Summary

After Mirasol’s burial, Matt refused to work in his music room again. He smashed a music box; Ton-Ton had to hide the rest of them. The room was closed and nailed shut, and Matt moved his office to another part of the hacienda. His time was occupied by sending ecological samples to Esperanza, keeping the opium dealers happy, and clearing the new fields that Cienfuegos had fixed with his mushrooms.

One day Cienfuegos told Matt that someone was calling him from the convent. Matt didn’t want to answer, because it was probably Esperanza and not Maria, and he had no love left for anyone. He further told Cienfuegos that he wished to be called Don Sombra (Lord Shadow) rather than El Patron. He continued to ignore the holoport calls.

The Farm Patrol was beginning to plant corn instead of opium, but...