Mail orders arrived in envelopes.
Checks.
Handwritten notes.
Sometimes farmers mailed broken plates with messages:
NEED TWO LIKE THIS.
The boy learned to identify by diameter, hole count, hub shape, and wear pattern.
He learned not to promise what he could not confirm.
One farmer called furious after receiving the wrong plate.
“You said this would fit.”
The boy checked his notes.
He had made the mistake.
Same casting family.
Different center hub.
His stomach dropped.
“I’m sorry.”
“I need to plant test rows next week.”
The boy offered refund.
The farmer said:
“I don't need my money. I need the plate.”
The boy searched the inventory.
None.
He called the retired dealer.
Then three salvage yards.
Then the broker who had tried buying the collection.
The broker laughed.
“Thought you had everything.”
“I don't.”
“Finally learning.”
“Do you have the number?”
The broker did.
Thirty-five dollars.
The boy had charged the customer fourteen.
He bought it anyway.
Paid shipping himself.
Sent it overnight as fast as rural 1990 shipping allowed.
The mistake cost him nearly fifty dollars.
His father asked:
“Why didn't you just refund?”
“Because I told him I'd get him planting.”
The father nodded.
“You'll remember this one.”
The boy did.
Years later, he could forget dozens of profitable sales.
He remembered the fifty-dollar loss.
Responsibility taught harder than success.
Spring approached.
The phone began ringing constantly.
Planting season transformed old planter parts from interesting inventory into urgent necessity.
Farmers did not call because they liked antique iron.
They called because machinery needed to work.
A man from Nebraska called at 6:10 one morning.
His planter used a rare twenty-cell plate.
He had cracked one.
Needed four matched plates.
The boy checked.
He had exactly four.
The farmer asked price.
By then, the boy knew they were rare.
He could have charged anything within reason.
The broker was selling similar ones for sixty dollars each.
The boy had been charging thirty-two.
He said:
“Thirty-two.”
The farmer paused.
“That all?”
“Yes.”
“Dealer quoted me sixty-eight if he could find them.”
The boy looked toward his father, who sat drinking coffee.
The father said nothing.
The farmer asked:
“You sure?”
The boy answered:
“Thirty-two.”
Afterward, his father asked:
“Why?”
The boy shrugged.
“That’s our price.”
“You could've charged more.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you?”
The boy thought.
“Because he needs them because they're hard to find.”
His father nodded.
“And?”