Power himslf he smelled it in his cotton hed been in

power hims~lf. He smelled it in his cotton. He'd been in
the business for four years. The fust three years were
45
hopeful ones. There was a world war, and unlike coffee,
cotton prices rose steadily, thanks to the growth of the
local textile industry.
From the start, his mother had not encouraged him
to strike out on his own. "Only fools go into cotton
50
when there's cattle to be raised or coffee to be grown,"
she said, compelling him to work all the harder to prove
her,wrnog. He had s~nt months scouting for the right
land among the family's properties on the flat coastal
plain. When he found it, he had lovingly sown the best
55
seed himself. And he had kept a vigil on the growing
plants, Lying in
a
hut next to the field, he was present at
the moment the. buds broke into flower.
Once Alvaro'reached Avenida Cuscatlan, he accel-
erated, weaving in and out of traffic. Cotton. A man
60
took a risk growing it, for cotton might never make the
money coffee would, but Alvaro did not allow this
thought to perturb him. He had various means of
making a living: There was real estate to be bought and
sold, a seat on the bank board, thb shrimping business
65
on the coast. He bad disbanded his law practice years
ago, although, at times, he took a cas.e or two on a con-
sulting basis. But it was in the cotton bu.siness that he'd
placed his heart and money. Last year, so sure
Wf!.S
he of
.a better-than-ever yield, that he'd invested his wife's
70
money· in it as well. 1t was the inhetitance from her
. grandfather, bequeathed to her twelve years before.
MAgda
had entrusted it tp Alvaro, and he had carefully
managed the nioney, seeing t.o its growth. When the
time
was right, she would use her inhe:ritance for her
75
own business scheme: a gift shop named Tesoros.
. ·· .:the disaster of last year's harvest flooded his
mind.
fie
sank back against the seat, remembering his
cotton, the bolls swollen and soon to burst into a cloud
of white, infested malevolently with weevils.
. 80 · ·· But this year would be different. He had taken
measures. He had spent the better part of the week
stockpiling insecticides that would insure this crop
against failure. He had not told Magda any of this, of
course. Why· cause her concern? It was all a matter of
85
cash flow, of money transferred from one account to the
other, of bank loans and promissory notes. This year;
because
of
insecticides, would bring his first bumper
crop.
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TO
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3
1. Which, of the following topics preoccupies
Alyar◊
during his drive?
·
.
by
2.