Teddy stood in the middle of a big hole in the Trongate, surrounded by a sea of mud. Things didn't look good. This was supposed to be an archaeological site. After last night's heavy rain it looked like the battle of the Somme. The effect was heightened by all the little, exploratory trenches, occupied by miserable looking, cold, damp, muddy, diggers. Today he was senior site assistant, and they looked at him, expectantly.

Question was, what to do? The site was a quagmire. The diggers, students and volunteers, were obviously hoping to be let off early. It was too wet to dig. But, there was more rain on the way. They'd have to protect the site. "Right you lot, y' see that pile of mud covered plastic over there? That's the tarpaulins. We huv tae cover the rest o' the trenches." The bunch of malcontents emitted a communal groan. "Come on, sooner we get the job done the sooner we can get tae the pub."

They started pulling out and unfolding the the huge, mud soaked, bundles. They made a good start at spreading out the covers , they'd had plenty of practice this month, so Teddy cast an eye over the section at the far end of the site.

The side of the excavation had been cut neatly, vertically straight, to form a section, through the various layers of occupation so that a series of photographs and plans could be made. It was now over fifteen feet high, more than five meters. Right at the bottom a romano-british, crouch burial, with a skeleton and artifacts had been discovered and partially excavated. Two of the best diggers, Jo, a student, and Colin, an unemployed brickie, had been put in charge of excavating and preparing it. They were making sure that the covers were secure. The section itself was in a perilous state, with water starting to cascade down its surface in a small waterfall. Looking up, Teddy was surprised to see someone standing right on the edge and threatening to bring the whole face down. It was, 'that twat of a Site Director,' Dave Prendeghast!

"Get away fae the edge, ya idiot!" Shouted Teddy. Prendeghast, who'd been surveying his realm through the telephoto lens of his camera, jumped back, startled.

The weight of the tall, archaeologist was all that was needed to give an extra push to the rain sodden section and the whole face started to move, crumble and fall forwards. Teddy looked aghast, for a split second, at the section and at the two figures crouching over their work. They seemed frozen, staring up at the mountain of mud, stone, pottery and charcoal fragments threatening to bear down on them. Teddy threw his ancient, brown leather briefcase spinning to one side and grabbed a wooden duckboard, part of a rudimentary walkway. He ran with it, ramming it upright, at an angle, against the side of the collapsing section. Mud rock and water seemed to shower down upon him. He shouted to the others for help.

For a split second it seemed that the whole bloody lot was going come down on top him, forcing him over backwards to be buried under tons of ancient crap. Then Colin and Jo were beside him with with scaffolding planks, pushing them into the muddy ground surface and propping up the duckboard. They were joined by the rest of the diggers, who'd taken Teddy's lead, hauling duckboards and planks. Between them all they managed to shore up the worst of it and only a few hundredweight of rubble from the top, most modern and least interesting part of the site, fell on them. Teddy looked down at the site of the ancient burial beneath its covers. A few sods of earth had fallen on it, but otherwise it looked okay. He directed the diggers to cover the thing over with boards and more tarps, as the heavens opened once again.

The Site Director strolled, casually over. He addressed Teddy, who was now standing to one side, supervising the others. "Hmm! Not bad. Close thing. Good thing you were all wearing safety helmets."

Teddy stared at him for a second and then said quietly, "What the fuck do you think you were doing up there, Dave? We're aw coverin' an protectin' the Site an' you up there buggerin' aboot, takin' background shots an' demolishin' the joint!"

Prendeghast looked at him for a few seconds and then replied, "You know Teddy, I'm not sure I like your atitude."

Teddy sighed, shook his head and turned away. "I'd be more impressed if you'd write some of this up in that interim report, you`re supposed to have done two months ago, pal." He said quietly, almost beneath his breath. Seeing that the diggers had more or less finished, he called over to them, "Right, finish up, scrape the worst o' the mud aff and let's get doon tae the "Rat Pack!" It's the only place that'll let us in in this state. Colin, I reckon ye owe me a pint o' heavy!"