Provoked by the snobbish attitude of a city slicker towards the people from the countryside, a man gets off his train at a random village to confirm his positive attitude about the country folk. He's in for a surprise - but so are they.
While traveling by train, the aspirant writer Cogswell is challenged by an old salesman to get off the train and settle in a small town to lead a boring life. Cogswell asks the conductor to stop the train and arrives in a quiet town. He wanders through the town and finds hostile dwellers; further, he notes that an old man is following him. The man tells Cogswell that he has been waiting for twenty years for a stranger to commit the perfect crime. Cogswell replies that he has had the same feeling.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
