His older brothers loved calling him Piglet when they were growing up, based on his small size and the stuffed animal of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh that he used to sleep with until he was nine. Like all embarrassing things from our childhoods, the name stuck. Mark stopped calling Liam that once he became a teenager, but his three older brothers, Oliver, James, and Callum, refused to stop no matter how much Liam insisted they call him by his actual name.
“You must be getting close to lambing season.” Callum was a born salesman. He had that slick way of talking that made Liam believe there was always a deal percolating under his words.
“Just around the corner. Any day now.”
“Exciting. You scared? I remember last year it nearly destroyed you.”
“I can handle it. I hired someone to help.”
“I didn’t know you had the money for that.”
“I do.” Liam gritted his teeth. He hated his brothers knowing his business. They never cared about his privacy. They never knocked when they all lived together, and their parents’ house didn’t have locks on the doors. Liam learned to take shits with one hand pushed against the door and masturbate with speedy efficiency. Even when their parents died, his brothers’ attitudes didn’t change, save for Mark. He was still Piglet, still tailor-made to be teased. Tragedy did not bring them closer when Liam needed them. He got the feeling that ragging on their baby brother was a constant for them, a way to deal with the pain no matter how it affected him.
“What do you want, Callum?”
“Feisty Piglet,” Callum said defensively, which he did whenever Liam pushed back the slightest bit. “I have a tantalizing offer for you.”
“What kind of offer?”
“A friend of mine is a real estate developer. He wants to buy our plots of land. Wellington is running out of housing!”
Liam had heard about some farmers selling their land to real estate developers who were building planned communities, but he didn’t expect the building boom to reach this far out of the city.
“Real estate developer? He wants to build houses here?” Liam glanced out his window at the beautiful rolling hills and mountains in the distance. It was nature unbridled.
“It’s going to be a mix of houses, townhomes, and condominiums. There will be three pools and a tennis court. He showed me the plans he drew up. It took my breath away.”
Callum wanted to turn his birthright into suburban sprawl.
“What about the farmers you’re currently renting your land to?”
“It’s peanuts compared to what we can get paid. This developer, Harold Grates, has fantastic plans for state-of-the-art suburban communities.”
“He asked you to talk to me…are you getting a cut?”
“A fee for facilitating, yes.”Classic Callum.He didn’t help people unless there was a cash incentive. He was the one who convinced James and Oliver to rent their land eight years ago. “And you, Piglet, you would be swimming in heaps of money. Your piece of land has some of the best topography and views.”
Callum gave him an estimated offer. Liam had to take a seat. Holy shit. He’d never imagined so many zeroes before.
“Still there?” Callum asked.
“What did Mark say?”
“We haven’t told him yet, but I know if you sold, he wouldn’t hold out. He and the kids are practically screaming for a better, more modern house. He’d only be holding on so you wouldn’t be alone out here.”
Mark was living out here for years before Liam came back. But it was no use calling his brother out on his bullshit.
“Mum and Dad would roll over in their graves if their land was turned into cul-de-sacs.”
“That’s a bit much, Piglet.”
“Can you please call me Liam?”
“So touchy.” Liam knew it was no use, but at least he tried. “Mum and Dad would be proud of you for being entrepreneurial and taking advantage of a prime opportunity rather than playing farmer.”
“I’m not playing farmer. I have almost forty sheep, and I’m going to have more soon.”
“And very soon, you’re going to be in over your head. Let’s be real here. Brother to brother. You wanted to live life off the grid for a bit, go retro with farming and growing your mountain man beard. But do you expect to do this for the rest of your life?” Callum chuckled to himself. “I love you, Liam, but you are no farmer.”
