It's chapter 7 of Seedfolks, and Virgil and his dad are busy sizing up their plot at the allotment. Originally from Haiti, Virgil's dad is a cab driver who's convinced that a good way to make money would be for him to grow good-quality lettuces that he can then sell to high-end restaurants.

The more lettuces that Virgil's dad can sell, the more money he will make. So he reserves for himself a large plot at the allotment, certainly much larger than everyone else's. This embarrasses Virgil, who becomes even more embarrassed when his former third-grade teacher, Miss Fleck, turns up and points this out.

Evidently not wishing Miss Fleck to think that he's perhaps being greedy by having so many plots to himself, Virgil's dad spins her a tall tale. He tells Miss Fleck that the plots are to be divided among his relatives.

Nothing unusual there, one might think, but it turns out that Virgil's dad isn't telling the truth. Some of these relatives live in Haiti, one is dead, and some of them don't even exist.

Virgil has never seen an adult lie before, so this is a whole new experience for him. Nevertheless, his dad's lies are probably necessary to make it seem that he's not being too greedy in having such a large garden.