How did the story end??....

[Size6Feet]

On Radio 4, just before 3pm on wednesday. I hung on as long as I could to hear the ending but had to get out my car and into work.
It was the one about a man telephoning a guy in the past, in USA and the old man standing in his garden...

Yes, yes! I heard it ... stayed in the car and was late for appointment to hear the ending.

Missed most of the play but probably heard the crucial stuff. So: the man in England told the American guy in the past to put a load of money buried under the tree in his garden, to see if he could trust him. Then he went out and dug up a package which said 'IOU - a twist in the tale'. When he got back to the phone the doorbell rang and an old American man was standing there, telling him that he was the guy on the phone, that he'd waited years for this moment. He also apologised for inadvertently causing the English man's wife's death, by trying to stop her from being in the way of the bus that killed her. It was actually his interference that led to her death. Eventually he (American guy) asked if he could have a moment privately with the 'other him' on the end of the phone. The English guy left the room, whereupon the older American guy told the younger one that he was someone else altogether, from the CIA. He told the younger American guy to seek him out in the past and tell him the various details about natural disasters, political events, sporting events etc. He also, as a PS, said 'tell the Me in the past, on no account to interfere with English guy's life'. The English guy came back into the room to find the American guy had gone and the phone was back on the hook. He called out to his son, and heard his wife, not dead after all, come through the front door as if nothing had happened.

I loved it! Wish I'd heard the whole thing. Hope I've got all the main bits. Will look on iPlayer for it, too.

Or you could ignore my rather clumsy retelling and listen to it properly on iPlayer here

CJCregg - Thank you so much for that. I have just listened to the end on the link you gave. A good play - I like a happy ending. Have added that link to my favourites for the future.

My pleasure. It was nice to hear someone else had enjoyed it too, if you know what I mean. I hardly ever listen to Radio 4 any more, but it was so good it's drawn me back again. I love that sort of story - very John Wyndham.

I shall now go back and listen to the whole thing from the beginning, as I missed most of it!