Chapter 3

June 15th through August 10th, 2005

I found this rather desolate looking twenty acre plot in southwest Texas. It was less than a mile from the border and could only be reached by this one tiny little dirt road that came off of another dirt road the county maintains. The big thing though was that I could get all rights to the land including mineral rights and there weren't any zoning issues that would prevent me from mining it. Since I already had the money, finding the parcel of land and closing on it had only taken a few weeks. My cost to buy it, including all of the legal fees and taxes, was just under thirteen thousand.

After looking into it I decided to buy a 40' by 60' steel building and have it erected on the site. The building itself came without doors and windows but it was only about twenty-one thousand to buy and would be exceptionally sturdy. The well and sewage work set me back another four thousand and the cement and plumbing work for the slabs was another seven thousand. I had steel doors installed and fairly plain windows covered with steel shutters for about twelve hundred dollars.

There was no electric service available and no plans from the utility company to service the area in the future. I had an additional 10' by 15' slab poured at some distance from the main building and I built a small utility shed. I rented a trencher and used it to run underground electrical cable from the small shed to the main building. I had a generator installed inside the shed and two three hundred and twenty gallon fuel tanks behind the shed. Hopefully the shed would reduce the noise of the generator somewhat.

The real reason for all of this of course was to establish that I had been spending enough time on the property to actually 'discover' the precious metals. The project took almost the entire summer, though the steel building went up pretty quick once things were prepared. I was camping on the property while the work was going on and except for my bit with the shed and the trenching I was a bystander for the most part. So I'd made it a point to occasionally be seen walking around the property with a metal detector and a pick. I also spent time establishing a garden.

From what people had been telling me about this parcel of land I'd bought, no one had wanted it or done anything with as long as anyone could remember. The man I'd bought it from was selling more than sixteen hundred acres of land in twenty, forty, and sixty acre parcels. He said the land had been in his family since his great grandfather had bought it and he was tired of paying taxes on it without getting any real benefit.

While the area I'd selected to build on was relatively flat, there was a small wet weather stream running through the property and some fairly tall rock formations as well. During my explorations I even found a few small caves.

The day the last worker left there were only three weeks left before school started and I would need to be back at ASU or quit my job. I really wasn't too sure about that until I knew more about my financial situation, so I decided that now would be a good time to 'discover' platinum on my property. I arranged it with Genie so that the majority of the ore lode would be on my land but smaller veins would extend out to the adjacent parcels I hadn't purchased. I assumed that they would be bought up pretty quick once news of my find reached the right ears.

August 11th through August 31st, 2005

To make figuring out where I'd come up with the ore a little harder, I decided to take what I'd managed to 'mine' back with me to Arizona and use an assay lab there to analyze the ore. I parked my truck inside my new building and locked things up being sure to close the steel shutters on the windows.

"Okay Genie, please pause things and transport me into my apartment along with these five canvas bags of ore."

"Certainly Karl."

In an eye blink I was in my apartment in Tempe, Arizona along with about two hundred and fifty pounds of ore. I took three small nuggets and placed them in my pocket. It was pretty early in the morning and I didn't want to deal with traffic so I asked Karl to leave things paused and just transport me to the building where the Assayer's office was located. Once there I found a public restroom with a conveniently empty stall. After I was in the stall I asked Genie to un-pause everything. Even expecting it, I almost jumped myself as sounds burst into life all around me.

I left the bathroom and walked through the hall until I found the Assayer's office.

"Hello, May I help you?" an attractive brunette asked me with what appeared to be a genuine smile on her face.

"I hope so. I probably should have called in advance to make an appointment I suppose, but I didn't think of it till now," I replied with a smile of my own.

"In any case I wanted to get an analysis of these samples," I told her as I pulled the three small nuggets from my pocket placing them on her desk.

"Let me call someone to assist you," the woman said.

In just a few minutes time an older man stepped into the reception area and seeing that I was the only guest there, he headed towards me with outstretched hand.

"Hello there I'm Mark Gaveston and you are?"

I stood and shook the offered hand replying, "Karl Bosworth."

"Well Mr. Bosworth, Peg tells me you have some samples you'd like analyzed."

"Yes," I said picking them up from her desk and handing them to the man. "I'm willing to pay whatever fee is necessary for the work, but I'm in a bit of a hurry to get the results. Can you give me an idea of when you might be able to perform the analysis?"

"Your in luck Mr. Bosworth, I can fit you in today. Let's see, it's about eight thirty and this shouldn't take more than a few hours, I can probably have some results for you yet this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest."

"Really! That's great."

I'd already spent a few minutes filling out a work authorization form the receptionist had given me so I had a fair idea of the hourly rate and they had my cell phone number.

"I'll just leave you to it then Mark and if you don't mind I'd prefer you call my cell number - it's the one I put on the work authorization."

"No problem sir."

After saying my goodbyes I made my way back into the restroom and had Genie transport me back into my apartment. Since no one had seen me go into the bathroom and it was empty, I didn't think he would need to pause things."

"Yuck!" I said after opening up the refrigerator. I quickly found a trash bag and dumped the most toxic looking stuff into it. On my way out to the dumpster I bumped into one of my neighbors who I'd known for the past three years or so.

"Back from your trip I see," Crystal said.

"Yes. It was a much longer one this year but I enjoyed it. Just let me get rid of this trash and I'll tell you about it," I told her flashing her my best smile.

Crystal had always been friendly - but she wasn't the prick tease the Mandy had been. She was attractive and confident, but polite and friendly and very easy on the eyes. I'd always enjoyed talking with her and found her to be an interesting conversationalist.

"So, now that that's over with, what have you been doing with yourself this summer Crystal?"

"Oh just the usual Karl. As you know the airline keeps me pretty busy. Someday I hope to have saved up enough to settle down someplace nice and quiet and maybe start my own business - but I'm young. I can handle the pace for a few more years."

I'd seen the grueling schedules they put her through. It was pretty tough being a flight attendant!

"So have I caught you before breakfast Crystal? Because if I have, and if you don't mind hopping a ride on my motorcycle, I could tell you all about my trip over a meal - my treat."

"That's very kind of you Karl. I'd like that. Just let me run in and get some shoes on instead of these sandals."

A few minutes later we were tooling down the road until we found a nice little café that both of us liked. I ordered a ham and cheese omelet and Crystal ordered some blueberry pancakes.

"So was it the usual backpacking this year?"

"It started out that way. I did the backpacking up in Montana at Glacier National Park. When I'd had enough of that I came back here for a few days and then drove to Texas."

"Oh? What'd you do there?"

I put on a sheepish look and said "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Yeah? Try me," she said with a grin.

"I bought some land and started working on a house. Someplace to go whenever I decide I've had enough teaching I guess."

"You just did all of this on a whim?"

"Well yeah. I guess I did."

"So what kind of place are you building," she asked with real interest.

I told her what I had done so far and some of the things I might do with it later if I could get some more money.

"So you'll live in the building you have now, but if you build a nicer house later then you could always use it for something else. That's pretty smart. Gives you a place to stay without costing as much as a typical house. That's pretty innovative Karl."

"Thanks Crystal. I have to admit that I acted with an awful lot of spontaneity; but once I got the idea I really wanted to do it. It gives me something to focus on during my summers that might help me later when I retire or if I find the right woman to settle down with and raise a family."

"Ooh! An attractive and established man who's talking of settling down and raising a family! Where do I sign up?" she teased.

I don't know what kind of look passed across my face - maybe one of longing since Crystal was so easy for me to get along with and so marvelously easy on the eyes. I'd always wished there was something between us but just never thought it could happen.

"I'm sorry Karl, did I say something wrong?" Crystal asked with a tremor in her voice.

I had to think about what I wanted to say for a moment.

"Let's just say that if I was looking for a woman to settle down with I have a feeling she'd be an awful lot like you Crystal. I really do value your friendship and your sweet smile."

A brilliant smile lit her whole face and I knew that I'd found just the right thing to say. It didn't put either of us on the spot asking for some kind of commitment - but it did let her know I thought she was pretty special.

"You're very sweet Karl. I'm pretty happy we've gotten to know each other to," Crystal told me.

After I drove us back to the apartment complex we exchanged phone numbers and I asked her about her schedule for the next few weeks. As it turned out I'd been really lucky with the timing of my invitation since Crystal was flying out the next day. With a twinkle in her eye Crystal told me she'd be happy to email me her schedule.

I was back in my study for most of the rest of the morning. I placed a few phone calls to friends and called a few other faculty members as well. I really didn't feel like going out again just yet, so I ordered pizza for lunch and just bummed around on the internet for a while looking at different cars and things.

The call I'd been waiting on came about two thirty in the afternoon.

"Mr. Bosworth, this is Mark Gaveston. I have the results of your analysis. I can give them to you now over the phone, I could send them via email or fax, or you could come into our office this afternoon or evening if you'd like. I have kept your information private thus far, but I did take the liberty of sounding out several of our clients. You might be interested in hearing what they have to say and learning a little bit about what we do. So what do you say? Can I tempt you to come back up our way?"

"Are you saying the samples are valuable?" I asked to keep up appearances.

"Yes Mr. Bosworth. They are valuable and my company deals in precious metals. If you have found a supply of this ore we can help you turn a profit on your find."

"I'll be there as soon as possible Mark. See you soon. Goodbye."

I waited about thirty minutes and then had Genie do the magical little trick of beaming me into an empty stall in the bathroom in their building. Then I tried to act surprised when Mark told me that the ore contained an extremely high amount of rhodium, as well as platinum and palladium all of which are very precious metals and worth a great deal of money.

"What kind of money are we talking about here Mark?" I asked with real excitement.

"Well, just in these three rocks alone I'm guessing we'll end up with about three ounces of rhodium, seven of platinum, and four of palladium. At wholesale values, minus refining costs, you'd get about eleven hundred for an ounce of rhodium, six hundred for an ounce platinum, and one hundred for an ounce of palladium. So altogether, if we were to buy this from you today, for just the sample you brought in we'd offer you eight thousand six hundred dollars."

"Wow! That's quite a bit for such a small amount of ore!"

"I think that's quite an understatement Mr. Bosworth! This is such an unusually rich sampling of ore that I took the trouble to verify that it occurred in an entirely natural form. That's what took the extra hour or two of analysis. If you have more where this came from it should net you quite a bit of money," he told me with barely restrained curiosity.