the gold will eventually show.” He laughed and leaned towards his niece and said in a low voice, “This is why I bought the land in the first place.”

Now it was Jenny’s turn to laugh.

“Did you try to find it?” Jenny asked him with glowing eyes.

“What for? The very day I bought the place, the people from Maga Farms came to me with their Malvao seeds. I might as well forget about the whole mine thing, since I am making enough profit without the hazards of a gold mine,” he chortled.