"I'm going to ring the real estate agent right now."

"Oh Angus. I'm so pleased."

Angus left his cup of tea on the table and went back to the kitchen. His finger missed the numbers on the phone several times and he had to try twice, but he got through. A woman answered. She asked a few questions and said a man would be round before the evening.

Angus went back to his wife. He felt dazed. His decision had caught him by surprise. He drank his tea without even noticing what he was doing, while his wife flicked through the pages of her magazine.

The agent arrived at four o'clock. He drove up in a shiny new grey car and smiled broadly as he stepped carefully over the muddy driveway.

Mr. and Mrs. Magill?" he asked, shaking hands and smiling even harder. Angus didn't trust him from that very moment.

"I'm from Fast Movers Real Estate. I can see already that you have a very valuable piece of prime agricultural land here."

"Thank you," said Angus.

"Once we have a few details, we can go for a walk round and then I'll see what sort of clients we have on our listings."

"Sounds good to me," said Angus.

The agent, whose name was Bill Braddock, talked very fast, making no allowances for the age of his clients. Mr. and Mrs. hardly understood a word he said. But they followed him through their house, and they followed him round their house, and they followed him all over the farm. And they filled in all the spaces in the contract with a gleaming pen with a gold clip.

When he was finished, the agent shook hands again and drove away.

Angus and his wife sat tiredly on the steps of their house, watching the sun dip behind the hills.

"He's gone," said Mrs. Magill

"I didn't like him," said Angus.

"Nor me," said Mrs. Magill

The next day the phone rang.