"Disputed means nobody has settled it," she answered. "You don't shut down harvest for a dispute."
Garnet swallowed and turned the tablet so she could see. Fourteen thousand eight hundred forty dollars. The total included a service invoice, administrative fees, and an unauthorized modification charge connected to a seed-sensor harness repair her father had made two years earlier. Roland Eberhart had patched that harness in the field after the dealership told him its truck could not arrive for four days. The old man had kept the planter running, recorded the repair in his maintenance log, and finished planting before the rain.
"My father is dead," Hollis said. "He repaired a wire so he could plant his own land."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Then leave the combine alone and tell your office to send me the contract provision that gives them this right."
Garnet stared at the screen. "I've asked that question. They said the hold has been approved."
"Approved by whom?"
"Compliance."
"That is an office, not an answer."
Garnet would not meet her eyes. He pressed a confirmation on the tablet. A small icon changed color. Forty minutes later, with Hollis back in the cab and the machine halfway down another pass, the header stopped. The storm did not.
She climbed down, landing hard enough to feel the impact through her heels. Garnet was waiting beside the white truck. For a moment they stood across from each other, the combine rising behind her like a building and the golden corn whispering in the wind. Hollis asked him to reverse the command. Garnet explained that only the compliance office could remove the restriction. She reached for his tablet, wanting to see the authorization, and he caught her forearm, pushed it aside, and thrust a printed invoice toward her. When she knocked the paper away, he let it tumble into the dirt.
"I don't decide policy," he said, his face red. "If I lose my job, that won't put your crop in a bin."
"And if I lose this crop, your job won't pay my mortgage."
The anger came so fast she could scarcely keep her voice level. She kicked the invoice out of her path, sending it under the combine's front tire, and looked beyond Garnet toward the old barn. The barn was faded