At first, people just exchanged glances, discussing this on a bench near the store. They had very different ideas about this.

— Maybe she’s replanting potatoes? — one said.

— In November? At night? Something’s wrong here.

— I’m telling you, she’s hiding something.

— But what? — the neighbors kept discussing.

One day, curiosity got the better of them — and two neighbors decided to follow.

They hid behind an old barn and watched for hours as the old woman, breathing heavily, dug into the dense soil with a shovel, sometimes kneeling down, as if listening to something underground.