After the letter to Mr. Reyes was sent out, Elizabeth made a trip into town to talk with Ignacio Sanchez. She didn’t trust him, but she wanted to see how much he knew. She hoped it was more than they’d told the towns people at the meeting.
She paid a visit to his office, but his secretary, Teresa, said that the abogado was down at the blacksmith’s. Elizabeth turned and headed directly to the blacksmith’s shop, stopping when she drew closer. She could hear the abogado talking out loud, apparently to the blacksmith, Sandoval Orozco.
“Señor Orozco, I have it on good authority that these new wheels are the best that money can buy. I want my wife and new child to have the best. Cost is not an issue. When do you think they will be ready?”
“I can have them ready by the end of the day, Señor.”
Elizabeth crept forward to peek around the corner. Certainly the mayor wasn’t suffering like many other people in town, if he could afford the best wheels money could buy. She saw him slapping Mr. Orozco on the back, smiling fatly.
“Thank you!” he said. “That would be fine. I will stop by on my way home tonight.” The abogado stopped suddenly and looked up, noticing her. “Oh, buenos dias, Señora Arroyo! Buenos Dias! I didn’t see you standing there.”
“Buenos dias, Señor. Your secretary said I could find you over here. I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation.” Elizabeth walked closer to the carriage and lightly touched the new wheels resting against the side. “Those are some fine new wheels, Abogado. Those must have cost quite a bit.”
“Oh, those, not at all. Just standard wheels. The old ones were worn out and about to break.”
Elizabeth caught the sudden surprised look of Sandoval and stifled her grin. Spending quite a bit of new money and lying about it. Interesting.
“I see,” she said. She stepped toward the abogado, took him by the arm, and led him out of the barn. “Sir, I hope you are recovered from the meeting a couple weeks ago. From where we were standing, it appeared the crowd of people might take you to the floor.”
Sweating and uncomfortable, the mayor replied, “No at all, Señora, everything was fine. Just a little misunderstanding. Everything has been cleared up.”
“Oh, wonderful. I was concerned for your safety.”
“That is very generous of you, Señora, but I am fine. What was it you wanted to talk to me about? Can we go to my office?”
Elizabeth turned and stopped in the middle of the street, where everyone could see them in their conversation. She didn’t want to go to his office. In fact, she wanted everyone in town to see her speaking to him. She was, as he knew, the largest landowner in this area, and her power was nearly as great as his. She meant to use that power for the town and its people.
And she meant for everyone to see it.
“No, sir, I promise this will be very quick. I just came into town to pick up a few things, and I need to get back to the ranch. We are very busy with several new foals.”
“How can I help you then?”
“I have spoken to my father-in-law, Esteban Arroyo. You know each other, I believe.”
“Yes, I know Señor Esteban very well. He is a very well-respected man in this area.”
Elizabeth continued, “Yes, he is. Thank you. After a lot of thought and discussion, he does not recall his parents telling him about any papers or documents that prove our ownership of Rancho Arroyo. He thinks that they do not exist, as they’ve never been necessary before.” Elizabeth stopped for a moment to see the reaction on his face. He looked, to her chagrin, unsurprised at her revelation. “Remember, Mr. Torres said at the meeting that you are the person we should direct all questions to. So now I am asking you what we should do. How shall we protect our land, sir?”
“Señora, that is true. So many families received land grants from the Spanish or Mexican government so long ago that no official documentation exists, or if it did at one time, it probably no longer does.” He stopped to remove his wide-brimmed white hat to wipe away the sweat, which was accumulating on his brow in the hot sun. “Señora Arroyo, I know you were not born in this country, so I don’t know how much education you received about Spanish land grants.”
She bit her lip to keep from screaming. She was asking how to save her ranch, and he wanted to educate her on land grants. How very typical of him. “Not very much, Señor. Please tell me.”
The abogado continued, “One of the conditions of the land being given to the Arroyos, and other families, was that if the government needed the land for ‘the good of the people,’ the land could be reclaimed at anytime, with sufficient reimbursement, to be determined by the government. The people were allowed to live on the land, but the land has always belonged to the government. Alfonso and Louisa were only given the rights to farm and raise their families on that land. I am sure that they were aware of this part of the gift, though they might not have told their family about it. Now, I think everyone around here would agree that the Arroyos have done well with that gift, and made the ranch a jewel to the area.”
“Indeed,” Elizabeth murmured, wishing he would get to the point. “But how do we keep the land, Abogado? What can we do to protect ourselves?”
“How does your family receive the value of your land without any documentation? Is that your question?”
“Si, Señor.”
“Well, that is already being taken care of, as we stand here in this bitterly hot sun. I have already asked Teresa to write up and send out a letter describing this problem to the Land and Water Use departments in Mexico City – the groups in charge of El Alto Grande dam. I did that soon after the meeting. It appears that this is a common issue, and one that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.”
Well that was a surprise. She hadn’t thought him capable of making such an informed decision. Still, she leaned in closer, wanting to make her meaning clear. “And when do you expect to hear back? When will we receive our answer?”
“Soon! Soon, I hope. You know how slow the wheels can turn in el Distrito Federal. When I receive a response back, I will let the whole town know.” The abogado gestured wide with his fat hands.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “I appreciate that, Abogado. I don’t think I need to remind you that my family wields more power around here than many others. We will fight for our land, sir, and I hope you’ll pass that on as well. I look forward to your response.” With that, she turned on her boot heel and headed toward the general store.
No comments:
Post a Comment