The overcast sky broke for a second and the sun touched down onto the ground. Danielle shielded her eyes with her hand and beckoned The Company Man onto her porch. For a split second, it seemed like his suit glittered a bit as the sun hit it. Green and black.

“Well,” Danielle said, sitting on a folding chair, “last time he was on the news it didn’t go so well. I think it might be best to leave him be.”

“What can I do, for you, that would allow me to see the goat?”

“Ha!” Danielle blurted, “Pay my mortgage.”

“How much is that?” The Company Man asked.

“Oh, stop.”

“I think that is something that can be arranged. I don’t know what a mortgage is exactly or how much they cost. And I understand that they are paid for in American currency.”

“Eleven hundred dollars, try me,” Danielle said.

The Company Man reached into an empty briefcase and pulled out eleven hundred dollars. He handed it to Danielle with a blank look on his face.

“Is this satisfactory?”

Danielle hadn’t touched the money yet. She hardened her eyes and cocked her head to the side as she stared at his face.

“Who did you say you worked for?”

“Like you said,” The Company Man said, “a news station or TV studio or something. May I see the goat, please?”

Danielle took the money and counted it. It was all there. She pointed to the barn past the south field and started leading The Company Man there.

“What do you want with the goat? His name’s Elmer, by the way,” Danielle said.

“I just want to see the goat. After seeing it I will figure out what to do next.”

“Awful tight-lipped about this. And throwing a lot of money around, not that I’m complaining. It’s just very odd to me,” Danielle said.

“People have stuff to do all the time. This is just another one of those things,” The Company Man said. “You know us news station or TV studio types.”

“It’s right over here. Let me slide this open.”

Danielle walked through an open door into a short, square barn. A few bales of hay were stacked in the corner, and the floor was covered in hay. A chicken-wire fence about six feet high separated two pens of goats, one for males, one for females. There were eight goats in total, and each pen had its own free area fenced in outside.

“He’s, uh, Elmer is the white one with the brownish red legs. Um, uh—”

“Thank you,” The Company Man said.

The Company Man leaned forward slightly and examined the goat. His head seemed to crane back and forth in unnecessary ways as he squinted. His feet stayed still. Danielle looked at The Company Man warily. She hadn’t even put the money in her pocket yet.

“So, now wha—”