A television station called.
Ethan refused television.
School started.
That was strange.
Monday morning, Ethan went from managing a thirty-six-acre crop to sitting in algebra class beside Caleb.
Caleb leaned over.
“Rich farmer.”
“Shut up.”
“You’re famous.”
“No.”
“My mom has your newspaper clipping.”
“I hate your mother.”
“She thinks you're inspiring.”
“Worse.”
The teacher entered.
Ethan opened his notebook.
For the first time all year, the numbers on the page did not involve fertilizer.
He almost missed them.
Autumn moved toward winter.
Field Seven became stubble.
The gold vanished.
People stopped slowing on the road.
Life looked normal.
But the farm was different.
Bills paid.
Repairs scheduled.
Ruth replaced the leaking kitchen refrigerator after refusing to for two years.
Ethan objected.
“We could’ve fixed it.”
Ruth stared.
“We have been putting towels beneath it since March.”
“Still.”
“I am purchasing a refrigerator.”
It arrived Wednesday.
Ethan had to admit cold food was useful.
Then farmers began visiting.
Not reporters.
Farmers.
Ray first.
He brought a notebook.
Ethan noticed.
“What?”
“Seed company.”
“What about it?”
“Who?”
Ethan told him.
“Hybrid?”
He told him.
“Planting population?”
Ethan stared.
Ray frowned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Stop enjoying this.”
Ethan smiled.
Ray pointed.
“If you say bird food, I’m leaving.”
Ethan laughed.
He gave Ray every number.
Planting.
Fertilizer.
Herbicide.
Harvest loss.
Bird damage.
Contract specifications.
Oil premium.
Even mistakes.
Especially mistakes.
Ray wrote.
“Would you do it again?”
“Yes.”
“All thirty-six?”
Ethan thought.
“Maybe forty.”
Ray stared.
“Greedy.”
“Maybe twenty-four.”
“Now you sound scared.”
“I learned things.”
“What?”
Ethan explained bird pressure.
Rotation.
Market risk.
Contract dependence.
The buyer could reduce acres next year.
The price premium might change.
One good season did not convert sunflowers into guaranteed profit.
Ray nodded.
“That's the part newspapers leave out.”
“Yes.”
“Kid turns flowers into gold.”
Ethan groaned.
“You saw that?”
“Everybody saw it.”
Walter planted sunflowers the next year.
Twenty acres.
Ray planted fifteen.
Three other farmers contracted smaller fields.
Ethan planted twenty-eight.
Why less?
Because the contract price changed.
Because rotation mattered.