"I can't promise that before reviewing the contracts. But the lender has an interest in the collateral and the harvest proceeds. I can call our counsel and the dealer's regional manager. Meanwhile, don't let your crop sit because you think one conversation will solve the problem. Make a backup plan."
"Already doing it."
Her third call went to a neighbor whose farm bordered hers to the east. He had offered help after Roland's funeral, and she had spent months avoiding him because the memory of that offer made her feel helpless. He answered with machinery roaring in the background. When he heard her voice, he shut down his cab fan. "Hollis? Everything all right?"
"No," she said. "And I need to ask you something."
The words tasted bitter. She had spent most of the season proving that a nineteen-year-old girl could manage the land, the machinery, and the accounts. Asking for help felt like confessing that the men at the feed store had been right. But Roland's handwriting lay open before her, and the storm was getting closer. "If your beans are finished, do you know anyone with a corn head who's got a few hours free? My machine is down."
The neighbor did not laugh. "How much is left?"
"Four hundred eighty acres."
He whistled. "That's a whole lot of corn. What broke?"
"Nothing. The dealer stopped it remotely over a bill I'm disputing."
For several seconds, all Hollis heard was wind over his microphone. Then he said, "Tell me exactly where you are."
By five o'clock, the retired mechanic had arrived in a pickup filled with oil, fuel filters, tools, and one enormous portable battery. His name was Ellis Boone, and he had worked with Roland on tractors before Hollis was born. He inspected the machine with the slow patience of someone who understood that a dramatic start made for a good story but could turn old bearings into scrap. He drained water from a fuel separator, checked fluid levels, inspected hoses and belts, and made Hollis examine every item alongside him. The tractor was surprisingly sound. Roland had filled its cylinders and protected its fuel system before leaving it unused, and he had run it briefly during the previous winter.