The Lord of Opium

“I’m thinking of not opening the border until people adjust to the new system. We’ll soon be self-sufficient, especially if we can persuade women to join us. I’m thinking of turning Opium into a larger biosphere, or as close to it as we can get.”

“The drug dealers won’t like it,” María pointed out.

“Crot the drug dealers,” said Matt. “It will be an adventure, and it may not work, but it’s worth trying. And one thing more, mi vida.”

She turned toward him.

“I want to marry you.”

She smiled mischievously, so like the lady in the Goya painting. “I’m only fifteen, you know. It’s illegal.”

“I’m fifteen too, and I’m the Lord of Opium. I say it’s legal.”

“Mother will be furious.”

“That’s one of the side benefits,” said Matt. They said nothing for a while.

María gazed out at the field of bones, and the moonlight painted the world with a pale blue light. “You sure picked a weird place to propose,” she said.

“I think it’s peaceful.”

“You’ll have to bring in a real priest. I’m not going to be a drug lord’s floozy.”

“You can have ten priests if you want them.”

“You’re crazy, but okay. I accept. After all, who’s going to say no to the Lord of Opium?”

“Only the Lady of Opium,” he said, putting his arms around her.

APPENDIX

JESÚS MALVERDE

Jesús Malverde is a Robin Hood figure known as the “generous bandit” and “angel of the poor” because he stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He was supposedly killed on May 3, 1909, a day that is celebrated at his shrines. He is an unofficial saint who isn’t recognized by the Catholic Church. People pray to him for many things—good health, money, family problems, and finding a job—but he is best known as the patron saint of drug dealers, especially those from Sinaloa. There is no evidence that he was involved with drugs during his life.

Although movies have been made about him, there was never a picture of him. At some point someone made a statue of him, but no one is sure who the model was. In my book I have made El Patrón the model, as a young man. If you go to zazzle.com on the Web, you can find a Jesús Malverde T-shirt with the words El Patrón written below the saint’s image. Also on the web you can find statues, votive candles, incense, and even Malverde cologne for that special someone.

Recently a pair of dim-witted drug dealers not only parked the wrong way on a Chicago street, they parked in front of a police station and had a statue of Jesús Malverde on the backseat. Not surprisingly, the police were curious. They opened the trunk, found more than a million dollars’ worth of cocaine, and arrested them.

THE BIOSPHERE

This information comes from Wikipedia.

Biosphere 1 refers to the entire system of life on earth. Biosphere 2 was built north of Tucson, Arizona, around 1990. It was an effort to create a complete, enclosed world where people could live forever without going outside. It was meant as a model for space exploration. It contained a rain forest, a small ocean with a coral reef, a mangrove swamp, a grassland, a desert, a farming section, and a place for humans to live. Eight people were locked inside for two years, and later a crew of seven people were locked inside. They grew bananas, papayas, sweet potatoes, beets, peanuts, beans, rice, and wheat. During the first year the inhabitants complained of constant hunger, but during the second year the crops improved. The inhabitants also had four nanny goats, a billy goat, thirty-five hens, three roosters, two sows, and a boar pig, plus tilapia fish. Beside these were wild animals and insects to keep the ecosystem going.

It was a noble experiment, but the scientists soon discovered that it wasn’t easy duplicating what Mother Earth does. They found, for example, that trees need wind in order to grow strong. The soil bacteria produced more carbon dioxide than expected, and most of the vertebrate animals and all the pollinating insects died. The cockroaches did well, though. They always do. The scientists also forgot that when you bottle people up together, fights break out. Secret food caches were discovered. Supplies were smuggled in, and half the participants weren’t on speaking terms by the time the experiment was over.

You can visit Biosphere 2 today, in the town of Oracle, north of Tucson. It is run by the University of Arizona, and they conduct tours. It’s used as a research facility, but people aren’t locked up in it anymore.

THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC