merican stories often start in one of
two ways: Fairy tales typically begin
with the words “Once upon a time.”
But tales from the Deep South are
more likely to be gin: “ You’re not going
to believe this one!” That’s the more
appropriate opening for the story of
Julian Howell, a man who moved with
his wife to Archer, Florida, after living
for years on Culebra, a tiny island off
the coast of Puerto Rico. A group of
Archer locals frequently
gathered at the edge of
town on Friday evenings,
drinking and swapping
stories. On one Friday in
July of 2004, there was a
new listener to the tale Julian Howell
had recounted many times before:
One afternoon when he was living on
Culebra, he had found an object the
size of a suitcase at the water’s edge.
He’d pulled it ashore for a closer look
and saw that it was a bale wrapped in
waterproof plastic and rubber. What
was inside? Money? He didn’t know,
but he pulled the bale onto the beach,
dug a shallow hole, and covered itFLOATING RICHES
Some 70 pounds of cocaine
appeared to be stashed in a
plastic-wrapped bale the size
of a suitcase when it washed
ashore in Puerto Rico. Not
knowing what else to do, the
fi nder buried it in the ground.