less than half a day. The forecast now suggested scattered showers and strong winds over the next forty-eight hours, followed by a brief drier period. Harvest became a moving puzzle: which field could safely carry which machine, which grain buyer could accept which loads, and which driver was rested enough to take the next trip.
Hollis sat with Ruth at the workbench and reorganized the plan. Ruth knew custom harvest schedules better than anyone in the barn. She explained that a modern combine could cover a large amount of ground in favorable conditions, but theoretical capacity meant little once unloading, transport, fuel, wet areas, mechanical delays, and fatigue entered the picture. They would not promise a number of acres per hour simply to make Hollis feel better. They would track actual progress and adjust. The slower vintage rig would handle accessible edges and smaller areas only when conditions allowed. Wes and Ruth would take the wider rows and drier fields with modern machinery.
"You're going to lose some grain," Ruth told her. "The storm already knocked ears down along the west border. That happens. Don't let the need to save every last bushel make you destroy the soil or put people at risk."
Hollis nodded. "I hate hearing that."
"I know."
"It feels like giving up."
"It isn't. It's farming."
A third machine arrived that afternoon, but not with the dramatic ease Hollis had imagined. The operator, a farmer from another county, had been delayed by a hydraulic repair and could offer only two working days before returning to his own crop. Hollis agreed to his customary rate, recorded the arrangement in writing, and established how grain tickets and fuel would be handled. He appreciated the clarity. "Your dad would have done the same," he told her. She was beginning to understand that her reputation did not have to depend on refusing help; it could depend on being honest enough to make that help useful.
By the second evening, the old picker had covered a modest patch behind the barn. Hollis moved slowly, listening for every unfamiliar noise and stopping when a gathering chain began to rattle. Ellis identified the problem and told her to leave the machine parked while he obtained a replacement component. She wanted to protest. Then she remembered the mechanical test had already done its most important work. The tractor had reminded people that the Eberharts were not helpless