“You might.”
Noah frowned.
“That's not helpful.”
“Truth often isn’t.”
That evening Ellen pulled farm records.
Noah knew why.
They sat at kitchen table.
Farm debt:
Equipment note: $31,800.
Operating line: $18,400.
Greenhouse heater estimate: $6,700.
Barn roof: probably $14,000.
Noah stared.
Seventy-five thousand would solve nearly all of it.
Ellen said:
“This is why we need to decide based on facts, not pride.”
“I know.”
“Dale being a jerk is not a reason to refuse good money.”
“I know.”
“Silas loving history is not a reason to keep something we cannot afford to keep.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“I want to use it.”
“That cannot happen.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
Noah thought.
“I don't want Dale to have it.”
“That is pride.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
“I want people to see it.”
“Why?”
“Because everybody laughed.”
Ellen smiled slightly.
“Also pride.”
Noah sighed.
“Yes.”
Then:
“And because Mr. Boone learned on it.”
“Okay.”
“And because it was at World's Fair.”
“Okay.”
“And because if somebody buys it privately, it disappears again.”
Ellen watched him.
“That is better reason.”
Noah looked at numbers.
“What do you want?”
She answered honestly.
“To sell.”
His chest tightened.
“But not necessarily to Dale.”
“How much would make you sell?”
She thought.
“Enough to clear debt and still buy you a working anvil.”
“That’s not a number.”
“Eighty.”
Noah swallowed.
“Eighty thousand?”
“Yes.”
“Would you sell at eighty?”
“I think so.”
He stared toward dark window.
“What if museum can't pay that?”
“Then we decide what history costs us.”
The phrase stayed with him.
What history costs us.
Three days later a private collector from Texas offered ninety-five thousand.
He had never seen anvil in person.
Only documentation.
Noah's stomach twisted.
Ellen looked at offer.
Ninety-five.
More than target.
They could say yes.
She did not.
“Why?”
Noah asked.
“Because we said we’d hear museum.”
Miriam came Friday.
She brought good news and bad.
Museum board wanted it.
Funding available:
$68,000.
Noah looked at his mother.
Less than Dale's final offer.
Far less than collector.
Miriam continued:
“But we may combine with state historical foundation.”
“How much?”
Ellen asked.
“Possibly another twenty.”
“Not guaranteed.”
Silas stood near wall.
Noah asked:
“If museum buys it, where does it go?”
“Industrial history gallery.”
“Permanent?”
“Rotating.”
“Would it stay in Missouri?”
“Yes.”
“Could it come back here for exhibits?”
“Possibly.”
Silas asked:
“Would people be allowed to touch it?”
Miriam looked horrified.
“No.”
Silas smiled.
“Had to ask.”
Ellen asked:
“What about acknowledgment?”
“Full provenance.”