Chapter 37

In a quiet moment I called dad.

"I need you to do me a favour."

"Speak up."

"If I give you the address of the people I'm going to deal with in about an hour, could you find out a little about them? I wouldn't want to rob them if they cannot afford it, but on the other hand I'll use my powers to get a good price for the house."

"Sure."

"They live in Aarhus, about 300 km from here."

"You know, distance is no problem. I'll be back soon."

He came back to me while I was driving home.

"Of course they were not there, but it looks like they are pretty well off. They've got a big house in an attractive neighbourhood, and it's filled with fine antiques. I don't think you need to be embarrassed at using a little influence. Go for it, boy. Do you want me to hang around and tell you what they'll be prepared to pay?"

"Sure, good idea."

The Ardale's looked like an affluent couple in their early thirties. Actually quite a bit like those self-assured, easygoing and successful people I was not at all, when I was their age. The deal went a lot easier than I had expected. Mrs. Ardale just loved the house, the garden, and the swimming pool, and I had no trouble selling for the equivalent of 400.000 dollars, which were about 50.000 more than I had been willing to accept. I was helped in achieving the good price, by the fact that they wanted to take over in two weeks, and they were willing to pay for that. I felt sure, though, that Mary could handle a fast move-out. The whole deal took less than half an hour!

We said our goodbyes, and the real estate agent got the last word: "I'll have all the papers ready for signing Monday at three o'clock, then."

As the whole thing had been so expedient, I decided to go and see how Mary and her Italians were faring, before I returned to the office. When I arrived at the flat, the whole place looked like chaos! Mary and three men were sitting at a small folding table with their lunch. The rest of two rooms were cluttered with tools, cupboards, tiles, wires and all. How they were ever going to make a kitchen out of it was beyond me. But they all looked confident, so I told Mary we'd meet at home when they had finished for the day, and she was also happy to learn that the house had been sold. "I can manage in two weeks, no problem, dear."