None of these farms was Martin’s.

How on earth could I get her to show me the right place? Evidently Flocken hadn’t listed it with anyone, was just sitting on it to keep Martin and Barby out. I began to hate Joseph Flocken, sight unseen.

We returned to town for lunch, after which Mary Anne excused herself to recheck the afternoon’s appointments. I sat alone in the waiting room and fretted about seeing the right property. Even after that, maybe he wouldn’t sell to me. I got up to look in the mirror on the wall above a tiny decorative table, a little closer to Mary Anne’s office. My hair, which leads its own life, was escaping from the bun in a tightly waving chestnut nimbus. I began repair work.

If I listened really hard, I found, I could make out Mary Anne’s words.

“So I’ll bring her out this afternoon, Inez, if you’re ready. No, she doesn’t wear funny clothes or anything like that. She’s tiny, and young, and she’s wearing a suit that cost a mint…”

Damn! I should have gone and picked out something at WalMart.

“… but she’s very polite and not at all weird. A real southern accent, you-all!”

I winced.

“No, I don’t think the pastor would mind,” Mary Anne said persuasively. “This group evidently doesn’t drink, smoke, or believe in having guns. They can only have one wife. It sounds pretty respectable, and if they’re off in the country by themselves… well, I know, but she has the money, it seems… okay, see you in a little while.”

Mary Anne strode out of her office with a bright face and a sheaf of papers on the various places we’d see this afternoon. My heart sank down to join my spirits.

It was a long afternoon. I learned more about agriculture in mideastern Ohio than I ever wanted to know. I met many nice people who really wanted to sell their farms, and felt sorry for most of them, victims of our economic times. But I couldn’t afford all those farms.